Help choosing canned cat food

I've been reading the posts on canned cat food on this forum, as well as other places, and I'm more confused than ever. I want to get some good quality cat food for my guys, but I'm just not sure what to get, or the best place to get it.

I've tried a variety of stuff that I could get at the local stores (Petsmart and Pet Supermarket). They love Iams, but i've heard that it's an oily food and now Cindy has chin acne. I'm afraid I may have caused it with the Iams

I'm looking for food that comes in pate, or at least not the big chunks. They will only lick the gravy, but I want them to actually get the nutrition from the food, so I guess I need to get pate.

I've been getting some Merricks at Pet Supermarket, but the only flavors they have Turkeyducken and Turkey dinner. They like both, but I would still like to get them some variety.

Is Merrick's a good choice? Any other options? Is there a web site to get Merricks (or another good brand) that isn't outrageously priced? (Pet Supermarket charges 69 cents for the small can, the Merricks web site is $1.64 for a 3.2 oz can!).

off the top of my head and what my girls will eat

Pro pac
Eagle Pack
Nutro
Natural balence
Meow mix( only a small amount of pres most are very little grain and good quality)
felidea
California natural
Evo( have nt tried but worth a try)
Evangers( girls like all but the one with caviar )
Authority
Blue spa

All of the Nutro 5.5 oz cans are pate. The small Max cans and the pouches areslices/chunks in gravy. My cats luckily will eat either and never leave anything lay!

Amber

They love Iams, but i've heard that it's an oily food and now Cindy has chin acne. I'm afraid I may have caused it with the Iams

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What kind of bowl do you use? Feline acne is often caused by bacteria building up in plastic bowls. If you use plastic, you may want to switch to glass or ceramic (I got my kitties' ceramic bowls at a thrift store for $1 each).

As for Merrick, they have a store locator on their website (upper right menu). Sometime the feed stores carry it, so you may want to try there to see if it is any cheaper.

Cats don't need to have the varied diet that we human folks do. If your cats like a couple different flavours of Merricks, that's fine. In fact, sometimes changing food can cause diarrhea. Our 2 only like Thanksgiving Dinner and Granny's Pot Pie and will only occasionally eat the Cowboy cookout flavour.

Merricks is a good quality food. I also feed about 1/3 cup dry per day (for them to nibble on while we are at work) for both cats.

Just look for foods with no by-products.

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

What kind of bowl do you use? Feline acne is often caused by bacteria building up in plastic bowls. If you use plastic, you may want to switch to glass or ceramic (I got my kitties' ceramic bowls at a thrift store for $1 each).

As for Merrick, they have a store locator on their website (upper right menu). Sometime the feed stores carry it, so you may want to try there to see if it is any cheaper.

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In my ignorance, I was using Freshflow melamine, which I guess is plastic. I have switched to ceramic.

I will look for a feed store in the area, thanks for the tip.

I like and feed:

-Evanger's
-Eagle Pack
-Wellness
-Felidae
-Trader Joe's
-Wysong
-Nature's Variety

Other brands that are good that I won't feed for political reasons (unless I ever came across a cat that really needed them):
-Merrick
-Innova/EVO/Cal Natural

Also, I use a Freshflow fountain, and don't have a problem with acne from the water bowl, especially since it circulates and sort of cleans itself out. You need to be careful with food bowls, though, since the grease that gathers on it gets stuck in scratches and causes bacteria to get into the skin. The thing that's nice about the Freshflow fountain is that it encorages kitties to drink since they like moving water, and that's espcially important in preventing bladder and kidney issues.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

Cats don't need to have the varied diet that we human folks do. If your cats like a couple different flavours of Merricks, that's fine. In fact, sometimes changing food can cause diarrhea. Our 2 only like Thanksgiving Dinner and Granny's Pot Pie and will only occasionally eat the Cowboy cookout flavour.

Merricks is a good quality food. I also feed about 1/3 cup dry per day (for them to nibble on while we are at work) for both cats.

Just look for foods with no by-products.

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Thanks. I think I may get a few cans of Authority from Petsmart, since I saw that in one of the answers. I'd like to find something I can get locally and not have to get off the internet.

They haven't had a problem with diarrhea with the different flavors of food and different brands I've given them, but what I'd like to do is stick to one brand and a few different flavors they like.

Right now, I'm feeding them canned three times a day, 1/2 can each (of the smaller cans). I'm doing 3 times because they never finish what I give them, eating only about 1/2 or less of what I put in their dishes. I also leave some dry for them to snack on during the day and through the night.

Thanks for the advice.

Originally Posted by Misty8723

Thanks. I think I may get a few cans of Authority from Petsmart, since I saw that in one of the answers. I'd like to find something I can get locally and not have to get off the internet.

They haven't had a problem with diarrhea with the different flavors of food and different brands I've given them, but what I'd like to do is stick to one brand and a few different flavors they like.

Right now, I'm feeding them canned three times a day, 1/2 can each (of the smaller cans). I'm doing 3 times because they never finish what I give them, eating only about 1/2 or less of what I put in their dishes. I also leave some dry for them to snack on during the day and through the night.

Thanks for the advice.

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Sounds great to me!