Budget Aside, Does Anyone Here Choose To Feed Grocery Store Brands?

[bonepicker]

I look at it this way, I buy the best I can afford that my cats enjoy, you will make yourself crazy keeping up with recalls, I also rotate so they don't eat same thing twice in a row, because of recalls and boredom. I decided I did not want certain ingredients even though my cat would eat the friskies I give to the Feral cats. I feed my cats soulistic chicken dinner pate & shreds, wellness Core natural pate chicken & chicken liver and whole earth farms duck or beef pate and no kibble. I give them purebites freeze dried chicken for treats(buy dog size bag) from chewy.com or petco.com. The cats love them all but there are plenty they don't like expensive ones too!

I also feed Merrick Rabbit pate!

 

[katlady-18]

I'm still deciding on what to go with next for my Chance; there's still some of Pumpkin's prescription food left to finish so I have a little more time to make up my mind, but can't wait too long either (I know I have to start mixing old food with new one to avoid upset tummy, so I have to get on that before old food starts running too low). Today at Target I picked up one little tub of Purely Fancy Feast (Natural White Meat Chicken entree) to try because it says it has no by-products or fillers, but with tax it comes out to $1.45 and that's only for 2 oz.! I would need to feed two daily (plus a little dry of some other brand in-between), which would make it pricier than prescription food or some of the brands I was looking at in Petco. Yikes. I might look into the Pro Plan True Nature somebody mentioned.

Btw, I was reading an article somewhere online that basically said even if you feed the cheapest wet food, it's still better than a diet consisting of the better brands of dry food (something like that, don't quote me ) and that by going with all or mostly wet you can usually avoid things like blockages, IBD (or IBS?) and other diseases. Thoughts? Anyone here who went with an all-wet diet and had their kitties live long, healthy lives?

 

[IndyJones]

Fancy feast makes a byproduct free food now?

 

[maggiedemi]

The Purely line, they are just meat, broth, and vitamins I think. My male cat hates them, I tried every flavor. You only get 2oz and they are over $1 in those little plastic trays.

 

[katlady-18]

Fancy feast makes a byproduct free food now?

Yes, and pricey for such a tiny amount.

 

[maggiedemi]

katlady- the wet canned food has a lot of moisture in it and this keeps the urine diluted so their bladder doesn't block with crystals.

 

[IndyJones]

I know the caned fancy feast is pretty low end stuff with colors and unsourced meat that's why it surprised me they make one without all the crap

 

[bonepicker]

Age 19 and 21, canned food only both female

 

[Willowy]

The Purely line is marketed as more of a treat, it used to just be meat (not balanced) but I guess too many people were actually using it as a sole diet for their cats so they had to add vitamins. The price is appalling though. I'll just cook up some meat, thanx .

 

[KittyCookie]

My mom and I own a cat, but she requires making the final call on all things for the cat. Because of this, we feed the cat Fancy Feast Classics Turkey and Giblets wet food. She rufuses to feed the cat any other flavor from that brand too. If it were up to me we'd feed the cat a higher quality wet food, but my mother will not allow it even if I pay. I have convinced my mom to let me choose and buy the dry food that the cat gets though. So our cat also eats Merrick LID Turkey dry food.

 

[KittyCookie]

I accidentally double posted, sorry!

 

[buddybellamom]

I am so very glad to have found this thread today. It is refreshing to read a civilized conversation regarding the low budget canned food. I have torn my hair out trying to find a food that Kit will consistently eat. She will love xyz this week, and walk away from it next week; you name it I've tried it.

A year later and I am still throwing a lot of food away. I have to doctor most of it, except for PRIDE, but that is $1.69 per 3ozs can, and she eats 4 cans a day. But let me put some FF Classics or Sheba cuts in that bowl and she's happy as a clam! She keeps me guessing (and spending) that's for sure. I feel alone sometimes in following the mantra from Dr. Lisa Pierson that even the least best canned food is better than the bestest best kibble. But I think I am finally settling on the fact that Kit CAN thrive on FF/Sheba pates, and when my wallet allows PRIDE by instinct can be in the rotation. I can buy one $30 bag of freeze dried nuggets to mix in with the lower end foods (and she eats it) and have it last me a LONG time, but I simply cannot afford to feed that 100% of the time. She won't touch frozen raw of any kind, and for many reasons I can't do homemade raw right now.

What's a cat-Mama to do? So thank you for this thread...I feel so much better buying 20 cans of FF on sale at the grocery just now -- after spending nearly $60 on some more "good stuff" over the weekend, which she is eating very begrudgingly.

 

[Willowy]

I have 2 kittens (haha, "kittens"; they're 2 this year) who were raised on nothing but canned Friskies pate, and they're gorgeous and healthy. So sleek and shiny and not fat. A big difference from the kitties I've raised on "high-quality" kibble. So I have no complaints .

 

[kttn]

She will love xyz this week, and walk away from it next week; you name it I've tried it.

I have run into this constantly myself! It's an annoying problem. My girl has a big, consistent appetite and there are times she will decide "nope, today I am not eating that $2 can of food." She's NEVER done that with cheaper food. I think the problem is two-fold; premium foods have a bigger variation in quality (possibly depending on the meat that batch) which makes it smell different month to month, while cheaper food's ultimate goal is to appeal to as many cats as possible (sacrificing ingredient quality maybe) so you rarely have a 'bad' can.

We can afford higher end brands no problem but have happily settled on a mix of Fancy Feast Classics, Sheba, and Purina True Nature (check that out if you haven't, $17 for 24 5.5 oz cans). We also like Chicken Soup for the Soul. We were feeding Wild Calling, Hound and Gatos etc but kept running into the issue where she snubbed certain batches of it. It's not worth the headache as she thrives on her cheaper diet.

I did initially have a ton of guilt over feeding her cheaper food, but in this instance knowing she will always eat and be satisfied is enough. We have a kitten we're raising on these cheaper brands too. And again I like that I'm not worried about recalls as much as I am with random holistic-style food brands.

 

[IndyJones]

Idk since Indy first tasted the pricey foods she pays no interest in many of the lower priced ones.

 

[katlady-18]

I always say whatever works for your furbabies is fine and found this thread refreshing too. On so many other sites (like one I was part of many years ago) people will just jump down the throats of others for the food choices they make for their pets; maybe they mean well, but the manner in which they deliver the message is not helpful at all.

I've decided to try Hounds and Gatos for Chance as far as wet goes and Purina Beyond for dry (will be keeping the dry to a minimum which shouldn't be much of a challenge as Chance prefers wet). Anyway, anyone have any thoughts on whether there is much difference between the Purina Beyond White Meat Chicken & Egg and the one with chicken and whole oat? I'm asking because I would like to buy the dry locally (the wet I'll have to order online) but only one Target has the one with chicken and it's the one with whole oat.

 

[IndyJones]

As you said, whatever works for you

Some cats might not like oats though.

 

[kaoritokyo]

My experience is in Japan,so,little people (include @Norachan )Knows situations around cat food here.
I used to give shop-brand or unknown kibbles to my late Su when he was young.I knew very little.at age 4,he got urinaly cristal and had to eat Prescription food.After that,I looked around net shop and found Wysong Uretics.He ate Them without bored and (I knew very little..)seldom ate wet food.
He lived 19years.So,for my 2nd cat Fi,I don't have guts to give cheaper food.(Although my badget is limited)
After Wysong importer in Japan made outrageous price rise,I feed Fi Natural Barance,sometimes Pulina one,(for weight control)and wet food one small can (60g or so)a day.Muichimotu(Japanese brand,100%fish)or Junkan(also fishy).

 

[maggiedemi]

KittyCookie- I'm so glad that your mom listened to you about feeding Cookie some canned food. I remember your other post about how she wouldn't let you. Good job, even if it's only one flavor, that's great.

 

[katlady-18]

My experience is in Japan,so,little people (include @Norachan )Knows situations around cat food here.
I used to give shop-brand or unknown kibbles to my late Su when he was young.I knew very little.at age 4,he got urinaly cristal and had to eat Prescription food.After that,I looked around net shop and found Wysong Uretics.He ate Them without bored and (I knew very little..)seldom ate wet food.
He lived 19years.So,for my 2nd cat Fi,I don't have guts to give cheaper food.(Although my badget is limited)
After Wysong importer in Japan made outrageous price rise,I feed Fi Natural Barance,sometimes Pulina one,(for weight control)and wet food one small can (60g or so)a day.Muichimotu(Japanese brand,100%fish)or Junkan(also fishy).

Is there any other wet food available to you that doesn't contain fish? From what I hear, feeding food with fish in it all the time isn't really good for cats.