choosing a canned food

If a vet recommends several different canned cat foods should I assume they are all good and buy the cheapest one or do my own research?

My last vet named three: Fancy Feast, Wellness, and California something. Already paying hundreds of dollars on allergy treatment, I wanted to save money and got the Fancy Feast. Now I am wondering if splurging on the Wellness or EVO would be better for my next cat.

Fancy Feast is not especially inexpensive. Cheaper than the other brands that come in 3-ounce cans, I suppose, but not cheaper per ounce than those bought in larger cans. So if you bought the 13-ounce cans of EVO or Wellness or California Natural it would actually be cheaper than FF and not a splurge at all.

Ideally you would feed a good variety of canned foods. So no reason to pick one--feed them all! Or whichever ones your kitties like anyway.

Vets usually aren't well trained in nutrition. For a supermarket brand, Fancy Feast is pretty good. If you buy the Classic style only, it has no grains or wheat gluten, and it's low carb.

Wellness is a reasonable quality food. The California something would be California Naturals. It's not grain free.

More important in quality is looking for grain-free low carb food.

I'm sure local prices will vary, but for the analysis I did with the foods priced at PetFoodDirect.com, of the grain free foods:

Wellness core was $0.36 an ounce (1.8% carbs)
Nature's Variety was $0.38 an ounce (2.0% carbs)
Merrick Before Grain was $0.25 an ounce (2.3% carbs)
Earthborn Holistic was $0.29 an ounce (2.9% carbs)
By Nature 95% was $0.22 an ounce (6.8% carbs)
Ziwipeak was $0.45 an ounce (9.0% carbs)
EVO 95% was $0.25 an ounce (11.1% carbs)
Weruva was $0.30 an ounce (12.7% carbs)
Natural Balance was $0.20 an ounce (14.0% carbs)
Soulistic was $0.25 an ounce (16.0%) carbs
Wellness (regular grain free) was $0.30 an ounce (18.4% carbs)
Taste of the Wild Rocky Mtn was $0.35 an ounce (18.6% carbs) (this food all has fish)
Nature's Logic was $0.30 an ounce (21.4% carbs)
Avoderm was $0.36 an ounce (22.2% carbs)

Fancy Feast (classic), was $0.30 an ounce (6.8% carbs)

Of that list, Fancy Feast has the lowest quality ingredients and the most additives (coloring, preservatives, etc.)

Nature's Variety, Ziwipeak, Before Grain, some Weruva flavors, By Nature, Earthborn Holistic, and Wellness are, IMO the highest quality foods. For whatever reason, Wellness core has chicken meal in it. :dk:

The only ones that don't have cargeenan are Nature's Variety and Nature's Logic. But Nature's Logic has so many fruits and veggie powders, I wouldn't feed it to my cats. Nature's Variety has a few veggies, but they're chunky, and easy to pick out before feeding.

EVO 95% meat, By Nature 95%, Before Grain, Earthborn Holistic, Avoderm (though it does have avocado oil), and Ziwipeak are the only foods without veggies.

My cat loves the Earthborn Holisitic Chicken Catcciatori.

LDG said:

Wellness Core was $0.36 an ounce (1.8% carbs)
Nature's Variety was $0.38 an ounce (2.0% carbs)
Merrick Before Grain was $0.25 an ounce (2.3% carbs)
Earthborn Holistic was $0.29 an ounce (2.9% carbs)
By Nature 95% was $0.22 an ounce (6.8% carbs)
Ziwipeak was $0.45 an ounce (9.0% carbs)
EVO 95% was $0.25 an ounce (11.1% carbs)
Weruva was $0.30 an ounce (12.7% carbs)
Natural Balance was $0.20 an ounce (14.0% carbs)
Soulistic was $0.25 an ounce (16.0%) carbs
Wellness (regular grain free) was $0.30 an ounce (18.4% carbs)
Taste of the Wild Rocky Mtn was $0.35 an ounce (18.6% carbs) (this food all has fish)
Nature's Logic was $0.30 an ounce (21.4% carbs)
Avoderm was $0.36 an ounce (22.2% carbs)
Fancy Feast (Classic), was $0.30 an ounce (6.8% carbs)

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I will copy and paste this information.

What is cargeenan and why shouldn't cats eat it?

This article was written in the context of soy milk, but it explains the problem with carageenan in a clear and easy to understand fashion. http://www.notmilk.com/carageenan.html

Willowy said:

Fancy Feast is not especially inexpensive. Cheaper than the other brands that come in 3-ounce cans, I suppose, but not cheaper per ounce than those bought in larger cans. So if you bought the 13-ounce cans of EVO or Wellness or California Natural it would actually be cheaper than FF and not a splurge at all.
Ideally you would feed a good variety of canned foods. So no reason to pick one--feed them all! Or whichever ones your kitties like anyway.

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At the time, Wilbur was obese and I had no reason to buy cans larger than three ounces. So yes, it was cheaper for me.

I guess it is you pay less per ounce with a bigger container.

Variety is good if the cat loves everything, but I will not waste my time with a picky eater.

I switched my cats to Merrick's Before Grain..Dee LOVES it, and I like the variety of flavors it comes in.