Civvie cat food recommendations?

[AliceMeowliss (GA)]

Alice is gone but we are still of course feeding wet food, typically pates.

and FDMB will always be the best source of advice I’ve ever found.

We have been feeding friskies, with two cerebellar hypoplasia cats, a senior, and a slightly overweight highly food-motivated boy with a bad flea allergy (and possibly other allergies, I don’t know). There’s also a young male TNR community cat who gets a can a day along with whatever mice he drags out and dry food the neighborhood provides. It’s a lot of cat to feed on a very low, single income.

I get the feeling they could alllll be healthier, and I would love some suggestions from everyone on what the next best quality food is above friskies, but something still affordable.

What is the next step up in quality for wet food, preferably in 5oz cans or larger, but one that won’t cost significantly more? We struggle to afford the friskies, but they all deserve better. I’d love to find one that doesn’t have the little pieces of bone in it like some of the friskies, too, so that I can blend a thick paste with extra water. None of them drink water on their own really anymore, and my cerebellar hypoplasia boys need that extra. They’re missing teeth and they have trouble eating as quickly as the others and I always have to run interference. I thought a blended paste like what I used to make for Alice towards the end would be such a help.

oh and they also get a lot of the fish flavors, and no one seems to appreciate the turkey friskies at all. I find some of the poultry friskies seems to be a little off for them, too.

thanks for any and all suggestions! I miss this place, but it’s still painful to face not having Alice to post about every day. My best to all your extra sweet furbabies. Xo

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

Aw, do keep come around. You know this joint is always open 24/7/365

Is making your own raw food out of the option?


I had a whole colony at an North Atlantic island off the coast of Africa in 1989. I saved a baby sibling of a Mama Cat at a hotel complex, and they knew they could trust me, and I went over to the Supermercado next door and bought all grounded beef and paper plates and fed them starving as they were. The Cat Word was spread in the Cat area vicinity, they all came to me at set feeding times, and the Supermercado guy always put away all the grounded beef for me and My Cat Colony. It even became an evening 'tourist attraction' with the people staying at the hotel coming out on their balconies and watching.

I have high standard pharmaceutical graded grounded powdered mineral, vitamines, milk acidic calcium, calcium and bone marrow marrow I mix into the grounded meat and fat.
And portion freeze in.

You can at least count on it comparing the store prices what it will cost you first.

 

[Katherine&Ruby]

Hi Cassandra,

I've found Wellness Complete Health Pates in the 12.5 oz cans to be the most economical after Friskies and Fancy Feast as far as canned foods are concerned, and they're all low carb. There are enough flavors to appeal to the tastes of most cats.

Otherwise I agree with @Ann & Scatcats about the raw. If you get ground meats from the supermarket (I know it's problematic for bacteria, but we can do what we can afford) and some EZ Complete from Food Fur Life, you can probably feed a 10 lb cat nutritious wet food for less then $30 per month, and possibly less if you get bulk meats on sale from Costco or something. It's a little more work but it's a healthy, low carb alternative to commercial food.