I'm probably paranoid too, but I still have questions.

[Willow's Mom]

Hello, I'm not a hoarder and I have plenty of cat food for Willow for the next 2 weeks or most likely much, much longer. I just have questions.

Is Blue Buffalo significantly better than Friskies Pate? Willow is a probably ten months by now, so I guess "spayed teenaged girl" works and she is a DSH or DMH depending on your perspective who is in excellent health.

If you would not feed either of these products to your own cats, then what is the name of the brand that you do feed them and the name of the least expensive brand that you would feed them?

If you feed Friskies Pate, what flavours are available that contain 000.000% fish? I still have plenty of krill oil so don't worry.

There is no such thing as "good kibble" for a cat so of course, in light of my finances and the current situation, my dogs will be going straight from raw to a forty pound sack because I can't afford canned dog food.

What is the name of the brand of kibble that you would least hate to feed your own cats in an absolute emergency?

Search terms are fine if that is all you have time for. I appreciate you.

 

[mizzely]

I don't think Wellness is significantly better than Friskies. My cat won't even eat it lol. I feed primarily (all pates):


Sheba
Fancy Feast
Tiny Tiger (chewy brand)
American Journey (chewy brand)
Soulistic (petco brand)

As for dry, the "best" is probably Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein, but my cat won't eat it. She does like Instinct and Wysong though.

These may help:

Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

 

[molly92]

Blue Buffalo is probably the last wet cat food I would feed if I could avoid it. There was a time not too long ago when it was the best food you could buy at your average Petco/Petsmart. I'll give them credit for revolutionizing the pet food industry and paving the way for brands with higher standards. But they have fallen very, very far, even though their advertising claims otherwise.

The ingredients on the can don't sound too bad, but they've shown time and time again that they'll cut corners in production that lead to dangerous recall issues, which they try to obscure, pass blame, and are generally not transparent about. So I don't trust them to have what they promise on the can. Recalls are inevitable when a company's been around for long enough, but being the company that's known for its recalls in the pet food industry is a whole other level.

Friskies I wouldn't feed myself, but if that's the food that's in your budget and your cats like it, than it's better than the dry alternatives for sure! It just has a lot of rice and additives that end up on the questionable lists about cat food ingredients, and the meat isn't very high quality. And you're right, it's so hard to find a flavor without fish! Mixed grill and country styles were the only ones I found (current formulations).

None of my favorite budget foods can beat Friskies' prices, but my next options are Fancy Feast classic pates, or Holistic Select. Holistic Select is the nicer food, and if your cats don't mind the 13 oz can (some cats are picky about previously opened and refrigerated food), it actually works out to be equivalent in price. Going by Chewy's current prices: 63.6 cents per 100 calories of Fancy Feast versus 64.3 cents per 100 calories of Holistic Select. (Friskies worked out to be about 30 cents per 100 calories, and Dr. Elsey's was 96 cents per 100 calories for comparison.) Oh, and another commonly overlooked one that I like is Whole Earth Farms, which comes in at about 73.3 cents per 100 calories. I'm currently feeding Dr. Elsey's, but I might go back to putting Holistic Select in the rotation for my budget's sake. There are other good ones too. A lot also depends on what your cat likes. I'm picky because my cat is so prone to weight gain with any kind of starch, and also she's FIV positive so I'm trying to set her up for success as much as possible.

As for kibble...I'm still bitter that Mars discontinued EVO! But that one aside, I'd go with Orijen, Nature's Variety Instinct, and Nature's Logic as my top choices, followed by Wellness CORE and Fussie Cat. There are probably others I'd be okay with too that I aren't as familiar to me. (Aside from Fussie Cat, those are all good dog food brands too. I'd also include Canidae PURE. Less expensive options I would still consider are Under the Sun, which is Canidae's budget version, and Whole Earth Farms. There are many, many dry dog food options though, and more are coming out all the time! I would avoid Hills, the really cheap ones like Kibbles 'n Bits or Puppy Chow, and Blue Wilderness again. Proplan isn't my favorite but it can be okay depending on the formula.)

 

[Willow's Mom]

Both of you mentioned Fancy Feast so I'm going to stop feeling guilty about feeding it to my Franklin and start feeling nostalgic. I'm the one who prefers single-serving cans and I could totally feel good about donating any extra cases to my local food bank, no-kill shelter, and Spay and Neuter clinic.

Thank you both so much! I have a lot to learn so please keep 'em coming.

 

[mizzely]

Also I just realized I said Wellness not Blue Buffalo...I too don't care for Blue Buffalo at all. Wellness is a bit better but I don't find it worth the price point.

 

[lisahe]

What is the name of the brand of kibble that you would least hate to feed your own cats in an absolute emergency?

Dr. Elsey's for sure. They sent me samples, which was nice. Our cats have been eating only wet food for six years and didn't even initially recognize Dr. Elsey's as food! I use it for occasional tiny treats and as a small nighttime snack for our cat who barfs bile if she gets too hungry and it works great. It's very calorie-dense. I confess that I did buy an extra bag from Chewy (where shipping is much slower than usual) for just in case... I don't want to feed actual meals of dry food but, honestly, the ingredients are great with no grains, potato, or other starches so for our cats (with their stomach issues) it would be a better option than a lot of wet foods that have stuff they really, really can't eat. They like broth, too, so if all else failed, I could make them chicken broth to keep them drinking.

I'd also vote for Sheba. I'd already stocked up on Sheba months ago because of a slight recipe change -- the cats consistently love Sheba and it's relatively cheap -- but bought another twelve-pack last week because the store had a huge discount coupon. We have a lot of Sheba!

 

[Willow's Mom]

Current shopping list is:
Wait for Winco's to restock Fancy Feast and Sheba
Tell S***** to order me a reasonable sized bag of Dr. Elsey's kibble the next time I place my (um...er....sniff sniff.....but it does last a long time and she is almost a year old....)order for Dr. Elsey's Kitten Attract Litter
Toss the fracking Blue Buffalo. Take it out of my bug-in cabinet and put it into my garbage can. It's not worth it.

I hope I feel better by the time the stores are stocked. I just donated the leftover bag of Purina Cat Chow that I had to have in order to save Willow's life to the local No-Kill shelter literally DAYS before 3/13 and I'm having donater's regret.

I'm planning on soaking the kibble in water overnight and making kibble soup, the way my mom used to do when she had weanling puppies. I'm also planning on owning a bag of something that my furkids won't recognize as food unless TSHTF. I don't want no Donner Party trauma PTSD thingy-things in THESE perfectly adoptable little angelbabies!

 

[jen]

I feed Friskies and Fancy Feast pate along with Stella and Chewy raw frozen nuggets. I chose the canned brands because they are very very low to no carbs. Many of the other "Fancy" "Expensive" "Grain-Free" (scam) foods have way too many carbs. My cat grew up on mice, moles, voles and birds. I don't need her eating a bunch of carbs at her age. I go off the catinfo.org list for low carb foods. That is the basis of what I avoid in cat foods.