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How long will canned food last???

post #1 of 11
6/5/11 at 7:10am
Thread Starter 
I have a question regarding how long canned food will last in the . I have a 13 week old kitten that we feed mostly dry (Blue Wilderness) and some canned wet food. In order to save a little money, I would love to buy the big 13 oz cans and use it over a 4 or 5 day period - will that be ok? Right now, I buy the 3 and 5.5 oz and use it over 2 - 3 days. But, figured it would save me a little money if I could buy the bigger cans. I think the only big cans (13 oz) that I have seen that are grain free are Natural Balance. Are there others as well?

We typically only give the kitten about 1.5 oz or so at a time. Is that enough not enough? She always eats it all - we just don't want to keep adding more unless it's needed?
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post #2 of 11
6/5/11 at 8:13am
Personally, if it were me, I'd up the wet food intake and free feed the dry food. Wet is better for them anyway. I'd feed her 4 or 5 small servings of wet food a day and leave the dry food for her to crunch on in between wet food servings.
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post #3 of 11
6/5/11 at 8:31am
Thread Starter 
Regarding feeding more wet than dry - I have a few concerns. One is that if I do this that the cat will no longer want the dry food and will only wait for the wet. The other is that canned is alot more expensive than dry. I want to stick to grain free foods and feeding them mostly wet could get pretty costly. Typically, if you were to feed more canned than dry (free feed dry) how many cans (or oz's) of wet would you go through daily?

How long will the canned last in the ?
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post #4 of 11
6/5/11 at 8:54am
We have 2 cats and feed them wet food twice a day. We get the bigger cans of food and they last about 5 days. However, like I mentioned, you can always take part of the can and freeze it into smaller portions so it will last longer. Just be sure to label the bag!

We feed both wet and dry and don't have a problem with them eating both.

For feeding canned food, you want to feed one-half to one ounce canned food per pound of the kitty per day. Since your kitty is still a kitten, I'd go for the one ounce since it still needs lots and lots of nutrition.
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post #5 of 11
6/5/11 at 10:09am
IMO canned food will only be 'safe' in the refrigerator for 2 days, tops.
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post #6 of 11
6/5/11 at 10:16am
I buy the larger cans and use them up to 4 days. I just use the can covers.
Cats outside eat garbage and whatever else that's been laying around for who knows how long and don't get ill, so from my experience several days in the fridge is also fine. None of these guys have ever gotten sick from it.
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post #7 of 11
6/5/11 at 11:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LuvMyParker View Post
I buy the larger cans and use them up to 4 days. I just use the can covers.
Cats outside eat garbage and whatever else that's been laying around for who knows how long and don't get ill, so from my experience several days in the fridge is also fine. None of these guys have ever gotten sick from it.
I would tend to agree with LuvMyParker. Both because cats evolved to handle what we would consider amazingly high loads of bacteria (wild cats bury their breakfast leftovers and then dig 'em up for dinner, after all!) but also because commercially-produced cat foods have plenty of preservatives to keep the "food" fresh, and the vitamin/mineral mix is synthetic to begin with.

You might run into a problem with the kitties, though, because even with a cover, the food is going to get dryer over time. You might want to mix in a spoonful of warm or even hot water before offering it.

AC
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post #8 of 11
6/5/11 at 7:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Auntie Crazy View Post
You might run into a problem with the kitties, though, because even with a cover, the food is going to get dryer over time. You might want to mix in a spoonful of warm or even hot water before offering it.
Yeah, it does get a bit dry. I usually heat it up in the microwave for about 10 seconds and put a bit of water in it. They love it.
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post #9 of 11
6/5/11 at 11:58pm
Wellness says 3 days for their 12oz cans.
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post #10 of 11
6/9/11 at 8:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducman69 View Post
Wellness says 3 days for their 12oz cans.
I think 3 days is just about the max for most brands.
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post #11 of 11
6/9/11 at 9:29am
I use a 13 ounce can, over three days, for Nightmare. He is fed all canned and will eat two 13 ounce cans over 5 days.

How much do you go through? It all depends on the cats size and age. Kittens are going to be eating more, adults less. Nightmare is an adult cat and eats about 5 ounces of canned a day - I don't feed dry.
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