Can't afford premium cat food anymore. Help!

catmom4

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I have a couple of questions about cat food. I have been feeding my 4 girls wellness wet grain free cat food for a while now but it has gotten to the point where we can't afford it anymore. I am in a dilemma as to whether to feed my cats all grain free dry food because it is so much cheaper or a cheap wet food? Any suggestions would greatly help. I really love my babies and wish I could afford to give them the best but I just caNt right now and I feel awful about it. I don't want to feed them something that will hurt them.
 

smitten4kittens

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Inexpensive wet is healthier then high quality dry. Dry food is mostly carbs. Even the cheap wet food has more meat. Are you in the U.S? If you are I can recommend some less expensive canned food brands.

There are some decent ones out there that are a lot cheaper then Wellness.
 
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catmom4

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Yes I am in the us on the east coast. Thank you that would be great.
 

smitten4kittens

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You could also try buying the 13 oz. cans if that works for you. They are more economical if your cat doesn't mind warmed up leftovers.

Some less expensive brands with decent ingredients are Natural Balance, Innova, Nutro, and Fancy Feast (stick with the classic line of FF).  Soulistic from Petco is a good choice too.

Even less expensive is Authority brand from Petsmart. I think it's .39 for 5.5oz. and the ingredients are decent. Trader Joe's Turkey cat food is good quality for a good price too. If you need to rotate in some Friskies to cut costs Poultry Platter has more meat than the others in that brand.

BTW, I'm on the east coast too
 
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catmom4

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Thank you so much I will look into the brands you mentioned. I was shocked to see fancy feast on the list. I have always been afraid to feed that to my cats.
 

sevenwonders

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Hi and Welcome to TCS, and thanks for caring so much about your Kitties! 


Lots of good ideas from S4K  


I strongly agree that cheap wet food is preferable to premium Dry.

California Natural Chicken & Brown Rice is another good quality food with very little grain.

(Very similar to Innova Cat & Kitten from the same parent company.)

My Feral / Garden Kitties also eat Friskies Poultry Platter / Grreat Choice Poultry Platter (PetSmart's version, with no grains)

and they seem very happy and healthy and have soft, shiny coats.

If you can afford to order a few cases at once to offset the shipping,

EVO 95% is very reasonable on PetFoodDirect in the 13oz size - especially if you choose "AutoShip"

which can be cancelled or modified at any time. (Ends up around $1.50 or so per 13 oz can,

which "could" make 2 good meals for 4 girls!)

Some folks order from DoggieFood.com as well, and seem happy with the prices.

You might already know - limit Fish flavors to once a week or less,

as they can contain mercury or other contaminants,

and can contribute to Urinary Tract issues.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask!   
 
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catmom4

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I just checked out pet food direct and the big cans of evo are a lot cheaper than the wellness. I thought that evo was bad now that p&g bought it? Please excuse me if I am being a bit naive I have searching the Internet for alternatives and read a lot of different things. My cats are all around 8 pounds would one 13.2 can feed them all for one day a can?
 
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smitten4kittens

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Thank you so much I will look into the brands you mentioned. I was shocked to see fancy feast on the list. I have always been afraid to feed that to my cats.
Fancy Feast (the classic varieties only) are actually high protein/low carb, just what a cat needs to eat.

I don't love ALL the ingredients in it, but since we are looking for the better brands that are less expensive, it's not bad.  I use it in my rotation to cut costs. I feel the same as you do.  I would love to feed them premium brands only, but I need to use a few inexpensive ones on occasion too.
 

sevenwonders

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I just checked out pet food direct and the big cans of evo are a lot cheaper than the wellness. I thought that evo was bad now that p&g bought it? Please excuse me if I am being a bit naive I have searching the Internet for alternatives and read a lot of different things. My cats are all around 8 pounds would one 13.2 can feed them all for one day a can?
EVO has vowed not to change anything after the deal with P&G.

Many of us here feed EVO 95% with very good results - my Kitties love it and do well on it.

As far as serving size, I think you'd be fine.

Most of my kitties are a LOT larger than yours, and they eat 2 wet meals of about 1.5 oz per serving per day,

(Big Kitties get a little more, small ones get a little less than 1.5)

plus a small (10 to 20 pieces, depending on the Kitty) dry snack inbetween.

You can get 8 servings (of a little more than 1.5 oz each) per can.

You could also give the between snack of Dry, or a can of Friskies / Grreat Choice Poultry Platter.

I'd give it a try!

Just weigh them once or twice per week - if they lose weight,

you will need to do the between meal snack thing.
 

smitten4kittens

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I just checked out pet food direct and the big cans of evo are a lot cheaper than the wellness. I thought that evo was bad now that p&g bought it? Please excuse me if I am being a bit naive I have searching the Internet for alternatives and read a lot of different things. My cats are all around 8 pounds would one 13.2 can feed them all for one day a can?
Most cats eat around 5.5 oz. of wet a day if that is all they are eating. You would need closer to 20 oz. a day for 4 cats depending on their activity level. The guidelines on the cans are usually high. Evo canned is a very good quality food! If that is in your price range I would definately go for it. I like it as much as Wellness.
 

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Well, of course there will always be something wrong with every brand! :tongue2: You have to decide what you're comfortable with. I'm feeding my cats canned Friskies, because I have a lot of cats and a higher-quality canned food isn't an option. But, because of my own observations since I switched, I'm confident that it's healthier for them than any dry food.

But buying ANY 12 or 13-oz can will cost significantly less per ounce than smaller cans, and sometimes internet prices are much better that local prices, so maybe if you find the right site, you can keep them on what they're already used to. Personally, I find the shipping prices at www.petfooddirect.com to be prohibitive (maybe it's better if you live close by? Because yikes! Even with lower prices or a discount it would make the per-can cost way too high) so I buy Friskies from www.doggiefood.com instead---they have free shipping for orders over $49. They currently don't have Evo 95% canned cat food listed; I don't know if they stopped carrying it or if it's temporarily out of stock. But www.nationalpetpharmacy.com has it, also with free shipping for orders over $49. One of those sites may have Wellness for a decent price as well, check 'em out.

Most adult cats eat about 5-6 ounces of most canned foods a day (of course, caloric content varies. But most are fairly similar), so probably one 13-oz can won't be enough for all of them. How much are they eating now?
 
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catmom4

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I am currently feeding them one full 5.5 oz can a day. They get a half a can in the morning and half a can a night. Sometimes they don't eat all of it. You are right I just need to feel comfortable with what I can afford. I just want what's best for them. Does fancy feast come in larger than 3 oz cans?
 

Willowy

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No, Fancy Feast only comes in the bitty cans :(. And, while it is less expensive than the other brands that come in 3-ounce cans, the per-ounce price is still much higher than anything that comes in a larger can. So if you have only one cat, FF is a decently-priced grain-free option. . .but if you have more cats it's better to get something that comes in a more economical size.
 
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catmom4

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Ok I think I will look into more economical options. I think with 4 cats the small can would still end up being really expensive. If they are happy with one can a day and are healthy does that mean I am feeding them enough? I wonder if it is too much sometimes because they don't always finish there morning food but do there evening meal
 

smitten4kittens

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I am currently feeding them one full 5.5 oz can a day. They get a half a can in the morning and half a can a night. Sometimes they don't eat all of it. You are right I just need to feel comfortable with what I can afford. I just want what's best for them. Does fancy feast come in larger than 3 oz ca
 Fancy Feast only comes in 3oz.cans. Evo is better quality. I would go with that instead. I didn't mention it earlier because I forgot it comes in 13 oz. cans which brings the cost down quite a bit. Do you have a Pet Valu near you? They sell some larger cans.
 
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catmom4

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No there is no pet valu near me I am in MA
 

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After we took in a couple strays last year and I was feeding more cats I sat down and did the math per ounce and did some reading on catinfo.com and ended up switching from the combination of Merrick before grain canned and Evo 95% to fancy feast classic. By doing that I've been able to feed more cats for the same as I was spending before. And then it got even cheaper than the large cans of Evo, when Amazon subscribe and save added their 15% off if you have at least 5 different subscriptions delivered that month. I was ordering from Amazon anyway because I was having problems with availability of the classic cans locally. It seemed to sell out all the time, when I needed them at multiple stores. 

I'm not thrilled with all of the ingredients in the FF classic, I think they use liver to frequently. My cats had started refusing to eat Evo anymore though and they don't sell Before Grain canned in the 13oz cans. Plus I don't have to deal with leftovers between meals, since the cans are small. And I can feed more cats for less. My cats do also eat prey model raw but they won't eat it exclusively plus I have a kibble addict I still feed before grain dry to. 
 
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AbbysMom

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Hi and welcome to The Cat Site! :wavey:

I'm not sure where in MA you live, but there are a few smaller pet stores that have lower prices than Petco, Petsmart, etc. There is Pet Lover, which sells mostly just premium foods:


http://petloverstores.com/directions.shtml

But much cheaper is Pet Supplies Plus. You can sign up for a loyalty card and get your food, litter, etc for much cheaper prices when on sale:


http://www.petsuppliesplus.com/
 

peaches08

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I feed raw, but when I fed canned I sometimes bought the grocery store version of Fancy Feast, 9 Lives, and Friskies.
 

krysta

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There's also a food called Dave's Pet Food, they are a small company based in MA (but my local pet store here in NC carries it), it has premium ingredients for good prices--no by products, grain free.  Maybe you can see if somewhere near you carries it and what the prices are?  You may even be near an actual Dave's store.  It comes in 3, 5.5, and 12 oz cans. Actually, I think I'm going to make a run to the pet food store myself, when I get back I'll let you know what the prices are here.  Being close to the source, you may get it cheaper there, especially if you can buy it at an actual Dave's store.

Edit--ok, now I'm back from the store. Here, the prices were 3 oz- $.79,  5.5 oz- $.99,  and 12 oz- $1.59.
 
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