These economic times KILLING our cat food budget!! HELP!!

[furryfriends50]

here you can still get friskies 3 for a $1 at petsmart occasionally. Rite Aid (if its just not a WA state thing) every few months has friskies canned 3/$1. the larger 13.5 ounce cans do come in chunky style, not just pate from petsmart.

also, i feed the barn cats 3 oz of wet each day, and the drink enough water to make up for the rest being dry, though they only get 3 oz of high quality dry. i'll admit it, i've measured out the water before putting it in the bowls and they will finish 1.5 ounces of water for each ounce of dry they eat (on average).

 

[firedancer722]

I can really relate to the food budget issues. I am feeding my two boys Friskies only once a day (and they're splitting a 6 oz can) and with their dry food too (California Natural) I'm still spending about $40 a month. I know that might not be a lot to some, but it is quite a bit for me.

I guess I shouldn't complain though about the price of Friskies cause it's only $.44 a can at Wal-Mart here. I think before you cut out wet completely, I would try a cheaper brand (Special Kitty, etc.) and cut down on the amount you're feeding them. Maybe just split one can in 4ths in the morning and refrigerate 2/4ths for the evening meal. I'd say your kitties would be more amenable to that change as opposed to NO wet at all!

Good luck

Candace

 

[cruisermaiden]

My boys eat the Friskies shredded. Petsmart puts it on sale regularly for $.40-$.44 per can, I just watch for the sales.

I would agree with reducing the amount of canned food you feed vs. taking it away completely.

 

[littleraven7726]

I also feed Friskies canned. If nothing is on sale, I buy Friskies at Wal-Mart for $.44/can. It goes on sale at Petsmart regularly. Sometimes Petco has a better sale, but to get their price you usually have to buy the 20 cans. I've also seen Kmart with competitive sale prices on Friskies (about $.40/can).

I'm probably going to have to cut back to 1 can per day soon due to finances.

 

[cats4sky]

Originally Posted by DaniMarie

Friskies...but only the Shredded kind.... I have no idea why but it's the only kind they'll eat and they love it!

Like I said, to most of you, the price per can of Friskies may not seem like a lot, but it is A LOT to us.

We used to get it on sale 4 for a dollar. Now it's 69-79cents a can and not much better on sale! That's just a lot for us when we are having trouble even feeding ourselves these days!!

can you get a sams club membership? they sell 48 can pack of friskies for 20 bucks i think, all i know is i did the calculation and it comes out to 33cents a can

 

[mai_kitties]

We have cut back on what we are feeding here too. Once upon a time we were feeding wet twice a day with dry left out for while we were at work.

Prices rose and budgets were put into place and we ended up having to stick to $70 a month for kitty food. So now we feed 2 5.5 oz cans divided between six cats once a day and Authority Dry for breakfast and lunch (free fed). Every month we buy one 20 lb and one 8 lb bag of the Authority and 60 cans of Friskies Prime Cuts Chicken and Gravy and Friskies Prime Cuts Gourmet Grill since those have the best looking ingredient list out of all that I looked at.

Normally what I do is call Pet Supplies Plus, Petsmart and Walmart and ask them if their Friskies cans are on sale. Usually at least one of those places will have a sale and then I go buy from there. I also search for coupons since you can often find a good deal such as $1.50 off 12 cans or more. The Authority I have never seen go on sale and I don't expect it to since its a store brand but its good quality for a good price so I don't mind.

 

[danimarie]

I appreciate all the replies and it's sad to see that others are feeling the crunch, but good to know I'm not the only one!

I really doubt I'm going to be able to cut down so I'm going to have to try my best to become a bargain shopper! We don't have a Sam's Club nearby, that is awesome advice though. But the drive to the closest one just for kitty food would not be financially worth it.

I call all the stores on a regular basis too, to see if the friskies are on sale!!!!!!!

My husband is a pain in the butt about that...whenever we need cat food, I don't even mention that it's time to stock up unless I've called Petsmart (which is kinda far away, but usually worth it for the sales) and Petco, as well as the three supermarkets in our area (which I check weekly). I hate that they have such LOW prices online, but shipping is a small fortune! (but those are the times we live in)


I wanted to cut down, ours are the only cats in the family who eat any wet...the rest of my family swears by cats that have lived very long lives on only dry (my grandmother's cat was almost 23 when she died a few years ago and had never once eaten canned)....but my babies are used to it. I could even go so far as to blame it on the hydration part, except I am an avid cat fountain user and have switched a few times for a "better flow" and the cats drink lots and lots of water.

So alas...... I am going to approach this differently. We've tried feeding them other "loaf" brands and had it thrown up all over our counter...haha which was a horror story!

(that was a premium brand too!) Soooooooooo we're just going to stick to what we know and I'm going to become semi-obsessive with the bargain hunting, and also take someone's advice and write the purina company!! (Does anyone know what exactly to say in such a letter?)

 

[littleraven7726]

Originally Posted by DaniMarie

Soooooooooo we're just going to stick to what we know and I'm going to become semi-obsessive with the bargain hunting, and also take someone's advice and write the purina company!! (Does anyone know what exactly to say in such a letter?)

I would just tell them you love their product (friskies wet) but your budget is getting too tight and ask for some coupons.

I've found that they are very willing to drop coupons in the mail for you. I emailed them about problems with a different product before (a few years ago) and more recently about the Breeze and they sent me very good coupons without even asking for them. I know I emailed them about something else in the last year and got some coupons too.

You can sign up for the Friskies Explorers club (friskies.com), they periodically send out emails & have deals. We won cat treats from their website. I also watch the Pro Plan site for coupons. My cats like any canned that says Purina on the label, LOL.

 

[anita1216]

I was just looking at Sams Club ( I know it does not help if one is not near) and a 48ct pack of Friskies is only 18.66..not to bad.

 

[sharky]

I second the ask for coupons and also ask neighbors ... often I will clip the coupons in the sunday paper and give them or swap them for items I need


also check out grocery stores ... mine has the 13 oz cans at walmart price but the 22 oz is only 25 cents more