# Cheap grain-free canned food



## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

I've heard a few people on here who have said they can't afford good quality canned cat food, so they stick to 9 Lives or Iams or other so-so brands.
Well, you will be happy to see this. 
By Nature Natural 95% Meat Chicken and Chicken Liver Formula Canned Cat Food | PetFoodDirect
By Nature canned food is only *60 cents* a can on petfooddirect!
Celebration time!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Lots of members have cats that won't eat pate-style food. And it's a lot of money to spend if you don't even know if your cats will eat it or not (been there, spent that). And the shipping costs to the West Coast, from what I've heard, are much more than other locations.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Okay, but I was talking about people who Do give their cats canned food (what does pate even mean?) but just can't afford the better stuff.
And like doodlebug said in another thread, if you order around 6 packs at a time with coupons, you actually save money.
And if they are worried about them not eating it, just buy one can of it first.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Pate-style means mushy, not chunks of food. My girls like the pieces and chunks. And I, like some other members on this coast, don't save money from PetFoodDirect, because we don't get the same savings on the shipping costs that other members receive.

It's not so much that some of us can't _afford_ to spend a little more, it's more that we can't afford to keep throwing out food that our picky eaters won't eat.


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

I'll jump on the Trader Joe's bandwagon again. Trader Joe's has canned food that's good quality and only 59 cents a can. Our resident experts looked at the ingredients label and said it was good quality food, although not the absolute best. That was good enough for me, considering it was the only canned food I could get Murphy to eat. And 59 cents a can -- it's worth it to make a trip there and stock up once a month or so.


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## Nan (Oct 11, 2010)

My cats prefer the pate kind. After the Wellness recall, I tried some of the Merrick food with shredded meat and chunks and they wouldn't eat it. 

I am hesitant to buy a whole case of something though if my cats haven't tried it yet. I'll look for this one in the stores & give it a try.


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## Fyreflie (Mar 5, 2011)

Man, I wish they shipped to Canada! My cats love pate!


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

With By Nature you also have to consider the human...even though my cats like it, I won't feed the stuff because I can't stand the smell. Don't know what it is about it, but it makes me gag.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

It's a fantastic deal but boooo, can't feed him the chicken. 

Thanks for the heads up!


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## Quartermutt (Jun 23, 2010)

I live on the West Coast (almost) one package of 12 6oz cans would cost me *$21+*. How would you consider this CHEAP? With 10 cats all weighing approx 8-10 pounds, 1 at 6 pounds and 1 at 15 pounds, those 12 cans would last, what, 1 day'? That's $355 a month.


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## Quartermutt (Jun 23, 2010)

Quartermutt said:


> I live on the West Coast (almost) one package of 12 6oz cans would cost me *$21+*. How would you consider this CHEAP? With 10 cats all weighing approx 8-10 pounds, 1 at 6 pounds and 1 at 15 pounds, those 12 cans would last, what, 1 day'? That's $355 a month.


Wellness is $2.55 a can, six cans are 15.30, a month would cost 459, that's only an extra 100 for buying locally. I can't afford either so I will stick to my feed program (that is working well for my cats and is considerably cheaper!)


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Quartermutt said:


> I live on the West Coast (almost) one package of 12 6oz cans would cost me *$21+*. How would you consider this CHEAP? With 10 cats all weighing approx 8-10 pounds, 1 at 6 pounds and 1 at 15 pounds, those 12 cans would last, what, 1 day'? That's $355 a month.


You have to order in bulk.
With 6 orders of 12 cans, with the 18% off coupon (I couldn't get the 20% to work) you pay $68.77, so $0.95 per can. (Though probably a bit less because I put in a CA zipcode.) And the more you order, the less you pay per can.


And jeez guys, I was just trying to be helpful, whats with all the hate? >:|


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

I think everyone has to keep in mind costs on any of these brands are going to vary greatly depending on your individual location. I can get Wellness for $1.40 locally, and Merrick for even less.

However any time I've looked into ordering online, the addition of shipping causes the price to be way more than anything I could buy locally.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

The reason I posted this was because I was surprised to see that buying there would cost me less than at Petco.
I know shipping is different for different places, but with the right coupons, (free shipping for example) the total could turn out to be less for some people and I thought I'd share that. Didn't think this would turn into a dramafest. :/


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Fyreflie said:


> Man, I wish they shipped to Canada! My cats love pate!


They do actually ship to Canada, you just have to order over the phone.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Blacky will only eat pate style food, she won't touch anything chunky...

... that's all I had to add since I've never fed really high quality food, it's too expensive, and anything I find cheap online either doesn't ship to Canada or the shipping cost is insane. Either way, Blaze has lived 15 years without a single medical problem on what we feed. The cheapest food around here is 60 cents, and we can't afford much more than that, especially now that we have a third mystery cat coming in and eating Blacky's food. We do feed slightly more expensive kibble on the side, though.


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## Quartermutt (Jun 23, 2010)

MinkaMuffin said:


> You have to order in bulk.
> With 6 orders of 12 cans, with the 18% off coupon (I couldn't get the 20% to work) you pay $68.77, so $0.95 per can. (Though probably a bit less because I put in a CA zipcode.) And the more you order, the less you pay per can.
> 
> 
> And jeez guys, I was just trying to be helpful, whats with all the hate? >:|



The 30 day order was BULK. If i bought 6 cans a day, it would be closer to $600 a month! $21 a day x 30 days = $630 a month. 

When some one claims CHEAP food, and it is shown that it isn't CHEAP for others, it's not hate, it's facts.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Quartermutt said:


> The 30 day order was BULK. If i bought 6 cans a day, it would be closer to $600 a month! $21 a day x 30 days = $630 a month.
> 
> When some one claims CHEAP food, and it is shown that it isn't CHEAP for others, it's not hate, it's facts.


There are no 30 day orders of food there, only 12 and 24... ?__?

If 12 cans last you a day, then 6 orders would last you 6 days. 6 days go into a month aprx 5 times. 5 x $68.77 = $343.85 a month. I have NO idea where you are getting your numbers. (And thats what I calculated for shipping to CA, so it's not wrong..)

Also, I wasn't claiming cheap for EVERYONE just what I saw for me. I shouldn't need a disclaimer in my sig ("my advice may not work for everyone!"), if it doesn't work for you, then don't use it.
So yes, I still claim over-reaction on some people's parts.


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## Arkadia (Apr 11, 2011)

I'm from Australia so this doesn't really apply to me... but I think it was nice of you to post what you found to be a good deal, Minka. It looked incredibly cheap to me!


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Arkadia said:


> I'm from Australia so this doesn't really apply to me... but I think it was nice of you to post what you found to be a good deal, Minka. It looked incredibly cheap to me!


Aww, thanks 
It was incredibly cheap for me (to ship to Texas), so now I'm just hovering on the 'pay' page trying to decide if it's worth it since I don't know if he'll like it. >__<
I really was just trying to help out. ^^


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## CataholicsAnonymous (Dec 4, 2006)

marie73 said:


> it's more that we can't afford to keep throwing out food that our picky eaters won't eat.


That's it. I could have retired early on the money I've spent on cat food that mine won't eat.

A couple weeks ago, I found Brandon Farms Organic Turkey and Chicken for 45 cents/6 oz. From previous fiascos, I knew better than to buy out the store, so I bought two cases. Here they still sit, snubbed by all.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

> That's it. I could have retired early on the money I've spent on cat food that mine won't eat.


Seriously. I have the best-fed ferals in San Diego.


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## Arkadia (Apr 11, 2011)

I'm fortunate in that I only have one cat who will routinely turn down food that I give her. And typically it's only fish she doesn't have a taste for, so if I buy poultry/meat flavoured foods, I'm usually pretty safe.

Right now I'm requesting food samples from every possible pet food brand that sells product in Australia and is of a high enough quality I'd consider feeding it to my cats. I figure this way if I see any deals in the future I'll know if they're worth snagging up or not. 

Of course, I have the 'luxury' of only having relatively few brands available to me, so emailing the companies is not an endeavor that is taking very long.


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

I think it was nice of you to point the link out & possibly save some people some money, but I do see why some others got their hackles raised : 



MinkaMuffin said:


> I've heard a few people on here who have said they can't afford good quality canned cat food, so they stick to 9 Lives or Iams or other so-so brands.


As some people like Marie pointed out, the quality of food fed isn't always a result of one's financial situation. Even 9 lives/Iams is better than no food...


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

swimkris said:


> I think it was nice of you to point the link out & possibly save some people some money, but I do see why some others got their hackles raised :
> 
> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *MinkaMuffin*
> ...


I guess I can see how you might misinterpret that, but what I meant is that I've seen people here _literally_ say 'I can't afford better food, so I have them on ______' and I thought to myself 'that sucks ' so when I saw what I thought was an awesome deal, I thought I'd share the love.


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

Minka, I don't get the hate either. You saw a deal, you posted it. People can either take or leave it. No reason to be all spiteful.

Thanks for the tip. I may pick up a can at the store and see if my cats like it. They will only eat pate style themselves.


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## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

MinkaMuffin:
Thank you for letting me know. Since I just started getting canned food diet on our three kitties, searching for better wet food with good price will help a lot! Like Kobster said, I might want to buy a few to let mine try first, but do you happen to know if these are sold in store as well or online exclusive? If they like it, I would like to order online as you suggested


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

MinkaMuffin said:


> I guess I can see how you might misinterpret that, but what I meant is that I've seen people here _literally_ say 'I can't afford better food, so I have them on ______' and I thought to myself 'that sucks ' so when I saw what I thought was an awesome deal, I thought I'd share the love.


I think it was just the wording. You had good intentions, but some people on the board get verbal beatings about diet pretty often so they are on the defense. Anyways, thanks for sharing the link


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

@spockally
Petsmart carries it ^^


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## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

Minkamuffin:
Thank you so much for letting me know! I tend to go to Petco often so I did not know that Petsmart carries it! I will let our kitties try it and hope I can order online as you suggested if they like it  I hope the shipping is not too bad because I live in NC. 

In my humble opinion, the forum is a place to help each other and all you wanted to do was just "offer some help" and you did good job  Thank you for posting this!


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Spockally:
Shipping IS the worst part of it, which is why I ordered now while they are having this big sale. I haven't found a shipping code that works, BUT I did find this page with coupons that really helped. ^^ Best Deal: Pet Food Direct Coupons, Pet Food Direct Coupon Code and PetFoodDirect Coupons (I was sad that I didn't order yesterday, because today I couldn't get the 20% off coupon to work )(oh, and it still turned out to be worth it after shipping because I saved like $30 when I bought 5 packs![of various brands])


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## Fyreflie (Mar 5, 2011)

I'm going to call them tomorrow! Maybe they'll give me a shipping deal if I order a whole bunch. The killer for me is usually the tax they charge at the border, though, sometimes doubles the price so I don't save anything at all! With that 15% off coupon and the sale on it I could get 144 cans for 79 bucks plus shipping and cross-border fees, which might end up still being worth it, a dollar a can for grain free is awesome! 

Thanks for posting this!


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Fyreflie:
Look one post up and there is a link to a coupon for 18% off that I _know_ works and a 20% off one that maybe you could convince them into over the phone. 
You're welcome.


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## Fyreflie (Mar 5, 2011)

The 18% one didn't work for me and neither did the 20 but there was an automatic 15% discount applied on top of the sale price....not sure what that's all about!


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## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

Minka:
Thank you again for your kindness! I will check the URL and see if it works on me. Even 15% off will be helpful  I appreciate your posting!


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Hmm, maybe PFD is catching on to my coupon using/sharing.. xP


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## Quartermutt (Jun 23, 2010)

MinkaMuffin said:


> There are no 30 day orders of food there, only 12 and 24... ?__?
> 
> If 12 cans last you a day, then 6 orders would last you 6 days. 6 days go into a month aprx 5 times. 5 x $68.77 = $343.85 a month. I have NO idea where you are getting your numbers. (And thats what I calculated for shipping to CA, so it's not wrong..)
> 
> ...


This is with the 18% discount which I couldn't get to work earlier. I got my numbers directly from the site, no calculations needed.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

But, but, .... you'd save *$198.37*!!!

:grin:


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Quartermutt said:


> I live on the West Coast (almost) one package of 12 6oz cans would cost me *$21+*. How would you consider this CHEAP? With 10 cats all weighing approx 8-10 pounds, 1 at 6 pounds and 1 at 15 pounds, those 12 cans would last, what, 1 day'? That's $355 a month.


.88 (with shipping) is a pretty good price for a can of moderate quality cat food. The OP was just trying to help those who commented they couldn't feed a better quality of food and was sharing a good price with the group. The fact that you are feeding ten cats instead of one or two does not negate that this is a good deal. I'd be thrilled if if my cat could eat that food, it would save me some money.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

This thread is done...


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