Purina Cat Chow Healthful Life - Balance Review

I received a 6 oz. sample bag of Purina Cat Chow Healthful Life - Balance in the mail. I loved the packaging with all the images of healthy food sprawled all over it. The pictures of the fresh chicken, salmon, cheese and veggies really gave me a good feeling about feeding my cat this product. My normally very finicky cat gobbled this food right up which made me take a closer look at the ingredients. Interesting indeed!

What Purina says about Cat Chow Healthful Life...

Purina states that this cat food contains "delicious real salmon & chicken plus an added natural fiber blend". They also state that it is "accented with garden greens, cranberries, carrots & cheese". They say this is the "perfect balance of taste and nutrition for your adult cat".

What I think about Healthful Life...

My cat is approaching fourteen years old and I want to be sure that what I am feeding her will help keep her happy and healthy. At first glance, this cat food seemed like the food to achieve this. After reading the ingredients, I wasn't quite sure that it was as good for her as it claimed to be. The very first ingredient was Chicken By-Product Meal. Not really knowing what this meant, I decided to do an internet search. The results were not good. Chicken By-Product Meal is essentially chicken necks, beaks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines. Uh, hmm. beaks? The second ingredient is Corn Gluten Meal that is the dried residue from corn. That didn't sound so bad until I looked a little further into it. I found that it is added to pet food to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats. Yick. The list of ingredients continues with this type of pattern until you get closer to the bottom. Finally, you see some of the beneficial ingredients like dried vegetables and vitamins. I will definitely be paying more attention to the ingredients in the pet foods that I buy as I am sure that Purina isn't the only brand that has these type of ingredients.

My Final Viewpoint...

I guess that I feel let down by Purina. To me, it was a trusted brand name and I felt as though I was doing something good by feeding my cat this product. Unfortunately, Purina Cat Chow Healthful Life - Balance is not a product that I would recommend as a food that should be fed to cats on a daily basis. I don't see too much harm in feeding it as a snack from time to time but never as a meal. I am giving this cat chow 2 stars.