Need advice on cheapest canned food WITHOUT by-products

I need some advice/feedback on inexpensive (but not cheap quality) canned food. Until recently, my 8 cats were on a dry/canned diet. They were having too many problems with bladder stones/dehydration so I removed the dry food from their diet completely. They now get canned food twice a day. I had been researching switching them to an all raw food diet, and had been mixing some in with their canned food, but then life happened...

I have just been diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease. It's going to be extremely costly to cure, and take at least two years. The doctor visits, medications, supplements and remedies are outrageously expensive, and none of it is covered under my health insurance. I can expect to be shelling out several hundred dollars per month for treatment. This puts a very big dent in my already tight budget!

Currently, I'm feeding my kitties 6 cans (5.5 oz) a day of Nutro's Max Cat Turkey & Chicken canned food (the only one they all really like). My local Petco sells them for $1.08/can and the lowest price online I've seen is .94/can. That still puts me between $165 - $195 for just their food! I could barely afford that before, but now that will be impossible. The raw options I've been looking at will still be about the same .71- .81 per cat/per day. Although this seems like a relatively low number, multiply that by 8 cats and it adds up very quickly!

I may need to switch brands, and that means I'll have to go with a lower quality cat food. I'm NOT happy about that, but it looks like I don't have a choice. I want to make sure they're getting decent nutrition, and the one thing I absolutely will NOT buy is anything with any kind of by-products in it. After reading what's actually in by-products, I can't in good conscience feed it to my babies. Even high-end brands use them, and what they're made of is appalling (about as bad as what's in dry food!)

Does anyone have any suggestions? I could really use some cost saving options here. I want to keep my babies happy and healthy, but I have to keep myself that way too!

Thanks so much everyone!

I'm not sure what the problem is with byproducts?  If I were in your shoes, I'd be looking at Friskies (especially the big cans) but I'm pretty sure they have byproducts in them.

Byproducts are a bit touchy - I think largely it's realized that byproducts aren't a bad addition to a cat's diet, because while humans wouldn't eat some of those leftover parts, it contains organs and parts that that cats would normally eat if they caught their prey (bones, necks, feet, intestines, and whatnot). The major concern is the quality of the byproducts, so there is the potential that byproducts are coming from 4-D animals depending on where it's sourced. I doubt that's very common though, and it seems like more of a scare hype than a legitimate health concern. The sketchier foods will list very generic and vague names, like not including the name of the animal it came from.

I don't have a problem with byproducts myself, but if you have a Pet Valu in your area, their Performatrin brand canned food doesn't contain any byproducts (or grains or fish, other than the fish formulas of course). It's pretty nicely priced, $2.60 (CAD) for a 13oz can and $1.29 for a 3oz can. That's the only one I feed and know of that's a reasonable price that actually is byproduct-free.

Good luck finding something cheaper. What dry were you feeding when they had problems?

Natural balance ultra wet 1.20. 5.5 ounce can. Natural balance ultra dry good also. Chewy.com good price delivers to door.
Mix dry with canned. No by products. Picky cats love it. If you mix dry with it it will be cheaper.

I was going to suggest Nutro Natural Choice, but it only comes in the smaller 3 oz. cans and it seems you'll want the larger cans (5.5 oz. or more) for your eight cats. Authority is a PetSmart brand that comes in 6 oz. cans. It is reasonable and does not contain by-products. Here's the link (select a flavor from the drop-down list to see ingredients).

I don't have a problem with by-products in a canned food (organ meat is very nutritious, some other by-products are as well) but my list of less-expensive foods without them:

Dave's Healthy Naturals
Evo
Triumph
These all come in 13-oz cans from www.chewy.com, if you buy the smaller cans it will cost more per ounce.

Authority
Trader Joe's
These come in 5.5-oz cans and aren't sold online.

For those of you who asked why I won't purchase anything with by-products, here is a good website that explains it. After reading this (and many other sources) I can't in good-conscience buy any food for my babies containing by-products. It's also another supportive reason why I stopped feeding dry food: http://www.bornfreeusa.org/facts.php?p=359&more=1

I don't have a problem feeding my cats organ meat, or other animal parts. It's the fact that I can't guarantee the kind of by-products and where they come from.

PinkDagger - I don't have a store by that name here in Colorado. I've never heard of it.

Peaches08 - the more generic the by-product, the more iffy ingredients that could be in there. :-(

As for what dry food I was feeding them - it was also Nutro Max Cat. I also served three different high quality dry foods when a few kitties were sick with pancreatitis or weren't eating.

I will buy a few cans of Authority and see if they like it - so far that's a decent price with no by-products. Thanks for the suggestion!

I guess after reading that link, I'm not really sure what your objection to fresh by-products is :dk:. They speak just as critically of other ingredients, including "good" meat. Commercial pet food production is super icky no matter how you look at it.

Willowy said:

I guess after reading that link, I'm not really sure what your objection to fresh by-products is

. They speak just as critically of other ingredients, including "good" meat. Commercial pet food production is super icky no matter how you look at it.

Click to expand...

I have to agree.  If people saw what went into hot dogs, deli meat, even peanut butter...they'd hurl.

Good luck with your Lyme treatment.  I've not heard of treatment lasting that long, I'm sure it's intense.

Another person with Lyme here, so I know well how important it is to balance price with quality.

To me, as an obligate carnivore, I think of it this way... cats hunt in the wild and eat nearly everything and that "everything" translates to meat byproducts, so I'm not so concerned. But that is an opinion. Given that, my best compromise is Trader Joe's cat food. Decent price, decent ingredients (I'm not saying the best, but not too bad). I make it the core food (69¢ a can) and rotate other foods (By Nature Rabbit stew - their favorite - is one of them).

I hope your two year plan pans out! Sounds like aggressive therapy, so it'll be a roller coaster, and not the fun kind either! Welcome to the world of Herxheimer and detoxing. Have you been checked for MTHFR mutations? Very important. PM me if you don't know what that is and for any questions.

peaches08 said:

 
I have to agree.  If people saw what went into hot dogs, deli meat, even peanut butter...they'd hurl.

Good luck with your Lyme treatment.  I've not heard of treatment lasting that long, I'm sure it's intense.

Click to expand...

Acute Lyme only needs treatment for about 6 months if caught very early (not the 2 - 4 weeks standard treatment, totally inadequate in 30% of the cases - and I can explain why). Chronic is a whole 'nother thing. Two years is actually quite short and aggressive. If lucky it will ONLY be another few hundred a month - but sometimes a patient needs the "nuclear option" which is closer to $2,000 a month. As stated, not covered by insurance (political reasons - see the film "Under Our Skin" to understand just what is really going on... available on Netflix and possibly Youtube).

Sorry for this brief hijack - but knowledge is power.

Okay - 'bout them cats, I'm also interested in this topic as I want to give my two the best food I can under the circumstances. All life begins with food.

NBrazil said:

 
Acute Lyme only needs treatment for about 6 months if caught very early (not the 2 - 4 weeks standard treatment, totally inadequate in 30% of the cases - and I can explain why). Chronic is a whole 'nother thing. Two years is actually quite short and aggressive. If lucky it will ONLY be another few hundred a month - but sometimes a patient needs the "nuclear option" which is closer to $2,000 a month. As stated, not covered by insurance (political reasons - see the film "Under Our Skin" to understand just what is really going on... available on Netflix and possibly Youtube).

Sorry for this brief hijack - but knowledge is power.

Okay - 'bout them cats, I'm also interested in this topic as I want to give my two the best food I can under the circumstances. All life begins with food.

Click to expand...

I'm so sorry for what you and 8whiskers are going through.  I've never dealt with acute or chronic cases of Lyme, despite where I live (GA).  It's very angering that it is not covered by insurance, but that's another thread.  I'll look for the video.

Back on topic, something I DO know something about, please reconsider the options like Friskies.  Well, so long as it isn't a situation like mine where the cats had a reaction to an ingredient in Friskies (carageenan maybe?).  Look, if we can eat deli meat, the cats can eat Friskies.  Certainly look for options that are better as other people have mentioned.  Put the TC Feline in the freezer to extend it's possible life, and watch the grocery store for sales.  Actually, you can feed a meal of just gizzards or meat as 15% of their diet, which comes out to 1 day's worth of meals.  A meal of liver is too rich and will likely result in vomit.  Oh, and eggs!  When eggs are on sale, get em.  Eggs are GREAT for cats.  The only thing I say watch for is sodium content on "fresh" meats at the stores.  If it's above 100 grams of sodium, they've enhanced it with sodium water to increase weight and cats don't need that much sodium.

Good on you for trying to make the best of it all despite such awful circumstances. 

It's a good thing I don't eat hot dogs then! Ha ha!

I'm well aware of the grossness that goes into commercial cat food - ALL commercial cat food. That was one of the main reasons I wanted to switch all my cats to a raw diet - at least I'd know what they were eating. I was working towards that when I got this stupid Lyme diagnoses and that really threw a wrench into my works. The cost of raw ingredients, plus the time needed to grind meat and prepare it vs. the amount of meals I get out of a batch is just not going to be in my budget now with the Lyme treatment.

I don't want to feed them commercial food at all, but it looks like I'm not going to have a choice while I'm treating my Lyme disease. So my compromise is at least not to purchase something with by-products. I hope that makes more sense. If I had the budget, I'd be purchasing fresh organ and muscle meats from Whole Foods, have them grind it up for me, and make an entire freezer full of raw meals for them so I knew exactly what they're eating. But I can't afford that at the moment.

I still think it's better and more cost effective to give them the best food possible now, and save on expensive vet bills later. I already owe my vet a ton of money, I don't want to increase it with more bladder stone removal surgeries because my clowder won't drink enough water when they eat dry food!

We JUST got a Trader Joes here in Colorado, I'll have to check out their cat food.

By the way - I can't remember who mentioned it, but someone made a comment about if it's really Chronic Lyme Disease. Good question - the tests came back 'indeterminate' but the doc said there was enough evidence to support starting the treatment for Lyme. I've had these symptoms for about 30 years, no one could figure out why, so if it IS Lyme, it's a pretty safe bet it's chronic. Ugh!

Please keep the suggestions coming - they really help!

8whiskers said:

It's a good thing I don't eat hot dogs then! Ha ha!

I'm well aware of the grossness that goes into commercial cat food - ALL commercial cat food. That was one of the main reasons I wanted to switch all my cats to a raw diet - at least I'd know what they were eating. I was working towards that when I got this stupid Lyme diagnoses and that really threw a wrench into my works. The cost of raw ingredients, plus the time needed to grind meat and prepare it vs. the amount of meals I get out of a batch is just not going to be in my budget now with the Lyme treatment.

I don't want to feed them commercial food at all, but it looks like I'm not going to have a choice while I'm treating my Lyme disease. So my compromise is at least not to purchase something with by-products. I hope that makes more sense. If I had the budget, I'd be purchasing fresh organ and muscle meats from Whole Foods, have them grind it up for me, and make an entire freezer full of raw meals for them so I knew exactly what they're eating. But I can't afford that at the moment.

I still think it's better and more cost effective to give them the best food possible now, and save on expensive vet bills later. I already owe my vet a ton of money, I don't want to increase it with more bladder stone removal surgeries because my clowder won't drink enough water when they eat dry food!

We JUST got a Trader Joes here in Colorado, I'll have to check out their cat food.

By the way - I can't remember who mentioned it, but someone made a comment about if it's really Chronic Lyme Disease. Good question - the tests came back 'indeterminate' but the doc said there was enough evidence to support starting the treatment for Lyme. I've had these symptoms for about 30 years, no one could figure out why, so if it IS Lyme, it's a pretty safe bet it's chronic. Ugh!

Please keep the suggestions coming - they really help!

Click to expand...

Hi, I just wanted to say, I live in Colorado. My husband got lymes disease in 2008. I thought he was dying. He lost 30 lbs and ran fevers. He showed symptoms 4 months after being exposed to ticks. We can narrow it down because we were on a golf course looking for his lost ball. I went to sit down and since I was wearing white pants i saw them. We checked ourselves when we got home, real good, but he had to have been bitten then. He was off of work for almost 3 months. It took a year for him to recover. I feel he's still not 100% but 85% better. I'm sending prayers.... I'm so sorry you're going through this!!! (((Hugs)))

Some help in your decision process for wet cat foods (but it doesn't list ingredients such as meat by-products, just the basics):

http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

8whiskers said:

By the way - I can't remember who mentioned it, but someone made a comment about if it's really Chronic Lyme Disease. Good question - the tests came back 'indeterminate' but the doc said there was enough evidence to support starting the treatment for Lyme. I've had these symptoms for about 30 years, no one could figure out why, so if it IS Lyme, it's a pretty safe bet it's chronic. Ugh!

Click to expand...

Off topic (sorry!): Since you've been dealing with this for so long, I'm sure you've already looked into this, but Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is often misdiagnosed as Lyme Disease (and vice versa).

8whiskers said:

Please keep the suggestions coming - they really help!

Click to expand...

On topic: I used to be able to get a case of the larger cans of By Nature for about $1.00 a can when it was on sale, but the prices may have gone up since they "revamped" their product line. You'd have to check around. Chicken Soup is another reasonable brand (although, I don't like that it is canned by Diamond), and PetGuard is another relatively affordable one that doesn't use by-products. Some of these do contain grains, though, so I don't know if that is an issue.

Off topic (sorry!): Since you've been dealing with this for so long, I'm sure you've already looked into this, but Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is often misdiagnosed as Lyme Disease (and vice versa).

Click to expand...

Lupus is "easy" because there are biological markers - any Rheumatologist could test for it. In my case, negative. In fact ALL immune markers (that they test) were excellent. Now a couple that they DON'T test for (but special doctors do) were terrible.

Sorry, I take every opportunity to advocate Lyme awareness. Y'see, the national "epidemic" of HIV results in 55,000 cases a year, yikes! But Lyme, only 300,000 cases a year. If ALL of them were caught and treated per the current standards, 100,000 would go on to develop chronic Lyme. Learn about it because it can happen to you. Ticks aren't the only way to get it.

Back on topic... I'm not sure what products do not have meat by products. I do the best I can and have pet health insurance to boot. All my cat guardian friends follow the vet's advice of dry food for good dental health and so have the convenience of free feeding. Me? I don't buy it and feed 90% wet food and brush their teeth a few times a week.

NBrazil said:

 
Lupus is "easy" because there are biological markers - any Rheumatologist could test for it. In my case, negative. In fact ALL immune markers (that they test) were excellent.

Click to expand...

Actually, it isn't that simple.  It can take years to get a Lupus diagnosis.  There's not a single test that says "Lupus" and when I did a project on Lupus in 2007, there were over 50 genes responsible for producing Lupus symptoms. 

Another thought for the OP about foods:  One of the things I've been thinking about has been byproducts vs. supplementation.  It's a standard that we should get our nutrition from whole foods rather than supplementation...I'm wondering if byproducts are better than supplementing?  Especially as lax as things can be in pet foods?

I bought some of the Authority brand of food at Petsmart and so far they all seem to like it (personally, I like the consistency of the turkey flavor, but I'm not sure that one was the biggest hit with them). They were on sale for .80/can so that would drop my price down to $4.80/day. I think that's probably as low as I'm going to get without by-products, so I really appreciate the tip!

I have noticed that since I stopped free-feeding dry that they all are a lot less dehydrated. The "skin test" where you pull up the back of their necks to see how fast/slow the skin goes back into shape seems to show they have more hydration in their systems, so I'm happy about that.  There doesn't seem to be any issues with diarrhea, like before, so hopefully they also all feel a little better! Although they ALWAYS act like they're starving now, even more so than they normally do.... ;-)

Funny that Lupus was mentioned in a previous post. My father had Lupus (the skin type) so that was also tested for when Lyme was discovered. He also had Grave's Disease. All this time I thought my auto-immune issues, fatigue, depression, hormone imbalances, celiac and gallbladder problems (he had them too) were separate issues I had inherited from my parents as individual issues, and they all could stem from Lyme. I think I should be the poster child for Lyme as I'm exactly the OPPOSITE type of person you'd think would have it. I HATE summer, the outdoors, any activity like hiking or camping, and yet I have it. If that ain't the definition of irony, I don't know what is! LOL

As far as the by-products go, I wouldn't be surprised if the quality of the by-products coincides with the quality of the brand. I would (at least hope) the by-products Iams uses are better quality than say, Wal-Mart brand cat food. But I don't know. It's the same reason I don't eat hot dogs - I really don't know what they put in them, but I've heard the rumors and it's just not worth chancing! :-)