CHEAP high-quality wet food?

Does it exist? I feed Moses just a bit (1 Tbsp, or so) of wet food each night as a treat, and I've just been using the cheap brands I can find at a grocery store. (Meow Mix and Friskies) He doesn't like the pate kind - only the shredded/sliced kind. Of all the cheap brands, what is the best?

The cheapest I've found is the "authority" brand at petco. Their 6oz cans go for about 65 cents each here.... Quality is comparable to nutro max cans. Soem grains, but no by-products. They also have a good variety of flavors. Both authority and nutro offer many flavors that are NOT fish-based, but you'll have to read the labels. My cats really liked the authority turkey/liver, turkey/chicken, and beef/liver cans.

Nutro is also a good product and fairly inexpensive at about 80 cents per 6oz can.

Both are "pate" style...not the "chunks in gravy" style.

With the amount you feed, you probably wouldn't be interested in the large cans (13ozs) but you can get some brands cheaper that way... I buy EVO 95% meat cans (turkey/chicken, beef, vennison, duck, rabbit) and a 13oz can (when bought 12 to a case) is about $1.15 a can (so 58 cents per 6.5 ozs). BUT, these will go bad if you open the can, and it sits in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. They are available in smaller cans, but the cost is FAR greater. Natura also makes a brand called "california natural" which has good, limited ingredients... They are a good bit cheaper than EVO, so smaller cans might be affordable for you.

Nutro should be available at any local pet store and petco/petsmart. Authority is a petsmart brand, so only available through them. EVO and Cal. natural would only be found at higher-end petstores (maybe petsupplies plus). Natura (their parent company) has a "store locator" on their website that might help you.

Art

I did a search and came up with these two links:

http://thecatsite.com/forums/showthr...=%22grocery%22

This one is about decent foods that can be found in grocery stores and the like.

http://thecatsite.com/forums/showthr...=%22grocery%22

This one is about cheap wet foods.

Hope they help

I'm actually in the process of switching both my boys from Meow Mix (which has fish in every single flavor) to Friskies, which is what my bengal boy Max used to eat in his previous home.

I spent a good 45 minutes reading all the labels on all the flavors of Friskies at Petsmart, and found about 1/2 dozen that have no fish in them.

I then tried them all out on my boys, and while Max will eat any and all, Ferris only liked two, both shredded: Chicken in Gravy and Turkey and Cheese in Gravy.

At 33 cents per 6 ounce can, that fits my budget as well as their bellies. I don't skimp on the dry - I feed them a mix of Nature's Variety Raw Instinct and Royal Canin, and since my Bengal girl eats only one flavor of Sheba wet (at at least $1 per 3 oz tub) I have to save SOMEWHERE!

So IMO, as long as you are giving them the best dry you can afford, it is ok to feed them a lower quality wet.

I like that Friskies has flavors without fish in them, so that I can get my boys on track to eating a more preventative urinary health diet.

I feed less expensive wet foods too. I'm in school and the budget doesn't allow for the California Natural I'd really like to buy Stimpy. Nabu has always been a FF/Friskies/Meow Mix wet food guy.

I feed:
Friskies (gravy and loaf), if you check the labels some aren't too bad.
Fancy Feast (same as above)
Fancy Feast Medleys (usually as a treat on holidays/birthdays)
Meow Mix pouches (they have quite a few without wheat gluten)
Authority (loaf) Stimpy loves these, and it fits my budget.
Friskies pouches (also have decent ingredients at a low price)

Whiskas has a new pouch called "Purrfectly Chicken". The ingredients looked really good, but my cats hated it. They also make fish pouches.

My cats get 2 wet meals a day. I used to give Fancy Feast 2 times a day for my cats (1 can each) but when our budget changed, I couldn't. So Authority, Friskies and Meow Mix fit our budget really well. The cats like them too. Those also allow for more variety, if Nabu doesn't have enough variety he stops eating his wet food.

My guys also get a measured amount of dry food to snack on.

I feed our cats the Nutro packets that they have at Petsmart that are normally $.50 a packet.

Originally Posted by kcwm

I feed our cats the Nutro packets that they have at Petsmart that are normally $.50 a packet.

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Yup, but you have to feed twice as many packets to get the same amount of food/calories in the cans. They end up being more expensive. (Took me a while to figure this out, lol). I guess you don't have to do that though, you could feed a Nutro pouch with a little bit of their dry mixed in instead of feeding 2 pouches. Meow Mix pouches are about $0.30 each and are not awful, Wal-Mart has a case of 12 for $3.50. I think out of all the grocery store wet food brands, Meow Mix is the best choice.

Nutro Max 5.5oz cans are about $0.80 at PetSmart. If I feed dry in the morning and wet at night, that is only $0.40 a day for the wet food. (You just save the rest of the can with a lid cover). It's cheaper in the long run to buy the larger cans and save the leftovers in the fridge, but some cats won't eat leftovers. The 3oz cans are about $0.50 and they are almost all chunky with gravy.

Authority is another good cheap option, but I think those are pate? Not sure.

Any wet food is better than no wet food. Especially if you are feeding a higher quality dry food. Based on what you said your cat likes, I would give Meow Mix pouches a try and then throw in a few cans of Nutro Max or Authority as well.

Originally Posted by artgecko

The cheapest I've found is the "authority" brand at petco.

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Authority is the PetsMart brand isn't it?

Are the fish flavors bad?

FISH is NOT bad ... but for most limiting fish is best since it is high in minerals

Both of my cats seem to only like the gravy in the nutro pouches. they eat a little but seem to leave 70% of the chunks in the dish. Anyone else have this problem? Yet they will both eat most of the whiskas. friskies or FF pouches. I had the same problem with Wellness. I do feed quality dry but I can't seem to find a quality wet they like. Especially the older cat. The kitten isn't as fussy. Probably cuz he was rescued eating out of a dumpster.

Oopps! Yes! it is the petsmart brand. I think I posted that after a long day at work, so my brain was elsewhere. Those are the petsmart brand and only available there.

For those that feed the friskies cans... Do those that don't contain fish have by-products or no?

Art

Originally Posted by lilyluvscats

Both of my cats seem to only like the gravy in the nutro pouches. they eat a little but seem to leave 70% of the chunks in the dish. Anyone else have this problem? Yet they will both eat most of the whiskas. friskies or FF pouches. I had the same problem with Wellness. I do feed quality dry but I can't seem to find a quality wet they like. Especially the older cat. The kitten isn't as fussy. Probably cuz he was rescued eating out of a dumpster.

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Mine do the same thing.

Originally Posted by artgecko

For those that feed the friskies cans... Do those that don't contain fish have by-products or no?

Art

Click to expand...

Yes, but some varieties the by-products are a few ingredients down--not the first ingredient. They are also usually identified--ex. poultry by-products, etc.

I do wish Friskies had shredded or chunked flavors in the 13 oz cans! I feed a lot of those.....and I've discovered it's cheaper to buy 13 oz cans of premiums to feed my fleet than it is to buy a bunch of 5 oz cans!

I was going to suggest buying 13 oz cans, but with how much you feed Moses they'd spoil in the fridge!

You can watch, also, some stores will sell you food by the case....one smaller store here gives a 3% discount when you buy by the case, while not much, it does make a difference!