# What if you can't afford premium food?



## manitobaskyline (Sep 28, 2008)

I'm so confused. I have 5 cats that have always eaten Science Diet dry. Since Science Diet is considered a premium food, I'm concerned about switching them to something inferior. I really can't afford Wellness or any of the other top of the line wet foods. I can afford something in the upper mid range and I would just love some recommendations. I know you have to be careful with too much protein and too much carbs. My vet told me to stick with well known brands like purina friskies nine lives fancy feast. what is the best mid priced food that isn't total crap?


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## Kittys Mom (May 7, 2004)

Wet or Dry?

You'll have to do some pricings. I can feed 4 cats on 1 12.5 ounce can of Wellness ($1.80) per day + 1/4 cup dry food (I feed a mix).

For a 6 ounce can of food, your best quality for the best price is going to be something like Authority or Natural Balance. But with that many cats, I think you're better off with a bigger can. Natural Balance and Authority aren't available in bigger sizes.

If you're looking for a dry food, I think that the best quality for the best price is going to be Natural Balance.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I have 10 cats. I feed Innova and Wellness dry food (free choice) and they get a "treat" of canned food once a day. ...but the canned foods are the small cans of Fancy Feast and Friskies.  

_I buy some premium brands of canned food (expensive) but those are strictly for SilverMousie who is in declining health and prefers to eat canned only at this time._ I feed Mousie multiple times a day and let the others clean her plate after she finishes. After Mousie passes away, the canned food will only be a Friskies treat.


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## manitobaskyline (Sep 28, 2008)

I'm want to feed all wet food. Sorry I should have made that clearer.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Cinderella eats Fancy Feast (because that's all she'll eat), but the other girls get Merrick. The 5 oz. cans only cost $.99 each when I buy a case. They have lots of flavors and textures (my girls like chunks, not pate-style).


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## Bethany (Jul 19, 2006)

I agree that Natural Balance is the best bang for the buck for dry food.

Do you happen to have a Trader Joe's nearby? Their cat food isn't top-of-line but it's quite decent for the price.

I get the impression that Iams and Fancy Feast are the best of the supermarket foods.

I also agree that getting the big cans (12.5 oz) is the way to go, if you can. Wet food is SO much cheaper that way.


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## icedtei (Mar 4, 2008)

I'm personally a big fan of By Nature Organics. :]

I'm not sure about their 95% meat wet food, but I know their regular organic formula is 1.69 per can, and you feed 1 can per 8-10 lbs. It works out for me for me and I'm pretty financially constricted. I do mix their wet and dry formula, however, so I don't even use a full can per day. Thus, a case can last me around a month at best. The dry food can get prettyyy pricey though.. Guh. But he LOVES it, and its soo much better than what he was getting before... So I'm working with it.

He's happy and healthy, so I'm happy. :]

EDITTED: because I wrote the wrong thing due to lack of sleep. Corrected the price. ;]


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## ~Siameseifuplz~ (May 6, 2007)

Sorry but Science Diet is NOT a premium brand of food. How much do you pay for a can and what size can is it? That will help us help you choose a brand.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

There is no official definition of 'premium' as it applies to cat food, so any brand can call itself premium no matter what it contains. 

Ok...so you've been feeding dry, but now want to switch to wet? That's a huge first step right there. You'll see many of us say that _any_ wet food is better than even the best dry. I would guess the biggest bang for the buck is the large cans (13oz) of Eagle Pack. It's one of the least expensive foods with good ingredients at the 5.5 oz size and one of the few that comes in 13 oz. 

Regarding your vets suggestions....sorry to be blunt, but (s)he isn't quite up to date on cat nutrition. Purina, Friskies & Nine Lives are junk. Fancy Feast has some varieties that are not bad. But FF is not cheap. You pay very expensive prices for those little tiny cans. I don't see any reason to feed FF unless it's the only wet food your cat will eat.

ETA: You need to watch carbs. There is no such thing as too much protein when you're talking abut wet food. Mousies are pretty much all protein and that's a cat natural diet.


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## Michelle L (Sep 4, 2008)

I agree with doodlebug...I feed Eagle Pack Holistic wet food and my cats do well on it. Where I am located (Champaign, IL) the 5.5 oz. cans cost .98 each. The big cans are cheaper, but my cats don't like to eat leftovers :? . I feed 4 cats on two 5.5 oz. cans a day, and they all seem to be maintaining weight well. 

A few weeks ago I was low on cash, so I looked into feeding Fancy Feast and it was actually more expensive if you calculated cost per ounce. The cans are smaller and you have to feed more to equal the size of a 5.5 oz. can of the Eagle Pack.


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## Simkie (Sep 12, 2008)

Science Diet is really not considered "premium"--it is too heavy on the grain and byproducts.

Since you want to feed wet food, the most bang for you buck is going to be the large 13 oz cans that a few companies make--the ones I know off the top of my head are California Natural, Wellness, Innova and Felidae. For example, right now I'm feeding my kitties California Natural. A 13.5 oz can costs 1.92.

At that price, if you are feeding 5 cats 5 oz a day, it is going to cost you $3.55 per day to feed your kitties Cal Nat wet food--$3.84 if you just round up to 2 cans a day.

Last time I looked, Fancy Feast was $0.67 for a three ounce can at the grocery store. If you are feeding your 5 kitties 5 oz of Fancy Feast a day that will cost $5.58 per day--or $6.70 if you round up to one can am and one can pm per cat.

PREMIUM brands are Innova, Wellness, Merrick, California Natural, Felidae, etc. There are several, but they cannot be found at the grocery store. 

Here is an excellent site to compare prices: http://www.petfooddirect.com and they do carry quite a bit of premium food.


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## manitobaskyline (Sep 28, 2008)

You guys are great. I feed Science Diet Hairball light DRY food. Want to switch to wet. OMG, I looked at the ingredients in the Science Diet...chicken by product meal as 1st, corn something or other next. Why in the world am I paying top buck for this type of food? Why is ever vet under the sun recommending Science Diet? 

With regard to cans, what about Pro plan? It is made by Purina. Isn't there an issue with too much protein for older cats relative to kidneys. It might help if I tell you their ages:

China 13, healthy, only allergic once in awhile to something, doing fine
Rosie 13, healthy, doing fine, a little too thin
Tigger 11, asma, mega colon, takes cisipride and miralax, does fine
Buffy 9, liver problems, takes 5mg of predizone every other day, does fine
Bluey 8, had oxalate stones has a baby, eats royal Canin so, ( used to eat Science Diet xd), doing fine

Since they have been eating this grain heavy food all of their life, switching to a higher protein diet will be a big transition. I know you guys said Friskies is crap, but could you comment on this one? this flavor, chicken poultry platter has these ingredients:

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (Min)10.0 % 
Crude Fat (Min)5.0 % 
Crude Fiber (Max)1.0 % 
Moisture (Max)78.0 % 
Ash (Max)3.5 % 
Taurine (Min)0.05 % 

Ingredients
Turkey, poultry by-products, water sufficient for processing, meat by-products, liver, fish, rice, artificial and natural flavors, guar gum, potassium chloride, carrageenan, salt, choline chloride, taurine, calcium phosphate, zinc sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, niacin, manganese sulfate, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide. A-6057 

I know, a lotta questions, thanks for your time!


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

manitobaskyline - I like that username. I've been to Brandon and Winnepeg, so I can picture the crystal clear blue, wide open sky, horizon to horizon. Beautiful.


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## Kittys Mom (May 7, 2004)

manitobaskyline said:


> Ingredients
> Turkey, poultry by-products, water sufficient for processing, meat by-products, liver, fish, rice, artificial and natural flavors


Per the protein issue, yes, there is a debate regarding protein levels and cats that are in CRF. However, I don't think I would worry about causing kidney issues by feeding too much protein, but that's just me. I would only worry about it if you cat HAD kidney issue. Here's an article about that debate: http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=003

The ingrediates in the pro-plan are...not great, IMHO. I don't particularly care for by-products personally. But I ESPECIALLY don't care for meat by-products. I told my vet, THEY DON'T EVEN know what it is!!! It could be cats! She laughed and said that it WASN'T cats, but still. I figure it's whatever was cheapest that month, or a mix of various by-products from other foods. I don't like to see it listed as an ingrediant on a food that I'm feeding.


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## PrimoBabe (Feb 23, 2006)

> Science Diet is considered a premium food


I say this with all respect, because I know that you've been spending extra money to do the right thing for your cats, but Science Diet isn't a premium food. The brand does an excellent job of promoting itself as a top-quality product. Also, the company teaches nutrition classes at many veterinary schools -- Science Diet gets A+ publicity, and the school economizes by not employing instructors and developing curricula -- so countless veterinarians have been programmed to recommend the stuff. If you look closely at the ingredients, however, it really isn't very good. There are a number of sincere, knowledgeable animal food retailers in my immediate vicinity, and they all refuse to sell Science Diet.

You mention that you'd prefer to feed your cats an exclusively wet-food diet. You're right when you say that the quality brands can be very expensive; my cat gets Merrick, which is good but a bit pricey. The most cost-effective approach is to prepare your cats' food at home. You can search the internet for a number of excellent recipes, and they're really not all that costly to make. Of course, we all have time restrictions, and most of us are already overwhelmed by the demands on our schedules. I don't know if you'd have time to shop and cook for your kitties?


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## manitobaskyline (Sep 28, 2008)

I'm sitting here thinking that I have failed my cats for the last 12 years. Science Diet which is very expensive is crap. My cats have so many health problems and it's probably because of this food! Here I am thinking I have been giving them a premium food and now finding out that the only premium part of this food is the price!!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Please don't beat yourself up over this. Cinderella was my first cat and I was sent home with canned tuna for her. People tuna, not cat food tuna. I thought she was being fed like a princess! Until I joined this Forum.


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## Michelle L (Sep 4, 2008)

Kitty's Mom said:


> manitobaskyline said:
> 
> 
> > Ingredients
> ...


This is off topic a little, so I apologize....Kitty's Mom, actually, it COULD be cats in the meat by-products meal. I did a research paper on what goes into pet foods and read a lot of alarming info. I don't have the links on me at the moment, but I could get them for you. All of the info I cited in my research paper is summed up in these links:

http://www.acreaturecomfort.com/truthaboutpetfood.htm

http://www.earthislandprojects.org/eijo ... urnalID=58

Hope they work. Interesting and alarming reading.


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## ~Siameseifuplz~ (May 6, 2007)

> I'm sitting here thinking that I have failed my cats for the last 12 years.


To me the only way someone fails there cats is if they find this information out and then does absolutely nothing about it. You are trying, and are going to do the best you can for your cats, you are not failing them. I feel so lucky to have discovered forums, without them mine would be on purina cat chow indoor formula like their "breeder" had them on, Neko was on it for two years before I found forums.

I agree, Eagle pack is one of the cheaper ones, Felidae was too but that might have changed, I'm not sure. natural Balance is also less expensive I believe and can be found at petco.


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## Kittys Mom (May 7, 2004)

manitobaskyline said:


> I'm sitting here thinking that I have failed my cats for the last 12 years.


Don't worry about the past. You thought you were doing the best for your cats and that's important. You were just a little mis-informed. I fed my Kitty, Purina One for MANY years. Thinking that it was a huge improvement over the friskies that her former owner had fed her. :roll: 

It wasn't until I got my second cat, started having problems, and found the catforum to try to resolve those introduction problems that I realized that I wasn't feeding the best food for my girl.

You do the best you that you know to do. Now that you know better, you can make a more informed choice for you kids.


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

I can't comment on the cheaper quality canned foods, as my lot has expensive tastes, but as a vet tech and someone who has done their homework on the protein and kindey failure issue, I can assure that that high protein diet categorically WILL NOT cause kidney failure in you cat or dog. HOWEVER, if your cat already has kidney disease, then he will be less able to break down protein in his system and a diet rich in protein may make him ill. Since you didn't list any of your cats as having kidney disease, you will be fine with a higher protein food. 

Now, I did note one of your guys has some liver issues. It is ESPECIALLY important that this guy eat every day. Cats with liver disease who stop eating even for just a few days can get very sick, very quickly. So pay extra close attention to that one when you are making the switch. 

Good luck! You are doing the right thing. And don't worry about having failed your cats. Really, its the veterinary schools and the pet food industry that has failed all of us by misleading us about what makes a quality diet. Don't be angry at you, be angry at the Hills marketing department. 

On the other hand, my first cat Puzzles lived 21 years and ate exclusively Science diet foods her whole life. Now, she vomited chronically, and developed mega colon, but she did live a good long life. You haven't sentenced your pets to an early grave I promise.


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## 2kittens (Oct 1, 2008)

Its tough to budget out quantity vs quality


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