The best nutrition/cost value in *canned* cat foods?

"honeybunch" wrote in message

> On Oct 17, 4:34 pm, "Rene S." wrote:
>> On Oct 17, 10:43 am, RPSinha wrote:
>>
>> > In article ,
>>
>> > honeybunch wrote:
>>
>> > : chicken drumsticks or thighs chopped up with a sharp knife;
>> > occasional
>> > : chicken hearts.
>>
>> > Yes I have thought about it, but feel afraid this won't be a complete
>> > meal. I wish there was an inexpensive gravy to convert simple meat into
>> > complete cat food but I am not ware of any.
>>
>> There is some great (and detailed) information here on making your own
>> raw food:http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm
>
> The reason Ive been feeding Beebe a raw diet is because he really
> doesnt like canned cat food. I always have to throw part of it out
> every morning. Of course, he loves and adores dry cat food. It must
> taste like a big Mac and french fries to him but it is really not good
> for his peepee. He loves chicken, chicken hearts and beef if its cut
> into tiny cubes. Trader Joes has frozen boneless skinless chicken
> thighs which are the easiest thing in the world to cut up. When I buy
> the drumsticks i hack off a bit of the knuckle ending and include it
> much to his satisfaction. A farmers market sells chicken hearts for
> $1 a pound. He used to be a feral cat but now he is sleek and shiny
> and seems to be thriving on a raw diet. I dont know if it would work
> for all cats..
>
My feral cat loves roasted chicken, and in truth, if we shop the sales, we
can get it cheaper than most of the canned food we buy. It may not be the
best thing nutritionally, but fortunately, he is getting used to canned and
dry food now, and he cleans up the other cat's bowls at night, so we never
have to throw any cat food away. We do have one cat that eats dry food
exclusively, but I think that he will eventually come around and learn to
eat other food too........He spent his first year in a Burger King parking
lot, and so he hates human food.(I guess he had to eat a lot of French fries
and onion rings during that first year)
 >> Stay informed about: The best nutrition/cost value in *canned* cat foods? 

"RPSinha" wrote in message

> Barb wrote:
> : I didnt mean to sound abrupt or disinterested.
>
> You didn't. I am just eager to learn to learn what I can ASAP, that's
> all.
>
> : I feed my cats Friskies or Nine Lives. They only get one can total a day
> : mixed in with a cup or so of dry food. Then I divvy it among the 7. They
> eat
> : dry food throughout the day.
>
> OK, so you mix one 1 cup dry food into 1 can of Friskies, divide it up
> among 7 cats? I would assume that the portion is more like an appetizer
> for them. Nice one too. Then they eat dry as much as they want.
>
> Friskies is one brand I am interested in because their prices seem very
> reasonable (<35 c).
>
> However, they too have so many varieties. Is one better nutrition than
> others? I gave a Prime Filets to my cat and she liked it. Actually so
> far she is not fussy, hope she remains that way.

From reading the ingredients on the sides of the cans of cat food I buy, I
would say that they are all the same.....I would be willing to bet that they
all come from the same plant, but just have different labels on the cans. I
buy whatever Winco has on sale......Hopefully it's less than 30 cents a 6
oz. can.........
 >> Stay informed about: The best nutrition/cost value in *canned* cat foods? 

"RPSinha" wrote in message

> William Graham wrote:
>
> : In the case of my cats, no matter what brand I buy, the cats are going
> to
> : get tired of it pretty soon. So, I "mix it up", and buy different brands
> in
> : different stores every week or two, just so the cats will stay
> : interested.....I probably don't get the best nutrition/cost ratio by
> doing
> : this, but my cats aren't starving, and they do like to eat......
>
> This approach would work great, I can even imagine buying whatever is
> on sale. :-) However, I have heard this leads to "personality issues"
> or throwing.
>
> I wonder if anyone else has experience with this approach, just "mixing
> up" the food.
>
> Do you feed the same kind for 1-2 weeks however?
>
> Thanks.

No. I go for the sales.....Trying to beat the 30 cents a can barrier. I do
feed them a variety of dry food and roasted chicken too.....Sometimes the
roasted chicken is cheaper than the canned food, if I can get it for under a
dollar a pound.......I have four cats, and they tend to clean up whatever
the others leave. They are gradually learning to eat what the others like to
eat, even though they all came from different backgrounds.....
 >> Stay informed about: The best nutrition/cost value in *canned* cat foods? 

My cats prefer the filets or something with gravy. The "solid" one they
arent too crazy about.
"William Graham" wrote in essage

>
> "RPSinha" wrote in message
>
>> Barb wrote:
>> : I didnt mean to sound abrupt or disinterested.
>>
>> You didn't. I am just eager to learn to learn what I can ASAP, that's
>> all.
>>
>> : I feed my cats Friskies or Nine Lives. They only get one can total a
>> day
>> : mixed in with a cup or so of dry food. Then I divvy it among the 7.
>> They eat
>> : dry food throughout the day.
>>
>> OK, so you mix one 1 cup dry food into 1 can of Friskies, divide it up
>> among 7 cats? I would assume that the portion is more like an appetizer
>> for them. Nice one too. Then they eat dry as much as they want.
>>
>> Friskies is one brand I am interested in because their prices seem very
>> reasonable (<35 c).
>>
>> However, they too have so many varieties. Is one better nutrition than
>> others? I gave a Prime Filets to my cat and she liked it. Actually so
>> far she is not fussy, hope she remains that way.
>
> From reading the ingredients on the sides of the cans of cat food I buy, I
> would say that they are all the same.....I would be willing to bet that
> they all come from the same plant, but just have different labels on the
> cans. I buy whatever Winco has on sale......Hopefully it's less than 30
> cents a 6 oz. can.........
>
 >> Stay informed about: The best nutrition/cost value in *canned* cat foods? 

"RPSinha" wrote in message

> CatNipped wrote:
>
> : My five get canned Fancy Feast "pate" varieties for their two meals a
> day
> : and can free feed on Science Diet Advanced Formula (Mature Adult for the
> : adult cats and Kitten Formula for the kittens) dry left out all the
> time...
>
> Is FF based on their taste preference or you chose it for nutrition?
> Did you compare it with Iams, Nutro, Pro Plan, Science Diet canned,
> etc., and also cheaper brands like Friskies and Whiskas?
>
> As I wrote earlier, I would feed them FF if it is the best, but if all
> else was equal I would prefer something that came in 5-6 oz cans.

Both! Here are the nutritional values of FF if you want to take a look...

http://www.possibleplaces.com/fancy_feast_values/

Hugs,

CatNipped
 >> Stay informed about: The best nutrition/cost value in *canned* cat foods? 

"RPSinha" wrote in message

> William Graham wrote:
>
> : In the case of my cats, no matter what brand I buy, the cats are going
> to
> : get tired of it pretty soon. So, I "mix it up", and buy different brands
> in
> : different stores every week or two, just so the cats will stay
> : interested.....I probably don't get the best nutrition/cost ratio by
> doing
> : this, but my cats aren't starving, and they do like to eat......
>
> This approach would work great, I can even imagine buying whatever is
> on sale. :-) However, I have heard this leads to "personality issues"
> or throwing.
>
> I wonder if anyone else has experience with this approach, just "mixing
> up" the food.
>
> Do you feed the same kind for 1-2 weeks however?
>
> Thanks.

You just have to ask yourself, would YOU like to eat the same thing all the
time, until you die ?
In the wild they would get whatever they can catch or scarf down that day,
so they get a good mix.

Ours get the dry kibble and we generally (but not always) buy whatever is on
sale, keep about 4 bags supply ahead of the cats, and the cat's may get from
any bag in the rotation each day.

And when they go out they add-in/hunt whatever extra they want.
 >> Stay informed about: The best nutrition/cost value in *canned* cat foods? 

"AMUN" wrote in message
>> Do you feed the same kind for 1-2 weeks however?

The same brand, perhaps, but not both brand and flavor......I'll go into a
store like Winco, and buy two cans each of like 10 different flavors. Then,
a couple of weeks later, I'll be in a different store, and buy another 20
cans of a different brand, but mix up the flavors there also.......I just
try to give them some variety without spending my whole life worrying about
cat food....Whenever I am in a strange super, I check out the cat food and
see if there isn't some different brand they might like that I can get for
them........And, I always check the price of chickens, both for the cats and
for my wife and myself....We like roasted chicken almost as much as the cats
do......
 >> Stay informed about: The best nutrition/cost value in *canned* cat foods? 

Thanks for all the thoughts on what are best nutrition/cost values in
*canned* cat foods.

I have one tentative candidate: Whole Foods house brand ("365"). I saw
three flavors. A 5.5 oz can was 49 c. The label (ingredient list)
seemed pretty good.

By comparison, at the next door Petsmart, Friskies was 31c but the
label is less good. Better brands begin around 1.00; Pro Plan is 1.29.
Many brands offer 3 oz cans starting around 50c or more.

This is impression, not careful analysis. In particular, labels don't
show many things particularly Ph levels. Also real protein/fat calories
instead of mere bulk. That "guaranteed analysis" leaves me more
confused than informed. :)

As I said, it's tentative.
 >> Stay informed about: The best nutrition/cost value in *canned* cat foods?