15 Mouths To Feed

[coniferously]

Hi all.
I feed my cats Blue Buffalo Multi-Cat. They get 3.5 cups in the morning and 3.5 cups in the evening for a total of 7 cups of food a day (they are all on a mini-diet).
Being that I have 15 mouths to feed, it gets quite expensive. We are going through a 15-lb bag in about a week or a week and a half. We buy three 15-lb bags (45 lbs total) every three weeks for about $100. It's getting way too pricey, but I don't want to switch their food.
I was just wondering if we bought two 15-lb bags plus another bag of cheaper cat food (such as Purina) as a sort of "filler" if that would completely take away from feeding them food that is healthier for them.
I just need another option and some opinions. Thank you.

 

[Willowy]

I have a bunch of kitties, too . I have decent results with Purina Pro Plan (I rotate 4 different kibbles---Pro Plan, Purina ONE, Chicken Soup, and Premium Edge). It's $20.58 for a 16-pound bag on Amazon, $24-something on chewy (don't buy it from Petco/Petsmart. Expensive!!!). You really never know how your cats will do on a food until you try it, might as well try it for a month or 2, see how they do.

 

[Kieka]

If you have a Tractor Supply near you they have a store brand cat food that is fairly decent. I personally dislike Blue Buffalo so my inclination is to get a completely different food that is more affordable for your household.

 

[Willowy]

I'm not really a fan of Blue either, but after looking on chewy it doesn't cost as much as I thought. There are plenty of other foods in a similar price range of similar quality if you want to do a lateral switch.

Yes, TSC's brand 4Health is decent, around $22-23 for 16 pounds. They have a grain-free version, too, costs about the same but the bag is smaller, I think 13 or 14 pounds.

I used to buy 4Health a lot but stopped because it takes a long time to get to TSC so I've mostly been ordering online lately. But a new TSC is opening in the town my parents live in so probably I'll be adding that back in the rotation

 

[shadowplay]

What's the Blue Multi Cat? Never seen that before.
And what about Purina One or the Rachel Ray Nutrish brand? Both decent and affordable

 

[orange&white]

I also think the TSC 4Health looks pretty good as far as kibbles go.

Also, take a look at your grocery house- or store-brand. When I brought a kitten home in March, I wasn't sure whether or not she'd eat wet food, so I bought a decent grain-free bag of kitten kibble at HEB. Their house-brand is called Heritage Ranch. A 6lb bag was $10.00, and large bags were cheaper per pound. Your local grocery may have an acceptable better quality food for only a little more money than an inexpensive name-brand like Purina with its cheap ingredients.

I agree with Kieka about switching all the food over to a little less expensive brand that fits into your budget.

 

[kashmir64]

I also love Pro-plan. When I lived in the city, that's all I fed. But I can't get it up here and Amazon insists that my physical address doesn't exist. So, I'm starting these new kitties on Purina One. I feed my dogs Purina Beyond and may switch to that for the kittens once they are officially mine. I'm adopting two of them, wish I could take all three. The shelter gave me a bag of Blue Wilderness, but the kittens won't touch it. Most Purina products are AAFCO approved and use meat (not meat by products) as their number one ingredient.

 

[Willowy]

Most Purina products are AAFCO approved and use meat (not meat by products) as their number one ingredient.

All pet foods sold in stores are AAFCO approved . Unless they specifically say "for supplemental use only", and there aren't many of those. I won't say that most Purina products use meat as the first ingredient, because they make some really awful foods (Kit 'n' Kaboodle, etc.), but, yes, the higher-end products such as Purina ONE, Beyond, and Pro Plan do.

 

[kashmir64]

All pet foods sold in stores are AAFCO approved . Unless they specifically say "for supplemental use only", and there aren't many of those. I won't say that most Purina products use meat as the first ingredient, because they make some really awful foods (Kit 'n' Kaboodle, etc.), but, yes, the higher-end products such as Purina ONE, Beyond, and Pro Plan do.

Actually, and I was surprised to find this, is that Iams is not AAFCO and they use meat by products as number one. I agree that foods like Kit 'n' Kaboodle, 9 lives, even Meow Mix are awful. IMO Pro Plan is the best.

 

[orange&white]

When a pet food, such as Purina One "Tender Selects Blend With Chicken", brands the food using the word "with"...then that food is required by AAFCO to have at least 3% of that ingredient (in this example - chicken).

 

[orange&white]

When the branding experts label a food "Flavors" like Meow Mix "Salmon & White Meat Chicken Flavors", they aren't required to use any of the ingredient, salmon or chicken.

 

[Willowy]

Actually, and I was surprised to find this, is that Iams is not AAFCO

I don't believe that could be true. I'm definitely gonna look at a bag of Iams the next time I'm at Walmart!

I've never seen any commercial food (besides the "intermittent feeding only" kinds) that didn't have an AAFCO statement.

Beyond is better than Pro Plan but it's more expensive. Not by a lot though if you buy online (it costs a lot in the stores). It's $22.19 for a 13-pound bag on chewy. Could be a good option.

 

[orange&white]

I don't believe that could be true. I'm definitely gonna look at a bag of Iams the next time I'm at Walmart!

I've never seen any commercial food (besides the "intermittent feeding only" kinds) that didn't have an AAFCO statement.

That would be surprising. Iams is owned by Mars, Inc. (the candy conglomerate) so I expect that any pet food brands meet AAFCO standards. It doesn't take very much a all to pass an AAFCO test for "complete nutrition".

 

[coniferously]

Okay guys! After reading all of your replies I might just start off by buying one bag of the Blue we feed them plus I'll look into Beyond, ONE, and Pro Plan. Those are three separate entities, correct? Would any of you suggest mixing Blue with two of the three options listed above, or should I not mix them? I just need to ease them off Blue if that's what we're gonna do so I'd like to mix it with one or two of the kibble you guys suggested from Purina. Which two would you recommend if that's the case? I appreciate your help so much!

 

[surya]

I'm feeding around 20 cats Purina One. I buy the big bags, but lately I've gotten some bad bags the cats don't want to eat it. So I was on here looking for a recommendation of another brand.

 

[coniferously]

Okay, so as of right now I think I'm going to go with:
1.) Blue Buffalo Multi-Cat, Chicken & Turkey 15-lb bag for $32
2.) Purina Pro Plan Focus Adult Sensitive Skin & Stomach, Lamb & Rice 16-lb bag for $25
3a.) Purina Muse Sailing Natural Salmon, Egg, & Yogurt 9-lb bag for $23
3b.) Purina Beyond Grain-Free Ocean Whitefish & Egg 11-lb bag for about $22
So that's 40 lbs of food for about $80 with the 3a option.
With 3b it is 42 lbs of food for $79.
Opinions on the third option would be lovely. I feel like Muse Sailing has more antioxidants and benefits for the cats though.
We were getting 45 lbs for $100 with just the Blue (on PetFlow) so really I think it's a better deal in the long run.
What do you guys think? I am personally leaning towards 3a for my cats. These prices are all on Chewy so maybe Amazon would be a better option too.

 

[coniferously]

Orrr since I just got three new bags of Blue, which should last about a month with what we had left from the previous delivery, what if we just start to buy two Purina Pro Plan Focus Adult Sensitive Skin & Stomach, Lamb & Rice 16-lb bag for $25 (so 32 lbs for $50) plus one bag of the Purina Muse Sailing Natural Salmon, Egg, & Yogurt 9-lb bag for $23 (so 41 lbs for $73) PLUS one bag of the Purina Beyond Grain-Free Ocean Whitefish & Egg 11-lb bag for about $22 (totaling out to 52 lbs for $95) every four weeks instead of 45 lbs every three weeks for $100.
I dunno guys, I'm lost.

 

[Willowy]

I try to avoid fish-based kibbles. . .I don't know if fish really does contribute to urinary problems but I'd rather not risk it. I always stick with the poultry varieties. I'd get the Beyond chicken and oatmeal, personally (actually, I added it to my autoship, so I did get it personally ). And when I buy Purina ONE, I get the kitten food, because it's higher-quality than the other formulas---closer to something like Beyond.

I have mixed kibbles in the past---I think this is usually the best way to go, to prevent any tummy troubles from too fast of a transition. But right now I just feed one bag at a time and they haven't had any trouble with that. It just depends on the cats.

When I'm trying to find the best prices, I put all the same things in the cart on several different sites (doggyfood, petflow, chewy, etc.) and whichever one has the lowest total after everything is added, that's the one I order from.

 

[orange&white]

Make a food transition over at least one week, mixing a little of the new food(s) into the current brand, then increase a little new food every day until they are transitioned.

I would avoid spending a lot of a bunch of different foods all at once. Some cats will not like, and refuse to eat, some flavors/brands of food. Since you have 3 bags of Blue, I would ask for manufacturer's samples of food or buy the small bags first to make sure the cats will eat the food. Then buy the more economical, larger bags of the flavors they like.

 

[maddies momma]

Just a note aafco does not actually aprove any foods. In order to have an aafco claim all that has to happen is that the food meets the MINIMUM aafco reccomendations. The other way to use the claim is to conduct feeding trials to the aafco standards. Unless a food says that it has gone through feeding trials it most likely just follows the minimal aafco reccomendations. Any food that goes through feeding trials would be safer then one that doesn't. But at minimum having the aafco claim is better than nothing.