Advice On Can Food?

naavafern

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I'm trying to choose the highest quality canned food I can get for the lowest price (I'm a college student on a budget but still want my cats to eat right!) I've done a little bit of research but thought someone more knowledgeable might be able to give me some advice. I've currently decided on Whole Earth Farms Grain-Free Real Duck Pate Recipe Canned Cat Food, but could definitely be persuaded to choose another brand of a canned wet food (preferably poultry pate) within my price range (below $0.24/oz)!

A little background: my two cats are an 8 year old female short haired with no health issues and a 6-7 month old female medium haired kitten with an unknown health background. The kitten was a stray in a trailer park before she was brought to the shelter, but they haven't noticed anything in the time she's been there (she's actually still there awaiting one final test result before I can adopt her.)
 
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MissMolly08

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I also have a tight budget and one thing I realized when looking for cheap but healthy wet foods is that you also have to pay attention to calories! The Whole Earth duck pate is a pretty low calorie food which means your cats will need to eat more of it! It also only comes in 5oz cans while most others are 5.5oz.
Do you know how much your cats weigh? That would give you an idea of how many ounces of food they need to eat per day...
Also, it is recommended here that you rotate wet foods. Every company has a different vitamin mix that they use and every brand has pros/cons. By rotating foods, you help ensure your cat gets a good balance of everything. This means you may want to find a few different foods within your budget and feed all of them on a rotation, not just pick 1 food.
My budget is under 0.20/oz and a few I have found in my budget are..
Fancy Feast Classic Poultry & Beef Feast Variety Pack Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, case of 30
dave's cat food - Free Shipping at Chewy.com
natural balance wild pursuit wet food - Free Shipping at Chewy.com
 
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naavafern

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I did consider Fancy Feast but decided against it mostly due to the inclusion of "meat-by-products" and "meat broth" in the ingredients, it skieves me out that it could be basically anything. Dave's and Natural Balance were also on my list of considerations, but they have carrageenan and I'm trying to stay away from that if possible. My cats are both pretty small; the 8 year old I want to say is no more than 7 or 8 pounds and the kitten is 5 pounds, so while the calorie count is kind of low I wasn't overly concerned about it, though it would be nice to find a higher calorie food! I also like to supplement my canned food with a little bit of fresh chicken or turkey so that cuts down on how much canned food I use.

That is a good idea to rotate between canned foods, maybe I can find a variety pack that isn't too expensive...
 

MissMolly08

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I did consider Fancy Feast but decided against it mostly due to the inclusion of "meat-by-products" and "meat broth" in the ingredients, it skieves me out that it could be basically anything. Dave's and Natural Balance were also on my list of considerations, but they have carrageenan and I'm trying to stay away from that if possible. My cats are both pretty small; the 8 year old I want to say is no more than 7 or 8 pounds and the kitten is 5 pounds, so while the calorie count is kind of low I wasn't overly concerned about it, though it would be nice to find a higher calorie food! I also like to supplement my canned food with a little bit of fresh chicken or turkey so that cuts down on how much canned food I use.

That is a good idea to rotate between canned foods, maybe I can find a variety pack that isn't too expensive...
Wellness Complete is another option for you. Wellness Complete Health Pate Chicken Entree Grain-Free Canned Cat Food
It is slightly out of my budget at 0.22/oz but it's in yours if you purchase the big cans.
 
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naavafern

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Oooooh, that one looks great! I don't know why I didn't see it when I scrolled through what feels like hundreds of chewy pages :) Gonna bookmark that right up. Thank you!
 

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There are a couple of threads here on TCS about affordable brands of canned foods:

Healthy but affordable canned food
Affordable canned food?
Cheapest/Most affordable Grain free or healthiest canned food
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/330459/...conomical-way-to-buy-friskies-canned-cat-food
New Affordable PetSmart Brand! =D
4health now has affordable grain-free wet food
https://thecatsite.com/threads/healthy-but-affordable-canned-food.308964/

Raw or plain cooked meat is fine but limit it to no more than 10% of the diet to avoid unbalancing your cat's diet and potentially causing nutritional deficiencies.
 
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naavafern

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Thanks for all the threads! I'll definitely look through them :) I usually only give 2-4 bites of chicken per meal, but I'll be sure to watch how much I add.
 

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I did consider Fancy Feast but decided against it mostly due to the inclusion of "meat-by-products" and "meat broth" in the ingredients, it skieves me out that it could be basically anything. Dave's and Natural Balance were also on my list of considerations, but they have carrageenan and I'm trying to stay away from that if possible. My cats are both pretty small; the 8 year old I want to say is no more than 7 or 8 pounds and the kitten is 5 pounds, so while the calorie count is kind of low I wasn't overly concerned about it, though it would be nice to find a higher calorie food! I also like to supplement my canned food with a little bit of fresh chicken or turkey so that cuts down on how much canned food I use.

That is a good idea to rotate between canned foods, maybe I can find a variety pack that isn't too expensive...
I actually don't understand the big fuss about meat by-products. Yes, it could be any animal but it is meat so unless your cat is allergic to a certain meat, it really shouldn't matter. By-product simply means the pieces of meat that humans don't want to eat for whatever reason. I actually have a friend who is a renderer who told me that by-products are just fine—I should ask her for some more details and report back about what she says. Her rendering plant does process some pet food so she's a fairly good source to ask. Of course, she lives in Ireland so it might be a little different, but I wouldn't imagine very much so.
 
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naavafern

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I do think that by-products on their own are fine, maybe even beneficial (after all, cats eat their whole prey in the wild), but my issue with it lies with the fact that there aren't any specifications as to what those products are. The by-products could be mostly heart, liver, and intestines but it could also be mostly hair and chicken feet. And I would think that companies would use "good" by-products (like heart, liver, and intestine) as a selling point instead of just slapping "meat by-products" on the label. As I stand right now, I would rather pay a little more to know that the ratio of real meat to everything else is sound but I would definitely be interested to hear what your friend has to say and if she knows how it all works in the US :)
 

MissMolly08

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I do think that by-products on their own are fine, maybe even beneficial (after all, cats eat their whole prey in the wild), but my issue with it lies with the fact that there aren't any specifications as to what those products are. The by-products could be mostly heart, liver, and intestines but it could also be mostly hair and chicken feet. And I would think that companies would use "good" by-products (like heart, liver, and intestine) as a selling point instead of just slapping "meat by-products" on the label. As I stand right now, I would rather pay a little more to know that the ratio of real meat to everything else is sound but I would definitely be interested to hear what your friend has to say and if she knows how it all works in the US :)
I respect your decision not to feed by products but just to clear it up... if a food says that it meets AAFCO standards then "by-products" can NOT contain hair and feet...
The Association of American Feed Control Officials > Consumers > What is in Pet Food

Meat by-products is the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially de-fatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs.
 
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naavafern

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Hmmm, well it seems the articles I was reading weren't referencing AAFCO cat foods... thanks!
 

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MissMolly08

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Unfortunately Wellness Complete Health has "Sodium Selenite" listed as an ingredient..
Which is toxic you can read more about Sodium Selenite here: Is Selenium Toxicity a Concern for Our Pets?
I appreciate the concern but unfortunately, almost EVERY ingredient in pet food these days seems to be controversial. On a low budget, there's no way to avoid everything! Most of the foods I feed my cat contain by-products and carrageenan as well.
 
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