Purina split into two separate companies several years ago. The label under which the high end dog and cat foods are maufactured is now PMI Nutrition. This is not the Purina that you can buy in supermarkets or pet stores and it honestly isn't Purina at all anymore. No checkerboard logo or anything now that the split is complete. But it is the high end food which has only ever been available previously from Purina distributors. Some of our clients have found Exclusive elsewhere, so it's good to know that they are expanding their market because this really is great food. PMI Nutrition has a dealer locator on their home page at www.pminutrition.com. They make a slightly lower quality food called PMI and it's pretty good, but still not the same. Once you've used a true high-end dry food, you'll be able to tell kitty junk food just by looking at it and/or smelling it - the junk foods have everything from odor enhancers to food coloring and fillers added. As for the Exclusive, we've found that the maintenance/growth formula is a bit rich for some of our cats. So we feed our whole household, kittens included, a 2-to-1 mix of maintenance and light formula. Most of our cats actually prefer the light formula! Nonetheless, when we have the occassional male or older neuter/spay that gets a bit plump, we put them on the light formula only and they do slim down. But please feel free to try the maintenance/growth formula straight up for younger kittens as they do thrive on it.
We don't feed much canned food at all any more. When we do, we stick only to brands like Evo which are very high in meat content and the proteins our active Turkish Angoras need. What we do feed now to all of our cats and kittens, especially our babies who are starting on solid food, is raw meat. Once we got started on the ground raw meat diet, we never looked back. It took our adult cats some getting used to since it is so low in odor that it just doesn't "smell" tasty. But once they saw the kittens (that didn't know any better) gobbling it up, they too dove in. And what a difference we see now! Our kittens are fatter and healthier than when we started them off on canned food. And they start eating the ground meat at a much younger age, some as young as three-weeks-old! This of course keeps our nursing mothers in much better health too. It gets pretty expensive with as many furries as we have. But, like the Exclusive, it's worth every nickle. We feed our kittens and mothers ground meat twice a day and the babies learn to supplement with dry food if/when they're hungry in between. And we give our older kittens and non-pregnant/nursing females and males raw meat once every day or two. I once again have mixed feelings about feeding the raw gound meat diet exclusively because friends of ours who did wound up with protein levels that were too high when they tested one of their girls. Their vet told them that high protein levels like she had can cause irritability in a cat that just isn't feeling right, plus other health issues in the long run if untreated. I share this because there are many schools of thought regarding raw meat diets. Just know that I have never EVER heard of any cat getting sick from eating the raw meat diets manufactured just for pets. The companies producing these meats adhere to the same regulations that apply to manufacturers of meat for human consumption. You are far more likely to get sick or have your pet get sick from meats handled by your butcher! At any rate, I need to know that our kittens and cats will eat dry food so they can adjust to their new owners feeding habits. Plus the Exclusive is great food. Nonetheless, the overall health of our cattery has benefited tremendously from the ground raw meat diet. And all studies confirm that this is the best diet to feed as it has been proven to help correct the symptoms of most digestive disorders, boost the immune system and simply promote great basic health and coat. Just be sure to provide a taurine supplement if you choose to feed raw ground meat only and skip dry food. Exclusive has taurine added. So if you choose to feed it along with the raw meat, you're all set. We use a brand of raw gound meat called Bravo! and they too have a dealer locator search engine at www.bravorawdiet.com. This is a company based right here in Connecticut. So I'm not sure how widely they distribute their product. Just be sure not to buy any of the brands that include vegetables or fruit as most Turkish Angoras won't eat them. And also beware of any products that are labeled anything like "Greyhound Food". Stick only with the high end, ground meats that many quality pet stores now carry. Our guys love the ground rabbit the best, followed closely by chicken, turkey and buffalo. They don't seem to care for most of the darker meats at all like the Ostrich and other gamey prey. Nor do they care much for the variety of fish that's available. It was suggested to me that buffalo are likely range fed still and this could well be why our discriminating TAs do like it although it is fairly dark compared to the rabbit, chicken and turkey.
