Recommend your pet food brand, please!

IAmSherlocked · February 2014

This is more pet-related, but thought you guys might have some suggestions.

For those of you with pets (especially cats) what brand of food do you feed them and how much do you spend?

For a while I've been giving my 5 cats Taste of the Wild, but the only stores that carry it are out of the way so while the actual food is a few dollars cheaper than the other brands I've looked at (Blue Wilderness, Wellness, etc.) I'm not sure it's worth it to have to go to have to travel out of my way. I recently tried Simply Nourish brand since it was on sale and mixed it in with their regular food until the cats got used to it, but I wasn't a fan of the stinky side effects, haha.

One of our cats is really sick (heart disease, diabetes, and as of this weekend he is in renal failure as well) so I've been spending a lot of money on medication/specialty food/ER visits for him and I'm looking to try and cut down expenses in other areas.

*Edited because I can't spell today!

formerlyGDaisy09 · February 2014

Our Cats get Wellness, their coats are much healthier than they were before we switched them from less expensive food...I like to think that the extra money spend on food is probably saving me more money on vet bills.

The dog was on Blue Buffalo...she's got some sort of allergy we're working through, so she is currently on Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance LID Venison and Sweet Potato...she liked the taste of the Duck and Potato formula better, but that didn't help her itchiness at all.

moonprincessd · February 2014

We give our cats Iams Indoor Weight and Hairball control. It gives our cats really soft fur. It's cheaper that the "natural" stuff and we often get coupons.

IAmSherlocked · February 2014

Thanks for the suggestions guys! It's crazy how these pet medical bills are adding up!

vlagrl29 · February 2014

I don't have cats but our dog use to eat science diet as recommended by vets but she didn't really care for it and wouldn't eat it so we tried some other and settled on Purina One Smartblend chicken and rice and she still eats it to this day. I get it at Target. We sometimes buy the big bags so it will last awhile.

VadersValkyrie · February 2014

I buy whatever is the best price, with a combination of coupons, sales and Cartwheel discounts. My cats will pretty much eat whatever I put in front of them; they only once shunned a food that my husband bought. I mean, they ate it because it was the only thing there, but they weren't happy about it.

hoffse · February 2014

My cat gets costco - I only have one cat so I buy a bag about once every 4-5 months for $17 and keep it in an airtight container. She loves it.

If you compare the ingredients, costcos are nearly the same as many high-end brands. First three ingredients are meat.

I researched this a lot when we first got her because I was willing to pay higher end for food that didn't have as much filler... the consensus was that if you have to do dry food (as wet is always better), costco is right up there with Blue Buffalo, etc.

IAmSherlocked · February 2014

Thanks guys! I never looked at Costco really since I just assumed that the quality wouldn't be as good as some of the other brands. I have to run by tonight though so I'll check them out. $17 for a bag definitely sounds better than what I pay now, especially since with as many furbabies as we have, they eat a lot!

Will check out some of the other brands you all mentioned as well--hopefully I can find something that will help the budget a teeny bit at least!

aggiebug · February 2014

I replied in your cross post over in pets. For your sick kitty that is really tough, I have a long answer over there with a link to an OTC brand for you to look into.

Honestly for your healthy cats I recommend fancy feast (patte not in gravy) or wellness canned at my top two diets. You really need to have your 4 healthy cats and your one sick cat on very different diets.

I don't lurk here much but I regularly screen the pets board so if you have any questions post over there I would be more than happy to help

hoffse · February 2014

Yeah costco food is cheeeeap. $17 is what I paid back in October (maybe with a coupon?). Not sure if it's still the same price, but it ought to be close. Make sure you're happy with the ingredients, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I also invested about $20 in a hinged-lid tub at Walmart to store it all. The bags are so big that it takes awhile to get through it.

I buy her the full-fat food. They have a diet kind that's a few dollars more, but she clearly doesn't like it as much. She really DOES need to go on a diet, but I figure if I'm only feeding her one thing for the rest of her life, it should be something she likes. I manage her weight with portion control.

Wet food is best but some cats just won't do it. Mine would literally boycott her wet food until it dried out. Not only did that defeat the purpose, but it was disgusting. Granted, this is a cat who won't eat tuna, chicken, or steak. But she loses her mind over marinara sauce. She's clearly not normal.

aggiebug · February 2014

@hoffse here is a link with helpful tips to transitions those opinionated cats from dry to canned.

I have had some clients have great success with this process on their overly opiniionated cats http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

I mention it because I truly believe weight management is much easier on an appropriate canned food over any dry food

IAmSherlocked · February 2014

Thanks you guys! My cats all devour pretty much anything I put in front of them, but weirdly enough they aren't big fans of Fancy Feast. I may try to reintroduce it to them though--maybe their tastes have changed.

@aggiebug, I responded to you over on the Pets board.

Thanks again everyone!

JuneMrs · February 2014

We have dogs but we use wellness. The quality of ingredients and the overall health of our dogs is worth the price.

formerlyGDaisy09 · February 2014

Wow, we don't have a costco here...I've found pretty good deals on Wag.com.

@hoffse, we put our cats on the "catkin's diet" the both got to a healthy weight and have maintained it for 2 years. they get wellness wet food twice a day...it's grain free and doesn't contain any meat by-products.

Cats are biologically carnivors, their bodies are not designed to digest food heavy in grains well, so when they have a diet heavy in grains they gain weight and are potentially at risk for diabetes. Dogs, on the other hand, are omnivors and need the other stuff in their diet.

hoffse · February 2014

I wish we could feed ours wet food, but I've never met a more stubborn animal. The only way she will eat wet food is if you let it dry out first so that it has a crunch when she eats it.

We adopted her as an adult, and all I can figure is that her previous owners never gave her wet food, and she just does not recognize it as food. I had about 4 months at home with her before starting my job. I was sure I could get her to switch. Nope, she still refused to eat anything wet after 4 months. I tried all sorts of tactics you read about online, and not one of them worked.

She's only 9 1/2 pounds, so we finally decided to let her win, and we went on the hunt for a dry food that had a relatively low amount of filler. Hence, Costco. H and I were pleasantly surprised, because we would have happily paid 4x as much if we had to. I think if she were on wet food she would weigh maybe a pound less. But at least she's not obese, and we don't have to fight with her to get her to eat.

Luckily, she does drink a ton of water which is rare for a cat. One of the reasons wet food is so important is that cats usually don't usually have enough water intake, and they can get extra water from wet food. Lady drinks a full bowl of water almost every day.

IAmSherlocked · February 2014

I used to buy Wellness as well, but then I switched to Taste of the Wild because the Wellness food sure made the litterbox stink. Even DH asked me to try something else because he noticed the smell and he doesn't usually notice those sorts of things. I don't mind paying the higher price for it, but with as many pets as we do it does add up quickly, especially when you are trying to keep up with thousands of dollars worth of vet bills for one of them. That's mostly why I was interested to see what you all feed your pets, to see if there was a good quality pet food out there that I hadn't discovered that I could try out--at least temporarily.

My cats generally will eat anything (except turkey--they hate anything turkey flavored, haha) and most of them are weird and actually drink a lot of water too. I do try to give them canned food at least once every couple of days as well, which they seem to enjoy.

vlagrl29 · February 2014

hoffse said:

I wish we could feed ours wet food, but I've never met a more stubborn animal. The only way she will eat wet food is if you let it dry out first so that it has a crunch when she eats it.

We adopted her as an adult, and all I can figure is that her previous owners never gave her wet food, and she just does not recognize it as food. I had about 4 months at home with her before starting my job. I was sure I could get her to switch. Nope, she still refused to eat anything wet after 4 months. I tried all sorts of tactics you read about online, and not one of them worked.

She's only 9 1/2 pounds, so we finally decided to let her win, and we went on the hunt for a dry food that had a relatively low amount of filler. Hence, Costco. H and I were pleasantly surprised, because we would have happily paid 4x as much if we had to. I think if she were on wet food she would weigh maybe a pound less. But at least she's not obese, and we don't have to fight with her to get her to eat.

Luckily, she does drink a ton of water which is rare for a cat. One of the reasons wet food is so important is that cats usually don't usually have enough water intake, and they can get extra water from wet food. Lady drinks a full bowl of water almost every day.

I hear dry / crunchy food is better for their teeth anyways.

formerlyGDaisy09 · February 2014

I hear dry / crunchy food is better for their teeth anyways.

It is, once we got their weight under control (the vet was genuinely worried about diabeties because they were so young and overweight) we've switched them to have crunchy food at breakfast and wet food at night so they're getting the benefits of both. their weight jumpped back up a little bit, but they never returned to their obease state.

Erikan73 · February 2014

With the health issues your cat is having, you may want to investigate into natural foods you can make at home. The reason I'm saying this is some friends of mine had a dog that some major health issues and was basically on it's way to doggie heaven. They cut out all store bought food & treats and found what foods were healthy for dogs using regular food we eat. Within a few weeks the dog started getting better (my guess it took a while to detox the dogs body) and before too long the dog was happy & healthy & full of life. I won't promise you the same results, but it might worth considering because it could cheaper then the store bought products. At the very least you will know exactley what your cat is eating & how it was prepared.

aggiebug · February 2014

vlagrl29 said:

hoffse said:

I wish we could feed ours wet food, but I've never met a more stubborn animal. The only way she will eat wet food is if you let it dry out first so that it has a crunch when she eats it.

We adopted her as an adult, and all I can figure is that her previous owners never gave her wet food, and she just does not recognize it as food. I had about 4 months at home with her before starting my job. I was sure I could get her to switch. Nope, she still refused to eat anything wet after 4 months. I tried all sorts of tactics you read about online, and not one of them worked.

She's only 9 1/2 pounds, so we finally decided to let her win, and we went on the hunt for a dry food that had a relatively low amount of filler. Hence, Costco. H and I were pleasantly surprised, because we would have happily paid 4x as much if we had to. I think if she were on wet food she would weigh maybe a pound less. But at least she's not obese, and we don't have to fight with her to get her to eat.

Luckily, she does drink a ton of water which is rare for a cat. One of the reasons wet food is so important is that cats usually don't usually have enough water intake, and they can get extra water from wet food. Lady drinks a full bowl of water almost every day.

I hear dry / crunchy food is better for their teeth anyways.

That is the old philosophy but it really doesn't hold much weight. While canned food may staying the mouth longer than dry, the difference is negligible and the dry has no added benefit to it. It used to be thought it could scrub the teeth, but unless it is prescription td it doesn't touch more than the tip of the tooth. And that minor benefit doesn't even come close to comparing to the benefits a good canned food can provide.

Canned food is much higher in water which is important, but also a good quality canned food has a better balance of protein/fat/ carbs than any dry food can. Dry food is all way to high in carbohydrates for cats and this is the primary reason for obesity in cats in my opinion.

and as an added note there is an insane amount of misinfomation out there about "fillers" and byproducts. Byproducts are beneficial and corn does have nutritional value.

nicolen08 · March 2014

We feed our dogs solid gold brand. It's expensive but it's worth the cost to us. We tried costco before but my dog has a very sensitive stomach and he threw it up.

KatieCutie05 · March 2014

Our dogs get 4health brand from Tractor Supply. Its comparable to Blue Buffalo healthwise but for a fraction of the price. I pay about $35 for a 35lb bag. They also make Cat food but i don't have cats so i don't know if it any good.

Our 4yr old dog now gets 4health Grain Free food which is working out great. I highly recommend Grain Free if your dog has any sensitivity or digestion problems. It took us so long to find a food for her cus she'd either throw up or refuse to eat it. Regular 4 health she liked but i had to mix it with wet food and she'd still throw up every once in a while seemingly so randomly. Now since switching her to Grain Free - she gobbles up all her food and she hasn't thrown up in months! And we don't have to mix anything with it so her teeth are cleaner too. Dogs can't digest grains like humans can so its harder on their stomach.

formerlyGDaisy09 · March 2014

If you're really looking for an oral hygene product for your cat check out Virbac C.E.T. enzymatic dental chews for cats. they look like wine corks and come in chicken or fish flavors. they kind of have the texture of styrofoam, but our cat's love them (as soon as they come out one of the cats gets a little violent and will swat the treat out of my hand).

emily1004 · March 2014

nicolen08 said:

We feed our dogs solid gold brand. It's expensive but it's worth the cost to us. We tried costco before but my dog has a very sensitive stomach and he threw it up.

That's interesting. We can get six months worth of Solid Gold Wee Bits for $35.00. We do drive out of our way 25 minutes to a wholesale pet warehouse for it.

Em112204 · March 2014

We feed our dog and 2 cats 4Health from Tractor Supply and they love it. It is almost 1/2 the price of Blue Buffalo or Taste of the Wild and comparable quality. If you don't have a Tractor Supply near your house, I have heard good things about Iams.

short+sassy · March 2014

Erikan73 said:

With the health issues your cat is having, you may want to investigate into natural foods you can make at home. The reason I'm saying this is some friends of mine had a dog that some major health issues and was basically on it's way to doggie heaven. They cut out all store bought food & treats and found what foods were healthy for dogs using regular food we eat. Within a few weeks the dog started getting better (my guess it took a while to detox the dogs body) and before too long the dog was happy & healthy & full of life. I won't promise you the same results, but it might worth considering because it could cheaper then the store bought products. At the very least you will know exactley what your cat is eating & how it was prepared.

I was going to suggest this also. Preparing pet food at home is generally both cheaper and healthier than store bought stuff. But, of course, it is more time consuming and so not always possible depending on your situation. In all honesty, I do buy my dog and cat their main food at stores, but bake their treats myself. This has worked especially great for the cat because I never found a store bought treat she liked, but she loves what I make for her!

beetee123 · March 2014

We usually try to go with the higher quality brands just to avoid the vet costs. They were eating Blue Buffalo exclusively, but the store we go to was out of it for about a month, so we switched to Chicken Soup for the Kitten Lover's Soul (they are still under a year). We actually bought it online for about $20 per flat (24, 5.5 oz cans). We had a 25% off coupon code for wag.com which I can give you if you would like. We ordered about 3 months worth of food to use the maximum that the coupon allowed.

Recommend your pet food brand, please!

Re: Recommend your pet food brand, please!

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