Acceptable medium-price canned cat foods?

Hi, new here, with two young cats. Having previously lost a middle-aged cat to kidney disease after a lifetime of Cat Chow, I am determined not to feed dry food to these little guys. I have been feeding them Grreat Choice from PetSmart because it's healthy and cheap, but I am unsure about the quality of manufacturing, so I am poking around looking for other brands to try. I can't afford Wellness, Royal Canin or anything like that. Here are some brands I can afford: Avoderm, Chicken Soup, Evanger's, Evolve, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Hill's Science Diet, Iams, Natural Balance, Nutro Max, Redbarn Naturals, Sheba, and Triumph. Which of these are any good? Posting a poll.

A lot of members here feed Fancy Feast, Sheba and a few varieties of Friskies and their cats are doing well. Fancy Feast seems to be the preferred out of the 3.

I personally do not feed any of these because Fancy Feast and Sheba both made my cats vomit (unsure why) and I simply just don't like Friskies.

The only other food I have fed is Natural Balance, which I feed on occasion, though my cats aren't particularly fond of it.

Have you done any price checking online? I order mostly from Chewy.com; there are several online retailers that you can purchase from that are cheaper than buying in store.

For example, Pride by Instinct (Chicken, Tuna, Salmon formulas) is $19.04 (Autoship) for a 12 pack case of 5.5 oz cans, so $1.58 per can, or $0.86 for 3 oz for comparison.

Also, for price purposes, check out Holistic Select. On Chewy, a case (12) of the large 13 oz cans is $29.35 on Autoship. That breaksdown to $2.44 per can, or $0.56 for 3 oz.

I've fed HS before, but had to stop when some of my cats developed GI issues (likely from the xanthan gum...which I think may also be in Sheba?).

Regardless, I think the *most* important things to look for in a canned food (or any food) is named meat source first (chicken, turkey, duck), grain-free, few to no fruits/veggies and, of course, your cats have to eat it.

Then you can decide how you feel about by-products, gums/thickeners (like guar gum and carrageenan), etc...

Hi! Welcome! I don't feed dry either. None of the foods that you have in that poll are "awful". The basic idea is that you want a food that is high in protein and low in carbs. One thing that you need to remember is that just because a food is high quality doesn't mean the cat is going to eat it. I found that out the hard way as did many others here. My cats eat a variety of foods and brands and I try to keep it that way so they don't up and decide that they don't like anything I have for them. They have done that before. Many people here feed Grreat Choice. My cats like it. They also like FF, Sheba, Friskies and some of the higher end brands like Nature's Variety, Pride by Instinct, Red Barn, Weruva, Soulistic, Whole Earth Farms, Merrick pates and Nature's Variety Prairie Homestyle. I don't know where you're located but there are ways to get some of the better brands at good prices especially if you shop online. You can use chewy.com, wag.com, petfooddirect.com and of course, amazon.com. All of these sites have subscription plans available and you can set how you often want your delivery. They all offer discounts on the food this way. I use Amazon's subscribe and save. If you have more than 5 items (they can be from any category), you get 15% off all items. If you are a Prime member and the items are Prime eligible, you get free 2 day shipping. Otherwise you get free standard shipping. 

there are countless threads about food on this site and there are many opinions on what foods are "the best". The guideline is high protein/low carb. You have to decide what is best for your cat and if your cats are like mine, they will decide what they like and don't like pretty quickly. I try to stay away from foods that are too saucy or have a lot of gravy because that's where a lot of the carbs come from. Pates generally are lower in carbs than other varieties. 

I think your best bet is to go to a Petsmart, Petco or a local independent pet store (or all 3) and just get a little of this and a little of that. Let them try different foods that are in your budget. Once you have a few foods that they like and that you can afford, you can see about ordering them by the case to save time and money. 

To be very specific, my upper price limit is 19 cents per ounce.

Does anyone know anything about how Grreat Choice is manufactured? I hear PetSmart is quiet about that.

What about Dave's cat food in the 12.5 oz from Chewy.com? I think they are 17.3 cents per ounce as long as you buy $49 worth for the free shipping. Could check local pet stores to see if it would be cheaper.

There's also Evo Turkey/chicken 13.2 oz from Amazon.com. 15.1 cents per ounce and free shipping for orders over $35 if you don't have amazon prime. It is 13 cents per ounce on Chewy.com for the chicken/turkey or beef flavors but need $49 for free shipping.

These seem cheaper and better foods than the ones you listed. For example, Fancy Feast is about 19 cents per ounce.

Juliacat said:

 
To be very specific, my upper price limit is 19 cents per ounce.

Does anyone know anything about how Grreat Choice is manufactured? I hear PetSmart is quiet about that.

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If this info is current  , Menu Foods manufacturers Grreat Choice cat foods ..  Scroll down to the bottom ..

http://animalpetdoctor.homestead.com/nutritioncompanies.html

Menu Foods was bought out by Simmons in 2010.

I e-mailed them to ask about their quality control practices. I'm skeptical of companies that outsource, but I WANT to like this one.

Have you considered Authority (Petsmart house brand) or Hound and Gatos?

Authority, YES I've considered it, I'm just not sure it's enough better than Grreat Choice to justify the price increase--they're manufactured by the same company, plus Authority has rice in it, and I'm not bothered by the by-products in Grreat Choice.

Hound and Gatos is too expensive. Thanks for the suggestion though 

Do you have a Trader Joes by you? They have 5.5 oz cat food for .79 cents a can. Close to grain free and better quality. All are pate and my cats love it

Red barn is 16 cents an ounce at chewy.com and no carageenan my cats love tricky chicky

Draco said:

Do you have a Trader Joes by you? They have 5.5 oz cat food for .79 cents a can. Close to grain free and better quality. All are pate and my cats love it

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Our previous cat loved Trader Joe's foods, too. I seem to recall that it has rice, but fairly far down in the ingredient list.

it does have rice, I think. it's not grain free, but close and good quality for the price!

BTW.. Do not buy the cans from Amazon.. its priced at over $2 a can on there!

No Trader Joe's, nor anything else cool either (Costco, Whole Foods, etc.). Just your standard big box stores like Petsmart. I do order from Chewy sometimes.

Juliacat said:

 
No Trader Joe's, nor anything else cool either (Costco, Whole Foods, etc.). Just your standard big box stores like Petsmart. I do order from Chewy sometimes.

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Do you have a Tractor Supply ?  They have a brand called 4 Health that is pretty good and .69 cents for a 5.5 oz can ..

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/4health-grain-free-turkey--giblet-dinner-cat-food-55-oz

Oh, it looks like there is one in a neighboring town. I have never been there. I will have to check it out. Thanks