Cat Food Plans + Student Budget

Daisy6

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Thanks for the link.

Let's hope there will be Nutro Perfect Portions discounts agian someday.
 

2BSH

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Really? I've never seen that when I've gone in the store. Maybe it's by store location? The Nutro Perfect Portions used to be on sale regularly until they bought Chewy. Something like buy 12 get 2. Not anymore. =/
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:
 
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corvidae

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Sorry to be blunt but your choices are terrible. I am glad you asked before adopting a cat to prevent problems from cropping up. Cats have a low thirst drive and get all of their water from prey in the wild because of their desert origin. Dry food has a lot of cheap fillers and too many carbohydrates, causing weight gain and problems with the digestive system. Without an all-wet diet you increase the risk of litterbox issues in the future.

As for choosing Fancy Feast for the wet food, it is not a high-quality product. You're smart to look for cheap food because college is expensive, but there are better wet food brands under $35. After finding a wet food your kitty loves, you can subscribe to it for automatic shipping on a regular schedule. So it is not necessary to feed the cat a lower quality brand.
Hi, thank you for your input. Although I do feel that your phrasing was unnecessarily harsh, I understand that you just want the best for all cats, which is a goal I can get behind. I am aiming to do my best by this cat with the resources I have. As I stated in my original post, I live in Canada- this means that I have access to a significantly smaller array of brands of cat food for considerably more money. I would love to have access to stores like Chewy, but they don't ship here.

I'm having trouble finding brands that are quality and within my price range. It seems to me that there is a gap in what is available, where there are budget brands and brands that are wildly out of my price range, with not much in between. Simply Nourish did make the top brands of dry on Cat Food Database, and Fancy Feast classics are regularly recommended on the forum here so that is why I had picked those two, but I am by no means set in stone on these. I know some folks say that the worst wet food is better than the best dry - I must admit I am not sure how I feel about that, which is I think why I was hoping to feed a combination of a budget wet food for the benefits of wet and a higher quality dry for that nutrition.

Do you have specific brand suggestions that would suit a 35/month budget? As I said, I am definitely open to hearing them.

Definitely better to over than under-estimate! Good call. I just wanted to point out the calorie count because I know many new or soon to be cat owners do not realize that the amount recommended on the cans/bags of food is usually too much! Best to go by weight and calorie needs than what the bag suggests!

As far as the foods you have chosen...As others have said, it will definitely depend on what your cat likes! If your kitty will eat them though, FF is a good budget choice for wet food. Personally, I chose Friskies because the only difference in ingredients is that Friskies contains a tiny bit of rice while FF does not. That just isn't worth the price difference between the 2 for me. They are both made by the same company, both have the same ingredients otherwise, yet FF costs more for half the size!!

The dry food isn't terrible but again, not really worth the price to me. For how much it costs, it contains a lot of filler ingredients... peas, potatoes, flaxseed, chicory root. You could find better quality for that price.
Thank you so much for your kind advice! I wasn't consciously aware of the way that feeding instructions are often overestimates, so I will make sure to be aware of that when feeding my future cat! I am considering Friskies as a food to use as part of a rotation of wet to avoud the pickiness factor.

Thank you also for being specific with the drawbacks of the Simply Nourish food! I will do some more looking to see what is available at a similar pricepoint that has fewer fillers.
 

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:
Oh! Okay. Thanks! I have only recently been getting wet for my cat again. Probably went a few weeks ago and missed the sale. I asked the cashier if they still have sales on the Nutro Perfect Portions sometimes, but she was clueless. I'll keep an eye out for a sale.

I guess I just missed the big sales? I was just in the store perusing every brand and flavor and texture I thought maybe my cat would like. I do skip some brands though since I would prefer feeding her higher quality.
 

BonitaBaby

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Chewy has nutro perfect portions the chicken,liver and shrimp 24 pack for 21.15$ on auto ship. I don’t know how to post a link, I tried lol..
Thanks. My cat won't eat those flavors. =/ Just turkey pate and turkey cuts with gravy. Looks like those are currently 2 cents cheaper per double container on Chewy, but I'm just going to buy some at the store. I won't do autoship because I've learned not to stock up with my cat. She'll eat something for a little while and then stop as soon as I stock up. I'm not even joking. I've ordered wet food online in the past and it's as if her little cat brain recognizes the cans and then refuses to eat it now that there's plenty of it. I'm going to look for a funny meme that I saw.

I also don't check my email regularly in case they send a reminder for auto-ship. I'm trying to get a little rotation of different brands going, even if it's mostly turkey. I'll just go to PetSmart, Petco, etc. once every couple weeks to restock and order anything that's online only on the web.
 

Daisy6

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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.
 

Daisy6

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Before anyone gets too riled up about being preached wet food is always better, let me say this: I am NOT trying to shame others who have tight budgets and can't do what's healthy for their cats. You do what you have to do. I just want to help those who are on the fence about it or considering a food switch for medical reasons. If it is not in your budget or your cat refuses to eat it, I am not mad at people for giving their cats kibbles and Purina.
 

Tobermory

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Hi corvidae corvidae ! I am so impressed at the research you’re doing in planning for your new kitty and your life together! I’ve been on TCS only since December, but I’ve been possessed by cats for 45 years, and you’ve come to the right place.

I apologize if someone has already provided the following resource. I scanned through the thread quickly and didn’t see it.

Dr. Pierson, a vet who specializes in feline nutrition, provides an incredible amount of information at catinfo.org. Her whole site is full of terrific, but as you’re considering food choices, this chart on canned foods’ protein, fat, carbs and phosphorus levels should be really helpful:
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

You want as high protein and low carb as you can get, taking into account what your cat will eat (ha!) and your budget. Fancy Feast Classic pâtés are actually decent choices in that regard. I’m long past the college stage and can splurge a bit on my kitties, but I fed Fancy Feast Classic pâtés (the non-fish ones) to my oldster because that’s what he would eat. It had a good protein level and very low carbs, important for all kitties but especially for him since he was diabetic.

The kitties at the sanctuary where I volunteer are fed Friskies canned, the ones that are higher protein and lower carbs. The sanctuary runs on a shoe string budget, but Friskies is a decent, inexpensive food and the kitties do well on it while they’re waiting for their permanent homes.

Again, I think you’re amazing to give this all so much thought!
 

maggiedemi

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Corvidae-- Fancy Feast and Friskies canned food are a perfectly fine choice. They do have artificial flavors, but maybe in time Purina will take that out. We have to do our best with what we can afford and what our cats will eat. You could also check out Sheba Cuts if you have that brand in Canada. They use natural flavors instead of artificial.
 

2BSH

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Thanks. My cat won't eat those flavors. =/ Just turkey pate and turkey cuts with gravy. Looks like those are currently 2 cents cheaper per double container on Chewy, but I'm just going to buy some at the store. I won't do autoship because I've learned not to stock up with my cat. She'll eat something for a little while and then stop as soon as I stock up. I'm not even joking. I've ordered wet food online in the past and it's as if her little cat brain recognizes the cans and then refuses to eat it now that there's plenty of it. I'm going to look for a funny meme that I saw.

I also don't check my email regularly in case they send a reminder for auto-ship. I'm trying to get a little rotation of different brands going, even if it's mostly turkey. I'll just go to PetSmart, Petco, etc. once every couple weeks to restock and order anything that's online only on the web.
I got ya. Cats !!! It's like they know you stocked up and at that moment decide they don't want it anymore. Luckily mine are little piggies and are not too picky. Although my girl is a little more choosy.
 

2BSH

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IMG_2853.PNG
Thanks. My cat won't eat those flavors. =/ Just turkey pate and turkey cuts with gravy. Looks like those are currently 2 cents cheaper per double container on Chewy, but I'm just going to buy some at the store. I won't do autoship because I've learned not to stock up with my cat. She'll eat something for a little while and then stop as soon as I stock up. I'm not even joking. I've ordered wet food online in the past and it's as if her little cat brain recognizes the cans and then refuses to eat it now that there's plenty of it. I'm going to look for a funny meme that I saw.

I also don't check my email regularly in case they send a reminder for auto-ship. I'm trying to get a little rotation of different brands going, even if it's mostly turkey. I'll just go to PetSmart, Petco, etc. once every couple weeks to restock and order anything that's online only on the web.
Have you tried the nutro sliced turkey in gravy in the cans? They are slightly cheaper than the perfect portions and you do get full 3 oz vs 2.6.
 

BonitaBaby

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View attachment 239246
Have you tried the nutro sliced turkey in gravy in the cans? They are slightly cheaper than the perfect portions and you do get full 3 oz vs 2.6.
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.
 

KarenKat

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BonitaBaby BonitaBaby have you tried feeding her specified kibble mealtimes? If you start removing the bowl a little while before wet meal time, I wonder if she would be hungrier and eat more.
 

BonitaBaby

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BonitaBaby BonitaBaby have you tried feeding her specified kibble mealtimes? If you start removing the bowl a little while before wet meal time, I wonder if she would be hungrier and eat more.
I have tried but she's really a grazer. She throws up if she eats too much or too fast. That's just her eating style and she's starved herself before rather than eat wet food she doesn't like or wet food mixed with kibble. It's hard watching her starve herself and I worry about fatty liver syndrome. She's already been seriously ill before with acute pancreatitis. I prefer feeding her wet twice a day and letting her free feed kibble.
 
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