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- Oct 18, 2013
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The Simply Nourish regular & "indoor cat" dry food has rice flour and oatmeal. They have another line called Source that is grain free and it's $30 for 12lbs.
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Cheap but decent dry food: does it exist?
- Thread starter karagraaf
- Start Date
Thank you mrsgreenjeens, yes I have actually, I used to use it.
For some odd reason, still unknown to me, I had 2 adult cats who would vomit on the Kirkland food. ONLY that one, which I thought was very strange. Even tried mixing it with another, and also retried it later, and it always did the very same thing.......(???) go figure!
It seemed to be a good dry food to me as well, and all the others did fine too, but because of these 2 I made the change, I do have a few other fosters who are still using it for their cats with no issues at all though.
I should not have said all our foster cats are on Nat Bal, as some supply their foster cats food, while others we pay for who can't really afford it.
For some odd reason, still unknown to me, I had 2 adult cats who would vomit on the Kirkland food. ONLY that one, which I thought was very strange. Even tried mixing it with another, and also retried it later, and it always did the very same thing.......(???) go figure!
It seemed to be a good dry food to me as well, and all the others did fine too, but because of these 2 I made the change, I do have a few other fosters who are still using it for their cats with no issues at all though.
I should not have said all our foster cats are on Nat Bal, as some supply their foster cats food, while others we pay for who can't really afford it.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #23
I recommend Wellness Core dry, which is grain and gluten free. Petco has a 2pound bag on sale for 9.99 and you can get a 5$coupon off any bag of dry off the wellness website which would make it 4.99 which is fantastic for their quality dry (: My kitten loves it when she gets her kibble. Not sure if anyone answered the egg yolk question but you just mix it into their canned 
I either do that or give my kitten the yolk by itself with some freeze dried treat crumbled on top.
I either do that or give my kitten the yolk by itself with some freeze dried treat crumbled on top.
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2013
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We have been using the Friskies pate for awhile with one cat that throws up when fed dry food and dry to the other monsterHow do you give egg yolk to your cat? I actually eat scrambled eggs almost every day, one whole egg and one egg white and have a yolk left over that I never know what to do with, so that would be VERY doable
I just would like to have dry availed because we often visit my parents who are an hour away and some times we get home very late, I would like to have dry sitting out for just that purpose.
I never thought about raw-- just sounds pricey so I never gave it a thought but I admit I am very clueless about it.
I hate to just give my cats junk to eat - it's not that I can't afford anything. But with a family of 5 and me being a stay at home mom, I do have to be careful with my money . I hate to sound cheap and have it negatively affect my animals., so I'd rather choose something middle of the road. I have to keep reminding myself this is still better than if her and her babies were outside in the snow and cold.
Anyway, maybe all Friskies canned will work. Maybe I'll just leave dry food out to nibble on if I am going to my parents house and not able to get home in time(if my dog doesn't get to it first)
I kept reading that dry food is not so good even tho it is economical. So we have decided on wet for both of them. I did some reading and the Friskies outdoor formula wet food is a step up from the regular Friskies and has more real meat, in fact the Friskies pate is mostly meat by products. The good thing is its only about 10 cents or so more a can, and they seem to really like allot. I dont know if its relevant but the recommended amount to feed cats on most product labeling seems more for the benefit to the cat food companies than based on actual need of the cat. My Bombay is up to 16 pounds and she averages about 1/2 cup of food a day. The American short hair maintains about 10 pounds at 1/2 can of wet a day although she will probably be getting more with the new friskies variety. I guess my point is dont feel obligated to follow to the letter the amount they tell u to feed a cat. An indoor cat isn't all that active and I certainly dont feel they are underfed.
Back to the OP, I have never had good luck adding dry to wet. Dry alongside for in-between yep.
We feed grain-free dry [for] some serious health issues in the past. Corn is the worst grain you
can feed a cat.
We feed 17+ and we are on a fixed income. Our budget was determined on vet bills vs good food.
The best dry we have fed is EVO. It is very high in protein, and very digestible. That in itself lends
to another problem.....waste. The EVO had lots of crumbs and powder left in the bowls.
Evo was eaten by every cat though, even new babies.....right out of the chute. Evo is pricey.
About $52 for 16lb bag here. We feed at least 4 bags a month.Maybe 5 bags.
We mostly now feed Merrick [chicken] as we have never had much luck with ANY fish flavors
in any brand, and since our cat numbers grow, and our income lessens, we are now forced
to supplement with a lesser priced dry......
The best we have found that isn't priced up there with EVO, Origen, etc. and not too pricey
yet still 'appears' to be healthy, is Purina One "Beyond", and they all like it.
What freaks me the most in any regular cat food.......is not the amount of 'so-called' meat they
'claim' is in it.......but the derivative of the meat......and protein.
Mechanically separated, ground, meat meal, ANIMAL DIGEST..........
Could be chicken lips, feet, bones, even fecal.
Some things I just can't do, at any savings.
I read the ingredients label, and most of them offend me.
Jus' sayin'
We feed grain-free dry [for] some serious health issues in the past. Corn is the worst grain you
can feed a cat.
We feed 17+ and we are on a fixed income. Our budget was determined on vet bills vs good food.
The best dry we have fed is EVO. It is very high in protein, and very digestible. That in itself lends
to another problem.....waste. The EVO had lots of crumbs and powder left in the bowls.
Evo was eaten by every cat though, even new babies.....right out of the chute. Evo is pricey.
About $52 for 16lb bag here. We feed at least 4 bags a month.Maybe 5 bags.
We mostly now feed Merrick [chicken] as we have never had much luck with ANY fish flavors
in any brand, and since our cat numbers grow, and our income lessens, we are now forced
to supplement with a lesser priced dry......
The best we have found that isn't priced up there with EVO, Origen, etc. and not too pricey
yet still 'appears' to be healthy, is Purina One "Beyond", and they all like it.
What freaks me the most in any regular cat food.......is not the amount of 'so-called' meat they
'claim' is in it.......but the derivative of the meat......and protein.
Mechanically separated, ground, meat meal, ANIMAL DIGEST..........
Could be chicken lips, feet, bones, even fecal.
Some things I just can't do, at any savings.
I read the ingredients label, and most of them offend me.
Jus' sayin'
" and then the added litter costs is going to run me dry"----karagraaf
This is one of the most overlooked costs when you have cats.
Petco has 'bulk' that you fill your own buckets, and usually on sale,
but litter is heavy and a PITA anyway you slice it. $$$$ or labor.
I envy the folks that have (2) cats...........it would be so simple.
So cheap and inexpensive. And have the top-quality best.
P.S. For raw, chopped chicken breast works very well, and walmart
has family packs for $1.99/lb
Chop/slice it, put in small tupperware, freeze it .
We have used chicken breast raw to redeem the health of many cats
that almost expired.
We almost lost JR to a major kidney failure 2 months ago. Jaundiced
to the point of a golden color, backbone like a knife blade, loss of muscle
tissue and weight to a feather......and after blood work, antibiotics, vet clinic
overnight stays, then home to die, silver colloid and raw chicken breasts......
He is now gained most weight and muscle back, no jaundice, and very
active. Now, when time comes......to wean him off the raw chicken ?
"----karagraafThis is one of the most overlooked costs when you have cats.
Petco has 'bulk' that you fill your own buckets, and usually on sale,
but litter is heavy and a PITA anyway you slice it. $$$$ or labor.
I envy the folks that have (2) cats...........it would be so simple.
So cheap and inexpensive. And have the top-quality best.
P.S. For raw, chopped chicken breast works very well, and walmart
has family packs for $1.99/lb
Chop/slice it, put in small tupperware, freeze it .
We have used chicken breast raw to redeem the health of many cats
that almost expired.
We almost lost JR to a major kidney failure 2 months ago. Jaundiced
to the point of a golden color, backbone like a knife blade, loss of muscle
tissue and weight to a feather......and after blood work, antibiotics, vet clinic
overnight stays, then home to die, silver colloid and raw chicken breasts......
He is now gained most weight and muscle back, no jaundice, and very
active. Now, when time comes......to wean him off the raw chicken ?
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #28
I really didn't expect to have 7 cats in our house, we meant to just adopt one! I gladly will take care of the kittens until they are older because the alternative would have been so much worse with this awful winter we have. The kittens are now starting to eat food now, I gave them dry food with some water and the mom threw it up. So we are back to wet. I am considering some raw but I just don't know if we can do that. I do have 3 kids that come first then our animals but I want to give my animals the very bet I can do. It's just hard to budget it when I have no idea what a normal serving would be. She is now eating one 13 oz can a day since she is still nursing. And now the kittens are starting to eat a bit too. I am loving the kittens at this age, so I am just going to enjoy them while I can and try not to worry about costs
You can feed 2 meals a week without worrying about calcium balancing, etc. Consider gizzards, chicken thighs, chicken wings, etc. Breast is nice but pricy. I'd consider necks/backs too. The only thing I'll remind you to watch for is enhanced meats. Check the sodium content on the package. Anything under 100 g is fine.
I'm a nursing student so I live on limited funds and understand having to really watch the budget. Consider getting a deep freezer off of Craigslist. That's great for the whole family to save money. I buy meats on sale or sell-by date and freeze. Today was 9 family size packs of chicken thighs at $0.99/lb. That's about 3 months worth of food for my 3 cats. So roughly $15 worth of meat for 3 cats comes out to less than $1/day for all three cats. I couldn't feed Friskies that cheap. Of course, it all depends on where you live and what's available to you (sales).
I'm a nursing student so I live on limited funds and understand having to really watch the budget. Consider getting a deep freezer off of Craigslist. That's great for the whole family to save money. I buy meats on sale or sell-by date and freeze. Today was 9 family size packs of chicken thighs at $0.99/lb. That's about 3 months worth of food for my 3 cats. So roughly $15 worth of meat for 3 cats comes out to less than $1/day for all three cats. I couldn't feed Friskies that cheap. Of course, it all depends on where you live and what's available to you (sales).
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #30
I actually do have a deep freezer. with my family if 5, I have to buy bulk of chicken when it's on sale as it is. Also we get 1/2 cow every year. I'll look into raw a little more, check out some links. I do like to have some dry that they can munch on when I'm gone though.
I'm the same way with wanting dry to munch on when not home. I also suggest feeding non supplemented raw if you only do it for about 3 meals a week it helps keep the costs down. I feed my 5month old raw chicken breasts once a week and ground turkey once a week. Along with dry for when I'll be gone too long, I feed Wellness Core for dry.
How awesome to get a half cow! So jealous! I almost never buy meat unless it's on sale (except gizzards/liver). I just can't justify the cost.
About having dry to eat during the day, are these kittens that you're trying to increase their caloric intake? If not, time between meals is actually a good thing for cats. Check out www.catinfo.org written by a vet that spent some time researching cat nutrition. My own cats eat a 1/4 cup raw twice a day. When I want to sleep in (I'm a nursing student), I'll split a tin of sardines between the three cats and delay their evening meal a few hours. Otherwise the physical amount of food that they need is very little. But, again I understand cost/time and trying to perform a balancing act! When I needed better quality dry kibble for my old kibble head, I fed Evo Turkey and Chicken. I bought it from a private pet food store that kept 10% off coupons on his website. He was the same price as Pet Supplies Plus anyway.
Another thing about raw since it was brought up, I wouldn't feed raw meat ground by the grocery store. First, it's expensive. Second, it's meant to be cooked. I can trust my clean grinder when grinding my cats food. But the store's grinder is likely to be contaminated with bacteria. Cooking the meat is fine, I'd just be concerned about feeding it raw.
About having dry to eat during the day, are these kittens that you're trying to increase their caloric intake? If not, time between meals is actually a good thing for cats. Check out www.catinfo.org written by a vet that spent some time researching cat nutrition. My own cats eat a 1/4 cup raw twice a day. When I want to sleep in (I'm a nursing student), I'll split a tin of sardines between the three cats and delay their evening meal a few hours. Otherwise the physical amount of food that they need is very little. But, again I understand cost/time and trying to perform a balancing act! When I needed better quality dry kibble for my old kibble head, I fed Evo Turkey and Chicken. I bought it from a private pet food store that kept 10% off coupons on his website. He was the same price as Pet Supplies Plus anyway.
Another thing about raw since it was brought up, I wouldn't feed raw meat ground by the grocery store. First, it's expensive. Second, it's meant to be cooked. I can trust my clean grinder when grinding my cats food. But the store's grinder is likely to be contaminated with bacteria. Cooking the meat is fine, I'd just be concerned about feeding it raw.
My boyfriend grinds up the turkey for me
I grind my own as well. However, it needed to be clarified for the original poster that ground meat from the grocery store can be suspect as far as raw feeding.
I think equally concerning is the potential veterinary costs.
If you're trying to save a couple hundred bucks here or there over the course of the year, I think that's fine, but what are you going to do when all those kitties need shots, get fixed, or some medical issues arise?
There's no shame in putting up a free kitty posting on Kijiji, or taking them to your local animal rescue groups. Where I live, there's at least 4 volunteer rescue groups, not including the local humane society. You mentioned you already have your own large family to take car of, that certainly takes precedence over housing a few too many hungry kitties. Good luck
Could you tell us where on the Wellness website the coupon is? I poked around a bit & didn't see anything....
I recommend Wellness Core dry, which is grain and gluten free. Petco has a 2pound bag on sale for 9.99 and you can get a 5$coupon off any bag of dry off the wellness website which would make it 4.99 which is fantastic for their quality dry (: My kitten loves it when she gets her kibble. Not sure if anyone answered the egg yolk question but you just mix it into their canned
@PezKat No problem! If you want anymore coupons or bargain deals you check out my thread, I try to post as many coupons, freebies and deals as I come across them.
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/269630/cat-bargains-deals#post_3470049
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/269630/cat-bargains-deals#post_3470049
