Lilly's Wet Food Haul

lillypie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
151
Purraise
11
Location
Indiana
Today we went to Petco to check out all my wet food options for Lilly. We found a bunch of different brands on AMAZING clearance so we stocked up on a few. Here is a picture of everything we got. I would love to hear your opinions on these brands and how your kitties like them? Brands included are
- Nutro Max
- Nutro Natural Choice
- Natures Variety Instinct
- Whole Earth Farms
- Soulistic
- Blue Wilderness
- Natural Balance
 

LTS3

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
Messages
19,209
Purraise
19,695
Location
USA
I would check the expiration date on each of the cans to make sure it's still good. Someone posted not long ago about buying a ton of cans on sale at Petco and it turned out most of the food was expired, some as much as by 2 years
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/316303/petco-haul-and-a-rant

Natrues' Variety Instinct is a good brand
I keep a few cans on hand to feed to my mostly raw fed cats. Soulstic is the lesser expensive version of Weruva and it's a good brand as well.

If you have independent pet storse in the area, check them out too. You'll find brands there that are not sold in chain pet stores like Weruva and Addiction and Hounds and Gato. Sometimes there are sales on food or a reward program.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

lillypie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
151
Purraise
11
Location
Indiana
We looked at the expiration dates because I had seen that post and they are all still good!! I was very surprised. I go to my independant stores frequently as well - Petco has great deals sometimes though that I don't want to pass up! I got Nutro for 68 cents where as yesterday I saw it at my independant pet store for 1.19.
 

missmimz

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 11, 2015
Messages
2,301
Purraise
365
I got a bunch of 5.5oz Wellness the other day at Petco for 98 cents. My indoor crew don't like Wellness, but my outside cats are super happy :) I did get one that was expired. Sigh. I know better than to not check dates before I leave but i was in a hurry. 
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

lillypie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
151
Purraise
11
Location
Indiana
I was impressed with the selection they had on clearance, lets me try different brands without wasting too much money. Lilly luckily hasn't been too picky so far.. but I'm sure that will change lol.
 

dorimon

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Mar 18, 2016
Messages
529
Purraise
98
Location
Maryland, United States
That's a nice haul!  


We have Nutro Natural Choice, Soulistic, Nature's Variety Instinct, and Whole Earth Farms included in our rotation whenever I nab them on sale.  I've fed Natural Balance before, but didn't buy more since it contains carrageenan.  I don't feed Blue at all due to the company's reputation.  Nutro Max contains both rice and carrageenan, so I haven't tried it.

The clearance stock at my local store tends to move pretty quickly, so you might want to go back and stock up after you figure out what Lilly likes. 
 
 

dorimon

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Mar 18, 2016
Messages
529
Purraise
98
Location
Maryland, United States
 
I got a bunch of 5.5oz Wellness the other day at Petco for 98 cents. My indoor crew don't like Wellness, but my outside cats are super happy :) I did get one that was expired. Sigh. I know better than to not check dates before I leave but i was in a hurry. 
If it isn't too far past the expiration date, you're probably fine.  Most products don't actually expire when they say they do... it's a liability issue, so companies tend to play it safe and label stuff as expiring way before it actually does.
 

missmimz

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 11, 2015
Messages
2,301
Purraise
365
 
If it isn't too far past the expiration date, you're probably fine.  Most products don't actually expire when they say they do... it's a liability issue, so companies tend to play it safe and label stuff as expiring way before it actually does.
Yeah that's a good point, but I don't even like to feed foods anywhere close to their expiration date. I know they've been sitting in a can for at least 3 years at that point and to me that's just old food. This can was like, a year expired. For some reason every time I go into Petco (even different locations) I always find expired foods. They really need to work on checking their stock more often. I never have this problem at smaller pet stores. 
 

dorimon

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Mar 18, 2016
Messages
529
Purraise
98
Location
Maryland, United States
 
Yeah that's a good point, but I don't even like to feed foods anywhere close to their expiration date. I know they've been sitting in a can for at least 3 years at that point and to me that's just old food. This can was like, a year expired. For some reason every time I go into Petco (even different locations) I always find expired foods. They really need to work on checking their stock more often. I never have this problem at smaller pet stores. 
Yea... it really just depends what you are comfortable with.  You make a good point about how old the food is.  I like to feed everything by its expiration date, but if I consider it okay if it's less than a month past the date on canned goods.  I would not feel comfortable feeding anything that's a year expired, and I definitely wouldn't feed expired foods frequently.

I also must admit that I'm guilty of picking the cans with the dates farthest into the future when I shop in-store. 
 
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

lillypie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
151
Purraise
11
Location
Indiana
So far Lilly has like every thing Ive given her, I just have a couple questions.. How much wet food is it okay to have at her age? She is 5 months old. She has access to dry Merrick all day long but I have been giving her wet food twice a day, about 3 ozs at each feeding. Is this too much? Her tummy always looks bloated after eating. 
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11

lillypie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
151
Purraise
11
Location
Indiana
Also, she hardly touches the dry food at all.
 
Last edited:

missmimz

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 11, 2015
Messages
2,301
Purraise
365
 
So far Lilly has like every thing Ive given her, I just have a couple questions.. How much wet food is it okay to have at her age? She is 5 months old. She has access to dry Merrick all day long but I have been giving her wet food twice a day, about 3 ozs at each feeding. Is this too much? Her tummy always looks bloated after eating. 
Kittens can eat as much as they want. So its perfectly okay to feed her as much and as often as she wants. If she's not eating the dry food then you might just get rid of it completely. You can leave wet food out all day, if that's her preference. Ideally you want to feed wet 100% wet or raw food anyway. 
 
Last edited:

lisahe

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
6,149
Purraise
4,968
Location
Maine
Also, she hardly touches the dry food at all.
This is a good thing!
I agree with @missmimz that it's better for cats to eat wet foods (be they raw or canned) anyway so consider yourself fortunate! Since you may have a kitten, you may want to go for the higher-calorie canned foods since kittens eat so much. In any case, it's great that Lilly's showing a preference for wet food over dry since kittens need lots of good meat-based protein to grow, and you'll generally find more of that in wet foods than dry.
 

Draco

NOT Malfoy!
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
8,721
Purraise
2,780
Location
LawnGuyLand, NY
Petco must be clearing the shelves or something.. I found some Grain-free dry food, originally $21, on clearance for $6.. not even close to expiration.  Of course, I bought a few bags, lol.
 

Kat0121

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Messages
15,036
Purraise
20,362
Location
Sunny Florida
 
Yeah that's a good point, but I don't even like to feed foods anywhere close to their expiration date. I know they've been sitting in a can for at least 3 years at that point and to me that's just old food. This can was like, a year expired. For some reason every time I go into Petco (even different locations) I always find expired foods. They really need to work on checking their stock more often. I never have this problem at smaller pet stores. 
Petco is AWFUL when it comes to carrying expired foods. The thread that @LTS3  mentioned was mine. Some of the foods in question were on clearance but a lot of them were still full price. These foods might technically still be safe to feed but why take the chance? Especially at FULL price? No way. I still go to Petco but I check the expiration dates on everything before I buy and bring anything outdated up to the register so no one else inadvertently buys it either. I don't have that problem at Petsmart. I went there over the weekend and found some good sales. I had to buy dog food as well so my haul ended up at $108.00 before my coupons and then the cashier asked me if I received the coupon in my email. I said no so she scanned something that she had up at the register which gave me another $10 off. I ended up paying $91 for everything including a big bag of dog food and a pail of Tidy Cats lightweight. 
 

dorimon

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Mar 18, 2016
Messages
529
Purraise
98
Location
Maryland, United States
 
Petco is AWFUL when it comes to carrying expired foods. The thread that @LTS3  mentioned was mine. Some of the foods in question were on clearance but a lot of them were still full price. These foods might technically still be safe to feed but why take the chance? Especially at FULL price? No way. I still go to Petco but I check the expiration dates on everything before I buy and bring anything outdated up to the register so no one else inadvertently buys it either. I don't have that problem at Petsmart. I went there over the weekend and found some good sales. I had to buy dog food as well so my haul ended up at $108.00 before my coupons and then the cashier asked me if I received the coupon in my email. I said no so she scanned something that she had up at the register which gave me another $10 off. I ended up paying $91 for everything including a big bag of dog food and a pail of Tidy Cats lightweight. 
Two of the Petco stores in my area are really good at monitoring the expiration dates of their products, actually.  They put stickers on the products and mark them off anywhere from 10-50% based on how soon the expiration date is.

And PetSmart does have the most awesome coupons!  Your cashier was really awesome... the coupon she was referring to was a $10 off $30 or $10 off $40 coupon that was e-mailed out to subscribers.  I think some lucky people even got $25 off $75 coupons!

I prefer shopping at Petco online, and PetSmart in-store (you can use manufacturer's coupons AND they match their own online prices!).
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #17

lillypie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
151
Purraise
11
Location
Indiana
The Petco by me never has a problem with expired products. A lot of the wet food I purchased was 50% off and they weren't even close to expiration. Most of the dates on the cans were all the way into 2018. It could very well just be the staff at the locations by you.
 
Top