Wet Cat Food Or Homemade Options

Feste

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I am looking for affordable wet cat food recommendations or thoughts on feeding homemade food.

I am a grad student on a budget, and I’m trying to keep my cat off Friskies and anything with synthetic vitamin K, and a lot of additives. She was a stray left by someone in an apt. as a kitten, so I’m not sure what she used to eat before I took her in. Currently, she is on Sojos, but it is not always available, is pricy and not always palatable for my persnickety cat.

I am considering making homemade food for her. Have members found this to be more cost effective than canned? (I know it will need to be balanced with taurine, vitamin b, calcium, etc.) Is it relatively easy to feed and/or travel with?

Are there some inexpensive canned options that are decent and may be a better choice?
 

LTS3

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See these for affordable wet food options:

Healthy but affordable canned food
Affordable canned food?
Cheapest/Most affordable Grain free or healthiest canned food
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/330459/...conomical-way-to-buy-friskies-canned-cat-food
New Affordable PetSmart Brand! =D
4health now has affordable grain-free wet food

Also use this chart if you are looking to avoid vitamin K and other ingredients: Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

An easy way to make homemade food is to use plain cooked meat of your choice (example: boiled chicken that has been shredded) with a pre-mix such as EZComplete. Most people make up a batch of food, portion the mixture out into serving sizes, and then freeze for storage. Take out a container and let thaw in the fridge before feeding. I'm not sure if homemade food travels well :think: If you have a cooler and plenty of ice packs, it should be fine for about a day. You can get more info on homemade diets on this TCS forum: Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food
 

EmersonandEvie

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Some affordable canned cat foods are:

Fancy Feast (Classic pates line only)
Tiny Tiger (from chewy(dot)com)
American Journey (from chewy(dot)com)
4Health (Tractor Supply brand)/Abound (Kroger brand)- same formulation
Redbarn

Good luck finding something you cat likes!
 
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Feste

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See these for affordable wet food options:

Healthy but affordable canned food
Affordable canned food?
Cheapest/Most affordable Grain free or healthiest canned food
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/330459/...conomical-way-to-buy-friskies-canned-cat-food
New Affordable PetSmart Brand! =D
4health now has affordable grain-free wet food

Also use this chart if you are looking to avoid vitamin K and other ingredients: Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

An easy way to make homemade food is to use plain cooked meat of your choice (example: boiled chicken that has been shredded) with a pre-mix such as EZComplete. Most people make up a batch of food, portion the mixture out into serving sizes, and then freeze for storage. Take out a container and let thaw in the fridge before feeding. I'm not sure if homemade food travels well :think: If you have a cooler and plenty of ice packs, it should be fine for about a day. You can get more info on homemade diets on this TCS forum: Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food
Thank you for the links and the chart! It is definitely helpful.

Hmm...I hadn’t thought about taking it in a cooler. That might work. Canned food would probably have the same issues because she doesn’t eat an entire can at breakfast.
 

LTS3

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Canned food is cooked right in the can so it's ok if you leave it out all day for snacking on. I guess home cooked food is the same but maybe more perishable because there aren't any preservatives :think:

With either you can use a programmable timed feeder to provide just enough food that your cat will eat at a time. Some feeders have ice packs to keep food cool and fresher longer. You can also freeze the food into individual portion sizes and put the frozen chunk into the feeder to slowly defrost at room temperature. I like the Petsafe 5 compartment feeder.

Do you travel with your cat? Canned food is probably easier to feed on the go. 3 oz cans are pretty much one meal for most cats but you can split it up.
 

darg

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Not sure if it was on the list that was posted but Hound and Gatos is some pretty good food. Other than agar (which my IBD kitty has no problem with), it's "clean". I find them for $1.79 per can locally. That's a lot less expensive than other premium brands. Unfortunately, my cat isn't very fond of it. I feed a combination of homemade (partially cooked) along with Stella & Chewy's canned, Rawz canned and a little bit of S&C commercial and freeze dried raw. The Rawz and Stella & Chewys canned are both pretty expensive. I pay about $2.49 and $2.59 per 5.5 oz can, respectively at my local pet food store.
 
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Feste

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Canned food is cooked right in the can so it's ok if you leave it out all day for snacking on. I guess home cooked food is the same but maybe more perishable because there aren't any preservatives :think:

With either you can use a programmable timed feeder to provide just enough food that your cat will eat at a time. Some feeders have ice packs to keep food cool and fresher longer. You can also freeze the food into individual portion sizes and put the frozen chunk into the feeder to slowly defrost at room temperature. I like the Petsafe 5 compartment feeder.

Do you travel with your cat? Canned food is probably easier to feed on the go. 3 oz cans are pretty much one meal for most cats but you can split it up.
We do travel at least several times a year. But maybe I can rotate between canned food and homemade food, and just feed canned food when we are traveling, or I have a long day on campus. Thanks again for the advice! It was super helpful.
 

lisahe

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We do travel at least several times a year. But maybe I can rotate between canned food and homemade food, and just feed canned food when we are traveling, or I have a long day on campus. Thanks again for the advice! It was super helpful.
If you make homemade food, you can freeze it in meal-sized portions so it's ready to use after defrosting. That would certainly work great at the end of long days on campus, though probably not for travel!
 
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