I'm poor, but want to feed my kitty right

I'm poor.  I work for a grocery store.  However, I want my cat to eat right and feel very protective of her.  She also needs medicine that costs $60 every month and a half or so.

I've been trying to make a plan where I can feed her well for a reasonable amount of money.  I'm trying to keep her wet food at about 80-120 calories a day (in two servings total), and the rest dry food (which she eats about 50-100 calories of a day, or 1/8-1/4 a cup of Wellness Core).  She's 8lbs and doesn't need to gain or lose weight.  She isn't a big eater in general and will eat her meals in 4-5 "trips" in a few hours.

Okay, so to the plan.  I've gone through that chart that has the listed percentages of Protein/Fat/Carbs (and some other stuff) and calories to figure out what is under about 10% carbs and has very good ingredients (so even in the lists below, I've determined which flavors are not acceptable, like certain Wellness CORE varieties have too many carbs).  The only borderline food I'm going to use are Fancy Feast classics to help bring down the total cost (I haven't bought any of these yet because I just decided it would be okay).  I also buy what I can of these sometimes at Pet Supermarket which has $2 off $10 coupons, so that saves me 20%.  Other pet stores will also take the coupons as competitor coupons.

So, the brands I've been trying out are:

Merrick - she likes these but hasn't had the new formulas yet.  they are about 1.50 a can, which is 3 servings, so $1 a day which is acceptable

Nature's Variety Instinct - some are above $2 a can which is too much, others are about 1.60-1.80, that's for 4 servings, so acceptable.

Taste of the Wild - these are 1.05 a can which is enough for one day (barely, they are like 85 calories).  she really likes them though.

Weruva - only a few of the regular ones are cost effective, being the higher calorie varieties, and a few of the Cats In The Kitchen varieties are cost effective

Wellness - grain free varieties and CORE are around 1.50-2 a can, but offer 4 servings so worth it.

I went to all of the pet stores in the area and buy from one that offers the best prices usually.  They are cheaper than the chain stores and any place I can find online.  I'm not sure if it's okay to mention their name on the forum?  Because they seem to be cheaper than any other place online and do ship to other places.  Anyway.  Other times I buy from chains when they have a sale on something like Wellness or Merrick and I can use coupons.

Okay, so I am still trying out lots of different flavors, and as you can see I've put a lot of thought into this.

What do you think of my plan?  Are Fancy Feast Classics really okay to feed?  Am I over-thinking this (probably)?  Any other suggestions to cost effective and super healthy foods?

I was thinking of switching from Wellness CORE to another dry food that is cheaper and has less carbs, but all I really found was EVO which has been recalled a lot.  I know dry food is "bad" but I can't afford to feed all wet... unless I bought something really cheap I guess... what do you think?  I've read that "any" wet food is better than even the best dry foods but is that really true?

Sorry this is so long.  Thanks for the input.

Fancy Feast classics are fine. Actually some have states that the cheapest canned food is better than the most expensive dry. Just something to think about/look into.

Look at grocery store sales and even their version of Fancy Feast classics as well as other canned. My late Grey cat preferred the Winn Dixie version of Fancy Feast classics over the brand name version. Helped save money!

Also, what about supplementing her diet with raw scraps? You can add about 15% of her diet with raw before worrying about nutritional deficits.

For what it's worth, I found out yesterday that the dog size cans of Instinct are appropriate for cats also - they contain taurine.  It's the only dog food which does.  They come in 11.5 oz cans (or was it 12, can't remember off hand).  For me, this is 2 days worth of breakfast for 2 cats.  Usually, if I purchase a can of chicken Instinct for instance, it's over $2.00 a can.  The large can, was well under $4 (I think it was $3.89) and I'm getting 4 portions out of it.  Since you say your cat doesn't eat very much, this seems very cost effective for you *if* she'll eat leftovers.  Some cats won't, but other don't mind.  Just make sure not to keep it in the can it came in; transfer it to another container that is not any kind of metal.  It will need to be very gently reheated - barely so.  I usually will microwave it on 50% power for way less than 30 seconds and that seems to do it.  

Not sure why Instinct doesn't market it for felines, but glad the owner of the pet store mentioned this to me.  

One of mine isn't crazy about leftovers, but I figured I'd give it another shot since Instinct is very good, and the cost doing it this way was too good to pass up.  I figured at least my other cat will eat it - she eats everything lol.

By raw scraps you mean just meat from when I bake chicken or make steaks, etc?  Just raw chicken or beef?

The grocery version of Fancy Feast... are they always the same exact thing?  I guess I should just look at the packages, but would they be made in the same plant?

Thanks for your help.

When you can find it on sale, Fancy Feast Classics is a great deal.  The least amount I've seen it for was about .44 cents a can.  Unfortunately, it seems the whole cat world knows about this and the shelves go empty fast!  Stock up if you ever see it that cheap.

sivyaleah said:

For what it's worth, I found out yesterday that the dog size cans of Instinct are appropriate for cats also - they contain taurine.  It's the only dog food which does.  They come in 11.5 oz cans (or was it 12, can't remember off hand).  For me, this is 2 days worth of breakfast for 2 cats.  Usually, if I purchase a can of chicken Instinct for instance, it's over $2.00 a can.  The large can, was well under $4 (I think it was $3.89) and I'm getting 4 portions out of it.  Since you say your cat doesn't eat very much, this seems very cost effective for you *if* she'll eat leftovers.  Some cats won't, but other don't mind.  Just make sure not to keep it in the can it came in; transfer it to another container that is not any kind of metal.  It will need to be very gently reheated - barely so.  I usually will microwave it on 50% power for way less than 30 seconds and that seems to do it.  

Not sure why Instinct doesn't market it for felines, but glad the owner of the pet store mentioned this to me.  

One of mine isn't crazy about leftovers, but I figured I'd give it another shot since Instinct is very good, and the cost was doing it this way was too good to pass up.  I figured at least my other cat will eat it - she eats everything lol.

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She isn't crazy about leftovers either, but I may have to find some tricks to make her like them more.  I was reheating it in the microwave but just started trying warm water a few days ago and she seems to be going for that more.

I just checked and can get the 13.2oz "Dog food" for 2.69 (5.5oz cans are 1.79 where I shop)... that would be a bargain for for 5 days of food!  Is it okay to refrigerate for that long (in a separate container)?  I may have to try this... thanks for the tip.  That would basically solve all my problems lol   I guess I could even give her more of it and get through it in like 3 days and greatly reduce her dry food intake.  Since she doesn't over-eat I want to leave her an option of always having food I think, but if she got 150+ calories a day from wet I doubt she'd eat more than a few bites of dry.  Very helpful, thanks!

Your kitty sounds very lucky to have you looking out for her. Don't worry about overthinking this - you're in good company

I'm not familiar with those brands. Personally, I think it's fine to include some lesser quality canned food to balance it out. As suggested, you could consider including some raw meats which can be really cheap, especially things like chicken giblets. But if it makes up more that 15% of her total diet, then it needs to be balanced out across meat, bones and organs. There's plenty of info on the raw food board if you want to go down that road. One of the issues with dry food is that it doesn't have water in it and can be dehydrating. You could still try mix the little bit of water in with her wet food and that should help with any potential issues there. I wonder if you could freeze canned food if it's going to sit in the fridge too long?

Good luck!

I'm not quite sure how long it will keep since I've never been faced with having to use it past a day.  Surely others here will know. I'd think for sure a couple of days would be ok, if not 3 if properly refrigerated.

Personally, I'd treat it like leftovers you make for yourself.  I don't eat leftovers more than 3 days typically - after that, it goes into the garbage but that's me.  Others are more frugal and have a higher tolerance for longer shelf life.  As they say, your mileage may vary 

my-boy-jasper said:

Your kitty sounds very lucky to have you looking out for her. Don't worry about overthinking this - you're in good company

I'm not familiar with those brands. Personally, I think it's fine to include some lesser quality canned food to balance it out. As suggested, you could consider including some raw meats which can be really cheap, especially things like chicken giblets. But if it makes up more that 15% of her total diet, then it needs to be balanced out across meat, bones and organs. There's plenty of info on the raw food board if you want to go down that road. One of the issues with dry food is that it doesn't have water in it and can be dehydrating. You could still try mix the little bit of water in with her wet food and that should help with any potential issues there. I wonder if you could freeze canned food if it's going to sit in the fridge too long?

Good luck!

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Thanks for the tips.  I don't think I'm going to go down the raw road for several reasons.

She does drink a ton of water on top of the canned food, so I don't think she is ever dehydrated.  She drinks at least 3/4 a cup of water a day.  When I first got her I measured it to see.  That seems sufficient when the moisture from the canned is put on top of that, right?  About the freezing, I'm sure it's possible but I doubt my cat would eat it after it was thawed again.
 

sivyaleah said:

I'm not quite sure how long it will keep since I've never been faced with having to use it past a day.  Surely others here will know. I'd think for sure a couple of days would be ok, if not 3 if properly refrigerated.

Personally, I'd treat it like leftovers you make for yourself.  I don't eat leftovers more than 3 days typically - after that, it goes into the garbage but that's me.  Others are more frugal and have a higher tolerance for longer shelf life.  As they say, your mileage may vary 

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Yeah, I am more frugal and will let leftovers go 4-5 days if they are simple things like chicken breast.  I think three days is okay.  I already refrigerate for two days.  I have to experiment with seeing if she'll go for 3 day old canned food.  Wish me luck.

ericapaige85 said:

Thanks for the tips.  I don't think I'm going to go down the raw road for several reasons.

She does drink a ton of water on top of the canned food, so I don't think she is ever dehydrated.  She drinks at least 3/4 a cup of water a day.  When I first got her I measured it to see.  That seems sufficient when the moisture from the canned is put on top of that, right?  About the freezing, I'm sure it's possible but I doubt my cat would eat it after it was thawed again.
 

Yeah, I am more frugal and will let leftovers go 4-5 days if they are simple things like chicken breast.  I think three days is okay.  I already refrigerate for two days.  I have to experiment with seeing if she'll go for 3 day old canned food.  Wish me luck.

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I'm with you.  I'm hoping my boy goes for the leftovers this time around also.  It would be awesome if I could go back to using Instinct, which I used to feed him in rotation with other foods before we got the second cat.  It's just way too expensive to use now with two of them, so this would be a great way to bring it back to the *table*.  They like the beef and lamb also - and the venison but that one is just still too much money even in a large can.  I think the same with the rabbit, plus I vaguely remember it is sourced in China, so I'm avoiding it.

sivyaleah said:

For what it's worth, I found out yesterday that the dog size cans of Instinct are appropriate for cats also - they contain taurine.  It's the only dog food which does. 

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One forumite reports  First Mate dry food, is exactly the same for dogs and cats, including taurine.

No grain but potatoes, high end he tells.

And the dog labelled is cheaper.

ericapaige85 said:

By raw scraps you mean just meat from when I bake chicken or make steaks, etc?  Just raw chicken or beef?

The grocery version of Fancy Feast... are they always the same exact thing?  I guess I should just look at the packages, but would they be made in the same plant?

Thanks for your help.

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Raw scraps: how about meaty bits that the meat dept. isn't going to use? Free...and of course anything you can spare is nice.

Usually the food is made elsewhere. That worked out in my favor since my old girl liked the cheaper version!