Healthy but affordable canned food

shannashoff · Nov 5, 2015

So I'm in the process of switching to a canned food only diet. Which canned foods are healthy, yet affordable (preferably grain free, but not necessary)? I see a lot of people recommend Fancy Feast (is that grain free?). Any others?

catwoman707 · Nov 5, 2015

ShannaShoff said:
So I'm in the process of switching to a canned food only diet. Which canned foods are healthy, yet affordable (preferably grain free, but not necessary)? I see a lot of people recommend Fancy Feast (is that grain free?). Any others?

I actually feed my girls both fancy feast, the classics (pate) are grain free.

I have tried the more pricey grain free foods and they will have nothing to do with them, so ff it is for my two picky kitties

missmimz · Nov 5, 2015

ShannaShoff said:
So I'm in the process of switching to a canned food only diet. Which canned foods are healthy, yet affordable (preferably grain free, but not necessary)? I see a lot of people recommend Fancy Feast (is that grain free?). Any others?

Sort of depends on what your price range is. FF classic is decent for sure. I feed Sheba pate to my ferals, i think it's decent too. If you can go up a little in price and feed non-grocery store brands Nutro Natural choice has a lot of different varieties including chunky/pate/sliced and I think it's good quality. I know it's on sale a lot at Petco. Soulistic is good too.

crazy4strays · Nov 6, 2015

Fancy Feast is okay, but it's kind of pricey for what it is, IMO. With chewy.com and my local Tractor Supply store, I can find several premium foods for the same price or less than FF. (Or slightly more, but still in my ball park for my budget)

For example, Blue Wilderness is on sale right now for $1.23 per 5.5 oz can. I can get Wellness for a little over $1 for 5.5 oz when buying the large cans. (For my price comparison I take the size, figure out the cost per oz and then multiply that by 5.5) Evanger foods work out to about $0.75 per 5.5 oz when buying large cans.

Whole Earth Farms is another one that I like. I buy a case of 24 five oz cans for $23.48.

I did find cans of Fancy Feast at the Amish store for $0.25 each the other day, so I got them.

Another favorite of mine is Tractor Supply store brand grain free canned food. It's just $0.69 per 5.5 oz can. Kroger also has a grain free canned food that's $0.79 per can.

2cats4me · Nov 6, 2015

ShannaShoff said:
So I'm in the process of switching to a canned food only diet. Which canned foods are healthy, yet affordable (preferably grain free, but not necessary)? I see a lot of people recommend Fancy Feast (is that grain free?). Any others?

Fancy Feast Classics are grain free . It is decent food . My two cats are super picky and this is the only brand they

will eat consistently.

At four cans a day it can get expensive but I stock up on sales and use coupons when I can . You can also find deals on Target.com I only feed three flavors Chicken Feast , Liver & Chicken Feast , Turkey & Giblets Feast . Two of which have no fish or added color .

Sheba is a good brand as well , It is mostly sold at Walmart . Walmart also has Special Kitty ..

Friskies Pate formulas are pretty good and affordable .

crazy4strays · Nov 6, 2015

Yes, pickiness is a factor. I'm lucky in that my cats will pretty much eat whatever, so I can just buy whatever grain free food is on sale or falls within my price range.

So it depends on your cat and what they will eat.

2cats4me · Nov 6, 2015

Crazy4Strays said:
Yes, pickiness is a factor. I'm lucky in that my cats will pretty much eat whatever, so I can just buy whatever grain free food is on sale or falls within my price range.

So it depends on your cat and what they will eat.

You are so lucky . I have to struggle to get my cats to eat wet food at all . I have got them to try different things but they that is about it so instead of wasting money I just stick with what they like .

crazy4strays · Nov 6, 2015

One of my cats was initially picky when transitioning off of dry food. He would sniff food and just walk away or nibble a bit at a time. I kept on offering him new things as well as buying stuff that I knew that he would eat. Gradually he started to accept stuff that he previously wouldn't touch.

I think that over time, he figured out that food was only
available at certain times and no kibble was coming, so he'd better eat when I got the food out.

Now he eats 3 oz at a time and accepts most flavors of canned food. I know that doesn't work for every cat though. I was lucky in that I had two other cats in the house who would gladly eat his food if he refused it, so I didn't have to waste food while transitioning.

2cats4me · Nov 6, 2015

Crazy4Strays said:
One of my cats was initially picky when transitioning off of dry food. He would sniff food and just walk away or nibble a bit at a time. I kept on offering him new things as well as buying stuff that I knew that he would eat. Gradually he started to accept stuff that he previously wouldn't touch.

I think that over time, he figured out that food was only
available at certain times and no kibble was coming, so he'd better eat when I got the food out.

Now he eats 3 oz at a time and accepts most flavors of canned food. I know that doesn't work for every cat though. I was lucky in that I had two other cats in the house who would gladly eat his food if he refused it, so I didn't have to waste food while transitioning.

Yup , they can be a pain . My cats are eating about 90 % wet so I am happy with that . I just gotta give'em what they want ..

crazy4strays · Nov 6, 2015

Cats surely can be opinionated on what to eat, more so than dogs. I dog sat my mother-in-law's poodle and she would go and eat out of my cat's dish.

2cats4me · Nov 6, 2015

Crazy4Strays said:
Cats surely can be opinionated on what to eat, more so than dogs. I dog sat my mother-in-law's poodle and she would go and eat out of my cat's dish.

Yes , for sure . We also have three dogs and they are not picky at all . I feed them good food but it does make it easier to shop because I can buy what is on sale and know they eat it .

paiger8 · Nov 6, 2015

If you have more than 1 cat, I'd highly recommend getting 12.5 oz cans. They're much more affordable per oz than the small cans. I buy both Wellness Grain Free Pates and Dave's in 12.5 oz cans. I just refrigerate the leftovers. A can will last me 2 days with my 2 cats. Online Wellness costs me about $2.40 for a 12.5 oz can. And I can get Dave's http://davespetfood.com for $1.89 per 12.5 oz can at my local indy pet store. You should be able to find a supplier in your area if ups check out Dave's website. I find it's actually cheaper for me to buy locally than online for Dave's canned.

I figured out the cost of 12.5 oz Wellness and it's just about the same price per oz as the FF 3oz if I buy the Wellness online.

elliot · Nov 6, 2015

I do most of my cat food shopping at PetCo so the prices below are all from there.

Merrick's Purrfect Bistro pates come in 5.5 oz cans, are grain free and are $1.69 each. If there's a sale though, it could be cheaper. Canidae has a grain free line, too. A 13 oz can is $2.79. NutroMax is also good, although it's not grain free. I think it's $1.09 per 5.5 oz can.

amandad · Nov 6, 2015

What dry food were you feeding them? How many cats do you have? Fancy Feast is okay, but it's not the best. Whole Earth Farms is a good, natural, less pricey food as well as Under the Sun. Soulistic cat food is great too. You can get Natural Balance pouches for 99 cents a pouch. I feed my cats a variety of different brands of wet food. My last wet food purchase was about 70 bucks but I bought a LOT so it would last me a while, plus it was all Halo, Instinct, Merrick and Blue Buffalo.

You can also try the Wellness Air Dried food. It sin't exactly fry like kibble is, but it is squishy.

Here is a list of what I normally feed mine a variety of:

Blue Buffalo

Wilderness

Healthy Gourmet

Freedom

Basics L.I.D.

Halo (Only liked by my 7 month old)

Spot's Stew

Spot's Pate

Spot's Choice

Impulse

Vigor

Natural Balance

Ultra (though I tend to stay away from this with my 14 year old as she didn't have a pleasant reaction tot he food - she's allergic to salmon)

Platefuls (the pouches)

Wild Pursuit

Merrick

Limited Ingredient Diet Grain Free

Wellness

Regular cans with the wispy design of a cat on the cans

Healthy Indulgence (Tried this, they both vomited though I am going to try another flavor, I may have just given them too much)

Natures Variety

Instinct

Pride

Solid Gold

Any of their flavors

Soulistic

Canned

Puoches

Fancy Feast

Medleys

Purina

ProPlan Urinary Tract Health

There's a variety of foods that you can buy, just try to see which one works best for your fur babies.

shannashoff · Nov 7, 2015

Thanks! I have 3 cats. One will eat anything I put in front of him. One is hit or miss. And one won't touch any of it. I just bought some different brands and flavors at Petco (single cans) to see what they like and then I'll order cases of the things they do like. I hope I can get my girl to try something instead of just trying to bury it!

amandad · Nov 7, 2015

ShannaShoff said:
Thanks! I have 3 cats. One will eat anything I put in front of him. One is hit or miss. And one won't touch any of it. I just bought some different brands and flavors at Petco (single cans) to see what they like and then I'll order cases of the things they do like. I hope I can get my girl to try something instead of just trying to bury it!

You're welcome! What foods did you get?

shannashoff · Nov 8, 2015

I got a variety. Hopefully one resonates.

Blue wilderness - duck (they tasted it but didn't like it. My oldest boy wolfed it down, but he'll eat anything. At least my girl didn't try to bury this one..progress! Lol)

Fancy Feast - beef
4health grain free - turkey & giblet
Merrick purrfect bistro - turducken
Canidae Pure - turkey and rabbit (this is expensive but it's a last resort)

abbybaby · Nov 8, 2015

Interesting. I've been giving Abby Wellness, but although she will eat it, she won't finish it, no matter how small a portion I give her, so I've been trying other foods. So far the only thing I've found that she consistently eats is Weruva Paw Licking Chicken. She licks the bowl clean for that. It's not inexpensive so I did try mixing it with other food I had on hand (the Wellness) but she went back to not finishing what was in the bowl. So based on the recommendations here, I may try some FF classics to alternate, if she will have them. Otherwise I may just have to give her the Weruva only and hope she doesn't get bored with it (I've tried one other Weruva flavour, mackerel and something, which she did eat, but not as enthusiastically. They seem mostly to deal with fish flavours though, and I don't want to give her a lot of fish based foods. At least she will eat wet food - the cat I had before wouldn't and I think that contributed to some of her health issues.

amandad · Nov 8, 2015

Another thing I forgot to mention was that I also occasionally feed Purina Beyond.

paiger8 · Nov 8, 2015

AbbyBaby said:
Interesting. I've been giving Abby Wellness, but although she will eat it, she won't finish it, no matter how small a portion I give her, so I've been trying other foods. So far the only thing I've found that she consistently eats is Weruva Paw Licking Chicken. She licks the bowl clean for that. It's not inexpensive so I did try mixing it with other food I had on hand (the Wellness) but she went back to not finishing what was in the bowl. So based on the recommendations here, I may try some FF classics to alternate, if she will have them. Otherwise I may just have to give her the Weruva only and hope she doesn't get bored with it (I've tried one other Weruva flavour, mackerel and something, which she did eat, but not as enthusiastically. They seem mostly to deal with fish flavours though, and I don't want to give her a lot of fish based foods. At least she will eat wet food - the cat I had before wouldn't and I think that contributed to some of her health issues.

If she likes Paw Licken Chicken, try Cats in the Kitchen. It's also by Weruva and a bit cheaper. It's shredded meat, like the Paw Licken. I know quite a few cats like Fowl Bowl.

Healthy but affordable canned food

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