Been doing some research for a new brand of cat food, something more affordable as I seem to have another cat to feed. Wondering what brands you folks feed your cats? Currently I use meow mix, and am quite happy with it but I can't find it in bulk locally anymore. And the closest place that has decent size bags of food is a bit of a commute, may have to bite the bullet but a little research never hurt I suppose.
So what do you feed your cat and if you have a moment, why that particular choice?
Somebody just asked me that yesterday when they learned my guy is 15 and so healthy and spry. I give him Iams Hairball Control, but since I just have one I don't buy the big bags. It's not cheap, but it's not the priciest, either.
I used to work at a pet store, and the other "grocery" brand of cat food that you could buy in large sizes would be Friskies.
I feed mine Purina Cat Chow because it seems reasonably priced, and I can get it in the big bags at Sam's club.
But I actually feel pretty lost about what is best to feed them. I look forward to hearing what other people do.
I feed my cat Blue Buffalo dry food, plus Fancy Feast Ocean White Fish and Tuna twice a day.
I'd really look into what is in the cat food you buy. It may seem cheap in some ways, but more expensive in others. My friend just told me that she learned that MSG is being added into dog foods. Of course they use a different name for it - because no one would be so stupid as to buy food with MSG in it. But the food producers want to get the animals to eat more so they sneak it in.
Too much grain and not enough protein can lead to diabetes in cats. And urinary tract infection is also caused by food.
We gave the cats California Natural - dry, which is expensive, but the protein content is higher than most brands and we really want the cats to have quality food. Unfortunately, cats aren't really supposed to eat dry food. Our cat did end up with diabetes. We were told that he had four months to live unless we started giving him the shots, which we couldn't do (for financial reasons and because I'd screw up the timing and kill him.
So instead we give them Orijen dry food as a supplement and Wellness grain free as wet food twice a day. Crude protein is at 10%, so it is high quality. I buy it in bulk - big cans, 12 at a time, for the 10% discount.
On one level, this seems expensive. But we consider it a health investment. His diabetes is food controlled (its been over 4 years) and he hasn't been to the vet since his initial diagnosis. For him, the stress of a vet visit would spin him into a diabetes spiral, so as he is indoors only and there are not really any rabies cases here, we don't vaccinate. So, it is a more expensive food, but the offset is in health care costs. Since he is a geriatric cat, the vets wanted to see him 2x a year and test him. That would be between $500 and $1000. Switching food has saved us a ton.
Our girl cat is getting some old age illnesses. We spent $250 on vet bills a few months ago as an exploration. It didn't discover the problem, so we are going to try again in a month to see if it is something I can fix by supplementing her diet. We aren't really willing to spend much on intervention though since we are going the prevention route with the food.
Good Luck. I love having pets, but between the food and the flushable litter - it can get really expensive around here. I love my fur babies though.
You have to: Pay Off Debt $175.00
Pay for Vt & Water Heater $7512.00
Get to work!
My cat is really sensitive to dyes in his food, so I only get the natural stuff. The Blue Buffalo is expensive, but he eats less of it, so it balances. It also doesn't make him throw up the way cheap cat food does.
My cat has 2 bowls of fresh water in different rooms, always has a bowl of dry food (Nunn Better is what she's been eating the last 2 years)- Fancy feast- 1/3 or so a can, twice a day, Temptations hairball treats ( every few days and usually another type of treat( I switch around)- and I put Revolution on her once a month. I have hairball goop but I only give that to her if she's having a problem or we're out of Temptations. Lately I've been wiping her down with Pet Naturals "Protect" repellant wipes before I let her out because of the bad ticks, mosquitos and flies this year.
Though she always has dry she doesn't eat much of it-but I think the crunch is good for teeth.
Last edited by rosewater; 04-25-2012 at 02:29 AM.
We feed Merrick Before Grain (Chicken flavor) to our 4 kitties. We used to feed Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, but since we moved we don't have a store nearby that carries it (it is both cheap and a good quality food if you can find it). I've also heard great things about Blue Buffalo, but I haven't tried it. Our kitties are picky and like the Before Grain so we just stick with it.
Like someone already said, most of the good foods seem really expensive just judging by the price per pound, but they will usually save you money because cats eat much less of it. We used to go through 2 bags of the cheap stuff in the time it takes them to finish 1 bag of the good food. I also like that it's not full of chemicals and dyes that do nothing for the cats and are just to appeal to people.
The most important thing is to just read the label, mainly the first few ingredients. You can usually tell right off which are the better foods. Cats are carnivores, so a real meat source should be the very first ingredient.
Before Grain: Chicken (Deboned), Chicken Meal, Potato (Dehydrated), Turkey Meal
Friskies Grillers Blend: Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal
I have to agree with the others about more expensive not necessarily being more expensive. We recently changed from Purina ONE to Wellness. We switched because of a health problem of 1 of our cats. Wellness is 3 times more expensive by the pound, and that much for cat food isn't in the budget at all, but since I don't have a hard and fast turking goal, we decided I could at least make the extra up in turking each month, but I haven't had to yet. They eat much much less. Not to mention the 1 cat's health issue greatly decreased.
I give my cat Friskies dry food and Meow Mix wet food. I've tried giving her the better quality food but she refuses to eat it. She hates the pate kind as well the kinds with chunks of food in it. All I can get her to eat is the Shredded variety in Friskies canned food and the similarly kind in Meow Mix. She is very picky.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
