Cheap yet quality grain-free canned cat food?

[cammiethecat]

Is any of the cat food mentioned good for a diabetic cat.  I find the RX cat food is too expensive.  I'm at my wits end trying to find cat food for her. 

 

[peaches08]

 
Is any of the cat food mentioned good for a diabetic cat.  I find the RX cat food is too expensive.  I'm at my wits end trying to find cat food for her. 

Are you able to check your cat's blood glucose at home?  I ask because you might be able to reduce or even eliminate insulin if you feed a low carb diet.  But you MUST be able to check her blood glucose, since too much insulin can kill.  Here's a website that has a canned food list:  http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf.

www.felinediabetes.com has a lot of information as well.

 

[cccdlx]

I am feeding 8 cats and 4 kittens right now.  Primarily Wellness canned and dry.  I do have to keep the costs down also.  There are several ways I can do this.

Petco will price match if you have documented proof.  A large can of Wellness is less than $2, small cans of Wellness Core $1.45.  I refer to the prices at Chewy.  I do mix in some other varieties, but at less than 1/2.  I also mix  the Wellness Core dry with another decent brand that they will tolerate.

I do coupons!

It may seem like you are spending too much on the food, but the cats need to eat less of the good stuff!  You will also reduce you vet bills!

 

[bonepicker]

Natural balance ultra cans and dry on sale one chewy.com. Comes in 5.5 ounce cans also more economical. Cats love it

 

[pbackes]

Halo's Spots Pate is very low in carbs and I believe would be a very good food to feed a diabetic cat. I also agree if a cat is on insulin, the blood sugar would need to be monitored.

 

[pookalali]

FF classics and Sheba pate are the cheapest ones I could find that are local and easy to get to. For me anyway.

 

[mnm]

nods... agree with FF classics. Mik loves all of them except Turkey and Giblets

 

[madamenordica]

the rescue shelter who I adopted Tom from uses Fancy Feast CLASSIC instead of the RX diabetes food and often is able to control the diabetes with diet. Only thing is, I met a vet at the supermarket who told me Fancy Feast had caused many of her patients to develop pancreatitis, so now I don't know what to think. I don't have a diabetic cat, so I haven't had to deal with it, but thought I would pass this along in case anyone could shed some light on any of it.

 

[sterlingsilver]

I have to reply because I feel like I've stumbled on a secret that I need to share with everyone! When I got my Sterling at 6 months I wanted to make sure that he had the best food I could afford. I've done a TON of research on Cats in the Kitchen by Weruva and it seemed like my best option but was desperate to get the price down. The following is a summary of my quest of getting Cats in the Kitchen at the lowest price possible:

I consider one 3.2 oz can a "serving"
Pet Food Express 3.2 oz can (buy 4 get 1 free) - $1.19 per serving.
Pet Food Express 6 oz can - 0.97 per serving

Amazon case of 6 oz cans - 0.85 per serving
Petcarerx.com case of 6 oz cans - 0.85 per serving 

Petcarerx.com with PetPlus Program ($50/year, 20% off "petplus items" worth it) - 0.75 per serving

So I was able to get Weruva Cats in the Kitchen for 0.75 per serving when it is sold in stores at 1.59 per serving (2.59 for 6 oz can). I find that to be a pretty good deal being that this brand is highly regarded, grain free, high in moisture content, high in protein, comes in a bunch of flavors (stay away from the fish if possible), looks like something I would eat, and my cat loves it! I feel really good about feeding this food to my cat and I feel even better about helping other kitties out there! 

I would be super interested to know if anyone has found a way to get this brand even cheaper. I really hope this helps someone seeing as this is an older thread. 

 

[sterlingsilver]

 
I have to reply because I feel like I've stumbled on a secret that I need to share with everyone! When I got my Sterling at 6 months I wanted to make sure that he had the best food I could afford. I've done a TON of research on Cats in the Kitchen by Weruva and it seemed like my best option but was desperate to get the price down. The following is a summary of my quest of getting Cats in the Kitchen at the lowest price possible:

I consider one 3.2 oz can a "serving"
Pet Food Express 3.2 oz can (buy 4 get 1 free) - $1.19 per serving.
Pet Food Express 6 oz can - 0.97 per serving

Amazon case of 6 oz cans - 0.85 per serving
Petcarerx.com case of 6 oz cans - 0.85 per serving 

Petcarerx.com with PetPlus Program ($50/year, 20% off "petplus items" worth it) - 0.75 per serving

So I was able to get Weruva Cats in the Kitchen for 0.75 per serving when it is sold in stores at 1.59 per serving (2.59 for 6 oz can). I find that to be a pretty good deal being that this brand is highly regarded, grain free, high in moisture content, high in protein, comes in a bunch of flavors (stay away from the fish if possible), looks like something I would eat, and my cat loves it! I feel really good about feeding this food to my cat and I feel even better about helping other kitties out there! 

I would be super interested to know if anyone has found a way to get this brand even cheaper. I really hope this helps someone seeing as this is an older thread. 

Forgot to mention that the Weruva on Amazon had questionable reviews about cats not wanting to touch the food even though they ate Weruva purchased in store. My kitty had the same problem, for some reason he doesn't like the stuff from Amazon which was enough reason for me to try somewhere else!

ALSO the PetPlus program at Petcarerx.com includes food like weruva at $30.99 for a case of 24 oz cans which ended up being the cheapest, super discounts on flea and heartworm medication, $58 for 6 month supply of Revolution anyone!? I made back my $50 for the membership right there! Plus you get free shipping on everything but food bummer but it still comes out cheaper. 

 

[kittyluv387]

http://www.chewy.com/cat/party-animal-darling-duck-recipe/dp/116579

I found a nice pure duck one that isnt too expensive for duck and doesn't have carageenan and alfalfa meal.

 

[elviscat59]

 We have done ALOT of our own research for the past two years on this subject, and learning alot from a great cat site called www.catinfo.org that explains how to choose the best food, they also say to avoid dry food altogether for healthier kidneys, and overall longterm health. The vet there also helps alot with all types of healthcare issues, medication choices, so it's a must for every cat family in our opinion!

We try to have a variety of brands for our five cats, so we are now doing the raw ground turkey diet mixed with these brands of canned foods, going for the non grain as much as possible:  Trader Joes (rated very high for pure ingredients and not pricey) and our cats just love this brand!, Chicken Soup For The Soul, Felidae, PetSmart's home brand of Authority turkey and chicken varieties mostly, with some beef added at times but some of our cats do not like the beef often.

We find better prices by the case on Amazon too. Our kitties are happy with this variety. We mix the canned food with a raw diet mixture (with added liver powder, fish oil and a nutrient mix) to help stretch the raw meat, with five cats it can get expensive.

If anyone would like to try this diet it's not hard to do at all once you mix it a few times..go to www.felineinstincts.com and also, www.catinfo.org for videos showing how to mix it, and store it, etc.

Lynn in Illinois

 

[karen dsupin]

I have tried every single premium grain free cat food out there, and have ended up giving it to my ferals because my 2 house cats won't touch it.  They only like Iams grain free shreds.  I have spent so much money on cat food that my husband is ready to divorce me.  If I even considered rotating their food, they wouldn't eat it.  I'm kind of upset now that someone mentioned that I should rotate their foods.  If they will only eat one kind, is it that much of a problem?  Also, their skin and coats are so soft and shiny now that they aren't eating Friskies.

 

[davey]

 
I have tried every single premium grain free cat food out there, and have ended up giving it to my ferals because my 2 house cats won't touch it.  They only like Iams grain free shreds.  I have spent so much money on cat food that my husband is ready to divorce me.  If I even considered rotating their food, they wouldn't eat it.  I'm kind of upset now that someone mentioned that I should rotate their foods.  If they will only eat one kind, is it that much of a problem?  Also, their skin and coats are so soft and shiny now that they aren't eating Friskies.

I have had cats who ate Friskies and were healthy.
Not sure all the hoopla about "raw" and "human grade" really is better unless a cat is sick.
Sounds more like a trendy thing to do.
What I do know is never get cheapest cat food, and check the ash content. 
If you have a male cat he can get FUS, feline urological syndrome, and cannot pee unless you have a surgery to remove the blockage (or he would die.)
That happened when we had tried store brand canned and dry cat food and did not know better.
Back then the Ocean Fish Flavor Friskies (1980s) had the right proportions and low ash content, so we never had that happen again.
I think such in your cat's case, a finicky eater, just feed them what they will eat and leave fad foods for other cats who need it.

 

[bjustjenny2]

Please read those labels.  Lots of fillers and preservatives,  I'd like to eat french fries for every meal, but eventually, my doctor would have to get involved.

 

[cocobutterfly]

Kudos to you for trying to get your cats off dry food. All those carbohydrates and fillers in kibble are so bad for cats. We have one cat who LOVES to eat. Anything. Anywhere. Any time. She has never turned her nose up at anything, which has its good points and bad. Controlling what she eats and how much of it is very important to us. We only feed her wet food (combination of canned, homemade with supplements and raw). She gets freeze dried raw bites as treats. No kibble whatsoever.

We rotate Ziwipeak, Nature's Variety Instinct (mostly duck and rabbit canned), Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient turkey canned, Stella & Chewy's raw and homemade chicken with EZ Complete. NVI rabbit canned is the lowest in calories and fat, but our cat LOVES it. She gets that more than anything else because it's a very lean protein so it fills her up without the added calories or the fat that she does not need. 

We tried Weruva Paw Lickin' Chicken a few times but decided not to continue. Sure it's low calorie, but that's because it's ALL gravy (water). You open the can, and all you see is shredded chicken swimming in gravy. I'd rather open a densely packed can of meat and mix in fresh water. 

 

[cheshirebite]

I'd use Fancy Feast classics, especially the chicken. They run about .50cents at my nearby grocery store. I haven't tried Trader Joe's, but I've heard good things about it so that might be worth a check out too.

 

[thegreystalker]

Natural Value

Purina Beyond pate

Sheba pate

Nutro Max Cat pate

Purina Pro Plan True Nature classic

 

[cheshirebite]

By the way, has anyone heard of Abound? I found it at my grocery store and wanted your input if it's a cheap yet quality grain free cat food. And if it is, would it be in the same level as Fancy Feast?