Trying to pick dry food

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Wushu

Member Since 2021
New here. I have one cat who was diagnosed as diabetic and we have switched him to wet food and insulin etc and I feel ok with his plan of care but I have 6 other cats that I want to switch to a better food. I can’t afford to feed them all wet food unfortunately.

What is the best low carb dry cat food ? I will try and give them some wet as well but the main diet will be dry at least for awhile.

I have been looking at:
Crave grain free high protein
Instinct original
Wellness core

I have found some better ones for sure but the price is just too much for that many cats. Any suggestions / advice are welcome. Thanks so much .
 
I feed my 4 "civvies" (non-diabetics) Young Again Mature (less than 6% carb). I had Lola on the Mature Zero (0% carb) formula, but she didn't like it after a bit so she's back to Dr. Elsey's chicken (~5% carb). Dr. E also has a salmon formula dry that is a bit cheaper than the chicken and around 9% carb, IIRC.
 
Thanks! This might actually work ... I would probably keep my diabetic one on the fancy but the friskies looks like it might be doable for everyone else . I think a few of my cats wouldn’t even be quite a can a day (they are pretty tiny).

Critter Mom said:
Maybe have a look at Friskies Classic Patés on chewy.com? They do cases of 24 x 5.5oz cans for around $13-14 per case. At a rate of 1 can/cat/day, it would work out around $4/day for all 7 cats. They are in the range 3-6% kcals from carbs. Might be more cost effective than the low carb kibbles.

https://www.chewy.com/s?query=friskies classic pate cat food&nav-submit-button=


Mogs
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Click to expand...
 
The amount of calories a cat needs each day depends on its weight. As a very rough guide, a 10lb cat would need somewhere between 180 and 220 kcals/day depending on its activity level but the actual caloric requirement varies from cat to cat. For example, my civvie, Lúnasa, has an ideal weight of c.10lb, is in her mid-teens and isn't very active and only needs about 170kcal/day to maintain.

Dr. Pierson provides this formula on the section of her website addressing weight management:

Required calories per day = [13.6 X optimal lean body weight in pounds] + 70

Per the above formula, a cat with an ideal weight of 10lb would need 206kcal/day. (Dr. Pierson does note on her site that she has set this formula to give a slightly generous estimate of caloric requirements. The link above is well worth reading through.)

Here's an excerpt from Dr. Pierson's food list which gives a guide to the kcals/5.50oz can for the different varieties:


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Per the above chart, one 5.5oz can of Friskies roughly meets the daily energy requirements for an average cat.


Mogs
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Critter Mom said:
The amount of calories a cat needs each day depends on its weight. As a very rough guide, a 10lb cat would need somewhere between 180 and 220 kcals/day depending on its activity level but the actual caloric requirement varies from cat to cat. For example, my civvie, Lúnasa, has an ideal weight of c.10lb, is in her mid-teens and isn't very active and only needs about 170kcal/day to maintain.

Dr. Pierson provides this formula on the section of her website addressing weight management:

Required calories per day = [13.6 X optimal lean body weight in pounds] + 70

Per the above formula, a cat with an ideal weight of 10lb would need 206kcal/day. (Dr. Pierson does note on her site that she has set this formula to give a slightly generous estimate of caloric requirements. The link above is well worth reading through.)

Here's an excerpt from Dr. Pierson's food list which gives a guide to the kcals/5.50oz can for the different varieties:


View attachment 59780
View attachment 59778
View attachment 59779


Per the above chart, one 5.5oz can of Friskies roughly meets the daily energy requirements for an average cat.


Mogs
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Click to expand...

Thank you so much for this it’s very helpful! Got some friskies and am slowly switching them over from the dry food (they much prefer the wet food already lol) any thoughts on 9 lives wet food? I know it’s a lot cheaper food but maybe if I used it occasionally with friskies to help with cost ? Thanks so much
 
I'd suggest starting a new thread asking for input from members on their experiences of feeding 9 Lives foods.

Glad your furry charges are enjoying their wet grub. :cat:


Mogs
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