food question

i've been reading past post on good foods and i found that TOTW meets my budget for dry food and not many complaints on here about it but i would like to get a good wet food to give to them for like 3 days a week but it has to be a cheaper food i'm not to good at deciphering labels in the store but i have 3 cats and would be like 36 cans a month or so....my budget allows me about $20 extra a month for wet food (that's with me putting back for vet check ups and the emergency cat vet visit fund i set aside) ive been looking at friskies but most have by-products in them except the savory shreds beef gravy

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (Min)9.0 %
Crude Fat (Min)3.0 %
Crude Fiber (Max)1.0 %
Moisture (Max)82.0 %
Ash (Max)2.0 %
Taurine (Min)0.05 %
Ingredients

Water sufficient for processing, liver, chicken, beef, wheat gluten, turkey, ocean fish, corn starch-modified, soy flour, artificial and natural flavors, added color, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, taurine, choline chloride, salt, zinc sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, niacin, manganese sulfate, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide. A-6122

i know its not the best but is their any around the same price range as this its .49 for a 5.5 ounce can at my local wal-mart the only stores here that sell cat food is wal-mart, k-mart, petland and thats about it.....

Do you have a Petsmart in the area? If so, their cheaper house brand Sophistacat is one of the better cheap canned foods. And there are a lot of flavors. By-products in a canned food aren't as bad as by-products in a dry food. I would avoid things like wheat gluten and artificial flavors. Their premium house brand Authority doesn't have by-products, but it's about 75-80 cents a can.

You don't have to give each cat an entire can at each feeding. Most cats don't like to eat that much in a sitting anyway. Splitting one 5.5 ounce can among 3 cats every night would be fine.

no i dont have a petsmart anywhere nearby and if i buy it online at least at the places ive checked i might as well buy the more expensive stuff and i wouldnt feed one 5.5 ounce can per setting maybe 1 can per cat per day i think thats what they call for anyway if thats right?? since i cant afford the more expensive stuff could i just add a lil warm water to their dry food ?? would that do the same thing??

IDK but if you have three cats what about splitting one 5.5 ounce can three ways on a more frequent basis?

It's tough reading the tiny print on canned cat food labels. I believe the ingredient list for Friskies chicken shreds is comparable to the beef shreds.

Any health food stores in your area? The local co-op here sells pet food, and if you buy EVO or Merrick BG, it's the same stuff in the bigger dog food cans. I can buy a 13.2 ounce can of either for around $2.

Originally Posted by shaddo

i wouldnt feed one 5.5 ounce can per setting maybe 1 can per cat per day i think thats what they call for anyway if thats right??

Click to expand...

That's if they're eating only canned food. If it's just a treat they definitely don't need a whole can per day each (and, like I said, they probably won't eat that much in one sitting). Splitting one can 3 ways would be plenty.

Friskies won't kill your cats. If you can't get anything else it's perfectly acceptable, especially since they'll be mostly eating dry food. Anything to get some moisture into them.

I've never had a cat who would eat moistened dry food. Plus, it'll spoil quickly so you can't leave it out all day. But I suppose it's worth a try.

Also, I have no idea what kinds of food Petland carries, but check out their house brand. It may be comparable to Sophistacat. And some grocery store generic canned foods (not the dry foods!) are actually pretty good.

I feed mostly dry and split one 5.5 ounce can of Friskies among 6 cats once a day. It's mostly for a treat rather than a substantial part of their diet.

Unfortunately, you can't just pick a style and use different flavors of that. You need to read the ingredients for each flavor because they're not all equal. For example: Meaty Bits Chicken and Gourmet Grill both have a named meat as the first ingredient while the Beef flavor has by-products first. They do all have by-products somewhere further down the list.

I have four cats who won't eat pate style wet food, and five who won't eat fish, so I haven't researched those. Here are the styles and flavors I'm willing to feed.

Meaty Bits Chicken or Gourmet Grill
Savory Shreds Beef, Chicken, or Turkey
Prime Filets Beef, Chicken, or Turkey

Another grain-free dry food I've used is Solid Gold Indigo Moon, but it's pricier than TOTW, about $7 more per 15 pound bag I think.

thank you guys for your imput i just want the best for my kitties for my budget i dont want them to have alot of health issues due to my neglegence and i looked for evo and they dont sell it around here i have limited options for wet food for under 80 cents a can but i think ill do the splitting of a can 3 ways each day or two for them and my cats are weird they scarf the TOTW down faster when i add warm water to it...and they dont leave any like they normally do when i dont .... but what would you recommend every day add some wet in 1 meal or every other day or so?? but im probably going to have to just go with the friskies and im new to this stuff kittens ages 6 8 and 9 months old....the friskies i was going to get said for cat and kitten....iams kitten is also an option thanks again for everyones help and these are the 1st kitties i have ever owned