Help with cat treats please

Hi there, this will be my first post and why I joined here. 

A few months after we adopted a stray kitten, Bastet, our financial situation has got worse because of irrelevant things and we have a hard time giving him good food. Even though he eats it, he doesn't like his food much. Changing the food is not an option because we tried everything in the range we can afford. I'm asking if there's a way to make cheap/home made treats or food surplus or making his food more desirable. We tried mixing his food with yogurt, it kind of made things better but I don't want to feed him dairy products often, as most cats are lactose intolerant and I don't want to risk his health.

Notes:

-We have a very special bond and he doesn't like strangers, he was very depressed when a friend was cat-sitting him for a week so don't even dare to suggest separating us.

-I know Bastet is a female name. He carries the name really well with his arrogance and grace only comparable to those of gods and a very handsome desert animal look.

-We are not sure how old he is, must be about eight or nine months old.

Also he sometimes eats spiders and other insects, is it healthy?

Originally Posted by Oberon  

. I'm asking if there's a way to make cheap/home made treats or food surplus or making his food more desirable. We tried mixing his food with yogurt, it kind of made things better but I don't want to feed him dairy products often, as most cats are lactose intolerant and I don't want to risk his health.

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Healthy homemade treats you can give to your cat are plain cooked chicken (poached in water is good), raw chicken (some cats may not eat raw), a little canned tuna (in water, not the in oil kind).

You could also crush up crunchy commercial cat treats and sprinkle them on top of the food.

I don't think spiders and insects would hurt a cat.

What brands of cat food are you feeding? Members may be able to suggest other brands to try.

I give my cats plain grilled, baked and broiled meats that I chop up and either feed them by hand or use as a topper for their foods. I also use no salt added canned sardines packed in water sometimes. They love those. As far as making your own food, it's not as simple as just putting meat in their dish. This is not a balanced diet for a cat. I highly recommend that you check out this link from our raw and home cooked forum. It has a wealth of information if this is something you'd like to do.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263955/helpful-resources-raw-home-cooked-cat-food-forum

As far as suggestions for canned foods, I feed only canned and some commercial raw. What are you feeding now to get an idea of suggestions that you can try that would be in the same price range? I can tell you that often you can find better prices on canned foods from chewy.com. wag.com, petfooddirect.com and amazon.com. If you have an amazon account, you can use their subscribe and save program which also gives you free standard shipping unless you are a prime member and then it's free 2 day shipping as long as the items are prime eligible. 

If you plan to go homecooked/raw, there are companies that make pre-mixed supplements. I know I was completely overwhelmed with having to get all the supplements and I didn't even know if my cat would eat raw. So I got trial size supplements. 

http://tcfeline.com/ is a good place to get trial size supplements. 

You may have to spend a big amount of money initially but I feel for the long term, feeding homecooked/raw is cheaper than commercial. (I don't feed home cooked ... yet but I did the calculations and it's cheaper for me in my area.) 

I think the biggest problem might be transitioning your kitty. It may take a long time and lots of patience. But anyway, check out the forum Kat0121 linked! Lots of good info there

There are lots of "cheap" foods that are decent. I mean one of my cats likes fancy feast classic chicken (which i feed to my strays mostly). So why not find something your cat likes better? Even a different flavor of friskies or fancy feast would be better. Cats, like humans, sometimes have preferences. 

Goat's yogurt is generally tolerated very well by cats - yes its got lactose, but something to do with the molecular structure and smaller fat cells in goat's milk means it is much more readily digestible. If your boy likes yogurt, goat's yogurt might be worth a try.

Spiders,bugs etc are perfectly healthy for a cat to eat - in they wild they would form a small part of a cat's diet.

Homemade might be a cheaper way to go (depending on your current budget), but it is extra work. Don't start it unless you have the time to do it right

My cats go mad for basic things like plain cooked chicken or turkey. If you get desperate, fortiflora is often the ultimate 'seasoning' to get a cat excited about eating. You don't need to worry about the use by as you're using it for flavour instead of a probiotic. You also don't need anything like the quantity you would if you were using it as intended.

Thank you all for answering, I'm going to try and find which of the suggestions that he likes.

As for the brand that we use, I don't live in USA so we'll ask the local vet for more advice.
Once again, thank you all!

We're not all in America! I'm in the UK, and I know there are other members here from all over the world - Australia, Japan, Germany, Israel...I could go on. It really could be worth posting the brand you feed, as someone here may know of something affordable you haven't yet tried.

Oh, Ok. it's Goody, he used to like Whiskas but we can't afford it now.

Which country are you in? Goody seems to be a Turkish brand - is that right? A company called zooplus serves most European countries. They have brands that aren't commonly available, usually much better prices than other places, by signing up to the newsletter you get 5% off every order and they often have extra discounts if you bulk buy. It's a great resource if you're on a budget...though, between the cats and the dogs, it's turned my hallway into a mini pet shop

Edit - you may find you get a better choice of products if you order from zooplus.de (German site). Big range, cheaper, and free delivery for a bulk order.