I'm pretty much with Sadie Su here. I'm feeding Nature's Menu, Hi-life and Applaws dry. I throw in the odd bit of Whiskas as well as a neighbour gave me loads of it. She wolfs everything down.

She looks good on this diet, her coat is very shiny and silky.

I also was not aware of the extent of the "badness" of supermarket food and even veterinary diets until I came to this forum. I thought because I fed my cat Hills Science, that I was doing the best I could. I found the info and advice on the forums very helpful. Trying to improve my cats' diet has been an uphill battle (still ongoing) and I have taken on board the advice here as best I could.
However, some things are not practically possible for my particular circumstances. My cats prefer dry food, so that is what they get with a wet breakfast and dinner. I took the forum's advice and found an importer of Orijen, so that is what they eat. There is no way I can get Smilla or Grau or any of the other Swedish/German foods in this country. I therefore have to make do with what is available in the spirit of the best I can do. I have tried homemade, raw and found organic, holistic and even kosher grainfree wet food. My cats will not eat it under any circumstances. I am sorry, but I will not feed my cats dead baby chicks and mice (not that they would eat it). I have to draw a line there.
So they eat a variety of wet foods: supermarket, Royal Canin pouches and Fancy Feast. I realised I was becoming overstressed about their food and so have made a conscious decision to do the best I can and to stop worrying myself sick about it.

When we got Lola she was on tesco brand pate food, I slowly changed her to Hills Science Plan, and both she and Pixie are doing fab on it, although I also give Pixie applaws kitten.

Wow - what a thread!!

Well, here is my view as a 'new' kitten owner: I compare it to the whole 'breast is best' argument when people have children. There are strong arguments for high meat content, for wet as opposed to dry, for everything really.

I've had a vet tell me dry is best. A friend of mine with 2 cats feeds them Science Plan dry as her vet told her that meat ends up causing more problems than it solves. Complete contradictions to the learned people on this forum.

Personally, we've moved Hunter and Hermione onto wet and they seem to be better for it. We haven't gone down the Zooplus route yet but are choosing food from PAH.

Every cat is different, some have intolerances, some like chunks, some like pate, some love cheap food, have no medical problems and won't touch other brands and vice versa.

I think that cat owners should take on board advice given and just do what they can in their circumstances and based on what their cats like. We won't go down the Raw diet path and we might not end up buying the German or Swedish brands...but.....

the valuable feedback given means that we think a little bit more about our kittens and will read the labels and show a bit more interest in the nutritional content of foods.

Surely that is what forums like these are all about? We aren't politicians trying to convert citizens, we're just people that all care about our cats.