Trader Joes out of canned food

Draco

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There's a problem with the manufacturing of Trader Joes cat food. This has me in a bind since their food is best for the awesome price. 70 cents a can for grain free? Awesome.

Now I am forced to look for other wet food. For the same good quality, the prices are twice as much! I am on a budget and really can't go above $1 a can. The closest I can find is Nutro Max but it's crap and the cats agree.

I think for now, the cats will have to eat crap food until Trader Joes comes back.

The moral of this story- do not rely on just one brand of food- have a nice variety in your cats diet so if one food becomes unavailable, less of a chance for your cat to reject the new. Plus you won't be stressing out, trying to find the next perfect food for the kitty!

If anyone has suggestions on grain free yummy healthy food for $1 or less for a 5.5 oz can, please let me know!
 

oneandahalfcats

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There's a problem with the manufacturing of Trader Joes cat food. This has me in a bind since their food is best for the awesome price. 70 cents a can for grain free? Awesome.

Now I am forced to look for other wet food. For the same good quality, the prices are twice as much! I am on a budget and really can't go above $1 a can. The closest I can find is Nutro Max but it's crap and the cats agree.

I think for now, the cats will have to eat crap food until Trader Joes comes back.

The moral of this story- do not rely on just one brand of food- have a nice variety in your cats diet so if one food becomes unavailable, less of a chance for your cat to reject the new. Plus you won't be stressing out, trying to find the next perfect food for the kitty!

If anyone has suggestions on grain free yummy healthy food for $1 or less for a 5.5 oz can, please let me know!
Hi Draco .. I chuckle everytime I see the grimaced look of your cat's face in your avatar pic. Great shot!

Somebody mentioned 'Authority' canned cat food here recently. I just had a look and its pretty near grain-free. Some of the varieties have brewers rice and wheat gluten, but that's about it for grains.

PetSmart lists this food in the US at .80 cents. Here is a link : http://www.petsmart.com/product/ind...546&siteID=je6NUbpObpQ-ABi71krm.cjc1vodazLAmA

(The link is pointing to the Canadian price, but if you look to the top where it says Shop, you can change this to US)
 
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Draco

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Thanks for the suggestion! Petsmart is a bit out of my way but it may be worth the trip
 

oneandahalfcats

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Thanks for the suggestion! Petsmart is a bit out of my way but it may be worth the trip
You're welcome. Maybe someone will see this and have a suggestion on where to buy  in your area. Good luck!
 

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I was told by a friend who asked someone who works at Trader Joe's that -someone- wrote a rave article/review on their cat food. Because of it people were waiting in line to get into Trader Joe's to purchase it.

I went to the Brooklyn Trader Joe's yesterday and found that they only have the Tuna for Cats and the shelves that would be filled with their other cat food has been overtaken by dog food. 
 

dianamc

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Fancy Feast isn't too much more.  We get it for .58/can at Walmart and it's 3 oz. cans so that's $1.16 for 6 oz.  If you can find a deal, you can get it cheaper.  The problem with the deals is that we tend to be fussy...now we aren't liking the fish. It's hard to get all chicken and chicken/liver.  (This is the Classics line if you haven't realized that by reading the forums already.) The turkey with giblets is usually okay but they didn't have that one.

I hope Trader Joe's gets it back.  I feel a little crazy trying to feed this cat.  Luckily the outside cat is grateful for food that doesn't try to get away and will eat the rejects.
 

momof3b1g

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You can also try Sheba. Mine is .50 at walmart. Dollar general as a sale this week. Special bonus pack. Buy 2 get one free. 
 

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Careful on the Fancy Feast, only some types are grain free. Saphira, our older girl, was fed FF by her breeder, and rejected a serious effort on our part to switch her to something healthier. Many brands and flavors were tried, and she turned up her pretty little nose at all of them. We compromised on the grain free FF varieties, they are the "Classic" flavors, read the labels. We get ours in boxes of 24 from either Winco or Target, whichever is cheaper at the time. We get the combination of Classic Beef, Chicken, and Turkey, and usually pay around $13.00 - $13.50 per box. About a year ago the local Walmart was selling cans of these three flavors, plus a few more, at $0.15 per can! I thought I had died and gone to heaven! They were not expired, all had at least a year to go on expiration dates. I stocked up while I could, I had over 500 cans in my trunk at one point. Goes without saying that they soon sold out.

TJ is not a practical option for us, the nearest one is over 40 miles away.
 I love their veggie juice!

Good luck!
 

tdonline

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Does rice not count as grain?  I feed the TJ chicken/turkey flavor and it has rice.

I second the Fancy Feast and even more so--Friskie's danger.  It's hard to get them to eat much else when you feed these brands.  One of my cats went from eating Wellness, TJ and Evo to now eating FF or Friskies almost exclusively.  I can mix in Wellness but if there's a whiff of Evo or Natural Balance or any of the premium brands, she will walk away.  Brat.

My next roll of the dice is Merrick's.
 
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missm

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Trader Joe's is not grain free. I recently reviewed the ingredients and it has brewer's rice and oat bran. Just a head's up...

(I now feed Fancy Feast Classic, which actually is grain free and lower carbs/higher protein - to my surprise, lol)
 
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Draco

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Huh. You guys are right. I must have been thinking grain free for some reason
 

oneandahalfcats

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Trader Joe's is not grain free. I recently reviewed the ingredients and it has brewer's rice and oat bran. Just a head's up...

(I now feed Fancy Feast Classic, which actually is grain free and lower carbs/higher protein - to my surprise, lol)
The Authority that I posted about, is similar. Some of the varieties have brewers rice and all have wheat gluten, but that's it for the grains. I am thinking of getting some Authority for rotation myself after looking at the ingredients. No by-products apparently which might be a little better than FF.

FF Pates are grain-free and carageenan-free. The shredded/chunky varieties are not carageenan-free/grain-free however, unfortunately.
 
 
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kitty200

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I'm glad I found this thread!

I just talked to my vet (and exclusively cat vet) and she kind of "poo-pooed" the whole 'grain free' movement.  She said to me (and I paraphrase here) that its just a new fad - aimed to get people to spend more on foods.  She said that grains, in moderation, can be fine for cats -- they are a good source of calories and they digest well.  She said the grain free cat foods are filled with berries and vegetables and things that aren't grains - but are equally foreign to a natural cat diet.  

That was something for me to think about.  I suppose that until they start canning Mice - the natural cat food will have to wait!  :)

But I am searching for a good quality wet cat food that isn't full of crap - that I can afford -- $1.75/can is too steep.  I see lots of posts about Fancy Feast and Sheeba -- are these good?  Right now I got a good deal on Halo cat pate from Amazon - which my cat LOVES.  he'll eat anything wet food though.
 

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I'm glad I found this thread!

I just talked to my vet (and exclusively cat vet) and she kind of "poo-pooed" the whole 'grain free' movement.  She said to me (and I paraphrase here) that its just a new fad - aimed to get people to spend more on foods.  She said that grains, in moderation, can be fine for cats -- they are a good source of calories and they digest well.  She said the grain free cat foods are filled with berries and vegetables and things that aren't grains - but are equally foreign to a natural cat diet.  

That was something for me to think about.  I suppose that until they start canning Mice - the natural cat food will have to wait!  :)

But I am searching for a good quality wet cat food that isn't full of crap - that I can afford -- $1.75/can is too steep.  I see lots of posts about Fancy Feast and Sheeba -- are these good?  Right now I got a good deal on Halo cat pate from Amazon - which my cat LOVES.  he'll eat anything wet food though.
my kitties are huge fans of Sheba.

if you go on their website it tells you all varieties of their canned food are grain free, not just the pate. 

and its affordable. .50 a can at walmart, .59 cents a can at petsmart, one time i caught a huge sale at target; .50 cents a can + buy 4 cans get the 5th free. MEOW! u know i was there. 


I have also tried FF pate (grain free), which they liked, friskies pate (which is also grain free) and they liked it.

They're not too crazy for authority. both my cats hate it. they take a few bites, and then they 'bury' it and walk away.

they also have tried wellness, evo, and bff4eva.

they loved sheba the best out of all of them. lol
 
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Draco

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Yay! Trader Joes restocked their cat food! Whoop!
 
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Draco

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It has no meat by products- which is a big thing for me. Worth the price! Let me know how your cats like it
 

lamiatron

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It has no meat by products- which is a big thing for me. Worth the price! Let me know how your cats like it
they like the tuna for cats i got them, but that's something i mix with the sheba and give to them.

animal by products aren't all bad. it just refers to the non meat part of an animal, such as the liver, or some other organ. animal organs are quite healthy for cats to consume, as they also contain vitamins and nutrients that just meat does not contain....so some by products are okay with me. as long as its not one of the first things on the ingredients list.
 

porschemom

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Just a reminder, grain-free does not mean carbohydrate free.  You want the carbs to be under 10% - way under 10%.  That figure is obtained by adding up the protein, fat, moisture, ash, and fiber percentages and subtract the total from 100.
 
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