Confused Cat Feeder - striving for bio-appropriate diet

So, I have been doing alot of research and I want to transition my cat to a raw diet. Right now is not the best time to do it because I'm going to be moving soon. So, I am only feeding wet food, approved by AAFCO, making sure first ingredient is whole meat , and then 4-5 ingredients after that are either meat or whole food and that the nutrients needed like taurine are in the food. (I've watched many videos of Dr. Karen Becker who gives advice on it.) Now, I've looked on so many sites including this one, about the cheapest way to give your cat bio-appropriate food, or at least more bio-appropriate for now. Now I'm not giving dry anymore, but for now I am using Pride by instinct grain fee cans, and they are 2.49 per can. I have one 8 lb cat, and my parents have a 12 lb cat. and I've been giving them 1/2 can in the am, and 1/2 can plus some raw chicken (making sure it's not too much since I know it can't be over 15% of their food from what I am getting from the research. But you know I am trying to slowly make the transition. But, I was wondering if anyone had any advice on brands that use ingredients made for human consumption, which I know would be on the can. This brand I'm using is not, and other brands at petco I can't find. So , if anyone had a recommendation on a brand that does use human grade, and a way that I can more affordably give them a more bio appropriate diet. I'll only be feeding my parents cat for about another month, and then I'll just have my 9month old cat to feed. But, right now its 2.49 a day per cat and I can't really keep doing this, the wellness brand made my younger kitty throw up and I don't want to go to friskies or something like that if I don't have to. If anyone had any recommendations I would greatly appreciate it. Sorry if the answer is somewhere on the site already, Im sure if you've tried researching these things you'd know it's alot of information out there, and hard to kind of pick what is right, but I know this site has been very reliable for me. So Thank you in advance! 

Concerned kitty mama! 

Kalene 

I'd also be willing to incorporate some pre-made commercial raw food, or commercial freeze dried if any one had affordable reliable brand recommendations for that, if that would be a better choice to add in with less expensive cans. There are just so many out there. Stella's freeze dried seems expensive, 23 on amazon for 12 oz :/ 1.5 cups 

It's not a great idea to feed part of the ration as UNbalanced plain meat for long - its fine in the short term (a week or two max) but not longer:- [thread="293162"][/thread]

For right now, I'd keep the focus on high meat wet, and not worry too much about the 'safe for human consumption' part. Fancy Feast and Sheba patés are pretty decent economic choices. I'm sure others will chime in with more suggestions (I'm in the UK, and am still learning about the American brands ). You might find this article interesting. Check out the reviews section too.

Columbine said:

It's not a great idea to feed part of the ration as UNbalanced plain meat for long - its fine in the short term (a week or two max) but not longer:- [thread="293162"][/thread]

For right now, I'd keep the focus on high meat wet, and not worry too much about the 'safe for human consumption' part. Fancy Feast and Sheba patés are pretty decent economic choices. I'm sure others will chime in with more suggestions (I'm in the UK, and am still learning about the American brands ). You might find this article interesting. Check out the reviews section too.

Click to expand...

Second the not focusing on human consumption aspect. Cats eat rats and mice, I wouldn't call those fit for human consumption as a rule!

Weruva, while not really cheap (but not super-expensive compared to others) is pretty decent. Plus the ones Columbine mentioned, which are even more affordable.

Okay okay. I was reading through another thread and thought that one of them said it was okay to feed some raw chicken, but that makes sense if it's not balanced. Dr. Karen Becker, if you google her shes an animal nutritionist that is kind of exposing alot of the issues of pet food companies, talks about how human grade is better because if it's not, companies can grind together like hooves and whatever excess stuff of animals that humans can't eat into the food and call it by-products. I know cats eat mice and such, but I don't know, I just didn't like the idea of what mystery combination pet food companies could be putting into the meat, like these meat by-products. Maybe if the cans are organic they wouldn't be able to do this, even if it's not 'human grade.' I see what food companies get away with, with putting certain things in our foods so I just can't imagine what they can get away with in feed regulations for animals. But, I do see your point. Thank you for that update. Maybe buying some commercially available freeze-dried food and mixing it in the wet, would be a better idea and more balanced than giving them raw chicken.. Definitely do not want to feed them anything harmful in the raw department! And I'll look up those brands. Thanks! 

KAlene 

Here she talks about best to worst foods for dogs/cats. 

There's a certain amount of scaremongering that goes on around pet food. Hooves, hair etc would NEVER count as meat.

Having said that, I've had horses for years, and pretty much every dog I've seen at the stables goes wild for horse hoof trimmings! (Yes, I know cats aren't dogs, but their digestive systems aren't SO far apart ) I know we wouldn't want to eat it, but we wouldn't eat bone or eggshell either - two of the best calcium sources for cats.

In short, feed the best food that you can COMFORTABLY afford for now. As long as it's high meat and low carb you'll still be providing a good, biologically appropriate diet

I have five cats with a myriad of nutritional needs, so my focus has been on things like percentage of phosphorus and protein. Adding ingredient research to that would make me crazier than I already am! I aim to get some nice stuff, but mostly go for affordable.

True, I don't know everything that is in the food. I personally disagree with that person saying we should focus on human grade however, as I feel we already attribute too much of what we feel is appropriate for humans on our pets. I feel there is a lot of marketing involved in that, but to each their own. That's just my opinion on it.

I do like Weruva. It *looks* like human food, so not sure ingredient-wise how it would rank in terms of "human-grade". But if you have ever gotten canned chicken, that's exactly what the Paw Lickin' Chicken looks like.

Yes I have seen dogs go crazy for those! lol But that does make sense. Although I don't think there are bones in wet foods yet.. I will work my way towards a raw diet which will include those and definitely focus on those kinds of wets food, high meat, low carbs till then. Thanks for breaking that down for me. I'm a relatively new cat mom, and when I found out how dry food was not appropriate for cats I just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing for him now. Which I feel slightly relieved it won't be that much of a transition for now. Thank you,

Kal

I think both Weruva and Tiki call themselves "human grade": Weruva's cheaper, particularly the Cats in the Kitchen cans, which are a pretty good value. Our cats love them. And Tiki, too.

They also love Primal's freeze-dried raw food. Depending on where you live and buy, it might come out cheaper than your $2.49/day figure to feed that and a combination of canned foods. Primal's been a good value for us because our cats finish it, it fills them up, and we get a decent price on it locally. Feeding a combination of canned and raw foods works really well for us.

Good luck!

What about Rad Cat? Complete raw meal that's well liked by most cats. It's easy to mix it with some wet food or just feed raw for one meal.

Wow Thank you all! I will definitely look into those brands. I never ordered food from online before, but it seems like a great alternative than going to the petco near me, not being able to find what i'm looking for, and I find that the higher grade food is cheaper online anyway. (chewy.com) I ordered the Sheba brand cat food, along with some Stella's freeze dried chicken so I am going to mix that together, as sheba is affordable but still has what I'm looking for and mixed with the balanced raw food should be good. Donuttez, my kitty is 9month and I rescued him from the outdoors, he was semi-feral. When I first got him he was dripping goop from the eye, and was sneezing a bit. The vet said since he was outdoors he probably had one of the upper respiratory viruses, which scared me but she reassured me it's not the same as if a human had herpes or something like that. So, I'm not sure what certain nutrients would be good for him. The vet gave me Lysine, but I haven't done much research on it so I haven't gave him it yet. Feeding bio-appropriate as well as the fact he was undernourished and possibly has this upper resp. virus, also makes me want to give him all the nutrients he can get now. If anyone had any suggestions of what a cat with one of these upper resp should be taking extra to help his immune system, that would be great to know. Good luck with your kitties and thank you , Cats are so lucky so have people that are willing to do the research for them, and give them what they need so thank you for that as well. 

Kalene