Grain-Free/Food Options = $$$? Advice?

Baz84

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Hey,

I have an 8 month 2 week kitten... he eats A LOT. 6 ounces in the AM, another 3 ounces midday, 6 more ounces in the PM So that's 15 ounces - and he's still hungry. He has a way of telling me he's hungry - starts to lick an empty plate (and boy does he LICK that plate... it's spotless between each meal). He's 12.3 lbs. I only feed him canned food so far.... Yes he's had 3 de-worms and he was clean. I can't tell if he's overweight - he does have a tiny pouch in his tummy - but was told that's normal. See image of him from a few days ago

My concerns are... FOOD... currently feeding him grain free food. But I'm getting VERY frustrated. Just about every grain free food has some pea/pea protein in there which I learned inhibits Taurine absorption. Almost 95% of grain free food has either potato starch, pea/pea whatever, tapioca starch... some guam something. I don't know what to do. On catfood.db - I took a look. The healthier grain-free options are very $$$$. If I went by that recommendation, my cat's meal would cost more than my own meal!!!

Any thoughts/advice/anything?
 

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maggie101

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There are many grain free foods without peas. There will be more variety in chewy. I feed
Hound&Gotos,Dr elseys,tiki after dark, American journey,against the grain,and rawz-no gums and grain free only at small petstores,and farmina. It will be extremely hard to find food without gums. Just make sure meat is the first ingredient. It takes my cat longer to finish anything with shredded chicken or pieces of meat

All pricy though.
 

LTS3

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8 month old kittens still need a lot of food. So just feed your kitten as much as he will eat. He may start to eat less around a year old, maybe a little later. Then you can just feed enough calories daily, usually 20 to 25 calories per pound of body weight daily but adjust if needed.

There is no perfect canned / wet food that doesn't have any sort of fillers. Rawz is pretty close but the price is unaffordable to feed exclusively. You just feed a brand(s) that has as few of the possible problematic fillers as possible that also fits in your budget. Try using this chart to find foods that exclude whatever ingredients you don't want to feed: Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

You're not a bad pet parent if you have to feed something with a few "bad" ingredients that is affordable and easy to find.

The only way to avoid all fillers is to make your own raw or home cooked food from scratch. There is a forum here on TCS with more info on those diets.
 
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Baz84

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@ LTS3 LTS3 Thank you for the list/link - I will check it out!


Okay - Let me ask this....

After work, I went to Costco today... and I found Kirkland Signature Chicken Breast in cans. I decided to bring it back to my cat (since it's MUCH cheaper than grain free food) - it has few ingredients listed and I didn't see anything wrong with it. I taste tried it myself - mild flavor (no spices). It's funny at first my cat sniffed it - didn't care for it and left it alone. Then... I figured let's shove a small pieces in his mouth - perhaps it might taste good? (vs smell)... so I did :biggrin:... he looked SHOCKED. Like a glutton - he consumed 7 ounces and licked that plate dry.

I guess simple chicken breast chunks have a mild smell vs cat food (where the cans have a SUPER strong smell).

Ingredients: Chicken breast meat, water, seasoning (salt, modified food starch, sodium phosphates, chicken broth and natural flavors).

Now I noticed there is "modified food starch" (whatever that is) and salt... if I rinse the food out - is this okay for the cat to eat? I'm considering cooking human food on the side and giving it to him. But then again I noticed most canned food are supplemented with vitamins - so is this something I have to do? Which vitamins/minerals/whatever are not present in carnivorous food?

Thanks!
 

LTS3

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..

After work, I went to Costco today... and I found Kirkland Signature Chicken Breast in cans.

Ingredients: Chicken breast meat, water, seasoning (salt, modified food starch, sodium phosphates, chicken broth and natural flavors).

Now I noticed there is "modified food starch" (whatever that is) and salt... if I rinse the food out - is this okay for the cat to eat? I'm considering cooking human food on the side and giving it to him. But then again I noticed most canned food are supplemented with vitamins - so is this something I have to do? Which vitamins/minerals/whatever are not present in carnivorous food?
Canned meat for people is not a proper diet for cats. As an occasional treat it's ok but not as the only source of food. Plain unsupplemented meat can be up to 10% of the diet.

Similar canned cat foods that are pieces of chicken are Weruva's Paw Lickin Chicken and Soulistic's Goldie Lox. These are complete diets for cats. They may contain ingredients you don't like.

It's better to use a pre-mix such as EZComplete with plain cooked meat of your choice for a healthy food with no junk. There's more info on pre-mixes and cooked diets on the Raw and Home Cooked forum.
 

Willowy

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It's better to use a pre-mix such as EZComplete with plain cooked meat of your choice
This is a good option. BUT, don't use canned meat for this; it has way too much salt. Even if you rinse it, it soaks into the meat. It's not too hard to cook up some chicken thighs (dark meat has more flavor, and is usually cheaper too).
 
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