Cat Food Plans + Student Budget

KarenKat

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Yeah, unfortunately sounds like this wouldn't work at all then. We want healthier food options, not hunger strike kitties.

We free-feed kibble as well for the boys (Olive will steal some, but it hasn't become an issue yet. We tried free-feeding her and she turned into a football lol), and when we did remove the food for a few hours before a our major wet food experiment a few months ago they dealt with it fairly well.
 

BonitaBaby

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Yeah, unfortunately sounds like this wouldn't work at all then. We want healthier food options, not hunger strike kitties.

We free-feed kibble as well for the boys (Olive will steal some, but it hasn't become an issue yet. We tried free-feeding her and she turned into a football lol), and when we did remove the food for a few hours before a our major wet food experiment a few months ago they dealt with it fairly well.
My kitty is now back to being a svelte 8 lbs again. While she was just fed kibble for a year after she started refusing wet and I gave myself and her a break (too long. Should've been a month), she gained 1/2 lb that the vet wanted her to lose. Think she was eating Petcurean Now Fresh. She lost her extra 1/2 lb because I switched her to Blue Wilderness Indoor, I think.
 

BonitaBaby

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Hmmmm. I was just in PetSmart and they had a ton of sales
.. half price on a lot of stuff, good stuff too. I also recently bought nutro on their buy 12 get 2 free sale not even a month ago. I gotta say though there was no sign letting people know of the sale. I noticed it after the fact on my receipt. :dunno:
So I just discovered that PetSmart has flyers listing what's on sale. :doh::doh2: The Nutro Perfect Portions are currently buy 12, get 2 free. The cashier was clueless and there was no sign. I'm bringing back what I have and buying more. Good thing I posted here, so you could let me know! Thanks!
 

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Thanks. I did try these before. My cat didn't eat the slices. She eats so little wet food that I like the Nutro Perfect Portions. Also, she likes the turkey pate one and the turkey cuts with gravy. She gets only 1/2 a "perfect" portion twice a day although I'm now trying to rotate in other brands and other textures as well as some chicken and turkey combos. She liked the Blue Wilderness flaked chicken and turkey that I gave her yesterday, so that's going in the rotation now. I tried giving her the whole Perfect Portion the other day, but more than 1/2 was wasted. I also tried feeding her 4 small meals and she was interested, but didn't eat nearly enough calories for the day. So I'm going to go back to giving her wet food twice a day and continue free-feeding kibble, which she also doesn't eat a lot of. On the bright side, at least it's economical to feed her and that means I can give her some better brands IF she'll eat them.
Have you tried toppers? Mine and many other cats go crazy over pure bites. I believe they make turkey ones. I just sprinkle a little on top of their food and it gets them to eat something they don’t want. Just a thought
 

2BSH

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So I just discovered that PetSmart has flyers listing what's on sale. :doh::doh2: The Nutro Perfect Portions are currently buy 12, get 2 free. The cashier was clueless and there was no sign. I'm bringing back what I have and buying more. Good thing I posted here, so you could let me know! Thanks!
Oh good!!! And I didn’t know about the flyer so thanks for that info!:hyper:
 

2BSH

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Thanks. I did try these before. My cat didn't eat the slices. She eats so little wet food that I like the Nutro Perfect Portions. Also, she likes the turkey pate one and the turkey cuts with gravy. She gets only 1/2 a "perfect" portion twice a day although I'm now trying to rotate in other brands and other textures as well as some chicken and turkey combos. She liked the Blue Wilderness flaked chicken and turkey that I gave her yesterday, so that's going in the rotation now. I tried giving her the whole Perfect Portion the other day, but more than 1/2 was wasted. I also tried feeding her 4 small meals and she was interested, but didn't eat nearly enough calories for the day. So I'm going to go back to giving her wet food twice a day and continue free-feeding kibble, which she also doesn't eat a lot of. On the bright side, at least it's economical to feed her and that means I can give her some better brands IF she'll eat them.
Kudos to finding another food she likes!! That’s always very exciting!!:bunnydance:
 

BonitaBaby

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Have you tried toppers? Mine and many other cats go crazy over pure bites. I believe they make turkey ones. I just sprinkle a little on top of their food and it gets them to eat something they don’t want. Just a thought
Yes, I have tried toppers. My cat is weird and very picky when it comes to food. I haven't tried Pure Bites, but it looks like the Orijen freeze-dried treats I bought for her before? I just bought Fortiflora today and am hoping she will eat it again. I picked up even more cans to try on her and will sprinkle a little bit of Fortiflora on any brands/flavors she doesn't like. She loved it when I first bought it years ago, but then started refusing it. There's a $5 off coupon on Purina's Fortiflora website if anyone is interested. I bought it at PetSmart for $23+ tax after the coupon.
 
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BonitaBaby

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By weird, I mean my cat will not touch wet food with crumbled treats on top. She also will not touch wet food mixed with dry kibble, wet food with her kibble on top, or wet food with her kibble crumbled on top. :headscratch:

BTW, today I spent 4 hours driving back and forth to 2 PetSmarts and looking at cans of wet cat food. I went to one location where there was a Banfield Pet Hospital to buy the Fortiflora because the other locations don't carry it. I spent $77+ to my surprise on Fortiflora & wet food. :jawdrop:That's in addition to $15+ from 2 days ago. I got home and realized I could have used my $15 off $60 or $30 off $100 coupon so I raced back out to a closer PetSmart location. The manager said he couldn't just apply my coupon and that I had to return everything, so I did...thankfully, the cashier was nice and just put it all in my cart so I could buy it all again. They wouldn't take back the Fortiflora though because they don't stock it so I used the $15 off $60 coupon instead of the $30 off.

Sorry for the long post, but learn from my mistake if you shop at PetSmart. Sign up as a member and check your email for coupons like this and for sales.

I didn't eat anything all day besides 2 coffee drinks, but I got a LOT of wet food for my small kitty & saved money. :yess::hyper:
 

2BSH

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By weird, I mean my cat will not touch wet food with crumbled treats on top. She also will not touch wet food mixed with dry kibble, wet food with her kibble on top, or wet food with her kibble crumbled on top. :headscratch:

BTW, today I spent 4 hours driving back and forth to 2 PetSmarts and looking at cans of wet cat food. I went to one location where there was a Banfield Pet Hospital to buy the Fortiflora because the other locations don't carry it. I spent $77+ to my surprise on Fortiflora & wet food. :jawdrop:That's in addition to $15+ from 2 days ago. I got home and realized I could have used my $15 off $60 or $30 off $100 coupon so I raced back out to a closer PetSmart location. The manager said he couldn't just apply my coupon and that I had to return everything, so I did...thankfully, the cashier was nice and just put it all in my cart so I could buy it all again. They wouldn't take back the Fortiflora though because they don't stock it so I used the $15 off $60 coupon instead of the $30 off.

Sorry for the long post, but learn from my mistake if you shop at PetSmart. Sign up as a member and check your email for coupons like this and for sales.

I didn't eat anything all day besides 2 coffee drinks, but I got a LOT of wet food for my small kitty & saved money. :yess::hyper:
Oh my goodness. Kudos to you for trying so hard for your kitty. I'm hoping you'll come across something she will eat. :heartshape:
 

aimeedanielle

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Hi everyone! So I want to preface this by saying I don't yet have a cat but have been lurking on this forum for a while. I am planning to adopt an adult cat from my local shelter when I settle in to my new pet friendly apartment in August! I am a Canadian university student, and have been doing as much research as I can about what foods work best. I'm pretty sure I will be feeding a mixture of wet and dry food.

For dry food, I am looking at Simply Nourish Source (Chicken & Turkey). Here is the link to the nutritional information, and here is what cat food database had to say.

For wet food, I have read a lot on this forum about the classic/pate Fancy Feast being a good combination of affordable and decent quality, so I was hoping to use that mainly. I also have looked into Pet Valu's Health Diet brand, and might rotate that in (I saw it reccommended as a budget friendly food in another thread during my searches). I expect if I have coupons/there are sales I may try out more expensive brands occasionally.

As is, my anticipated food budget comes out to about $35.00 (Canadian) per month for one adult cat. I am estimating this with about 3 oz of wet food + 1/3-1/2 cup dry per day.

What do people think about the combination I have selected? Are there any suggestions on reworking my brand choices at a similar price point if there is a way to do that to provide higher quality foods?

Advice would be greatly appreciated.
HI! I've done a ton of research on cat food since I got my kitten a few weeks ago. Her entire litter unfortunately passed away so I wanted to find the best food help her gain weight and keep her healthy. Additionally, my other cat has an extremely sensitive stomach and can't keep down any food, wet or dry, except Friskies chicken dinner pate.

My research has led me to try Instinct Raw Boost dry food, and since introducing it to my cat with digestive issues he hasn't vomited once. In Ontario at PetSmart, it is $59.88 including taxes for a 10 lb bag which contains 80 1/2 cup servings, a very liberal estimate for a day's worth of food as it is high calorie (480 cal/cup), roughly 2.5 months worth of high protein, fantastic quality dry kibble with raw freeze dried bits. PetValu also has its store brand Performatrin Ultra Grain Free formula which I'm currently feeding my other cat which is highly rated on the cat food database as well and he seems to love it, and his coat has never been shinier.
 

BonitaBaby

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HI! I've done a ton of research on cat food since I got my kitten a few weeks ago. Her entire litter unfortunately passed away so I wanted to find the best food help her gain weight and keep her healthy. Additionally, my other cat has an extremely sensitive stomach and can't keep down any food, wet or dry, except Friskies chicken dinner pate.

My research has led me to try Instinct Raw Boost dry food, and since introducing it to my cat with digestive issues he hasn't vomited once. In Ontario at PetSmart, it is $59.88 including taxes for a 10 lb bag which contains 80 1/2 cup servings, a very liberal estimate for a day's worth of food as it is high calorie (480 cal/cup), roughly 2.5 months worth of high protein, fantastic quality dry kibble with raw freeze dried bits. PetValu also has its store brand Performatrin Ultra Grain Free formula which I'm currently feeding my other cat which is highly rated on the cat food database as well and he seems to love it, and his coat has never been shinier.
Are you a PetSmart member? Hopefully, they email you coupons sometimes like they do in the U.S. You can save a lot that way. I just saved $15 off $60+ tax for wet food in U.S. dollars. :yess::party3:
 

aimeedanielle

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Are you a PetSmart member? Hopefully, they email you coupons sometimes like they do in the U.S. You can save a lot that way. I just saved $15 off $60+ tax for wet food in U.S. dollars. :yess::party3:
Amazing! I didn't know they had a membership program, I've only ever ordered online! Thank you!
 

BonitaBaby

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Amazing! I didn't know they had a membership program, I've only ever ordered online! Thank you!
It's just one of those memberships where you give them your name, phone number, and email address. You maybe have to do it in a store? I don't know, but they'll send you emails and some of them will be coupons!
 
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corvidae

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Tobermory Tobermory - thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful reply, and for the resource! I hadn't seen that chart before and I think it will be good to reference. I am looking to see what wet foods I can fit into my budget (it will likely depend on what is on sale!) but it's good to know if other foods aren't an option for me for whatever reason, Fancy Feast pates are an okay option.

M maggiedemi - Thank you for your input! I haven't seen Sheba Cuts here but I will absolutely keep an eye out.

aimeedanielle aimeedanielle - Wow, thank you! I think I will look into this brand for sure. It looks like with the calories in it, Instinct could be feasible for me as a dry food. I really appreciate the specific recommendation. As I'm sure you know, it can be a little overwhelming looking at all the different options!

So, right now I am looking at Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Boost dry food, which looks like will be pretty accessible to me via Petsmart, and Holistic Select wet food, which is super highly rated and I can get at a semi-reasonable price at Pet Planet.

So calculating for 200kcal/day as an example, it would be about $33.00/month, which is (just) within my budget! I'm hoping to be able to rotate wet foods based on sales but the Holistic Select seems like a good one to use as a general wet food (provided of course future kitty likes it).

Would there be any harm in rotating more budget friendly brands such as Fancy Feast in with other wet food?
 

Tobermory

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Would there be any harm in rotating more budget friendly brands such as Fancy Feast in with other wet food?
That sounds like a very good strategy, and your kitty will be fine. I knew there were “better” quality foods (my definition being canned, high protein, low carbs, no or as few fillers as possible), but Max wanted only Fancy Feast so I fed all three FF for three years. I didn’t even rotate higher quality because he wouldn’t eat it. You develop your plan for how best to take care of your kitties based on your research and your budget and you go from there.

And then, of course, you have to change it totally because they decide they don’t like your plan and want to follow their own! :lol:
 

MargoLane

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Hi corvidae corvidae ! Sounds like a good plan - I'm also in Canada, and we just don't seem to have the same options has those in the US. We don't have any great online retailers like Chewy...the sales and loyalty programs are just so much more limited. Plus...stuff is expensive...I saw a store selling a can of TikiCat for over $4 the other week! My only other advice would be to save up some extra money for your food budget the first few months. You'll have to buy some of whatever the cat is currently eating, and then you'll end up doing some experimenting with what they like, and a routine that works for you.

In the three months that I've had Busy, she has eaten kibble, multiple brands of canned, freeze-dried raw, the air-dried kiwi peak and frozen raw to help with her IBD. All of that experimenting was expensive. It's starting to settle down now that we're in a routine, but I wish I had planned for that expense a little more!
 

JannyCat

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Carvidae: Assuming your $35 is higher than my $35 by a few cents (I heard there's not much difference between USD and CAN), I would look for a company that ships to Canada and try the autoship route if your new kitty is unlikely to get tired of one, which would save you 15% on each order. That is something to think about when a clear favorite is revealed to keep your cat food budget under $35 CAN.
I know this thread is a few months old, but I'm in a similar pickle and looking for cheaper alternatives. Keep in mind, it's often more expensive for us Canadians to order out of the states with the exchange and shipping rates. BUT, sometimes it can be worth it as your products are generally cheaper than ours. If you don't believe me, go look up plain old cat chow on walmart.ca or petsmart.ca and compare to your prices!

OP, check out the walmart brand ACTR1UM Holisitic. It's made right here in Canada and has excellent reviews. This is all my dogs eat and my cats love the cat food too (we only get the dry food here). I have a nursing cat though so am looking for good quality, inexpensive kitten food.
 
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