Need help finding wet food that won't break the bank

After reading some articles on this site I am now determined to feed 100% wet.  I was going to feed wet in the morning/night and then leave dry out over the day.  Yeah, no more of that!

Cat food however isn't like dog food I'm finding out.  I can buy a 30lb bag of quality dog food for $55.  Locally at the same store that I buy my dog food a can of quality cat food (5oz) is $2 - it's Taste of the Wild.

I have 3 cats...

Bailey - 5/6 year old male, been on UTI dry food

Cooper - 5/6 year old male, been on dry food his entire life

Lynk - 6 month old male, I've had him on mostly wet since I've got him

For wet I've tried the following foods.

Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys - All cats loved and ate this food eagerly

Wellness Turkey & Salmon - Cooper refused to eat it.  Bailey and Lynk ate it but very slowly and sometimes outright refused to eat it.

Taste of the Wild Canyon River - Same as Wellness

Fromm Duck - Lynk ate the entire test can I bought before Cooper or Bailey could get any.  The issue is the price on this food.

So from a price and quality standpoint, there has to be a middle ground between Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys and Fromm/Taste of the Wild/Wellness.  I just don't know what it is.

Also since I'm a newbie canned food buyer I don't even know what a good price is to even go out there and look. 

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3261+8743+8955&pcatid=8955

What do you guys think?  Confirmed that they are 5.5oz cans.

With three cats primarily eating wet the Wellness in the big cans would work and be a decent price.  I think the big cans aren't much more than the small cans.  You could try some other flavors.  My cats are kibble addicts so I am always looking for things that they will eat a little of on a daily basis and the Wellness chicken is one that they don't walk away from without eating at least some.

It looks a lot like Wellness Chicken except it has rice in it.  I see they've removed the garlic.  Both Dr, Foster and Smith and Wellness used to put garlic in their cat food.  I've never tried it or know anyone who has used it.

My cats only like the cheap stuff :tongue2:. I feed them mainly canned Friskies (because I have a lot of cats), but I do try to slip a can of EVO or Dave's in every day. . .and they always leave it until last, and only eat it if I don't immediately oblige by giving them another can of Friskies .

First, are you willing to order online? That way you're not bound by local availability. I'll assume you are :lol3:. Some good sites are www.doggiefood.com, www.chewy.com, www.nationalpetpharmacy.com, www.petflow.com, and oh, there are a few others I'm sure someone else will mention. But those are the ones I use most often, because of the free shipping. Of course, it would be best to get one or two cans locally before ordering a whole case . Even if you want to buy locally, you can get an idea of average prices by looking at the pet food sites.

Larger cans are always cheaper per ounce. A lot of the better brands (even Wellness) are sold in 12-13 ounce cans, and that does bring the per-ounce price down considerably. And since you have 3 cats, you'll be able to use larger cans without wasting any. Unfortunately, sometimes the larger cans are in flavors your cats don't like. But it's worth looking for.

By Nature 95% is good and not too expensive. Some formulas of Dave's are good (you want a minimum of fruits and veggies. Some Dave's formulas are very plant-heavy, some are mostly meat. So check the label). EVO 95% is not too expensive in the large cans. I think Wellness in the 12-oz cans isn't too pricey, though higher than the other brands. Authority (Petsmart brand) and Trader Joe's canned food are pretty good.

Even the cheaper foods like Fancy Feast and Friskies aren't too bad IF you get the "classic pate" kind. The chunks/shred/filets/etc. have a lot of plant protein and starches to thicken the gravy. IMO, a food that is mostly by-products but has a minimum of plant ingredients (like FF and Friskies pate) is better than a by-product-free food that has a ton of plant ingredients. Cats just don't need fruits and veggies. You can rotate some of the cheaper brands in with the better brands to help keep the cost down.

Denice said:

It looks a lot like Wellness Chicken except it has rice in it.  I see they've removed the garlic.  Both Dr, Foster and Smith and Wellness used to put garlic in their cat food.  I've never tried it or know anyone who has used it.

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Thanks, I'll try out a few cans then.  Because of my location I get anything from Dr. Foster and Smith next day.  Price is right and since it looks a lot like a quality food (Wellness) I'll give it a whirl.

@ Willowy

Yeah I think the reason why my dry food addict likes the Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys is because it has all those fillers that he has learned to love.  It is really cool how the young amigo in the mix will eat just about any wet food I put down for him.

Make sure you maintain a decent variety (I like at least 5-6 different flavors/brands). It's terrible when a cat only like one food and then it gets changed or recalled or discontinued. . .

It's also good to get at least a little real meat into them on a regular basis. Cooked or raw, whatever they like best.

Willowy said:

Make sure you maintain a decent variety (I like at least 5-6 different flavors/brands). It's terrible when a cat only like one food and then it gets changed or recalled or discontinued. . .

It's also good to get at least a little real meat into them on a regular basis. Cooked or raw, whatever they like best.

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That makes a lot of sense, whenever I have grilled chicken Lynk tries to steal it off my plate - or sometimes as I'm attempting to eat it.  I'll put an extra piece on for the cats from now on - oh and the dogs too otherwise they'd get jealous.

That pate style regular Wellness works out to about 22 cents an ounce in the 12.5 ounce cans bought  in cases of 12  from petfooddirect . http://www.petco.com/product/106458...id=CIGF78Gm_bgCFWJlMgodaHkAXg#description-tab        It does not have rice or other grains.   Some of the Wellness does have grains but many of them do not. 

Another food that is a reasonable price is Petsmart's Authority brand available in their stores.  For example here is the chicken http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11888824&lmdn=Brand&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No     That is about 90 cents for 6 ounces.   or 15 cents an ounce.   and sometimes is on sale for a bit less.  looks like it is 80 cents per 6 ounce can right now. .    It does have some wheat gluten.  so some of the protein is not coming from animals that is what cats can use best.   but it looks like it is very low carb .  It sure may be worth feeding part of the time.

 This chart may help in choosing foods  http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf      as well as this article  http://www.catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods  

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The pate  versions of fancy feast(classics), friskies, and 9 lives are all good choices. 

My cats go nuts over Halo http://www.petco.com/product/104975...at-Food.aspx?CoreCat=HaloMS_StewCannedCatFood

It seems like a really good food too! They also come in the huge cans to make things cheaper.

You could also try Merrick if it's in your budget - http://www.petco.com/product/113134... Free Grammy's Pot Pie Canned Cat Food-113134

Natural choice is also a good food, though I can only ever find it in the 3 ounce cans - good luck!!

We try to feed our two cats two types of wet food, alternating:  Simply Nourish Chicken (3oz cans - $1.00 at Petsmart on sale) and Sheba (3oz - $0.55).  Sheba is not grain free, but its is relatively low in carbs.  It is a little bit on the greasy side, but it comes in many varieties and is pretty cheap. Our cats like it.  "Simply Nourish" is outstanding in my opinion - white meat chicken flakes, mixed with some carrots; grain-free, high protein, low fat. Overall it is a little more expensive than buying 5oz cans, but the advantage is that we almost never have food leftover after feeding. We also give them roasted refridgerated food "FreshPet" brand - look for it in the freezer section of your petstore (some Walmarts sell it also) - it is in convenient "soft kibble" form, sold in 1lb bags for about $5.

The good thing about wet food is you can rotate it more frequently than you can dry food, so you could always buy what has decent ingredients and is on sale, or clip coupons!

A lot of sites have coupons you can print out and most manufacturers have email lists you can get on for discounts.  I went to Petco today and while I only bought 6 cans, I got:

Friskies Classic Pate 5.5oz

Halo Spot's Stew 3oz

Wellness Signature Selects 2.8oz

Merrick Cowboy Cookout 3oz

Nutro Natural Choice 3oz X 2

I only paid $1.50 after all the coupons I printed out at work earlier today.  Hunt around and see what you can find!  I know there are also coupons in the paper sometimes for larger packs of things like Fancy Feast Classic.  Just take a look.