Inexpensive, grain free dry food?

calliharvs

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I'm looking for an alternative to the dry cat food I'm feeding my two cats right now--reason I'm switching them is because one of them has smelly poop, and I'm 99% sure it's the food.

Right now they're eating a mixture of Blue Wilderness and Merrick Before Grain. I originally had them on Blue Wilderness, but tried switching them over to Merrick to try and solve this poop issue. It's about the 3rd week on a now 50:50 mixture and his poop just smells worse..

I would like to try Wellness dry food, but it's up there in prices for me.. so that being said, I'm wondering if anyone has found a good less expensive, preferably grain free dry food? 

My cats won't eat wet food, and I honestly don't have the time to get them to start eating it.. so only dry food suggestions please! and thank you in advance!
 

cleopurrtra

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Good foods are typically more expensive! I feed my cats all grain-free canned and/or raw food, but if I were to feed them dry food, I would probably go for Orijen, Acana, or Fromm. They all have great high-protien grain-free dry foods. They aren't "cheap" but the health benefits for your cat make the extra dollars worth it. Also, when feeding a more nutrient-dense food, you don't have to feed them as large of portions, so a bag the same size as the cheaper food lasts a little longer.

A 5 lb bag of Fromm is usually around $20-$25, and a 5 lb bag of Orijen is usually around $25-$30. I don't know how much more expensive those are than Blue Wilderness, but they're 10X better!
 

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bluebird gal

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Both our boys get a very small meal/snack of kibble daily and I'm currently using the Nature's Variety Instinct Grain-Free Rabbit Meal Formula.   I will say, however, that it waaaay increased the smell of their poop. Way more than we expected 


If you are in the USA (I'm not sure if they ship to other countries or not) take a look at the food suggestions made here for good pricing on http://www.chewy.com/.    They have saved me a ton of $$$ feeding two cats & that in turn helps me provide a better grade of both wet and dry options.

And I agree totally with Cleopurrtra .. the quality, if they are going to eat any dry at all, pretty much costs what it costs.  But I too believe it's far better in the long run.  I have been paying $19.99 USD for a 5.1 lb bag.  I did just pay $27.99 for the Instinct Rabbit "Boost" because it also has freeze dried raw as part of the ingredients.  Just testing the waters with both boys' palate.

Each of my boys get a 1/3cup serving 2x per day (I feed 4 small meals a day).  And rarely do either completely finish the 1/3cup because of the 75% protein.  Thus, the bag lasts almost 3x as long as any of the assorted "useless carb" varieties of kibble we had fed them in the past.
 

jin xiong lor

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Science Diet has a new brand of dry food (Science Diet Grain Free Ideal Balance) which is much better than their original brands, the ingredients have much improved. The bags are somewhat pricey but when they have those coupon months for Science Diet, its definitely a great buy! The coupon will take $5 off of one bag. Every time a bag is purchased another $5 coupon will be give you again right on the receipt, EVEN if you USED the coupon on THAT purchase.

At my PetsMart, a 2 Ib  Science Diet Adult Grain Free Ideal Balance retails at about 11.99 (with card membership 10.99) . Using the coupon will make it a cheap $7.99.  Of course it is always better to buy the bigger bags, but since I only take the city bus, I usually always pick up the smaller bags of food only. 

I'd say 4 Ib of dry food would last me about 3 weeks to even 4/5 weeks long (Fri-Sat, they would get 2oz each of canned Merricks. 1 oz during the day, 1 oz during the night. I also add about 1/4 cup of water to every 1 oz. Basically the weekends are a water, hydration weekend. Don't worry the kittens aren't going to starve, TRUST ME.) and thats with 3 young kittens. So I'd say that's pretty long and worthwhile. I'll give you a quick list of the weights of my kittens. They are healthy and have great weights! They get about 30min daily of play also to add in another factor.

5 Month Old Red Point Mix : 5.1 Ibs

5 Month Old Red Point Mix2 : 5.2 Ibs

11 Month Old Siamese/Bengal Mix : 11.2 Ibs

Generally a young cat/kittens weight will be about the same as their age, which is what most guidelines say. As long as you can still see their waist and do not see their ribs, the cat/kitten is at a good weight.

Though I don't use Science Diet anymore, I've switched Merrick and the brand works GREAT for my feline family. Every cat is different and have different nutritional needs. Some do better on Science Diet or Meow Mix, others do better on Blue or Wellness. I'm not pro raw feeding or pro wet, or anything in particular because, like I said, every cat is different and we have to remember that cats have been DOMESTICATED for soooo many years and generations now. So I wouldn't necessarily say that CORN is actually bad for cats. Our feline companions are no longer wild and are now different (: 

Whatever food works, will work, just have to keep searching and do not give up! Make sure to have vet checks if anything goes wrong! 
 
 

night wing

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Nature's Variety Instinct "Limited Ingredient Diet" turkey meal formula is a good grain free dry food. The only ingredient I dislike about it is the peas, but there is no percentage given for the peas. Anyhow, my former kibble addict liked this flavor.

http://www.naturesvariety.com/Instinct/cat/kibble/LIDturkey

You can purchase it at Petco. It comes in 5.5 lb and 12.1 lb bags. The 5.5 lb bag costs $21.59 when it's on sale and $23.99 when it's not on sale. The 12.1 lb bag costs $37.79 when it's on sale and $41.99 when it's not on sale.

http://www.petco.com/product/116260...ted-Ingredient-Diet-Turkey-Meal-Cat-Food.aspx
 

oneandahalfcats

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Nature's Variety Instinct "Limited Ingredient Diet" turkey meal formula is a good grain free dry food. The only ingredient I dislike about it is the peas, but there is no percentage given for the peas. Anyhow, my former kibble addict liked this flavor.

http://www.naturesvariety.com/Instinct/cat/kibble/LIDturkey

You can purchase it at Petco. It comes in 5.5 lb and 12.1 lb bags. The 5.5 lb bag costs $21.59 when it's on sale and $23.99 when it's not on sale. The 12.1 lb bag costs $37.79 when it's on sale and $41.99 when it's not on sale.

http://www.petco.com/product/116260...ted-Ingredient-Diet-Turkey-Meal-Cat-Food.aspx
That is a good price for the Nature's Variety Turkey! Here in Canada, I would pay close to $30.00 for the same 5.5lb bag at Pet Valu.
 

abbyntim

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My cats did relatively well on Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain Feline Formula. I say "relatively", because my male developed severe constipation while on dry food (his first bout of severe constipation was while on Blue Wilderness, so I don't blame any brand, I blame the lack of moisture). But they enjoyed ToW and their stools didn't smell as bad. It was of similar price as Blue, so not really inexpensive, though less than some of the true premium brands such as Orijen. I know many pet food stores that carry ToW have decent size samples, so you can try before you buy.
 

snugglecat

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I have just recently changed my cats to TOTW dry food. I tried a bag of the Acana but all 6 cats were spitting it out and would pick out the food I was trying to get them off of. I also had one who stared eating a lot of grass after she ate the Acana dry food. They seem to be doing well on the TOTW so far but the one cat is still eating grass after she eats, she never did this before on the bad grocery store brand. The one problem I have with all the better dry foods is the cats don't like the small size kibble and a couple of them eat much faster and then try and steal the other cats food. The place I buy the food from gave me 8 sample bags and they are good size bags.

TOTW is a little more in my price range but even then it's a little too expensive for me. I live on a very tight budget and it seems we go without food but the cats are eating good.
 

meowmixnot

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Don't get misled by Orijen's cat foods. They are not as good as people say or what the label suggests.They use multiple sources of legumes like lentils, peas, chickpeas to save money and boost the protein. Orijen will not disclose how much protein comes from animal sources.

My cats wouldn't touch it.

Try the Farmina N&D foods, 97% of the protein is from animal sources, and they are 44% protein and low ash.

http://usa.farmina.com/?q=content/line/nd-grain-free-feline

The worst of them though is Nature's Variety. Those have absurd levels of ash and mineral content.
 

oneandahalfcats

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Don't get misled by Orijen's cat foods. They are not as good as people say or what the label suggests.They use multiple sources of legumes like lentils, peas, chickpeas to save money and boost the protein. Orijen will not disclose how much protein comes from animal sources.

My cats wouldn't touch it.

Try the Farmina N&D foods, 97% of the protein is from animal sources, and they are 44% protein and low ash.

http://usa.farmina.com/?q=content/line/nd-grain-free-feline

The worst of them though is Nature's Variety. Those have absurd levels of ash and mineral content.
I don't see much difference between the Orijen dry food and the Farmina that you suggest is better. Both contain things like veggies and fruits. The Farmina contains spinach, sweet orange, dehydrated apple as well as carrots, alfalfa meal. Its debatable whether these things are necessary, but none of these things could be considered protein sources but more likely sources of carbs in the case of the veggies, and anti-oxidants in the case of the fruits.

As far as the Nature's Variety, I don't know about the dry food but the Ash content of the canned is about 2.1% which is quite reasonable.
 

marc999

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Don't get misled by Orijen's cat foods. They are not as good as people say or what the label suggests.They use multiple sources of legumes like lentils, peas, chickpeas to save money and boost the protein. Orijen will not disclose how much protein comes from animal sources.

My cats wouldn't touch it.

Try the Farmina N&D foods, 97% of the protein is from animal sources, and they are 44% protein and low ash.

http://usa.farmina.com/?q=content/line/nd-grain-free-feline

The worst of them though is Nature's Variety. Those have absurd levels of ash and mineral content.
http://www.orijen.ca/blog/products/cat-food/dry-cat-food/cat-kitten/

So, are they lying, or am I misinterpreting their information? 

MEAT AND PROTEIN RICH 
Made with 80% meat ORIJEN features a Biologically Appropriate protein level of 42% which closely replicates the natural feline diet.

LOW CARB, LOW GLYCEMIC 
Your cat’s natural diet contains few, if any carbohydrates. That’s why ORIJEN contains less than half the carbohydrates found in conventional cat foods, and features low glycemic carbohydrate sources such as lentils and chickpeas.  

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS

  • Crude protein (min.)
  • Crude fat (min.)
  • Crude fiber (max.)
  • Moisture (max.)
  • Calcium (min./max)
  • Phosphorus (min./max)
  • Omega-6 (min.)
  • Omega-3 (min.)
  • DHA (min.)
  • EPA (min.)
  • Taurine (min.)
  • Magnesium (max.)
  • pH
  • Ash (max.)

  • 42 %
  • 20 %
  • 3 %
  • 10 %
  • 1.4 / 1.7 %
  • 1.1 / 1.4 %
  • 3.5 %
  • 1.2 %
  • 0.7 %
  • 0.4 %
  • 0.25 %
  • 0.09 %
  • 5
  • 8%
My cat will eat both Orijen Cat & Kitten, and Orijen Regional Red.    

Odd that your cats won't touch it - preference to something else they're used to I suppose. 

This is what you feed your cats? : 

The N&D Grain-Free formulas for dogs and cats are comprised of 70% animal ingredients (pre-cooking weight) and 30% vegetables, fruits, vitamins and minerals. These diets are grain and gluten free. They range in protein from 37% to 42% for dogs and 44% for cats.   

Hmm, actually your food of choice is lower in animal sourced ingredients and higher in carbohydrates, slightly higher in overall combined protein levels, depending on product in question. 

This is for clarification purposes. It's a good food as well, just not quite at the %'s you mentioned. 
 
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meowmixnot

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http://www.orijen.ca/blog/products/cat-food/dry-cat-food/cat-kitten/

So, are they lying, or am I misinterpreting their information? 

MEAT AND PROTEIN RICH 
Made with 80% meat ORIJEN features a Biologically Appropriate protein level of 42% which closely replicates the natural feline diet.

LOW CARB, LOW GLYCEMIC 
Your cat’s natural diet contains few, if any carbohydrates. That’s why ORIJEN contains less than half the carbohydrates found in conventional cat foods, and features low glycemic carbohydrate sources such as lentils and chickpeas.  

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS

  • Crude protein (min.)
  • Crude fat (min.)
  • Crude fiber (max.)
  • Moisture (max.)
  • Calcium (min./max)
  • Phosphorus (min./max)
  • Omega-6 (min.)
  • Omega-3 (min.)
  • DHA (min.)
  • EPA (min.)
  • Taurine (min.)
  • Magnesium (max.)
  • pH
  • Ash (max.)

  • 42 %
  • 20 %
  • 3 %
  • 10 %
  • 1.4 / 1.7 %
  • 1.1 / 1.4 %
  • 3.5 %
  • 1.2 %
  • 0.7 %
  • 0.4 %
  • 0.25 %
  • 0.09 %
  • 5
  • 8%
My cat will eat both Orijen Cat & Kitten, and Orijen Regional Red.    

Odd that your cats won't touch it - preference to something else they're used to I suppose. 

This is what you feed your cats? : 

The N&D Grain-Free formulas for dogs and cats are comprised of 70% animal ingredients (pre-cooking weight) and 30% vegetables, fruits, vitamins and minerals. These diets are grain and gluten free. They range in protein from 37% to 42% for dogs and 44% for cats.   

Hmm, actually your food of choice is lower in animal sourced ingredients and higher in carbohydrates, slightly higher in overall combined protein levels, depending on product in question. 

This is for clarification purposes. It's a good food as well, just not quite at the %'s you mentioned. 

I didn't come to start an argument but yes you interpreting it wrong and your analysis if faulty. This is the sick joke some pet food companies play by listing separately "red lentils, green lentils, peas & chickpeas", called splitting, to create label optics, These ingredients are as high as 35% protein and make a big difference once the food is completed into dry form

The Farmina GF Feline foods are 1) Higher in GA Protein, 2) Do not contain legumes like lentils and 3) The company states that the animal protein content of the GA protein is 97%. I see nowhere that Champion will disclose this information. Why? Because the lentils, peas and chickpeas contribute a lot of protein.

The Farmina foods are 18% carbohydrate by calories, this the company discloses as well. 

This goes for Farmina as well as Champion, the 70% and 80% are the pre-cooking weights containing water, again containing water. The Farmina foods have a lot more dehydrated protein than Champions, that is easy to see because the Farmina foods are higher in GA protein.

The GA protein is post-cooking, this is what you must focus on.

After you understand how legumes boost protein it is no wonder Champion won't disclose the same information.  I would estimate the Orijen's cat foods are about 85% of protein content from animal sources due to the inclusion of legumes, way lower than Farmina's 97%.
 

bluebird gal

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The worst of them though is Nature's Variety. Those have absurd levels of ash and mineral content.
I would love to see the actual numbers on this if you have them???   I see no ash content in our Instinct Rabbit, nor the wet.  It does include 'minerals' however I would like to kow if there is anything specific you are stating is horribly bad and why.
 

bigperm20

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I've had my 2 girls in TOTW RMF Formula for over a year. I used to feed canned only until they started getting incredibly finicky. I was throwing away more wet food than they were eating, so I switched to TOTW and never looked back.

My cats love the stuff and although there are foods with better ingredients, there aren't any at this price point. I can get a 15lb bag at Tractor Supply for $26.

As far as the poop smell it really depends on the cat. My girls poop smells the same I guess. I haven't noticed any bad smells since switching.
 

marc999

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Thanks for the education MeowMixNot

I read further and see the information you mentioned on their website, including the all important % of protein content from animal sources. 

I think I'll send an inquisitory email to Champion Pet Foods to see if they can provide that information. 

For the sake of my own understanding, how did Farmina derive that 97% protein content from animal sources? 
 

gummifuzz

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Listing red lentils, green lentils, peas and chickpeas separately is not ingredient splitting as they are not the same species. They are different ingredients with different nutritional values.  All dry foods need a starch to bind together, and I'd rather see that binder starch come from lentils rather than grains. That being said, we all know dry food for cats is almost always too high in carbohydrate no matter the ingredient quality and comparing protein sources via pre cooking water weight is really splitting hairs, and 10% water weight difference is really not going to have much of an impact on nutritional outcomes unless your cat is, like, allergic to something in Orijen.

And I counted the position of the red lentils on the Cat and Kitten ingredient list, and it's number 17. Wow. Seventeenth on the list is really a problem after 16 fresh animal ingredients? 

But to each their own.
 
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oneandahalfcats

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@MeowMixNot : Below are the ingredient lists for both Farmina and Orijen dry grain-free chicken diets. If you look through this, I think you will see that there is not much difference between them with the exception that in the case of Farmina, they have used a lot of dehydrated fruits which, as I mentioned, are debatable in terms of whether these ingredients are that beneficial. Cats don't need fruits in their diet, and the spinach is also questionable as a beneficial ingredient. Orijen also features some fruits, and differs somewhat in the carb content in featuring lentils and chickpeas. Both contain dietary supplements.

The Farmina is not free of carbs but lists potato (being a source of carb and high on the glycemic level) as the third ingredient in the chicken diet, suggesting that the potato content is high, whereas the carbs in the Orijen are listed well after the protein sources, suggesting that the amounts of these items may be minimal. Things like chickpeas and lentils are low-glycemic choices of fibre, protein and carb, which is preferable to some dry foods that contain a lot of sweet potatoes and potatoes which are high glycemic carbs that are often mentioned quite high up in the ingredient list. That said, this will push the fibre content higher than some other foods.

Speaking as a pet owner with a cat who is prone to constipation at times, I welcome seeing things like pumpkin and squash in dry diet foods as this is a good source of soluble fibre. The information on Farmina suggests that the diet contains 44% protein, and the Orijen information suggests 42% protein. Not a huge difference. The Farmina features 2-3 meat protein sources as first ingredients, whereas the Orijen features 14 protein sources, and freeze-dried chicken, turkey and liver later in the ingredients list. The chicken and Herring content in the Farmina would have to be pretty high to support the suggestion that the diet contains 97% protein source. Short of analyzing either food in a lab, you can't possibly know for certain what is in any food.

NO pet food is perfect. There will always be something of issue, that another diet may do better but in this case I don't see it, in fact I would suggest that the Orijen may be better as it does not contain potato and features a wide variety of protein sources.

Farmina Grain-Free Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

Deboned chicken, dehydrated chicken (source of glucosamine & chondroitin sulfate), potato, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), dehydrated egg product, herring (source of glucosamine & chondroitin sulfate), dehydrated herring (source of glucosamine & chondroitin sulfate), herring & salmon oil blend (preserved with mixed tocopherols), chicken protein concentrate, dried carrots, sun-cured alfalfa meal, chicory root extract, fructooligosaccharide, yeast extract (source of mannan-oligosaccharides), dehydrated pomegranate, dehydrated apple, dehydrated spinach, psyllium seed husk, dehydrated blackcurrant berry, dehydrated sweet orange, dehydrated blueberry, salt, brewers dried yeast, turmeric, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, ascorbic acid, niacin, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, biotin, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, choline chloride, beta-carotene, zinc proteinate, manganese proteinate, iron proteinate, copper proteinate, selenium yeast, DL-methionine, taurine, L-carnitine, aloe vera gel concentrate, green tea extract, rosemary extract.

Protein Min 44.00%

Here is the link to the Farmina Grain-free Dry Chicken Diet : http://usa.farmina.com/?q=content/product/grain-free-chicken-recipe-2

Orijen Grain-Free Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

Boneless chicken,* chicken meal, chicken liver,* whole herring,* boneless turkey,* turkey meal, turkey liver,* whole eggs,* boneless walleye,* whole salmon,* chicken heart,* chicken cartilage,* herring meal, salmon meal, chicken liver oil, chicken fat, red lentils, green peas, green lentils, sun-cured alfalfa, kelp, pumpkin,* butternut squash,* spinach greens,* carrots,* apples,* pears,* cranberries,* mixed tocopherols (preservative), chicory root, dandelion root, chamomile, peppermint leaf, ginger root, caraway seeds, turmeric, rose hips, freeze-dried chicken liver, freeze-dried turkey liver, freeze-dried chicken, freeze-dried turkey, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product + vitamins and minerals 

*delivered fresh and preservative-free
 

Protein Min 42%

Orijen does mention the percentage of total protein in the product page for the Grain-free Chicken, here : http://www.orijen.ca/blog/products/cat-food/dry-cat-food/cat-kitten/
 
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pezkat

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Nature's Variety Instinct "Limited Ingredient Diet" turkey meal formula is a good grain free dry food. The only ingredient I dislike about it is the peas, but there is no percentage given for the peas. Anyhow, my former kibble addict liked this flavor.

http://www.naturesvariety.com/Instinct/cat/kibble/LIDturkey

You can purchase it at Petco. It comes in 5.5 lb and 12.1 lb bags. The 5.5 lb bag costs $21.59 when it's on sale and $23.99 when it's not on sale. The 12.1 lb bag costs $37.79 when it's on sale and $41.99 when it's not on sale.

http://www.petco.com/product/116260...ted-Ingredient-Diet-Turkey-Meal-Cat-Food.aspx
I mainly feed this - sometimes PetSuppliesPlus has better sales than Petco; also if you go to their website you can get coupons.  I tried some Wysong Epigen 90 (only 8% carbs which is the main thing I look for as well as being fish-free) which is around $10/2 lbs. (you can get a discount on your 1st direct purchase).  Wellness CORE Grain-free is higher carb but not terrible.  California Natural is supposed to be decent as well.
 
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