Food brand and Finances!

Hello Everyone-

I am the proud dad of three beautiful cats, 2 1 year old males (brothers) and 1 4 year old female all indoor.

I have been feeding them the Kit and Kaboodle from walmart but I want something better for my kids.

The issue here is that I am a full time student and work part time, I want to give them something good, something in between. I wish I could afford the priciest food, but i cant, but I also want to buy them something better than the walmart food.

Any advice you guys might have? Thanks in advance.

Eddie

Some brands like Premium Edge, Taste of the Wild (Grain Free), Chicken Soup, Diamond Naturals, Nutro MAX....to name a few.....are higher quality yet not so pricey. You can find Nutro MAX on sale for $20 for a large bag (approx 15 lbs????).

Purina ONE isn't bad, and it runs about $21 for 15ish lbs.

Ugh, yes, anything would be better than Kit'n'Kaboodle. It's the worst brand on the market that I know of (except for some dollar store generics). If you look at the ingredients, you'll see that there aren't any meat ingredients listed until the 4th ingredient, and there are some pretty bad ingredients as well (BHA, food coloring, etc.).

What is the price range you're looking at? Like I said, almost anything would be a step up from what they're currently eating. You can get Purina Naturals at Wal-Mart, it's fairly decent and reasonably priced. If you have some feed stores in your area, there are better brands for about the same price as Purina Naturals.

Of course, whenever you switch dry foods, you have to do it gradually or your kitties could get an upset tummy. Mix some of the new food in with the old food, gradually increasing the amount of the new food until that's all they're getting.

Is it possible for you to buy some canned food as well? Cats have a hard time getting enough water, so feeding some canned food is a good way to get that moisture into them.

The Costco brand (Kirkland Signature) dry is pretty highly rated, and quite economical: $15 for 20 lbs.

But almost anything is better than they would be eating on the street, so don't beat yourself up too much.

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I will be ok with spending 30-40 a month I believe and this includes buying them some can food

Is Purina Total Pretty good?

How about Purina ONE vs Purina Total vs Purina Naturals?

Thanks in advance,

Eddie

Can you link Purina total? I am not familiar with that name..

One vs Naturals ... I choose the Naturals due to about half the cost and ease of getting

where are you able to shop?

I am able to shop anywhere, got all the major stores with petsmart, petco, etc. What do you guys think about AUTHORITY? the brand made my petsmart.

authority is solid

For thrifty I second the votes for Taste of the Wild and Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. I don't know whether they have those at the chain pet stores. You may have to find a smaller store. Or get them online.

And to what seess said, it's not that brand is important in and of itself, it's that ingredients and guaranteed analysis are important. Some brands have a much better profile.

Do you have a Tractor Supply near you? They have a brand there called 4 Health. It's 19.99 for an 18lb bag, which is a really good price, and the quality is good too. I have 11 cats, and I mix a 15 lb bag of Taste of the Wild, with the 18 bag of the 4Health all life stages and my cats love it. They are all shiny and healthy and their poop looks great, as good as poop can look I suppose...

IMHO the best you will get for your money is Kirkland, the costco brand, if you have their card... Very good food, and only about $15 for a 25lb bag... Great ingredients, kitties do very well on it...

I wish we had a CostCo here. . . .