Alternatives to canned food?

alan71

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One of my cats is constipated so I've thought about switching both my cats to a canned diet...until I looked at the cost! I'm afraid that I can't afford to give my cats, say, 6 cans of Fancy Feast per day (the recommended amount for 2 10lb cats).

Are there any cheaper alternatives that have similar benefits?
 

zoeysmom

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There are a ton of different brands of wet food - of better quality and less expensive than Fancy Feast.

Search the forums and you will find a ton of info on different types of food.

The best quality for price I have seen, I think, is Authority from Petsmart. It's not the highest quality food, but has good ingredients and is pretty cheap. Might be worth looking into.
 

jack31

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I just starting feeding wet, and I'm only feeding it once a day--so they are getting roughly 40% wet and 60% dry.

I use one 5.50 oz can a day--I'm using nutro max cat right now. The 5.5 oz cans were on sale for 40 cents so I stocked up on enough to last for 1 month. I'm hoping that either nutro will be on sale again in 4 weeks if not i'll pay full price until it is. (Nutro always seems to be on sale at Petsmart)

I am also using nutro max cat dry.

I know they aren't the best foods but they have no by products and both cats coats have changed significantly since being on it.

Leslie
 

violet

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Alan71, hi again!

In an earlier post you mentioned the vet said your kittyâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s stools seemed larger than normal.

If this is the case, here is the information that applies (from the article I posted for you yesterday):

Since fiber encourages water absorption and increases the amount of stool produced (because it is indigestible), many experts have swung the other way and are recommending "low-residue" diets to minimize stool volume. "Low-residue" means that the food is highly digestible and produces minimal waste. Cats digest protein and fat best, but there is controversy about carbohydrates; it is clear that many cats are carb-intolerant. By this theory, the best food would be high fat, high protein, and low fiber, as well as high moisture. One would think that such a food would also be low fiber, but that is not necessarily true. Eukanuba Low Residue dry food contains 4% fiber, which is fairly high.
Most canned foods fit this description, as do most homemade diets. However, Eukanuba Low Residue manages to incorporate a large amount of carbohydrate, even in its canned food. Reading the label is an important skill to develop.
Based on this it will important for you to look for foods that are much lower in fiber.
Hopefully less fiber and the regular use of a lubricant laxative will solve the constipation/larger than normal stools problem.

As for
6 cans of Fancy Feast per day (the recommended amount for 2 10lb cats).
this is way too much food (manufacturers are notorious for recommending more food than cats really need), with that amount of food you would end up with 2 overweight cats in no time. One 5.5 oz can per cat (or two 3 oz cans if you buy the smaller cans) should be all you need.
 

ms.blackie

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That's sounds like too much food.
I feed Approx 3oz wet and 1/4 dry. My cat #2's everyday.
I do recommend you incorporate at least 1/2 wet
into your feedings and go from that.
 

yosemite

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One 5.5 ounce can of Merrick's per day split 1/2 morning and 1/2 dinner between Mika and Bijou plus 1/3 cup dry food is what I feed. Mika has access to more dry food overnight in our daughter's bedroom. Bijou needs to lose some weight so his dry food is being reduced.
 

moggiegirl

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If you're feeding wet food exclusively most cats only need about 6 ounces of wet food a day. That's a 3 ounce can in the morning and a 3 ounce can at night unless you have one of those large breeds like the Maine Coon that would need to eat more. Go with the 5.5 ounce cans. They're cheaper and although you need to refrigerate them I usually then the refrigerated cans sit on the counter with the lid on them for an hour before serving. That brings them back to room temp.
 
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alan71

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Thanks...I thought those amounts sounded like too much.
 

littleraven7726

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One of my cats eats 6-9 oz of canned a day. He doesn't really touch the dry food that often. He has to be pretty hungry to do that.

My other cat eats 3-6oz a day. Depends on how much he likes the flavors that day. He also gets measured dry food to snack on. The days he eats more wet, he doesn't eat as much dry food.
 

greenvillegal

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Definitely Alan. Thanks for asking your questions. I laugh at some feeding labels. They severely inflate the amount you have to feed your cat so that you will buy more of their food, therefore they make more money! The better foods will put the honest amount. Think about it in terms of how much food we eat per day.

I have a 25lb, a 15lb, and a 7lb and they all eat 5.5 oz of high quality wet food per day. The heavier ones are on a diet. lol.
 

yosemite

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Just a hint - when you take the partial can out of the
, just add a tablespoon or two of hot water. It will make it warmer and "gravier".
 

laureen227

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my 3 wet eaters SPLIT a 6 ounce can [plus about a tablespoon of homemade] each night... & they almost never eat all of it. weights are 8 pounds, 10 pounds & 16 pounds, btw.
 
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