What's the best "grocery store" brand?

I can't keep feeding my outside guys Socks' food and I can't buy anything expensive for the ferals because some of it gets ruined by rain storms and other animals eating it and my parents would flip. So, I know the grocery store brands are mostly filth, but of all of them, which is the least "filthy"? I mean, some food has to be better than no food, right?

Aaaaaaand, Chloe (I've been feeding her since last summer) came up on my front step and had a nice conversation with Socks through the closed window today. There wasn't any hissing, it was pretty cool. I'd eventually like to get Chloe fixed, vetted, and in the house, but I don't know if Socks and her would ever get along. I'm definitely getting her fixed and vetted in the summer though (I'm praying, for the kitties sake, that I get the job I've applied for.)

Anyway, I'm rambling. If you guys could answer my question about the food, I'd be happy.

Borrowed this from another post in Health and Nutrition

Grocery store brands are not inherently bad but some are better than others--for instance, Cat Chow is a middle of the road product; Purina O.N.E. is a premium, and Purina Cat Chow Senior is a specialty food with fewer calories and higher protein. Same company, different brands, each good for a certain "type" of cat.


I feed my ferals at the farms around here Purina Cat Chow. I will not feed Friskies, or MeowMix or Whiskas- too many dyes.

The new Friskies is pretty good. I would buy Purina Cat Chow or Friskies!

I feed my ferals speical kitty, it is from walmart. I'm not sure how good of a food that is but they seem to all be doing well on it.

PrincessPurr, I hate to tell you this, but Special Kitty is one of the really bad ones. However, it IS better than nothing. With time, if you can, you might want to switch over to Cat Chow. Don't introduce the Cat Chow all at once, because the change might be hard on their tummies. Mix in a little with the Special Kitty each day....each day putting a little more cat chow in until it is all cat chow.

I feed Cat Chow to my ferals and gro through a 10 pound bax each week. Here in KY it is about $8.00 for the 10 pound bag...so that is not too bad.

I didn't know special kitty was bad. I'll have to switch them over to something else. I just liked it because it came in REALLY big bags!!!! They have two different kinds of speical kitty, i wonder if both kinds are bad. I might switch them over to authority, petsmart brand. I think I read that that is pretty good.

Is the special kitty wet food very bad for cats too? I started using the packets because he loves them so much but I don't want him to croak or anything..

I am in the process of switching my kitty from Purina One to Authority and he LOVES the Ocean Whitefish. I am doing 50/50 purina and authority and he will pick out all the authority, it's so cute! I'm trying to find solid gold locally and when I do I will see if he likes that because apparently it's one of the best brands..

Well, I use the Always Save Brand to my ferrals around here...It looks just like Purina cat chow and I get a huge 30lb bag for only 6.99... I am almost certain it is ok because there are no dyes in it....

Do your supermarkts sell Iams or Eukanuba? I don't know what the difference in price is, but my understanding is that the formulations are healthy ones. The only problem with Eukanuba is that it is a very "smelly" food (has a strong smell, to which cats become "addicted" or accustomed), and it can be hard to get them to eat anything else after that.

my grandma has some ferals near her and she refuses to buy cat food, she just makes extra people food for them, lol.. is that safe? The get sliced turkey, ham, meatloaf... they eat better than me..!

Annabelle,

Although leftover people food is better than nothing, it does not have the nutrients necessary for a healthy cat. For example, cat food is supplemented with taurine. (I think I am remembering the correct name of this nutrient.) Without taurine a cat will become blind and will develop heart problems. Cats who live in the wild typically die before these problems develop, but cats who are being fed might develop the vision and heart problems because the people food is keeping them alive long enough for the other problems to develop.

Has grandma caught and neutered her ferals? I sure hope so! If not, we can help you help her do this. Neutering is the best way to keep feral cats happy and healthy!

I fed my ferals and inside cats, cat chow, for years. Than I read in other forums that you should feed your cats the best food you can afford. They didn't like Iams or Eukanuba so I've been feeding them Science Diet Dental, Authority Weight Control and Purina One. A few months ago one of my cats had a URI problem and I took him to the ER. The vet asked me what I fed my cats. When I mention Purina One she shook her head and said "no, no, no, they need a good quality food." She said she fed her cats Eukanuba. She also said not to feed them any seafood cat food because it wasn't good for their urinary tract.