Cheap but good cat food?

maskerade

Well my cat is fifteen and has only ever had dry food and a constant supply of water and she's in perfect health so I debate the need for wet food.

Anyway, I now use Purely from Pets At Home like someone else in this thread does and its very good.

Sometimes I give her bits of chicken or tuna as a treat which she loves but its far too expensive for every day!

rita-rabbit

Dried - Burns - online
Wet - feline Fayre (Asda & Sainsburys), Aniconda Carni & Bozita (online), I have recently tried Smilla (ok cats have but I ordered the smaller tins instead, will do a repeat order (zooplus) as cats liked it & no `nasty niffs'.

paddypaws101

http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-nutrition/112132-z-wet-food-cats.html

I agree that Classic is a pretty good food for the price as it is grain and vegetable free which most other comparable super market brands are not. The 4% of meat is the NAMED flavour, not the overall meat content which is much higher.

Rita-rabbit....I can't help laughing out loud each time I read your posts as

Aniconda Carny

makes me think of snake meat in a can...... ( AniMonda ):o :rotfl:

lozzybeast

gettingready wrote: »

Oh - feel free to disagree.

OP asked a question, everyone will answer to the best of their own knowledge. Your and mine knowledge may be different.

Personally I would never rely on vet's advice re pet nutrition as most vets are simply cluless in this department.

As a veterinary nurse, i find this comment very offensive and completely clueless! I am fairly certain that any vet will be more clued up on this subject than someone who hasn't studied veterinary science at university for 5 years.

Anyway to OP, i certainly do not think it causes any harm to feed pouches such as whiskas/felix. I do for my 5 cats, however cats like to eat small frequent meals over the 24 hour period so also using a premium complete dried food is a good idea. Although they may seem expensive because the nutritional quality is of a higher value, if you work out the cost of feeds per day it does actually work out about the same as feeding pouches alone.

lozzybeast

gettingready wrote: »

Feeding dry only is simply bad, sorry. Leads to a lot of health problems in cats.

This is a completely uneducated statement. What is this based on? There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding a complete dried food with fresh water always available, unless your cat has a health problem that indicates otherwise.

Many of the suggestions on here are well meaning, but not actually correct, I appreciate they may come from your own experience of owning a pet but they cannot be applied to the species as a whole, and people are giving advice on here that isn't really beneficial.

925dancer

Have you done any species specific nutrition training lozzy?

I have read many research papers, articles by feline nutritionists, listened to lots of people vastly more educated on the subject than me and continue to read any updated information that comes to light.

My thoughts are based on the above and the fact that cats are obligate carnivores and as such have very specific dietary needs. It's our need to feed cheaply and conveniently that has led to people, thinking Go-Cat is a great diet for a cat when it's far from it. Yes millions of cats have done just fine on it but it's so far removed from their natural diet and isn't good for optimum health.

It's also all well and good saying if they have water available there's no issue but many cats barely drink and rely on their wet food for this. These are the cats that end up with health problems stemming back to their diet.

So I come back to feeding the best you can afford, do your research, even consult a feline nutritionist if you can and are very interested and stick to as close to natural as is possible.

lozzybeast

925dancer wrote: »

Have you done any species specific nutrition training lozzy?

I have read many research papers, articles by feline nutritionists, listened to lots of people vastly more educated on the subject than me and continue to read any updated information that comes to light.

My thoughts are based on the above and the fact that cats are obligate carnivores and as such have very specific dietary needs. It's our need to feed cheaply and conveniently that has led to people, thinking Go-Cat is a great diet for a cat when it's far from it. Yes millions of cats have done just fine on it but it's so far removed from their natural diet and isn't good for optimum health.

It's also all well and good saying if they have water available there's no issue but many cats barely drink and rely on their wet food for this. These are the cats that end up with health problems stemming back to their diet.

So I come back to feeding the best you can afford, do your research, even consult a feline nutritionist if you can and are very interested and stick to as close to natural as is possible.

Hi, yes I have, I am a Pet Nutrition Counsellor and Nutritional Advisor, I have a certificate in small animal nutrition and I also hold an advanced feline nursing diploma and have been a vet nurse for 16 years. That's what attracted me to this post in the first place! I agree costs have to be considered when feeding your pet to obtain optimum nutrition. I did not say as long as h20 is available all is fine, that is not always the case, but generalisations such as quoted previously are misleading and not true. Ultimately, the people on here are just searching for the most cost effective way of caring for their pet and it is great that people seek advice and opinions, but just saying some comments on here can be misleading, and I agree consulting a qualified person is best if people have any worries on these matters

rising_from_the_ashes

I'm afraid I beg to differ Lozzy - the last time I took nutritional advice from my vet they recommended a food which was going to cost me £72 for 3 weeks supply.

For the average person this is well out of reach - they should be recommending good quality foods that are available for a reasonable price - my dog is fed good food (Wainwright's & Skinners) and these retail for around £34 & £23/bag which lasts around 6 weeks - a heck of a difference - not just those that they stock in their practice.

They were "suitably horrible" to me when I said that this was just a bit beyond my pocket (I have 2 cats & a dog to feed) and is more than I feed myself on each month!

I was made to feel that if I didn't spend a huge amount of money on food I shouldn't have my pets - that's not what they should be doing.

Beckyy

My cats are fed Applaws dry food, supplemented with applaws wet. BUT Sainsburys do a wet food called 'Encore' which s n tins and essentially the same as Applaws (made at the same places, looks the same, same ingredients etc.).

I buy my Applaws in big 7.5kg bags (pet supermarket online are good). I recently got some amazon vouchers from online surverys so used them to buy Applaws on amazon - free.

I feed meals - I dont free feed or let my cats graze. I would recommend it.

gettingready

lozzybeast wrote: »

I am a Pet Nutrition Counsellor and Nutritional Advisor, I have a certificate in small animal nutrition and I also hold an advanced feline nursing diploma

...... which you must admit is much more than any average vet - as far as pet nutrition is concerned. So no need to get upset about my comments

Paddypaws - thanks, I knew you will have THAT link