What is the best supermarket food for my 10/11 week old kitten? Other questions also!

I have been buying REALLY expensive food for my kitten because she had such a horrible start to life (stray baby, orphaned at 1 week and diagnosed with pneumonia after being abandoned in the rain), problem is, I am only a student, currently unemployed and I can't keep paying more than $10 for 4 cans of food that she goes through in 4 days... But I don't want her just eating crap so what would be the best food to look out for?

Also should she still be on kitten formula? She is lapping up water fine and eating 4 times a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner and before bed). Is that enough? 

it depends a little on which supermarkets are available to you, and which brands they stock, but a widely available one in the US that I think is pretty decent for the price is the Fancy Feast classic pates. Sheba seems to be very similar and slightly cheaper.

At 10/11 weeks, I think you can stop with the kitten formula since she is eating and drinking fine. 4 times a day is good as long as she's not acting starving between meals.

Great job on saving this little girl. I followed your thread with great interest. Always nice to hear a happy ending to a sad beginning.

Another in the "cheap but decent" categories is the Friskies' pate foods (best to avoid the fishy flavors). They're high protein, low-carb. Some have rice in them, but they're still low carb. :nod: I think they'd be good to have in rotation too.

Also, FYI, if you want to not feed the same can in a day, once you open a can, you can portion it into meal sizes and freeze them. Just takes a couple of minutes to dethaw a baggie of a one-meal size of food in a bowl of lukewarm water, and helps keep the food fresh.

vball91 said:

it depends a little on which supermarkets are available to you, and which brands they stock, but a widely available one in the US that I think is pretty decent for the price is the Fancy Feast classic pates. Sheba seems to be very similar and slightly cheaper.

At 10/11 weeks, I think you can stop with the kitten formula since she is eating and drinking fine. 4 times a day is good as long as she's not acting starving between meals.

Great job on saving this little girl. I followed your thread with great interest. Always nice to hear a happy ending to a sad beginning.

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I live in Australia so Woolworths or Coles are my local supermarket, we have Whiskas, Fancy Feasy, Dine, Natures Gift... What should I look for to know if it's decent quality? Is there anything I should avoid? She tries to eat EVERYTHING, she's a little fatty and she's going through so much of the expensive food I just can't keep up! That's why I need to start buying the cheaper stuff. I was paying $2.50(USD) for a 185g can which she'll go through in 24 hours! I wouldn't mind fattening her up a bit. 

Thank you, it's been quite a journey but I think we've survived the worst of it and I feel very lucky that my pup has not only accepted Kali into our little family but loved, protected and cared about her too. I got a picture of them sleeping next to one another last night. When I find the chord for my camera I'll upload it.

If you have the Fancy Feast Classic pates, I think that's your best bet. I'm not familiar with Dine or Nature's Gift. Generally what you're looking for is named meats high in the ingredients list, by-products lower down, no grains/gluten/soy/veggies/fruits.

I live in Australia too. Do you live near any pet stores? I have a local Petstock and they sell a ready made raw diet. The one I get is Big Dog for Cats. It's got some ingredients that I wish they would leave out, but I still think it's a good alternative to a lot of the canned food. For $13 it has 12 portions at 115 grams each. My kitten will eat about 1.5 of those a day so it works out to about $1.60 a day plus the bit of dry food I leave out overnight.

I don't consider Fancy Feast to be all that cheap really. It says to feed one can per 1.1 kilos of body weight each day. My kitten weighs almost 3 kilos. If I fed him 3 cans a day, that would cost just over $3. 

I got some Nature's Gift for my kitten. The ingredient list looked reasonable but Jasper wasn't very keen on it. I've only given him the Duck but I thought the texture was weird, like really rubbery. He is pretty picky with canned food though. He does love Fancy Feast. And has turned his nose up at any of the 'premium' brand canned food so far.

I too am a fan of the Fancy Feast pates, as far as big box cat food goes.

But feeding top-of-the-line canned food is actually the MOST expensive thing you could do. You could feed her just as well for less.

I recently switched my kitty to commercial raw (Nature's Variety and Primal frozen raw) and the cost works out exactly the same as feeding her Fancy Feast for me. It's slightly more expensive by weight, but you don't have to feed quite as much, so it evens out.

Lilin, savingkali is in Australia, and unfortunately we are really limited when it comes to ready-made raw.

There seems to be a general consensus on this site that Fancy Feast (the classic one) is about the best value for food that is quite nutritious.  My local petbarn has a deal on them.. about $1 per can I think.

Do we have Friskie's pate meat here?  If we do, I'd go with what LDG says as she knows her stuff..

If your cat will eat Nature's Gift, from what I can make of the ingredients I reckon it's a good way to go.  Sometimes the 'cheapy' stores (like the Reject Shop) have them cheaper still with a good use by date.  And it's all Aussie..

Check the roo meat at Coles and Woolies too.. as LDG says, you can divide it up and freeze it.

Yes, kitten food is best.. although you don't say how old she is?

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Oh! I couldn't see the OP was from Australia when I was posting (locations aren't up when you use the phone - at least not on mine).

tammyp is from Australia, and has a blog about living with kitties in Australia. I THINK she has some resources up, but not sure. Anyway, here's a link so you can surf around: http://catstuff4aussies.weebly.com/food--health.html

Wow - $1 a can for Fancy Feast? Wow, that IS expensive.

Mani said:

Yes, kitten food is best.. although you don't say how old she is?

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She's 10/11 weeks old and I've had her since she was 8 days old. Here's a link to the main forum about my little warrior. She's been through alot! http://www.thecatsite.com/t/258503/...an-you-tell-me-if-i-am-doing-everything-right

savingkali said:

She's 10/11 weeks old and I've had her since she was 8 days old. Here's a link to the main forum about my little warrior. She's been through alot! http://www.thecatsite.com/t/258503/...an-you-tell-me-if-i-am-doing-everything-right

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Oh, how gorgeous!  Good on you for saving this little girl. Great name, too..

Where are you in Aus?  My local pet shop has an excellent mix in the fridge that you can seperate into portions.. I usually freeze them once I've done that, and just keep a couple out.  It works out at about the same as a mid-priced cat food, if not less.

LDG said:

Wow - $1 a can for Fancy Feast? Wow, that IS expensive.

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And that's the reduced price..

Many things are much more expensive over here.