Dear European members, what's the cheapest-but-decent wet wet food I can buy on Zooplus?

For anyone who doesn't know it, Zooplus is an e-commerce exclusively for pet food, tools and accessories. We use it a lot for our two cats, as it allows us to order in bulk and save a lot of money through deals and prices that are generally lower than in the shops (check out the German website for the real deals, I linked the UK one jous for language).

Now, here's my problem: the two beasts became really picky about food lately, and I need to insert some new brand in the weekly mix (we alternate between brands regularly because the get tired of their new favourite food almost immediately). However, our financial situation is pretty unstable right now, so I can't buy them premium brands. I always try to find a good price/quality balance by obsessively reading the labels. Here what's in the rotation, and what we have to leave out for the next order:

IN: Bozita gravy, Yarrah
OUT: Smilla, Animonda Carny, Feringa

As you can see we need a few other brands to add to the mix, and I thought it could be an interesting moment to exchange advice on European brands since here the conversation is mostly on American ones. Of course any non-european member who wants to visit the website and give their 2cent is welcome to do so!

(Edit: ah, I just noticed I put two "wet" on the title, but yeah, I am looking for good WET food in case you were still unsure )

I'm in the uk too, and also use zooplus a lot. First of all, thanks for the tip that the German site is cheaper - do you still get free p&p if you spend over a certain amount? (my German is rubbish these days )

Because you're using the German site, it's hard for me to work out your cost/kg limit (easiest way to think of budget). Also, what are your most important criteria in choosing cat food? (grain free, named muscle meat, and flavours you avoid etc etc) We all have different agendas when it comes to what we feed, that's why I'm asking what matters to you.

It's possible raw feeding could work out cheaper - particularly if you make your own. I'm looking into trying raw myself. There are several companies suppling purpose ground bone in meat for cat and dog food. Starting out does feel like entering a minefield

Putting aside some of my questions, if you don't have an issue with 'meat & animal by products' (and if I were having to budget thats the first concession I'd consider) there look to be a couple of budget options on zooplus - catessy and leonardo are the ones that look ok and are within the same price bracket as the foods you list. The other brands I like are all more expensive than the ones you list, but I have a couple of issues with my girl (the primary one is that she reacts badly to beef, which makes a lot of seemingly good goods unusable). I won't even get started on my very picky, 'junk food' addicted old boy

I'm sorry I can't be of more help. Incidentally, if you join cashback websites you'll find that a lot of the online pet shops offer cashback. Yes, it can take a while to process, but every little helps It might also be worth writing to the manufacturers of the brands you do still like saying how good they are...you never know, they might send you some coupons for their products.

For what it's worth, the brands I feed are Feringa, Lily's Kitchen (chicken parfait only), thrive complete (chicken flavours only), catz finefoods, Terra Faelis, nature's menu (chicken and turkey only). I'd also be happy with Forthglade and Meowing Heads, but havent tried them yet. I'm looking at experimenting with raw food (pre made to start with) after Asha's spayed...I don't want to take any chances until that's over with...I can't risk another delay.

Sorry, this has ended up very long too. Hope some of it proves useful

Just been browsing the Web. Check out http://www.kennelgate.co.uk They have really good prices on some foods - they have a lot of surplus/end of line/short dated food so they have some really good deals.

@Columbine  you were more than helpful! I checked out your shopping list and I will try FOR SURE Catessy, Leonardo, Catz Finefood and Lily's Kitchen.

Since I'd really like for this to become an open conversation for all European members looking for more options in terms of food available here, I'll try to answer your questions on my specific situation, hoping that others will chip in with tips and opinions.

Our cats are both young males, healthy, neutered and incredibly cute. One is two and the other one and a half years old. One is black, long hair, and the other is white and short hair. One is big, the other is tiny. Here's a picture just because:


They don't have any particular food allergy, nor specific tastes on the meat type, they just get picky after a while and they looove new options. Any new food is their favourite food for two-three meals, then they hate it. They both eat very little, we always have leftovers. I don't think they are too thin, but I get worried easily and my boyfriend is even more paranoid (as long as they eat something I tend to let them be, he however gets super worried every time).

Yes! Zooplus.de is cheaper. I order from Italy (yeah, as you probably noticed english is not my first language, I hope my posts are not too hard to read...) and I get free shipping as long as my order is over 100€. We have our local Zooplus.it so it's not out of necessity that I order from the german one, it's just really cheaper like 10-20% off. By the way, when we adopted the two beasts I did a comparison between the different countries and if I remember correctly UK's Zooplus is the most expensive, so I highly suggest you to check out the german website!

Regarding the raw diet, I don't think it's an option for us, for many reasons. We are always so busy, have limited stocking space in the fridge, and my boyfriend is a vegetarian... It sounds a little hypocrite on his part, but I know he has problems handling raw meat and on one hand I want to respect that, on the other I don't want feeding to be all on me. So, yeah, we prefer industrial wet food

Columbine said:

Just been browsing the Web. Check out http://www.kennelgate.co.uk They have really good prices on some foods - they have a lot of surplus/end of line/short dated food so they have some really good deals.

Click to expand...

What a shame, they don't have free shipping for Italy

Sorry - as you linked the uk site I just assumed you were in the uk :anon:

For what its worth, I'm vegetarian (leaning towards vegan) and I have real issues handling meat...especially raw meat. For that reason I could never handle a 'frankenprey' diet, but I'm willing to try raw because, imo, it's the best diet I can feed. I don't think it's hypocritical to be a vegetarian and feed cats a species appropriate diet - a lot of my reasons for being vegetarian are based around animal welfare and love for animals. To my mind, it's only right to respect the nature of the animals in my care, and a big part of that is feeding them a diet that is as natural as possible - as well as giving them the chance to carry out the behaviors their wild counterparts do. For the dogs, it's plenty of off lead exercise; for the cats it's games that allow them to carry out the hunt-kill-eat cycle, for the pony it's setting her stable up for she can 'forage' for her food and giving her plenty of turnout time in a stable herd.

I fully understand that raw isn't for everyone - I just thought it might be a cheaper option.

Your cats are beautiful btw

Hello - another brand that I have just tried from Zooplus and that my 4 cats like is MAC.

The ingredients look good and if buying in bulk, the price can be close to Animonda's.

And your kitties are indeed beautiful

chiarabab said:

@Columbine
 you were more than helpful! I checked out your shopping list and I will try FOR SURE Catessy, Leonardo, Catz Finefood and Lily's Kitchen.

Since I'd really like for this to become an open conversation for all European members looking for more options in terms of food available here, I'll try to answer your questions on my specific situation, hoping that others will chip in with tips and opinions.

Our cats are both young males, healthy, neutered and incredibly cute. One is two and the other one and a half years old. One is black, long hair, and the other is white and short hair. One is big, the other is tiny. Here's a picture just because:

2014-06-09 07.32.19.jpg

• chiarabab
• Sep 23, 2014

They don't have any particular food allergy, nor specific tastes on the meat type, they just get picky after a while and they looove new options. Any new food is their favourite food for two-three meals, then they hate it. They both eat very little, we always have leftovers. I don't think they are too thin, but I get worried easily and my boyfriend is even more paranoid (as long as they eat something I tend to let them be, he however gets super worried every time).

Yes! Zooplus.de is cheaper. I order from Italy (yeah, as you probably noticed english is not my first language, I hope my posts are not too hard to read...) and I get free shipping as long as my order is over 100€. We have our local Zooplus.it so it's not out of necessity that I order from the german one, it's just really cheaper like 10-20% off. By the way, when we adopted the two beasts I did a comparison between the different countries and if I remember correctly UK's Zooplus is the most expensive, so I highly suggest you to check out the german website!

Regarding the raw diet, I don't think it's an option for us, for many reasons. We are always so busy, have limited stocking space in the fridge, and my boyfriend is a vegetarian... It sounds a little hypocrite on his part, but I know he has problems handling raw meat and on one hand I want to respect that, on the other I don't want feeding to be all on me. So, yeah, we prefer industrial wet food

Click to expand...

I am in US so I cannot comment on food brands, but I can comment on rotations. I know myself and several others on this site rotate brands, flavors, textures and proteins daily. I have about 12 different ones I rotate daily, not weekly or monthly. This seems to work well at preventing not only allergies but BOREDOM as well. Also if one flavor starts loosing favor just put some freeze dried toppers on it and it will get eaten.

Silkcatseyes said:

Hello - another brand that I have just tried from Zooplus and that my 4 cats like is MAC.
The ingredients look good and if buying in bulk, the price can be close to Animonda's.

And your kitties are indeed beautiful

Click to expand...

MAC's is similar to catz finefood, but cheaper. It used to contain grain, but they changed the ingredients several months ago. Its consistency is a firm pate, but slightly "juicier" than the catz.

Princess, one of my cats is also fussy she likes a particular food for a few days then won't touch it. I also buy from zooplus, princess s liking Miamor fine fillets at the moment- but prob not for long! Columbine this is a one protein source food, so maybe try this.

bonepicker said:

I am in US so I cannot comment on food brands, but I can comment on rotations. I know myself and several others on this site rotate brands, flavors, textures and proteins daily. I have about 12 different ones I rotate daily, not weekly or monthly. This seems to work well at preventing not only allergies but BOREDOM as well. Also if one flavor starts loosing favor just put some freeze dried toppers on it and it will get eaten.

Click to expand...

Oh believe me, we rotate daily and we even mix in food they like to get the to eat the ones they don't like... But they are great at selecting the pieces

evamilly Thanks for the tip about Miamor. I'm a very fussy mum (much more so than Asha...Shadow's another story ). When it comes to Asha's food, I won't get anything containing :- grains, fish, beef, lamb, veal, potato, sugars, anything 'derivatives'. Think that's it. I did say I was fussy Basically, I want the protein sources to be as close as possible to what cats would naturally hunt. I like the way Lisa Pierson ( http://www.catinfo.org ) puts it - animals with feathers or long ears! ( I'm paraphrasing btw).

It's just personal choice. I'm lucky that I'm able to do it for them. I use the brands I listed above, but pick and choose the flavours to stick to my list of 'requirements'. I think it's partly that I know what a bad start Asha had, so I want her to have the best of everything to make up for it :lol3:

chiarabab I know exactly what you mean about changing favourites - as far as Shadow's concerned, today's favorite is tomorrow's trash :wife: I swear more of his food ends up in the bin (or the dog....) than in his stomach. Very frustrating. His food is rotated almost on a meal by meal basis...and he gets 6-8 mini feeds a day.

I'd like to be a fussy mum, however Princess is only 2.8 kg and has boarderline thyroid leves- not quite hyperthyroid but the vet thinks she's heading that way, unfortunately she's not food motivated at all so if she likes it she gets it. She will always eat gourmet pates, I hate giving them to her because I know they are crap food, but I do because they contain quite a few Kcal! I draw the line at dry food tho!

I'm sorry to hear about Princess's health problems. First and foremost, the best food for a cat is the food they will eat. I'm not judging. Like I said, Shadow is impossible to feed, and is addicted to junk food for the most part - a lot of the time he refuses anything except sheba or gourmet (both gravy types only). Other than that, he'll eat almo nature complementary sachets - usually tuna and chicken, but occasionally salmon and chicken. Very occasionally he'll eat Asha's food, but it's rare. He's largely a fish flavours addict, will not totally give up his kibble (and he's had one crystals episode 5ish years ago...and the kibble is royal canin veterinary s/o -he's 13 and I didn't know then what I know now about food)...basically, we feed him everything wrong and he refuses to change. Please don't take my earlier comments the wrong way

Columbine said:

I'm sorry to hear about Princess's health problems. First and foremost, the best food for a cat is the food they will eat. I'm not judging. Like I said, Shadow is impossible to feed, and is addicted to junk food for the most part - a lot of the time he refuses anything except sheba or gourmet (both gravy types only). Other than that, he'll eat almo nature complementary sachets - usually tuna and chicken, but occasionally salmon and chicken. Very occasionally he'll eat Asha's food, but it's rare. He's largely a fish flavours addict, will not totally give up his kibble (and he's had one crystals episode 5ish years ago...and the kibble is royal canin veterinary s/o -he's 13 and I didn't know then what I know now about food)...basically, we feed him everything wrong and he refuses to change. Please don't take my earlier comments the wrong way

Click to expand...

How to you feed them different foods? Mine used to eat everything in their bowls in about 10 minutes, it was so easy to monitor their respective food intake, but now that the become so picky they are really slow eaters The only way I have to monitor how much they eat is by weighting them once a week.

Columbine said:

I'm sorry to hear about Princess's health problems. First and foremost, the best food for a cat is the food they will eat. I'm not judging. Like I said, Shadow is impossible to feed, and is addicted to junk food for the most part - a lot of the time he refuses anything except sheba or gourmet (both gravy types only). Other than that, he'll eat almo nature complementary sachets - usually tuna and chicken, but occasionally salmon and chicken. Very occasionally he'll eat Asha's food, but it's rare. He's largely a fish flavours addict, will not totally give up his kibble (and he's had one crystals episode 5ish years ago...and the kibble is royal canin veterinary s/o -he's 13 and I didn't know then what I know now about food)...basically, we feed him everything wrong and he refuses to change. Please don't take my earlier comments the wrong way

Click to expand...

I didn't think you were judging, I took it in the spirit it was meant , I was serious when I said I've tried to be a fussy mum lol, princess is having none of it. I'm like 'you're a princess junk is not for you' :lol3:

evamilly said:

I didn't think you were judging, I took it in the spirit it was meant , I was serious when I said I've tried to be a fussy mum lol, princess is having none of it. I'm like 'you're a princess junk is not for you' :lol3:

Click to expand...

Have you seen those micro chip controlled feeders, they look very good. I was thinking of getting some as I have one skinny cat, and an overweight one.

evamilly said:

I'm like 'you're a princess junk is not for you'

Click to expand...

AWWW! That's too cute! <3 (also true, doubleU-T-EF Princess! Show some manners, you're royalty!)

Lol

chiarabab said:

How to you feed them different foods? Mine used to eat everything in their bowls in about 10 minutes, it was so easy to monitor their respective food intake, but now that the become so picky they are really slow eaters The only way I have to monitor how much they eat is by weighting them once a week.

Click to expand...

It's easy:- I rescued Asha 6 weeks ago. She and Shadow are still getting used to each other, and they tend to stay separate most of the time. Asha gets fed in her safe room upstairs, and Shadow gets fed on 'his' dining table...We've given up on ever getting it back :lol3: