How Can I Make Wet Food Affordable?

[FelinskiFamily]

That's also around $7 per cat, per week.

Oh, I misunderstood. I thought the budget was 35$ per month for both cats.

 

[MissMolly08]

You use a whole thing of a litter in a month for one cat? I buy the fresh step 28-32lb boxes for I think $15-18? And usually Petsmart is having some type of sale or bogo that helps as well. They last my cat 2-3 months. He pee's quite a bit (he eats wet food and is a good drinker) and poops 1-2 times a day. I dump the whole box and refresh it every month. Maybe I should be cleaning out his box more thoroughly lol
I spend $40 a month on wet food and just have to budget in litter/dry (he gets it as snacks) when needed every few months.
He eats some mid/high quality foods like Lotus, Wellness, Canidae, etc as well (because he has poultry sensitivities and cheaper foods all have poultry lol).

The boxes I'm buying are 19lbs I believe so a little smaller than the one's you buy but yes, we use a whole box in a month, maybe 5 weeks stretching it. Our cat likes to pee in the same dang spot all the time so we have to keep the litter pretty deep or it cakes to the bottom of the box in that spot. Just refilling the box after dumping uses a majority of the box and then we use what is left a little at a time each time we scoop to keep it deep enough.

 

[yeva2292]

Another option (but on the lower end) 9Lives. Chewy sells their Variety Pack for $3.99. 12, 5.5 oz (168 kcal/can) each pack, so if a cat is fed 200 kcal/day, that's a monthly cost of $12 per cat.

 

[MissMolly08]

For litter, have you tried ordering Dr. Elsey's Multicat litter? I can usually get the 40lb bag for $15 and its very good at odor control if you clean the pan every day.
For wet food, have you considered the Natural Balance Wild Pursuit line of cat food? A case of 6oz x 24 (250 calories per can) costs $21.48 on Chewy. That puts you at $6.26 per cat, per week.

Chewy also has Dave's Pet Food. They have 12 oz cans of food (410 calories each - so enough for both cats) - $23.88 for a pack of 12. That's also around $7 per cat, per week.
Slightly more expensive than Natural Balance and Dave's is Whole Earth Farms (Real Duck and Chicken is 166 kcal/5oz, so you might have to split a 1/2 of a third can between both cats each day). Slightly above that in cost is Holistic Select, which does have the advantage of coming in 13oz cans.

I made a list on Sunday of wet food prices per month for 200 calories (for a single cat). Its not all inclusive, but I could share it with you if you like.

I have been browsing Chewy for months and somehow never saw that Natural Balance food. That's a great price and it is high calorie so my cat wouldn't even need a full can a day! I'm going to look around and see if I can find it locally to try before ordering from chewy though. My cat has never had things like guinea fowl and quail so I need to see how she reacts first.

 

[Willowy]

I understand that 1€ (or 1$) per cat a day is more than you want to spend, so try finding 13.5oz cans that cost 50 cents or less

Haha, noooo. Even the cheapest cat food here is 85 cents for a 13-oz can. Which would be, with the exchange rate. . .about .71 in Euros.

Natural Balance Wild Pursuit has a very dense texture, and my cats don't like it :/. I got a case on clearance from Amazon but have been feeding it to the dogs (just a little mixed in their kibble) because none of the cats will eat it. Not even the farm cats, lol. The possum likes it though. It is super high calorie, so that's a plus when it comes to price per calorie.

 

[MissMolly08]

How is Triumph food? I see that one for a good price on Chewy as well. It does have rice but appears to be like a step up from Friskies...

 

[yeva2292]

How is Triumph food? I see that one for a good price on Chewy as well. It does have rice but appears to be like a step up from Friskies...

I've never tried it before, but it does look good! It's fairly low carb, a bit high in fat. The ingredients look much better than Friskies, and though it has carrageenan, its the second to last ingredient.

The 13.2 oz cans are 516 kcal each, so that's about $15.50 per cat, per month!

 

[FelinskiFamily]

Haha, noooo. Even the cheapest cat food here is 85 cents for a 13-oz can. Which would be, with the exchange rate. . .about .71 in Euros.

That's very unfortunate. Here is a link to a store brand cat food can it costs 0,55€ it's 400gr that's over 13oz
AS alimento para gatos cocktail con ave lata 400 gr | Alimento Húmedo | Gatos | Mascotas | Productos | Clarel
Ingredients are meat and meat sub-products, minerals and something I can't manage to read, agluar or something I can't manage to guess the word. So, it's even grain free. That's Spain, though. Looks like it's a lot cheaper to feed our cats in Europe...

 

[MissMolly08]

That's very unfortunate. Here is a link to a store brand cat food can it costs 0,55€ it's 400gr that's over 13oz
AS alimento para gatos cocktail con ave lata 400 gr | Alimento Húmedo | Gatos | Mascotas | Productos | Clarel
Ingredients are meat and meat sub-products, minerals and something I can't manage to read, agluar or something I can't manage to guess the word. So, it's even grain free. That's Spain, though. Looks like it's a lot cheaper to feed our cats in Europe...

I am not sure how ingredient labels work there but "meat and meat sub-products" sounds like it is probably equal to "meat by-products" here. If so, that would make that store food comparable to something like Friskies here. Friskies is about $1 for the 13oz cans. Some stores like Tractor Supply have similar foods in 22oz cans for around $1. There are options that cheap here, they just aren't considered very good foods.

 

[FelinskiFamily]

I am not sure how ingredient labels work there but "meat and meat sub-products" sounds like it is probably equal to "meat by-products" here. If so, that would make that store food comparable to something like Friskies here. Friskies is about $1 for the 13oz cans. Some stores like Tractor Supply have similar foods in 22oz cans for around $1. There are options that cheap here, they just aren't considered very good foods.

Ok. I was trying to understand if you could make it through the month with that budget for wet food. Also, I hear a lot "worst wet is better than any dry"... if OP has to make it work with 20-35$ per month, that food quality is what he/she has to go for.

 

[MissMolly08]

Ok. I was trying to understand if you could make it through the month with that budget for wet food. Also, I hear a lot "worst wet is better than any dry"... if OP has to make it work with 20-35$ per month, that food quality is what he/she has to go for.

Yea, that is the direction I am headed with my $25 a month budget. It's looking like I may end up doing a rotation of just Friskies and FF. Some of the other foods I looked at were pretty high in fat (the Triumph) and I read an article that says that is how some higher quality foods keep their food cheap...because they are more fat than protein . So I guess you compromise either way with trying to find semi-healthy but cheap foods. It's either by-products and carrageenan or too much fat. I think I'll go with by products and high protein.

I also contacted Dave's regarding a sample since no one sells it around me. It's a bit high in fat too, though not quite as much as some of the Triumph flavors. If she likes that, I will consider adding it as well. It's a few cents cheaper/oz than FF.

 

[FelinskiFamily]

Or consider moving to Europe I recently discovered First Class pet food, a british brand, the price is ok (1€ for 13.5oz cans and 0.89€ for 3oz pates) and ingredients seem to be good to. But it's difficult to google reviews because the results I get are "first class vs economy" or "travel in style"... even if I add words CAT FOOD WET FOOD in my search. But you probably don't have that brand where you live, and I didn't find it available online. I have to make it work with wet food too, because Julio won't go anywhere near kibble.

 

[MissMolly08]

Well Dave's customer service is pretty awesome so far so that's a plus! They responded super fast and actually asked me which foods I would like to try. My cat is not too picky as long as it's pate so hopefully this works out and I will have a new rotation of Friskies, FF and Dave's.

 

[bonepicker]

I have been trying to find a cheaper litter. There are cheaper ones available but I haven't found one I like. I am using the Tractor Supply litter this month which only cost me $6 but the odor control is not great . $10 is for Arm & Hammer clump & seal which has been my favorite so far.

I hear that, I will only use Fresh Step extreme

 

[bonepicker]

I tried a wet food a long time ago, before I adopted the always hungry Midway, and I think it was Friskies. Whatever it was, in about 2 months Montressor's fur had lost its glossiness, and switching back to the dry food brought back the glossiness. That kinda makes me wary about the "junk food" types of cat food.

Wow that's unusual, it's usually the other way around

 

[thehistorian]

Well, I feed mine five flavors of Fancy Feast. They get four cans a day between the two of them, so yes that is expensive. What I do is save up like a hundred bucks per month from my paychecks and then buy them five cases - one for each flavor. It usually lasts me about a month and a half to two months. Basically, I stockpile every few months.

But then, I am only feeding myself and my cats, so I do not have the same budget restrictions.

 

[spiritscript]

So now that Shadow's gone and I'm only feeding two cats, I thought about switching to wet food. Did the research on calorie needs for both the boys, went to the store, picked up a can of Fancy Feast and found the number of calories per can on the label, and started punching numbers on my calculator. So, that comes to.......$35-40 a week. Whoof. My entire grocery/household/hygiene maximum budget for three people and two cats per week is $140 a week.

So how do you all manage to make wet food affordable?

We are down to 2 cats and feed several outside. We are on disability and we go crazy trying to afford all this. So far, I just have to cut way back some days. NOT ONE rescue/shelter, etc. around here helps the abandoned cats!!! Our TNR does the trap/fix/release, but that's it! Except minor injuries when get spayed/neutered.

 

[spiritscript]

Another option (but on the lower end) 9Lives. Chewy sells their Variety Pack for $3.99. 12, 5.5 oz (168 kcal/can) each pack, so if a cat is fed 200 kcal/day, that's a monthly cost of $12 per cat.

How high is the shipping? Thank you!

 

[yeva2292]

How high is the shipping? Thank you!

At Chewy, when you order $49+, shipping is free regardless of weight. So if you can afford to buy a couple month's food at once, you can get the 40lb litter shipped to your house for free too!

If you have Amazon Prime, you can usually get free 2 day shipping on a lot of items (including a bunch of cat food and litter). With Amazon Prime, you don't have a "minimum purchase amount", most of the time.

 

[Burlews]

I've always had cats live into late teens/early 20s and we fed them friskies dry food as long as I can remember.. When I had my own as an adult I would feed them 1/4-1/2 small can of whatever was least expensive (started as maybe three times a week treat but they get used to it really quick.. And I spoiled them.. So you have to either plan doing daily or not at all is my advice).. I've also had cat prefer warm water in dry food and kinda made it softer (I wouldn't start that either unless planning to do daily).. Someone told me if they're pooping more than they're eating that can be sign of ingredients in food that aren't digestible or necessary and they should poop about same amount as they eat (like scooping litter box 1-2 times a day rather than all day when they eat 2 times a day.. That helped me some and I used indoor formula dry friskies or whatever indoor dried brand (or regular) was on sale and it didn't upset their stomachs if I switched.. I also always have heard fish (I can't remember specifically what kind of fish) bad to feed them, especially males because of stones or bladder problems of some type.. So I hardly ever gave my females any dry or canned cat food with fish.. If you're trying to track 1 cats calories or anything specific I would feed them seperately and don't allow free feeding. Otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy.. And each cat should have their own litter box (and ideally 1 extra).. So if 2 cats should have 2-3 boxes