Best "Box Store" Dry Food?

I know this is an odd question, but I was at  Walmart yesterday and a lady asked me what I fed my cat.  It was kind of obvious that she wasn't going to do NVI or go to Petco.  Apparently the cat had refused whatever wet food she'd tried.  I did say that they often liked the Chicken Fancy Feast, but I have no idea what is the best of the dry ones there. 

Apparently the cat isn't too fond of Purina.  This probably won't happen again, but you never know. (She did take a couple of cans of FF, but you know cats.)

Good question. Since I fed wet, I don't know of a good dry food, and even less so a good, cheap dry food!

If people ask me about what type of dry food to feed and state that they've tried wet, I usually probe a little and find out what sort of efforts they've made to introduce wet. Usually they just expect to lay down wet food as is and are unaware of different strategies like toppers, mixing the food slowly into wet, or trying different textures.

Unfortunately I've also found that most people will not listen until their cat develops health problems. Even my two good friends just say, "She's doing just fine on dry." Typically people who are more interested are those that have a natural interest in cats and who earn enough money to afford higher end food.

Well, Walmart isn't the best place to launch into a big speech .  She did seem fond of the cat though. Said if she'd known how nice cats were she'd have had them instead of kids . I don't know, of course, but this isn't a real high income area.  Of course, I saw the local judge in another Walmart one time so one shouldn't assume.,

DianaMc said:

 
Well, Walmart isn't the best place to launch into a big speech .  She did seem fond of the cat though. Said if she'd known how nice cats were she'd have had them instead of kids

. I don't know, of course, but this isn't a real high income area.  Of course, I saw the local judge in another Walmart one time so one shouldn't assume.,

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Yeah, don't assume anything about how much they earn just because they're in Walmart. I'm not rich, but our household does earn above area median income. I shop at Walmart because it is about .25 miles from my house--around the corner, and it has everything.

I once got into a conversation with someone at Petco. They pretended to take my advice, but as soon as I wasn't looking they put the cans back on the shelf and picked up a bag of Felidae. Felidae's a good middle of the road brand, so it wasn't affordability issues. I think a lot has to do with the fact that kibble is perceived as "normal." I used to think so myself. I mean, they have dog chow and the zoo even has monkey chow, so cat chow must be good...

Maybe this thread will help. I haven't read it since I only noticed it after it was quite big:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/269167/cheap-but-decent-dry-food-does-it-exist

Honestly, I don't even know what is available anymore in the grocery stores or Walmart/Target as far as dry food goes.  I used to buy Purina One, the  moved up to Costco's brand (obviously not available elsewhere), then finally wised up and moved on to wet food. 

Well, if I get asked in that Walmart, I guess I can send them to Tractor Supply.  Now I know what their 4Health brand is and I think they have Taste of the Wild too. I was just there because they had Wellness.  They didn't have much and it was fairly high priced but I was able to get a couple of cans to try the flavors before we get to Petco (which is also high priced). Thanks for the link to the thread, although I don't think Walmart carries anything mentioned.

I'd say, if forced to pick a Walmart dry food. . .Purina ONE, Purina ONE Beyond, Cat Chow Naturals, Iams Healthy Naturals, even regular Iams isn't too bad.

Thanks. Apparently the cat wasn't too crazy about whatever Purina she'd been using. All we need is some tracts and we'd seem like some cult members or something if we get too aggressive .  I can't blame people too much for thinking dry is okay when most of the people they know probably feed it and their vet likely says it's fine. Your doctor probably doesn't want you taking internet advice either.

I'm here because my cat had euthanized and the vet had never noticed the urinary issues.  I'm trying to do better now.

I believe Walmart carries a 'premium' brand of dry food called Evolve. It looks like a middle of the road premium kibble. Not grain free, but no majorly red flag ingredients. Krogers in my area carry Nutrisource for some reason. As always, I prefer raw and canned over kibble, but to be truthful I feed all three types.

That is good to know.  I haven't been standing there staring at the shelves lately (since I got the FF on sale at Giant Iggle - it's a PA thing), but I'm sure I'll be back again.

Sometimes I think all those FF flavors must taste a lot alike, but it's hard to find the right ones among the crowd of them.