Natural Planet Chicken & Peas Formula?

I was feeding my cats Purina Naturals indoor formula (the salmon one), but I wanted to get them on a dry food that was better for them. I was going to get Orijen Regional Red Grain-Free Dry Cat Food, because they had that before and it seemed like a good one, but I can't afford the almost $40 price (for a 5lb bag). My friend's mother-in-law is feeding her cat Natural Planet Chicken & Peas Formula and she swears by it, so I thought I would give that a try. Has anyone had any experience with this food? Everything I could find online regarding this food seemed pretty good, from reviews to user opinions.

Just in case anyone mentions "cats should be eating wet food only" I went through almost a hundred bucks on different wet foods and neither of them would eat any of it. So dry food is all I could get them, because they will eat that.

desktop said:

 
I was feeding my cats Purina Naturals indoor formula (the salmon one), but I wanted to get them on a dry food that was better for them. I was going to get Orijen Regional Red Grain-Free Dry Cat Food, because they had that before and it seemed like a good one, but I can't afford the almost $40 price (for a 5lb bag). My friend's mother-in-law is feeding her cat Natural Planet Chicken & Peas Formula and she swears by it, so I thought I would give that a try. Has anyone had any experience with this food? Everything I could find online regarding this food seemed pretty good, from reviews to user opinions.

Just in case anyone mentions "cats should be eating wet food only" I went through almost a hundred bucks on different wet foods and neither of them would eat any of it. So dry food is all I could get them, because they will eat that.

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Here are tips of transitioning your cats to wet food. I transitioned a 12 year old all kibble fed cat from kibble straight to raw food. You could also try freeze dried raw foods, which are often good for kibble fed cats as you can adjust how "wet" the food is. 

http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

The Natural Planet kibble looks terrible, in my opinion. Tons of inappropriate fillers. Orijen's RR is their most expensive kibble. You could look into their cat & kitten, which is lower cost, or their sister company Acana. I'm not a fan of any kibble, however, so i encourage you to keep working on getting your cats on some kind of wet food, whether it's raw or freeze dried. 

As I already said, the wet food thing isn't going to happen. So it has to be a dry food. I guess I'm going to have to get the Orijen and just figure out a way to pay for it every month.

desktop said:

 
As I already said, the wet food thing isn't going to happen. So it has to be a dry food. I guess I'm going to have to get the Orijen and just figure out a way to pay for it every month.

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You can transition any cat to wet or raw food with the right amount of tools, time, and patients. For the health of your cats at least consider trying the suggestions in the link above. Orijen is "better" kibble, but it still has all the same problems any other kibbles have, which is that it's dry, and that feeding your cats a diet of only kibble causes chronic dehydration and has been linked to both urinary issues and kidney disease. among other things. Cats, as obligate carnivores, naturally obtain their moisture from their prey (food). There are hundreds of wet foods on the market. Different flavors and textures, in addition to freeze dried foods and toppers. I'm telling you from experience, as someone that fed my oldest cat kibble until he was 12, you can transition a stubborn old kibble addicted cat to moist food. My cat, for example, never took to wet food, but he did take to freeze dried and raw food. Like you, i was sure he wouldn't transition, and at the time i was feeding Orijen, but he became ill and I decided I would do everything possible to get him off of kibble for his health, and it worked. 

Good luck. 

I can give it a try. My cats already drink lots of water so they get the moisture they need.

Here are the other Orijen products that are cheaper than the RR

Cat & Kitten 

https://www.chewy.com/orijen-cat-kitten-dry-cat-food-15-lb/dp/45857

Acana

https://www.chewy.com/acana-meadowland-regional-formula/dp/123898

Took the natural food back and got the Orijen. Kids started scarfing it up immediately. Guess I'll just have to add that food to the budget

desktop said:

 
Took the natural food back and got the Orijen. Kids started scarfing it up immediately. Guess I'll just have to add that food to the budget

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After only three days eating the Orijen the cats were much more active and I started noticing a lot less urine and stool in their litter boxes. I found a site here that talks at great length about transitioning cats to wet food. At some point I'm going to give this a try, although I groan inwardly at the thought knowing how much work it is going to be. In the meantime at least they are eating better with the Orijen and it's encouraging to see the other positive signs in their behavior.

desktop said:

 
After only three days eating the Orijen the cats were much more active and I started noticing a lot less urine and stool in their litter boxes. I found a site here that talks at great length about transitioning cats to wet food. At some point I'm going to give this a try, although I groan inwardly at the thought knowing how much work it is going to be. In the meantime at least they are eating better with the Orijen and it's encouraging to see the other positive signs in their behavior.

Click to expand...

Some cats transition really easily, while others are a little more work. You can start out just giving them wet as a treat or as one meal, and slowly work up to more. Remember there are tons of different brands/flavors/textures so don't get discouraged if they dislike one brand of flavor, just keep trying, buy what's on sale or clearance, etc. Catinfo is great, it's a popular resource for raw feeders and Dr. Pierson really knows her stuff. In the mean time Orijen is nearly the best kibble you can buy, so that's good.