High Quality (and potential IBD/Allergies) on a Budget

Hi Everyone!

It has been, what feels like a million years since I posted, but I'm back and of course, have a question. Before I ask though, I wanted to give a quick background.

Without getting into too much detail, I am now on one income in my household and having to do everything myself (which has been a huge adjustment). Esme and Naku were on raw and did great, although Esme became pukey in the last month or so she was on it. I then found, now having to do it all myself, I was getting quite overwhelmed feeding raw. For the past few months, they have been back on wet and doing fine. So, over the past year and some change, I found that Naku (this is all opinion of course) might have IBD and/or allergies to poultry, which is what sparked the whole raw feeding (so he could have poultry and more variety).

Now that I'm doing it all, I really need to cut down the food budget. I'm currently spending $140 on average per month, just on wet food. They get a mixture of the following brands: Merrick (Naku can't eat it though, makes him vomit), Weruva, California Natural, Wysong, Wellness CORE, EVO, and I think that's it. Since he has, what I assume was a poultry allergy, I've kept him on beef, rabbit (although I can rarely ever find anymore), pork, and venison and he does a-ok. Esme does get poultry in hers. I have found though, that Naku will eat little bits of Esme's food (poultry) and be fine - no vomiting.

So --- with all that being said, does anyone have any possible recommendations on how I can cut my food budget for them?

Although I would prefer not to give kibble, I'm thinking I may just have to, since I think high quality kibble will still end up being cheaper than wet. Even if I mix in some wet a few times a week (if budget allows). I would like to get the budget as low as I can, I'm just nervous about Naku. I did go onto the IBDkitties site and sift thru their recommendations for dry food and I think I may be able to find some options for Naku (I'm hoping to find trial size bags so I can test the waters a little bit with him).

Any feedback and or previous experiences you guys have had would be EXTREMELY appreciated!!!!

And please, I really do not want to start a kibble/wet/raw debate, as I personally prefer raw/wet, but due to budget concerns I need to make some cuts where I can.

Raw ended up being cheaper for me to feed than cheap canned, but I make my own raw...were you purchasing meats from raw food suppliers? What about prey model raw, would that reduce costs any?

As far as canned, what about Friskies pate and Fancy Feast classics?

Yep, that would be my thinking too. :nod: If you can work in Friskie's Pate foods and Fancy Feast classic style pate foods, especially if you're able to stock up when they're on sale, maybe you can still work in some of the other canned options?

I think the By Nature 95% stuff doesn't cost an arm-and-a-leg. Another cost-effective option may be Tikki Cat - they now have chicken (everything else was fish-based stuff). Also what about Ziwipeak? It cost less than EVO, Weruva, and Wellness Core at the locally-owned pet shop here. Also, the Before Grain 95% stuff, as I recall, didn't cost as much as EVO, Weruva, or Wellness Core.

In the long run, if you have a reasonably-sized freezer, as peaches08 says, it may be worth the investment in a grinder, if you want to consider it. Buying meat on sale does mean that feeding home-made raw ends up costing a lot less than decent canned foods, though the Friskie's pates and Fancy Feast classics really aren't so bad.

I do hope you're able to find canned food that works for your budget. :heart2:

As to dry food... I really don't know what to suggest. If you HAD to go that route, I'd look at EVO. They just had a recall, but maybe they have new dry food back on the shelves? :dk: It was the only one that wasn't packed with carbs. Well - the Wysong Epigen 90 isn't, but it costs more than most canned food.

Thanks! The raw ultimately became more of the time constraint for me and became a bit overwhelming always chopping meat. I tried to load up as much as I could, but it is very difficult, at least in my area, to find meats not jam packed full of sodium. When I did find them, they rarely went on sale. I know ultimately it is cheaper than the wet (I think even with supplements), but it really came down mostly to the combination of lack of meat selection and time of cutting and prepping. I could typically find SOME chicken and turkey, pork became pretty hard to find. Those would have to be the main 3 I kept in rotation, but ultimately, chicken usually ended up being the easiest one to find, and I know it's best to keep at least 3 in rotation. Also -- Esme started to vomit every raw meal. Not sure why. I even took her off for a little bit and began to transition her back in, and she began to vomit again.

Why oh why can't they ever be on the same page? Lol

I definitely appreciate your input and I think I will have to put my options side by side and get an idea of what I can realistically handle.

OOps.. Just wanted to add -- the ground meat is a no go for my guys. Naku would probably eat it, Esme will NOT. Ever since she's had boneless, that's the only raw she'd eat. Such a picky girl that one.

I do have a regular meat grinder attachment for my mixer, but I don't think it could handle bone, just regular 'ol boneless.

Also thought of another question...

If you do feed wet, how much are you feeding? I'm wondering if I'm feeding too much or possibly even too little? They end up getting about 8oz/day (I was just going by the cans usual feeding guidelines). They are both around um.. 11ish lbs. They are definitely long overdue for a weigh-in.

Esme eats all of her food (thank goodness, for once) and Naku.. well, he is a kitty vacuum and eats anything and everything in sight (even Esme's stray fur around the house, kinda weird).

PrincessEsme said:

OOps.. Just wanted to add -- the ground meat is a no go for my guys. Naku would probably eat it, Esme will NOT. Ever since she's had boneless, that's the only raw she'd eat. Such a picky girl that one.

I do have a regular meat grinder attachment for my mixer, but I don't think it could handle bone, just regular 'ol boneless.

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Aw, I'm sorry about the vomiting. Some cats seem to do that - they need a break for a few weeks after having been on raw for a few weeks to a few months. None of us have figured out what causes it, but Esme's not the only one that's had that. It's frustrating, I know.

Just for the future, to put in the back of your mind... if she eats boneless, and your grinder will grind boneless meat, you can still make your own ground raw. The Alnutrin eggshell powder is inexpensive, and you can use that to provide the calcium. In fact, if you can provide the meat and liver, you can buy the Alnutrin with eggshell to balance it. Costs $20 for enough eggshell powder to balance 40 pounds of meat.

http://www.knowwhatyoufeed.com/shop_online.html

Or you can just follow the recipe at http://www.catinfo.org, but use eggshell powder instead of bone. The eggshell powder costs $6 and balances... something around 70 pounds of meat

Both are available at the link I just posted.

(FYI, I feed a number of my meals as boneless - I just use the eggshell powder to balance the calcium).

I stock up on boneless thighs, breasts and (unenhanced) pork loin, usually for $1.99 a pound on sale. I'm so sorry this doesn't seem to be the case where you live.

Are they overweight? 8 oz a day of higher-quality canned food is a lot. . .but some cats need more than others, so you have to go by their weight/body condition. Most cats do well on about 5-6 oz a day, depending on the calorie count of that brand/flavor.

PrincessEsme said:

Also thought of another question...

If you do feed wet, how much are you feeding? I'm wondering if I'm feeding too much or possibly even too little? They end up getting about 8oz/day (I was just going by the cans usual feeding guidelines). They are both around um.. 11ish lbs. They are definitely long overdue for a weigh-in.

Esme eats all of her food (thank goodness, for once) and Naku.. well, he is a kitty vacuum and eats anything and everything in sight (even Esme's stray fur around the house, kinda weird).

Click to expand...

My adult cats that ranged in size from 10.5 pounds to 14 pounds all ate 5.5 ounces of food a day.

My 2 smaller cats ate... less than that.

I know the cans vary in calories, depending on the fat content. EVO has one of the highest fat contents out there. Weruva, Tiki Cat, and By Nature don't have as much. But I didn't vary the amount based on that. Most of them got 1/3 of a can of food at each meal, and they were fed 3 times a day: before work, after work, and before bed.

Oh - and on raw, those same cats eat either a little less than or 4.5 ounces of food.

The 7 and 8 pound kitties eat 3 ounces of raw food daily.

Please PM me. I have a big package of TC Feline premix that is about to expire in July (you could probably use a little beyond that point) and would be willing to let it go for next to nothing at this point.

The others have made good recommendations as far as cheaper wet food. You could consider feeding one meal wet, one meal raw.