Looking For Good And Affordable Food Options For My 3 Cats

[Allyskits]

I live in Thailand and a lot of the high end or big brand name foods are available here, but I’m looking for something that is both good for my kitten, and is not gonna break the bank.

My cats are about 10 months old now and I’m looking for which food to switch them to once they don’t need kitten food anymore. I’ve done a lot of research on what is good, and the general consensus seems to be grain free.

I also found a list of top foods somewhere, but only one of them I can get here. Which is Earthborn holistic, primitive feline, this one isn’t super expensive, but it’s pricier than what I’m currently comfortable with.

Another brand I found is a local brand, it is called Maxima and is grain free. Unfortunately I can’t find any English reviews on this as it is a local product. But because it is a local product it is in a much more affordable price range. What I could find was the list of ingredients, but it doesn’t tell me much. So I was hoping some people here might be able to shed some more light on it.

I’m looking to switch them a bit sooner rather than later because I feel the food that they are on now is not actually very good, I assumed it was because it’s a recognized brand name, but there’s been quite a few litterbox issues that I’m thinking I need to switch them to something better.

 

[Willowy]

The ingredients listed are not for a grain-free food, because it has rice and corn gluten .
Do you feed them any canned food, or just dry? It's best to feed at least some canned food, to increase moisture intake (cats are usually bad at drinking water).

What are the specific brands available to you? Most of us won't know the local brands but maybe somebody else here lives in the region and can give some advice.

 

[Allyskits]

Haha, off course, I think the brand sells both grain free and regular ones, and the ingredients I found must be for the regular one. I can’t find the grain free one though...
I give them wet food every now and then but more as a treat, I can’t afford to give them wet food all the time. I was able to invest in a good water fountain though, which does encourage them to drink more.

Brands I know here:
Royal canin (good reputation, but semi expensive)
Me-o (don’t know if this is a local brand or not)
Purina friskies
Purina one
Tesco lotus store brand
Cat n’ joy
Kit cat
Orijen (grain free but expensive)
Earthborn (grain free, semi expensive)
Maxima
Whiskas
Tifanny
Active-1
Happy cat (expensive)
Nutrience (expensive)
There are other but these are the ones I can buy either in the store or online and are somewhat easy to find

On a side note one of my three cats was diagnosed with megacolon as a kitten, he hasn’t had any blockages since starting him on lactulose, which was months ago, I did ask my vet if she recommended the special vet diet from royal canin, but she said that his case isn’t that severe and because he hasn’t gotten blocked again so she didn’t think it was necessary.

 

[jen]

What about Fancy Feast or Friskies? Their classic pates are very low carb and decent and affordable.

 

[Allyskits]

What about Fancy Feast or Friskies? Their classic pates are very low carb and decent and affordable.

I assume you mean the friskies wet food? Unfortunately they don’t sell the canned food here only the dry food :/

 

[Allyskits]

What about Fancy Feast or Friskies? Their classic pates are very low carb and decent and affordable.

Also fancy feast is available and not super expensive but with three cats I’ll also need to feed them dry on the side not super affordable, there is another brand of food called Bellotta I can buy it in bulk with 60 cans of 85 grams.
But in that case I want to know is it ok to split two cans a day amongst the three of them and dry food on the side?
They also have 400 gram cans sold in bulk of either 24 or 48 cans, if I feed them wet twice a day with dry food on the side how much wet food would be ok?

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Base it more on calorie content of the can/bag.

The typical adult indoor cat will need around 20 calories per pound of body weight. So a 10lb cat would need around 200 calories/day.

Since your kittens are 10 months, I personally would feed them about 1.5x that amount still. They are still growing and are probably still wild as ever! How much do they weigh?

Of your list, I have heard good things about Oriijen and the classic Fancy Feast pates. In fact, I feed my 4ish month old kitten Fancy Feast Kitten because it is what works in our budget and that little sucker eats A LOT. If you do decide to go with Orijen, they will probably eat less because the food is comprised of more real meat and less fillers than other brands. You could get a small bag and see how they do. It may actually work out cheaper in the long run since they will actually be consuming less product.

Finally, be careful about "grain free." That has become a sort of gimmick to make people think they are giving the best when in reality some of the protein may not come from animals but plan sources, such as peas. This is a great website that breaks down the percentage of protein, fats, and carbs in several brands of food:

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

 

[Allyskits]

that’s the thing I’m trying to find all this information online but every other website tells a different story, and each story is supposedly back up by vets. It get really confusing trying to determine which ones actually are good and which ones are just claiming to be good.

And yes they are crazy, though I do think they are starting to calm down just the tiniest bit.

I don’t know how much they weigh exactly and they all weight different amounts too

The one with mega colon(black one on the right) is the heaviest and he’s been the biggest since they were a few months old. The girl(white brown one the left) is a petite little thing and weighs very little, she doesn’t look skinny though, she’s just a small cat. And the middle boy is actually looks a little skinny compared to the other two but he also just looks lean, his actual weight is in between the other two. Compared to most cats they all look quiet skinny because they have that oriental ancestry and are very slender with biggish ears

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Oh my gosh! They are absolutely stunning! Such a beautiful little family you have.

This is the rule of thumb I use when looking for a new food, because it is all very confusing and contradicting. Don't get too caught up in the details because you will drive yourself crazy...lol.

When feeding a canned food:
1. Look for high protein, moderate, fat and low carbs. I look for 7% or less carbs. If the food is higher in fat than protein, I will feed it, because I would rather my cats have more fat than carbs.
2. Look for no "meat by-products." (Yes, this is hypocritical on my end because Fancy Feast Kitten has meat by products...) I am more comfortable feeding specified by-products, such as chicken by-products, but I try and avoid them altogether.
3. Avoid peas in the first five or so ingredients. Pea protein is not digestible by cats.

For all foods (wet and dry), look for meat/meat products in the first 3 to 4 ingredients.

Use that website! It has saved my sanity on more than one occasion when looking for new items to feed.

I strongly suggest feeding at least some wet food in their diet for the moisture.

 

[Willowy]

I personally use Purina ONE (although I feed very little dry food at this point) and am satisfied with the results. The ingredients don't look like the best but Purina has a good reputation. Maybe if you can mix some Earthborn in with it (25%-33%), that would increase the quality without being too expensive.

 

[jen]

To add to EmersonandEvie I also look to avoid potato. Its just meaningless carbs/starch that turns to sugar. Bad bad. Also I don't mind by-products in the slightest, its just the extra parts of the animal that humans wouldn't normally eat. Cats don't care, its all meat lol. Plus in the wild they eat it all, same thing really.