Cats - dry food?

7roland8

Hi - we have three strays whcih we feed a combination of Tesco dry and tinned catfood. As they seem to waste more than they eat I bought some IAMS (on offer) - chicken lfavour - which they seem to love. But I have the feeling ti'll be very expernsive to feed exclusively.
Do others use just dry food and which do you recommend?

rising_from_the_ashes

ROFLMAO - welcome to "the club".
Mine are exactly the same .....

Cat 1 will only eat Royal Canin but he has dietry requirements so I'm not too worried about that (and thankfully the other one won't touch it)!

Cat 2 loves Iams (try to stock up when on offer) and Purina One (not too bad but they're really small bags so also works out expensive). I'm trying to get some weight off her just now and the only diet one I've found that she'll eat is also Royal Canin .

However, when you add up the cost of buying and then throwing out tinned food I'm sure it is more economical feeding dry food (if it gets left at least it hasn't gone off by the next day).

Do the cats come in the house or do you leave food outside?

I'm wondering if one of those feeders that you get which you can fill with dry food and it empties into a bowl automatically as required would be any use?

Also, where do you buy it as Iams varies hugely from place to place - under £5 at A*da and around £5.50 at T*sco: I often actually manage to get big 3kg bags cheaper at my local pet shop when it's on offer.

A*di do their own cat food which the "iams" cat loves - under £2.50 for 750g so I'd maybe give that a try if there's one near you.

Sagz_2

I've fed my dogs dry complete food for years because it works out so much cheaper, but whenever I've tried it on my cats it works out more expensive! I think it's because the cats nadger all day for food as they enjoy the taste of the complete SO much. (I know I shouldn't give in but I work from home and the cats are all over the desk and pc until I feed them! They ahve me well trained )

I've found the best way for my 3 is little and often - a couple of spoons of PAH own brand tinned cat food and a small handfull of cheapo Tesco cat biscuits about 5 times a day works out cheapest for me - and the cats are all fit and healthy so it obviously suits them.

cjmumto2

Dry food works out MUCH cheaper, as they are supposed to eat less especailly of the good quality varietys. Most supermarket wetfood contains mostly water and additives so a waste of money and no health benefits to the cats

jessicamb

I feed mine Applaws dry food - it is more expensive than other dried foods but the higher quality of it means I need to feed much less - around 40g per day.

snowdrop1967

Our kitten is 6 months and we carried on feeding her dry Hills food which the breeder used. When we took her to the vets for her jabs and checks she recommended feeding her dry as she said it was better and made her less smelly than on wet food. We do give her chicken now and again and she seems fine.

7roland8

Thanks all. Was surprised when my sister said she fed her labrador on dried food which is way cheaper than cats - ridiculous when you consider the size!
Yes I feed them indoors and they tend to get fed when they want it. I'd say over half the wet food gets left and thrown out - and with summer coming thought I'd try the dry. Only bought small IAMs from T#sco but obviously would be cheaper in large sizes. Only tend to shop online so A#da is out.

rising_from_the_ashes

I've always wondered why cat food is much more expensive than dog food and the guy in my local pet shop says it's as cat food has a much higher protein content (I compared the packages when I got home and this is right).

Keep an eye on Pets @ H*me website as they often do BOGOF/BOGO1/2price etc on Iams (great delivery service and they sometimes do free delivery days).

Did a quick search and came up with a 3kg bag for £9.99 - http://www.netpetshop.co.uk/p-30484-iams-cat-adult-chicken-cat-food.aspx

Plushchris

We have 3 cats and only feed ours James Wellbeloved, we always buy the 10kg sacks as it works out cheaper, (usually around the £40 mark for a 10kg, worth shopping around)

We've found they really like it and there is far less waste, I remember getting them go-cat (or one of those with the various shapes in) and they hated the red fish so much they would spit them out and eat round them, we used to find them all over the place (they stick to socks quite well! lol)

And I'll second the "Less smelly" comment someone else said above, if you ever have to keep your cats in and have them use a litter tray, you'll really notice the difference.

7roland8

Thanks Rising from the Ashes - great value on that site - have favourited it.

Plushchris - had to laugh at your cat's spitting out the food!! They are so funny and know their own mind - that's why I've been loath to buy a huge pile of stuff they won't eat.

Pixiechic

I feed my cat James Wellbeloved too, its a good dry food.

He also likes Taste of the Wild and Orijen, he gets bored so he has a couple on the go at the same time.

Buying bigger bags is cheaper. My cat won't eat anything that the supermarket sell, apart from the treats. I buy from Pets at Home. Think it can be cheaper online but I am not MSE enough, yet, to order.

I feed wet twice a day too.