Need To Switch To Canned/freeze-dried - Suggestions?

[lakotawolf]

Hi guys, long time no see! Some of you may remember I used to post here - I had a CRF/CKD kitty named Wintressia, who was also hyperT and was on a raw diet. She was diagnosed with kidney failure when she was 14 years old. She died in February of last year, two months shy of her 20th birthday. I think she had a good long life for a CRF kitty, but I still miss her terribly - we were together for 19 years :{

That being said, I fortunately still have a kitty in my life - my little black cat, Kohl. She is around 3 years old. I found her in the back parking lot of my office building in December of 2016 and the vet estimated her at around 7 months old at the time. I never would have thought I'd have a black cat in my life, but she's every inch your stereotypical "house panther" and is a pure delight. She is a rather small lady and weighs in at about 6.6-7 lbs. (Win was only ~8 lbs in her prime, but still, all of Win's old pet costumes/clothes are HUGE on Kohl!)

Since I had been feeding a raw diet to Wintressia for many years at the point when I adopted Kohl, there was no question about the fact that Kohl would also be eating a raw diet. So, basically, she's been on a raw diet since I got her, and is in vet-stupefying good health. Her last dental cleaning was a joke - the vet said it took 10 minutes. She also is a ball of Chinchilla-rivaling soft fur.

Unfortunately, my financial/job situation has changed drastically recently due to some personal and family issues, and I don't know if I can afford to feed Kohl raw for the foreseeable future until things are more stable again.

I have been feeding her Darwin's brand raw at $6.95/lb. and she usually goes through a lb. of food every 3-4 days, so we'll call it ~2 lbs a week for ease, so an average monthly cost of about $67.

However, it's now been so long since I fed anything other than raw (other than the times when Win only wanted to eat Fancy Feast, or at the very end, kitten food) that I have no idea where to start looking/considering for reasonably-priced canned food brands.

For example, I used to think Weruva was a good brand - but it's actually rather pricey, and I've been hearing that it's actually nutritionally kind of devoid - and it's REALLY low in calories per can, requiring you to feed more cans per day!

I know there are also freeze-dried raw options which I'm happy to consider - I was thinking of pricing out a couple of brands as well as canned foods.

However, I also don't really get the "feeding guidelines" I've been seeing in my early investigations - things like "feed 1 to 2 cans per day for every 6 lbs of body weight" or "feed 2.5 - 4.5 pouches per day for cats that are 4-10 lbs". I know feeding guidelines have to be super generalized, but I don't even know where to START with them, other than start feeding Kohl and monitor her weight like a hawk until I find the right amount - she tends to fall right in the middle of most feeding guidelines at 7 lbs.

Anyway, all this rambling leads to my actual point - what would you guys suggest for some brands to try? I am fine trying either canned or freeze-dried, though I'd like to avoid fish-based foods. I do love Fancy Feast pates as they often saved Win's butt - for a while at her sickest, they were all she'd eat, and I loved that they had no grain content. I'd prefer to upgrade a little on the FF if I can for Kohl, as I don't need to go too super-low-cost.

Also - Kohl is absolutely NOT picky. The one silver lining to this situation is that I know I won't have to spend time convincing her to eat something new - she will happily transition to anything. I've fed her Fussie Cat on the times I've had to board her somewhere (most places around me were worried about handling a raw diet or didn't have the capabilities to store it.) This cat will eat bread and tomato skins. She will eat pretzels. (My mother likes to feed her "amusing" human foods until I catch her at it and stop her, so we now have a long list of things Kohl "will" eat...) So, Kohl will be just fine on a different food :}

I know everyone will have their own favorites in terms of foods, but that's what I want - peoples' experiences and opinions. I know how spoiled/elitist I am - I am so happy with Kohl's health and well-being on the raw diet (and the tiny, dry, no-smell poops) but it's possibly going to be a "feed the cat raw and have no health insurance/other vital thing" or "switch the cat to something a little cheaper and hopefully everyone scrapes by until the family recovers" toss-up situation XD

Plus if anyone has an opinion/experience for an average number of cans to feed (either 3 oz or 5.5 oz) per day for an active adult cat who weighs about 6.5-7 lbs! I know that also depends on brands as each has their own calorie content - my calculations have concluded that Kohl needs about 200 cal/day at her current age, weight, and activity level. Please correct me if I am wrong!

Thank you guys so much. I'm at a bit of a loss here as to where to start and my family/life situation/stress isn't helping >_<

 

[maggiedemi]

I would think somewhere between 6oz to 9oz of canned food per day. My cats have never eaten more than 9oz each and they have never eaten less than 6oz, so somewhere in there should be good.

 

[KarenKat]

I go more for kcal than cans: the guideline is usually 20-25 kcal or lb, depending on activity level. Then you can adjust from their as you monitor weight.

Olive is a little chubby at 11+ lbs, and we were giving her about 230 kcal per day. We adjusted a little to 210 kcal and we are seeing how that goes.

As for food, I’m lucky with a largish budget. Pates tends to be cheapest per kcal, and the bigger the cans the better the deal. I feed a rotation of Rawz Rabbit Pate, Life’s Abundance Regular, Life’s Abundance Pork and Duck, and Primal Freeze-Dried Raw Nuggets. On average, it’s roughly a little over 2 x 3oz cans or 1 x 5-oz can per day. I’m also looking into Fromm pates.

She used to like Tiki Cat After Dark, Go! petcurrean, Only Natural Power Pates, Dave’s Pet Food Stews but she started getting pickier lately. Some of these brands may be too expensive, but if you rotate in Fancy Feast you can likely stick to your budget. It’s just he food I’ve been feeding.

 

[daftcat75]

You should look for pates over any other texture so that you're getting enough food in each can or pouch. The next thing I look at is the ME (metabolic energy) number on the back. It's the big number in the guaranteed analysis that is Kcal/Kg. If you divde that number by 1000, you get the number of calories per gram for that food. It makes it a lot easier to compare one food to another regardless of the can or pouch size. My preference is that number should be greater than 1000 or the food should provide more than 1 calorie per gram.

...

A homemade bone broth or meat stock can help improve the nutritional quality and the digestibility of a canned food. Krista has really been missing Rad Cat since they went out of business. To keep her IBD managed, she's been eating Rawz turkey. She loves it well enough but it hasn't been quite the healthy powerhouse that raw had been for her. I made her a turkey meat stock (drumsticks and wings in water to cover, simmered on low for 5 hours--well short of bone broth times.) I mix a teaspoon into every meal. I sometimes give her a teaspoon on its own between meals. It has been nothing short of amazing. She's responding like I've switched her back to raw! One batch will last you a good long time as well.

Here's a couple howtos. Some cats don't like bone broth. My Krista never cared for it. But meat stock or meat broth is cooked for a shorter period and is more gentle. Bone broth is high in glutamine and that can be difficult for some individuals. I would either make a meat stock first and try that with Kohl, or retain some of the liquid after round 1 (second link) as that is your meat stock and continue on to round two to make bone broth with the rest.

https://boulderholisticvet.com/home-made-broth-2/

This one talks about round 1 and round 2. If you stop at round 1, that's meat stock (meat broth.)
Bone Broth Is Excellent Nourishment for Older Pets

 

[Tobermory]

In my experience, commercial feeding guidelines are way off when it comes to my cats. If I fed them that much food, they’d get fat!

I feed homemade raw now, but they were on canned before that. Rawz is an outstanding canned food with no gums or carrageenan, but it’s very expensive. I pay $2.50 per 5.5 ounce can. That’s about $7.27 per pound.

Soulistic, sold by Petco, is made by Weruva and several of the flavors are good and less expensive than Weruva branded food.

Dave’s has some good choices at a reasonable price. I avoid the ones with carrageenan, but they have some that don’t have it.

Hound and Gatos also has some quality choices.

Many of these foods have gums as thickeners so it may be hard to avoid them. I do avoid carrageenan completely since it seems to upset Iris’s stomach. You can check out brands’ ingredients at www.catfooddb.com. There are links to Amazon and Chewy.com pricing, too.

Freeze-dried raw is really pricey! I use Northwest Naturals and Stella & Chewy’s freeze dried for treats.

Making your own food is cost effective...but it’s a real time commitment if that’s an issue. I’m making food for three cats so making it for one would seem like a breeze!