Best Budget Cat Food?

johnnyleeds

Thanks for the advice folks, So from what I can gather would I be better buying the Butchers tinned cat food instead? I honestly thought the Morrisons 'Savers' stuff and the Butchers were the same as the ingredients listed on the tins are virtually identical plus the food looks identical in appearance and consistency.

It seems a total minefield when trying to choose what food to buy for my cats. The combination that I've been feeding them at the moment (Morrisons 'Savers' and Go-Cat biscuits) seems to be successful. I might swap back to the Butchers tinned food if it really is that much better.

However both my cats are in an excellent state of health as the vet confirmed when I took them for a check up in July so it cant all be bad. Considering that I rescued them from almost certain death at the hands of the RSPCA during the recent recession when a lot of animals were being abandoned -especially around Leeds and Bradford. So my kits are pretty lucky to have a loving home at all the poor things.

Haffiana

I second everything that has been said about Whiskas, Felix and particularly dry foods like Go-Cat - stay away from it, it is rubbish nutritionally. Iams and James Wellbeloved are if anything, worse.

However, actually looking at the ingredients of the Morrisons that you have posted, it looks to be completely grain-free to me, with a slightly lower protein content (probably because it has a bit more water than Butchers). So although something like Macs would be better, it is not a bad substitute for Butchers.

The thing to watch with any supermarket value brand is that they can change the ingredients at any time - the label stays the same, but it is sourced from a different processing plant or whatever.

anotheruser

Rev wrote: »

The reason I despise big pet food companies like wiskas and go cat etc is because they charge a premium for crap. I couldn't afford to feed my cats badly, paying for the name wiskas is far too expensive. Buying good quality food in bulk is imho the best way. It literally costs me pennies a day to feed two cats.

It's funny you write that but feed them dry food :rotfl:
Please, feel free to change one of your meals to biscuits...

fairy_lights

The best quality, cheapest food you can buy is offal from the butchers.

jess1974

Sooo going back say 20 or 30 years.....i'm sure most cats were fed on supermarket tinned food and cat biscuits....i know all the cats in my family were.....now most of these cats reached a reasonable age....at least 15 years or older....does what brand you feed really make that much difference ???

rising_from_the_ashes

jess1974 wrote: »

Sooo going back say 20 or 30 years.....i'm sure most cats were fed on supermarket tinned food and cat biscuits....i know all the cats in my family were.....now most of these cats reached a reasonable age....at least 15 years or older....does what brand you feed really make that much difference ???

Hardly anyone used supermarkets 30 years ago - even when I left home (nearly 20 years ago :eek:) they were nothing like they are now & there certainly wasn't the choice of pet food there is now

Prior to that, most pets were fed scraps of whatever was left off the plates when everyone had finished

There also wasn't really the same level of people owning pets for pleasure / the sake of having them - they generally tended to have a job to do - a working dog or a cat to keep the vermin down

I know when I was little (about 7 or 8) we had a pet dog but that was quite unusual at that time and I can't remember my friends having them at home - we had a cat too but he was for mouse control!


Of course diet can make a difference - the same way it can to us

jess1974

Sorry but i will have to disagree, i'm 40 and i left home at 17....most of my family and friends at least owned a cat....like i said a lot of them lived to a good age...bar road accidents etc....my own cat is 13 and in perfect health considering she is fed on supermarket wet food, i really do not think it makes much difference at all.
Oh and my first job was in a supermarket aged 15 and this would have been in 1989.

rising_from_the_ashes

A bit like humans - some people have a terrible diet, drink & smoke & dont do any exercise & live to old age - others eat healthily, don't drink or smoke, exercise & drop dead young

Just because its OK for some doesn't mean its what we should all be doing

I'm nearly the same age as you & when I moved into my first flat @ 18 there was 1 small somerfield anywhere near us - supermarkets weren't common here anyway

People did not have pets when we were growing up - except for the reasons I mentioned above - no-one could afford to have them unless they did a job

Yes there were foods like Wilson's (for dogs) around - at the time that's pretty much all there was commercial wise

They are still around but now there is much better choice & much healthier foods - so why shouldn't these be fed - the same way our choices and options for quality of food has increased too

There is nothing wrong with feeding food from the supermarket - but at least these should be the healthiest foods that our budgets will allow - and when you have foods like Butchers around at a bargain price theres really no need for anyone to say they cant afford a decent food for their pets

johnnyleeds

Well I've been buying the Butchers tinned cat food for the past few weeks since reading the response to this forum. However I cant say I've noticed any difference. It looks and smells identical to the Morrisons Savers cat food, the tins are identical - not that this means much! and my 2 cats both enjoy either Butchers or Morrisons.

I supplement the wet food with a sprinkling of biscuits and they also have scraps of whatever I'm having (meaty or fishy scraps). Plus I occasionally treat them to a tin of sardines which they love or tuna. Also my local fish and chip shop does me a bag of 'cat bits' for £0.40!! Its basically a bag full of trimmings from the fish fillets. I usually pop the contents of the bag in the microwave for a minute then allow to cool. My 2 kits will sit appreciatively meowling under the kitchen counter near the microwave when they smell the fishy aroma wafting through my home.

I'm always surprised at how well behaved they are at mealtimes, they dont fight with each other or get greedy trying to pinch the other cats food etc. Quite often the larger of the 2 cats will allow the smaller cat to eat first before she begins to eat from her own bowl.

Although sometimes if there is a fishy or meaty treat they will both 'chow down' together and their little furry heads dont leave the bowl until its licked clean! Has anyone else noticed their cats sometimes dragging food out of the bowl to eat off the floor?

Plus a friend of mine pointed out some cat behaviour that he explained to me where the cat will repeatedly lick its shoulder area immediately after eating. He told me that apparently cats do this to 'save' a taste of what delicious food they had eaten for later on....?!? How true this is I dont know, sounds like an old wives tale to me..