Cheap catfood dilemma

PrincessK_2

Hi guys,

I am the proud owner of a 2 and a half year old moggie, Milo. In the spirit of Moneysaving (I am addicted to the OS board!), I am having to rethink my whole grocery shop and how to reduce costs.

One of the main costs I currently incur is for cat food - he gets 'premium' catfood pouches (2 a day) and measured portion of dry biscuits also. This comes to approximately £7 a week (and considering my foodshop is now around £15pw for just me, seems a bit high!)

I have always felt guilty feeding M anything less than premium cat food - when I got him from a rescue centre I started him on Whiskas (as this is what he had been fed during his time there) and he would simply leave the plate untouched on certain varieties! :mad:

However, I want to try reducing my costs in this area without upsetting his tum/leaving him starving! Have any other MSavers switched to own-brand catfood? How did you cat take it and how did you get over any problems of upset tummies/rejected plates of food? or am I just being a cheapskate at his expense? :embarasse

Thanks guys! If only M knew the angst he caused haha

K x

knithappens

I use tesco or asda own brand food, it took them a day to get used to it but had no problems since.

Hawthorn

You could save by buying cans instead of pouches. I find they are very expensive.

Also, P&J pets if you have one near you, do a premium pet food repackaged, quite cheaply

lowis

i feed my cat Hills Science Diet dry food.
It costs around £13 a bag from an online store.
the bag has 2kg of food in it, his daily allowance is about 60gms - so that is one month's supply of food...for £13 and it is a really good quality food.

you might consider slowly switching your cat on to a quality dry food...it is definitely more economical in the long run...if you do, be aware that 60gms of food doesn't look much so don;t overfeed, it is the recommended daily allowance and definitely fills them up.

sandra_nz

I would recommend a gradual change - e.g. start mixing a small amount of the cheaper food in with the cat's usual food, then gradually increase the amount of the cheaper food until it's eating just the cheaper food.

Cats do tend to get fussier as they get older and prefer the foods they've been brought up with, but by slowly introducing the new food, I think you'll have success. Good luck!

SkipE

Our girl made the switch for us. She went of whiskas and we now give her tesco own brand which she loves and its much cheaper.We mix it in with some dry food also.

HelzBelz

I've kept ours on the packet food they like (they'll only eat certain whiskers or felix, so I stock up on whichever of the ones they like is on offer) and replaced their whiskers or go-cat biscuit with the tesco premium biscuit which is a lot cheaper, then occasionally I'll mix a bit of whiskers biscuit in with it as a bit of variety and a treat

savvy

My cat is generally fed on Hill's Science Plan , but has tuna in springwater as well. The tuna is about 80p a can and lasts about 2-3 days, and he eats the lot, whereas before he was wasting so much of the tinned cat food, and only licking the gravy off the pouch foods :rolleyes:

Buttonmoons

I give my cat whatever is on offer, and she does LOVE felix, but I refuse to buy it anymore because it gives her the biggest smelliest poo's ever. It honestly stinks my whole flat out,blech! Shes on whiskas now and is just licking the jelly/gravy off, I guess shes trying to make her point.

gymfiend

My cats are the fussiest [sp?] creatures ever - I've tried EVERYTHING to ween them off of Go Cat and Felix pouches [though only specific ones] as between the two of them they cost me upward of £10 a week, inc. their litter. However I find by changing they just sit beside the fridge and whine, meaning I give in and feed them ham or other bits so really I just make the situation worse. If you have any joy,please let me know how you did it because mine are so stubborn I think they will cost me a fortune forever!

Milford_Cubicle

I've had my kitten around a month now. She came to me on Iams dry and Whiskas pouches. In the spirit of money saving, I gradually weaned her from Iams to a supermarket own brand dry kitten food and a supermarket brand pouch. I then got rid of the pouch altogether and she just eats dry. If she becomes fussy in older age, then I'll probably try and switch her to a different type of dried food, although all my other cats have been fed on Go Cat without issue