Cheapest, healthy canned cat food?

My cat Scarlett has had chronic diarrhea for months and had accidents constantly. She recently had a round of Clavamox and hasn't had accidents for several days (thankfully!) but still has diarrhea.

The vet thinks she may have irritable bowel issues. Along with giving her medication, I've also been giving her canned food, so I'm not sure which one is helping more.

I've been giving her Fancy Feast, and she's only really liked one type so far (I read the labels and tried to choose the best one, ingredient wise).

Is that okay as her main diet? (she's a small cat, but I give her two cans a day because I think she needs to gain weight). If not, what is the cheapest canned food that would be sufficient as her main diet?

I still leave out a bit of her dry food (taste of the wild), but she definitely likes canned better.

Thanks

Fancy Feast definitely isn't the cheapest or healthiest canned.

If you are feeding two cans of Fancy Feast you are spending at least $1.20 a day if not more.

Do you have Kroger supermarket near you? If you do, I'd try the Brandon Farms Naturals 95% meat cans (they are grainfree) and run about 1.00-1.19 for a 6.5 oz can.

Otherwise I'd look at maybe Wellness canned--check out petfooddirect.com that's were I comparison shop--I never buy there just use it to find brands etc.

Leslie

I actually think wellness is one of the most expensive canned, the Brandon farms looks good though. Eagle pack is pretty cheap IMO.

If you buy the large Wellness cans it isn't bad. The large cans run about $1.75 around here, for 12.5 oz. I feed my kitties Taste of the Wild and Wellness wet, although I am planning on trying the Brandon Farms next time I go to Kroger, for variety!

What stores (regular stores, speciality pet stores, and big box pet stores, like Petsmart) are near you, and/or how much do you like shopping over the internet? And, honestly, IMO, whichever food works for your kitty is going to be the key thing - and you're a good mom for trying to find what's best for her.

Here Felidea is 1.29 to 1.39 for 13 oz

eagle pack is 1.39-1.69 for 13 oz

Wellness , Innova are about 2$ per 13 oz

many stores will in fact give you a discount on cans if you buy a case of the same brand... local feed store is very nice and lets you mix and match flavors

Fancy Feast is expensive and low quality. The 3oz cans are anywhere from $0.50 to $0.75 here.

The least expensive wet foods here are Nutro Natural, Nutro Max, Chicken Soup, and Authority. I buy the larger sized cans because I split them between 2 cats. It's always cheaper, per oz, to buy the largest size can possible. You can buy lid covers to save the leftovers in the fridge. If your cat doesn't eat the cold wet food, you can try re-heating it.

I can buy a 6oz can of Chicken Soup for $0.84.
Natural Balance (6oz) is $0.99
Nutro Max and Nutro Natural are about $0.79 to $0.89 for a 6oz can.
Authority is always less expensive than Nutro, with similar ingredients.
Meow Mix isn't too bad, but it's not as cheap as it appears. Those little cups and pouches only have about 60 calories, whereas the same amount of canned wet food from other brands would have closer to 100.

You are feeding a good dry food (Taste of the Wild), so you don't really have to be as picky about the wet food. A lot of cats love Fancy Feast because it's kind of like kitty junk food.

Thank you for the advice! Unfortunately, I don't have a Kroger nearby. I have Petsmart, Giant Eagle, Petco, Pet Supermarket, Pet Supplies Plus, and a local one called Pet Junction.

I didn't think of the fact that Fancy Feast comes in smaller cans than some of the others. I bought some of the Meow Mix wholesome goodness, and she likes that, but it's definitely rather expensive to give her twice a day (it would be about $53 a month- eek!).

I'll check out the authority food at Petsmart, or some of the other premium brands at Pet Junction and see how those price out.

Thank you!

My boys were eating the Nutro max cat pate's and are now on strike against them but they will eat the authority brand pate's! I'm glad they decided to hold off on their strike until we were down to the last few cans--otherwise I'd have 4 cases of food and no cats to eat it.

Leslie

Hang on to your Petsmart receipts - mine went on strike against the Nutro small cans (the chunk with gravy type) and Petsmart took it all back. Now they like the pate - go figure.

Authority is good and really cheap considering the ingredients... However, if your cat is prone to UTI, etc...you should avoid fish (at least this is what I've heard). All of the authority cans, except the lamb/rice have fish (I think) not as the top ingredient, but in the top 6 or so.

Other than authority, I like natural balance...but it is not cheap. It goes for ~$1.25 per 6oz can here. I order it online and save money that way, but I have to order in bulk to save on shipping. Their vennison / pea, duck & pea, and chicken/liver cans do not have fish.

In the local grocery stores, I buy the friskies in the 13oz can for ~72 cents. Their "mixed grill" and "country style dinner" flavors (pate style) have no fish in them.

I really like the EVO and by nature 95% meat cans as well...but again, they aren't that cheap... the by nature is ~$10.99 per 12 6oz cans and the EVO 95% beef is ~$19 for 12, 13oz cans online. (but that doesn't include shipping) however, these contain more calories than your average can, so you can feed less.

HTH,
Art

I believe taste of the wild dry and canned is very fishy!