How do you guys feel about Sheba pâté and cuts?

I've been feeding my kitten a diet of 90% Blue Buffalo canned food, along with BB dry as supplemental feeding. He's grown a lot since I got him at 6 weeks, his coat looks and feels much better, he's got lots of energy, and he's become quite a vocal cat who chirps and trills happily when he's playing or discovering something. When I got him, his "eliminations" were gooey and unhealthy, but now he's squeezing out pellets like a pro. (Sorry for the imagery lol.)

Anyway, while I intend to keep him on a solid diet, I need to find a decent back-up/alternative canned food for a couple reasons:

1) BB is expensive, especially in New York. Last time I dropped $50 for less than 30 cans of the stuff, and the smaller 3 oz cans go for $1.29 to $1.59, while the 5.5 oz cans are $1.49 to $1.79.

2) I have to hop on I-95 and drive a few towns over to a Petco to buy BB. The two local petstores within a few minutes of my home don't carry it, and sometimes I don't have time to go to Petco if I'm low on Blue Buffalo.

There's a local grocery store within walking distance, and it's got Friskies, Fancy Feast, 9Lives, a store brand, and a few others, including Sheba. After spending time reading the ingredients, it seems like Sheba's cuts and pate lines are the best among the grocery store brands, with a balance between nutrition, convenience and price. Sheba is 85 cents a can at the local grocery, compared to 55-65 cents for stuff like Friskies and 9Lives, not much difference.

The Sheba cuts and pate include real chicken, turkey, etc., they're grain-free, and the additives are almost all vitamins and minerals. On the bad side, they all include the dreaded "meat by-products," broth is sometimes the first listed ingredient, and some of the varieties use food coloring.

Here's a typical nutrition label from the "Cuts" line. This one is for "Chicken Cuts":

Chicken Broth, Chicken, Meat By-Products, Chicken Liver, Natural Flavor, Starch, Added Color, Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Minerals (Potassium Chloride, Magnesium Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Copper Sulfate),Tetra Potassium Pyrophosphate, Salt, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Vitamin E Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin B6], Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex [Source of Vitamin K Activity]), Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Xanthan Gum, Taurine, DL-Methionine.

Here's the label for the Salmon pate:

Salmon, Meat Broth, Meat By-Products, Chicken Liver, Chicken, Poultry By-Products, Natural Flavor, Added Color, Guar Gum, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Minerals (Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Iron Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate), Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Vitamin E Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin B6], Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex [Source of Vitamin K Activity]), DL-Methionine, Salt, Taurine.

Again, I'm looking for a second option. I plan to keep my cat on primarily Blue Buffalo, with Sheba to give him some variety, and as a second option when I don't have time to immediately drive to the pet store. Does anyone here feed Sheba canned food to their cats? If so, how are they doing on it? And if you don't think Sheba is a good second option for canned food, do you have any suggestions I should look into?

I think they look pretty good, I'd feed them if I were still feeding canned.  Are Fancy Feats and Friskies not something you want to feed?

Sheba seems very comparable to Fancy Feast, in terms of both ingredients and prices. I have fed both Sheba and FF in the past. They both come in the 3oz cans cans so they are much more expensive per ounce than Friskies and 9Lives.

I agree that Sheba seems to be the best of the grocery store brands. I have nothing against by-products as long as they aren't the only protein source, and I like that they include fish oil and don't have carrageenan or any grains, veggies, fruit or herbs - that's hard to find.

I bought some to try recently and both of my cats loved it. Charlie can't seem to tolerate it though (he always throws up certain brands - I think I've narrowed it down to "added color" as the problem). Crumbs does fine with it so far. 

Have you thought about ordering BB online?  I used to buy cases of large Wellness cans from my local pet shop.  But after a few years where there was always a handful of screw-ups each year, I started ordering it online.  I have a standing order for a case every other month.  It's slightly cheaper than buying it from the store.  Even though it was slightly more expensive at the store, I wanted to supported a local business.  But after awhile, I decided that I'd go with free market forces and have it delivered for free.  No screwups yet from Amazon.

My babies loveee fancy feast but they hate sheba. They rather starve than to eat Sheba they hate it so much. The store ran out of fancy feast once so I got Sheba and it was a waste of money because they left it in their plates .... They're spoiled though I'm sure any other cat would've eaten it

peaches08 said:

 
I think they look pretty good, I'd feed them if I were still feeding canned.  Are Fancy Feats and Friskies not something you want to feed?

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My cat is still very young and didn't have a great start in life, so I want to make sure he eats well and gets vital nutrients that he probably wasn't getting at first. He's made a lot of progress. I tried giving him Friskies a few times just to see if he'd go for it, but he didn't. I've also tried Fancy Feast (he likes it), Science Diet (meh), and a few others. Also, I've read lots of stuff, including that cat nutrition site everyone likes to post here, and it warns against most grocery store brands for various reasons like too many carbohydrates, byproducts, etc.

He's still pretty skinny as well, so it's important to get food he likes eating. If I put some dry BB and some canned food in his bowl to mix things up, and he doesn't like the canned variety, he will eat around it. I've even seem him separate tuna from his bowl when I once mixed up a small amount of a leftover chicken can with some tuna from a fresh can of Sheba. The pieces of tuna were neatly piled on one side of the bowl and the chicken was all gone.

momto3cats said:

 
I agree that Sheba seems to be the best of the grocery store brands. I have nothing against by-products as long as they aren't the only protein source, and I like that they include fish oil and don't have carrageenan or any grains, veggies, fruit or herbs - that's hard to find.

I bought some to try recently and both of my cats loved it. Charlie can't seem to tolerate it though (he always throws up certain brands - I think I've narrowed it down to "added color" as the problem). Crumbs does fine with it so far. 

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That's a good point about the source of protein. I guess we really have no way of knowing whether cats know -- or care -- that some food has meat by-products and some cat food doesn't. I'm glad you were able to narrow down the ingredients that are making your cat sick.

Well, my little guy gets very excited when I'm done prepping his food and he sees me bringing the bowl back. Every time. But sometimes that enthusiasm wanes when he sees something he doesn't like and gives it a few sniffs. I guess it's all just part of raising him and he's not much different than a human child who likes some food and doesn't like others.

tdonline said:

 
Have you thought about ordering BB online?  I used to buy cases of large Wellness cans from my local pet shop.  But after a few years where there was always a handful of screw-ups each year, I started ordering it online.  I have a standing order for a case every other month.  It's slightly cheaper than buying it from the store.  Even though it was slightly more expensive at the store, I wanted to supported a local business.  But after awhile, I decided that I'd go with free market forces and have it delivered for free.  No screwups yet from Amazon.

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 Good suggestion. I have Prime and for some reason I didn't even think to look for cat food on Amazon. Just clicked over now to check out their bulk deals...

Plan said:

 
My cat is still very young and didn't have a great start in life, so I want to make sure he eats well and gets vital nutrients that he probably wasn't getting at first. He's made a lot of progress. I tried giving him Friskies a few times just to see if he'd go for it, but he didn't. I've also tried Fancy Feast (he likes it), Science Diet (meh), and a few others. Also, I've read lots of stuff, including that cat nutrition site everyone likes to post here, and it warns against most grocery store brands for various reasons like too many carbohydrates, byproducts, etc.

He's still pretty skinny as well, so it's important to get food he likes eating. If I put some dry BB and some canned food in his bowl to mix things up, and he doesn't like the canned variety, he will eat around it. I've even seem him separate tuna from his bowl when I once mixed up a small amount of a leftover chicken can with some tuna from a fresh can of Sheba. The pieces of tuna were neatly piled on one side of the bowl and the chicken was all gone.

That's a good point about the source of protein. I guess we really have no way of knowing whether cats know -- or care -- that some food has meat by-products and some cat food doesn't. I'm glad you were able to narrow down the ingredients that are making your cat sick.

Well, my little guy gets very excited when I'm done prepping his food and he sees me bringing the bowl back. Every time. But sometimes that enthusiasm wanes when he sees something he doesn't like and gives it a few sniffs. I guess it's all just part of raising him and he's not much different than a human child who likes some food and doesn't like others.

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Talking about the food list at www.catinfo.org?  Some Friskies and the Fancy Feast Classic are on there.  I'm not aware of a site off the top of my head that says byproducts are a bad thing.  Actually as a raw feeder I'm always on the hunt for organs and such.

I haven't tried Sheba but around here, it's cheaper than Fancy Feast at the Dollar General discount stores.

After we rescued an abandoned feral kitten last year (my first cat in over 10 years), I used this forum and Dr. Pierson's Food Chart as my beginner's guide for the highest protein/ lowest carbs foods (but excluded many brands due to questionable ingredients such as carrageenan).  I've tried probably 20+ flavors/brands of grain-free wet and/or raw food either canned, freeze dried or frozen.  After all this experimenting on my kitten, he's chosen about 6-8 brands (all chicken or turkey varieties).

In our rural area, the national chains and boutique pet stores are an hour's drive. Locally, I buy Purina One Classic Chicken Recipe (pate) and Fancy Feast Classic Pate (chicken or beef) at Wal-Mart and I recently found Nutro Natural Choice Soft Loaf Chicken Recipe (kitten, adult or senior) at Big Lots for 50 cents a can (what a deal - bought every can they had).

I have a Petco Pet Rewards card and shop their sales online when I can get free shipping (sometimes there is no minimum; sometimes it's as high as $75).  I need to go this weekend though. My Pet Rewards $5 coupon expires soon and they also sent me a 10% coupon for my entire in-store purchase.

My nearest store doesn't price match their online prices but I do go there when they have the frozen Nature's Variety Instincts Raw Bites chicken on sale. I also buy from Petco when they are on sale (online or in-store) the Royal Canin Babycat and Kitten Instinctive, the Nutro Natural Choice, and for my overnight dry snack, the Nature's Variety Instinct Healthy Weight Grain-Free Chicken Meal with Raw Boost. (My kitten LOVES the Raw Boost pieces so I pick them out, store in a container, and crumble a few to use as a topper when he's being picky.) 

Have your tried Petco's store brand Soulistic?  My kitten doesn't like the flavors in the gel and I don't like the carrageenan but he loves the ones in gravy (and no carrageenan). He also turns his nose up at fish and pumpkin but thankfully, he loves Good Karma (all shredded chicken).  When I start to run low, I check the new sales each Sunday and buy several cases of 8 when it gets below $10. That's less about $1.25 for a 5.5 oz. can (at least two meals). The brand is high in moisture so I'm paying more for all the water but it is ALL recognizable chicken, no by-products.

I have yet to find any canned food that is "a mouse in a can" (which I would buy!) or has affordable, perfect ingredients but by serving so many different brands, I'm hoping that he isn't getting too much of any one bad thing.

I started out  feeding mine all pate, FF, Friskies, and Sheba.   She eats all with realish.  Fresh, cold, whatever.  Just this week I decided to start the rotation with Wellness, large cans.    Just to keep variety.  I consider it lucky that I can afford to feed wet, barely, even though some of the cheaper brands.  

My 2 love Sheba. The cuts and the pate which I often mix. I get them at Wal Mart and they have it for .50 cents a can and very often there will be coupons on the cans. I just found a whole bunch of buy 2 get one free coupons Friday for my next visit. I stick to mostly the chicken, turkey and chicken/liver varieties with some beef and the occasional fish flavors.  I went through Petco the other day and so many of the high end foods have carrageenan in them. I won't buy them. not for 3-4 times the price of the carrageenan free Sheba. SMH.  I was there getting food for the dog. At 12 years old (this month), she's showing signs of arthritis so I changed her to grain free Whole Earth Farms to help her drop a few pounds to make things easier on her joints. I wish WEF made cat food. It's made by Merrick and is $1.99 for a 12.7 oz can. that would be too easy though. we can't have that, can we? 

My cats love Sheba  , cuts & pate .. I just wish it came in 5.5 oz cans .. 

I have a Subscribe & Save order on Amazon  for 72 cans  of Friskies 5.5 oz cans every month  for $31.24 ..  Just my kinda deal ..

My guys really like Sheba.  I like that they have meat first, and no carrageenan. I got a coupon in the sale papers in the mail for buy 10 get 10 free, so look out for that!

Ugh, I wish I could feed Sheba but one of the ingredients makes me cringe more than carrageenan. Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Conplex. That stuff is bad news.

Thehistorian said:

Ugh, I wish I could feed Sheba but one of the ingredients makes me cringe more than carrageenan. Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Conplex. That stuff is bad news.

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Can you explain what this is and why you think it is bad?

I started buying Sheba for my senior cat Princess recently because with her it has turned into a "let her eat anything(within reason) as long as she eats" routine. My other two younger cats like it and so does the stray. My first choice for them is Weruva and also the Best Feline Friends packets however Princess is very finicky and goes through cycles where she turns against some of her favorite foods. So far so good on Sheba and at my local grocery store it seems to be the best of choices they carry.

My cats love the Sheba pate. Right now seeing my large stash ran out. Its the only thing i am feeding. So until i can find another good sale.
There is a coupon for $3.00 off of 24 cans.
Anyone know where you can buy the large cans of Daves. My cats like this and looking to buy more.

MServant said:

 
Can you explain what this is and why you think it is bad?

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Basically it is a synthetic source of vitamin K; however in this form it is dangerous because cats cannot metabolize it. Thus, it slowly builds up in their bodies. Here is an article that explains it better than I ever could:

http://truthaboutpetfood.com/toxic-menadione