Affordable wet food?

I have finally talked my grandma into giving her cat wet food. She is on a VERY tight budget. What is the best quality for the least money? We live in a rural community but have a WalMart, Kmart, and Petco in a neighboring town. I noticed that the Friskies Whitefish variety lists fish as the first ingredients.

IMHO try for any wet food

Not trying to steal the thread...
You're saying that ANY kind of canned food is better than a good kind of dry? Why is that? Just trying to understand!

Not speaking for Sharky, but I think what was meant and how I look at things, any wet food is better than no wet food

Edit: this post http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=184187 has some pricing of different brands.

It is way cheaper to buy the big cans than the smaller ones. You can always freeze it if your kitty won't eat it all within a couple days.

I guess you don't have these brands over there but I used to feed Felix cans working out at 50p a can. One cat needs a can a day. That worked out at £3.50 per cat per week. That was £7 a fortnight, £14 a month. Infact to be honest I found there nothing cheaper. Felix is good quality cat food and was recommened in a national cat magazine and is part of the group Purina. I guess my tip would be, tins are cheaper than the pouches of wet food and still just as good. Now I don't have so many cats from 4 to just recently 2 I have been splashing out a bit, I've started feeding the purina gourmet pouches, at £5 a box of 12 they need 3 pouches a day. So a box lasts 4 days. Thats roughly 2 boxes per week £10 a week, £20 a fortnight and £40 a month. Really I don't think it makes much difference so more fool me but anyway there are my tips on wet food hope that kind of helps!

I think that Friskies is ok for the price...if you don't mind animal by-products...

the friskies flavors without fish (in pate style) are the "mixed grill", and "country style dinner". I know that the "mixed grill" comes in a 13oz can at walmart (at least at mine) and I only pay ~70 cents for that size can...enough to feed a single cat for about 2 days at least.

Also, friskies has some "special diet" foods that are supposedly good for UTIs. The beef & liver, beef & chicken, and turkey & giblets (pate) special diet formulas do not have any fish in them. These have similar percentages and ingredients to the perscription hills S/D wet, so they're a good option if the cat is prone to UTIs. Please note that the regular (non-special diet) version of friskies "turkey & giblets" DOES have fish, so avoid that one.

The special diet cans are only available in 6oz...they're the same price as other 6oz friskies...normally about .45 a can at walmart...go on sale at petco/petsmart for 40 cents a can. I bought a case (24 cans)of special diet (beef and chicken) at petsmart this week for $9.60.

My cats don't like the "chunky" or "shredded" varieties so I have not checked the ingredients on those for fish-free flavors...you could try looking on petfooddirect.com and check the ingredients there (instead of trying to read the labels at the store), if the cat likes the chunky type foods.

I think petsmart's "Authority" brand is a good value for the money...about .65 per 6oz can, but you didn't mention having a petsmart...

Petco, IMO is pretty expensive on their foods, but sometimes they have the friskies on sale for .40 a 6oz can... I like to use "natural balance" canned foods....which are at petco (but they're too expensive there so I buy online). Of those, the vennison & pea, duck & pea, and chicken & liver forumlas do not have fish.

Meow mix pouches / market selects are pretty reasonable, but most have fish...I think there's a chicken / beef flavor, but not sure if it has fish or not. Those are a "chunky" style.

Friskies just came out with the "friskies selects" line of foods as well...most of these have actual meat as the top ingredient (although some still have by-products in them). They are pretty good, but some still have fish so you'd need to check the labels. They cost about .75 a can normally, but often go on sale for .70, etc.

The "wholesome goodness" that's put out by meow mix has pretty good ingredients as well, but is a "chunky" style food. These are very expensive, IMO, but sometimes you can find them on sale. Also, they only come in 3oz plastic cartons, so you're really paying a premium for a small amount of food.

EDIT** The nutro max and natural choice cans have good ingredients too (look for fish lower in the ingredients list on non-fish varieties though) but I couldn't ever get my crew to eat them. That said, nutro often goes on sale and if you email customer service on their site (join frequent buyer program) they will send you a booklet w/ loads of coupons. also, they have reps. that go to the different stores and will give out coupons. The cans are a far better value than the pouches and the bigger the can, usually the lower the price per ounce.

HTH,
Art

My cats love the fish, is that not good for them?

For a NOT uti prone cat fish in moderation is okay ... ie I avoid fish formulas cept for about once a week

Thats good to know, thanks!