Looking for a possible better food

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Cindy & Pets

Cindy & Pets

Member Since 2012
So, I'm still sorting everything out, but I learned that Tip is VERY sensitive to carbs. So I was wondering if there's something lower in carbs than the Friskies pate that she's getting without breaking the bank? I know I had tried Whiskas 3oz pate because the ingredients list didn't have any wheat gluten or rice and her bG did go down a little and she gained a little weight. But....I'm thinking, if I can find something better than that that she likes, it'll save in the long-run. So any suggestions?
 
Actually, you can still use the friskies, you just want to get foods that are listed as 0-4% carbs.

I took care of a cat who was super sensitive to carbs and I used fancy feast flavors and labeled each can with the carb %. I passed this over to his human who followed this, until he went off insulin and it worked well. It was easy and took the thinking out of what food to give. If the pre shot bg was low, she would give a 2-3% carb food. If it wasn't as low as we would like, she would give a 0-1%. If during the cycle he dropped quickly (which he had a tendency to do), she would give some 4%.

We even mixed the percentages at times and really had control over his levels.

So, that may be something you could try and still give him food he will eat and not break the bank.
 
Hm....alright. I am wondering though, how does Whiskas pate rate on this? Because she eats that so much more readily, and it's only about 15 cents more. I have a month worth of friskies right now(sale + coupons that needed used), so of course I'll still use it. But if the Whiskas is good as well, then that might be better since sometimes it's a challenge to get Tip to eat the friskies if it's too hot or too cold but eats Whiskas pate regardless. Might just get it as a 'in case she won't eat' thing since I haven't seen her resist it.
 
My Scooter didn't like the big cans of Whiskas... they have a really weird consistency. Very very firm and lumpy. However he loves the recloseable trays - I loaded up on them when they were .50 each, but now they are up to .68 (these are Canadian prices).

I personally really like Special Kitty Select (Walmarts FF alternative) in the duck, turkey, and chicken pate flavors. I also feed the Grreat Choice (Petsmart brand) poultry platter as it has turkey meat as the first ingredient (the rest have byproducts first). Grreat Choice has a 3oz can FF equivalent too but here it is not much cheaper.
 
I'll have to look in to those. Usually her friskies are 50 cents at pet supplies plus as I have a card with them. I'll look in to Special Kitty Select and see if it's cheaper because I know she absolutely loves that too. Hopefully my brother will start getting his discount for working at walmart soon enough if he doesn't have it already.

EDIT: To specify, the 'cans' I got of Whiskas was the recloseable trays, though since I'm trying to get her to gain weight(she's way underweight to what she's supposed to be) as well, I just gave her 1 whole tray and then a snack after her mid-mark. I do need to get more chicken breasts though as treats.
 
The Special Kitty Select are small 3oz cans but the ingredients are better than the bigger cans of SK... pretty much identical to the ingredients of similar Fancy Feast varieties.

The Whiskas trays were awesome and had no impact on Scooter's BG. I would have kept feeding them if they didn't go back up in price :lol: He got 3 ish trays a day but he is a 13lb cat. He gets a nice variety of food because I like to bargain hunt. This month he gets Wellness because Petsmart had it for 2.39 per big can :)
 
Tip is only about 9lbs 8oz right now, which is better from what she was, but I can still feel her spine and is obviously underweight.

Haha, I'm thinking I need to start bargain hunting. I know Tip wouldn't mind changing it up every so often. She gets bored of certain flavors quick. So I imagine the novelty of Friskies is wearing off with how she acts about it.
 
If you bring a calculator with you to a pet food store, you'll often find that the really big cans of the premium cat foods (e.g., Wellness) end up costing the same or even less per ounce than brands such as Fancy Feast. I don't know how that would compare with Friskies.
 
I'll definitely have to bring a calculator. Also discussed diet with my vet over the phone today, linked me to low carb foods, but also wanted to run a few questionable ones by everyone here to see if they're really under 10% carbs or not. It's funny, she mentioned at the very end that there's prescription food if I want to use it, but that it's expensive. Anyways, the foods I found questionable was:
Friskies Fine Cuts with Chicken in Gravy, I know things in gravy are typically loaded with carbs, but are there some that aren't?
Friskies Fine Cuts with Ocean Whitefish and Tuna in Sauce, does the same apply here as gravies?
Friskies Senior Pacific Salmon Dinner in Sauce
Friskies Senior Savory & Beef Dinner in Gravy(same thing as above for both)

And....in general, how good is 9-lives? Lastly....what's the difference between things lie pate, fine cuts, shredded, flaked, ground, etc.?
 
Sayania said:
Tip is only about 9lbs 8oz right now, which is better from what she was, but I can still feel her spine and is obviously underweight.

Haha, I'm thinking I need to start bargain hunting. I know Tip wouldn't mind changing it up every so often. She gets bored of certain flavors quick. So I imagine the novelty of Friskies is wearing off with how she acts about it.
Click to expand...

Friskies pates are higher in carbs than the FF Classics, so I rotate between brands and flavors, constantly. My cats don't get bored eating the same food over and over again, and I try to have better control over Pumbaa, depending on if I give him lower-carbed FF Classics or higher-carbed Friskies. (We're talking about a difference of 4% to 8% here.)

Some of us have been trying to update the nutritional values of cat foods, and, while this is a huge and ongoing project, you might be interested in this link. Look at the far right "updated" column to see if the information was recently updated.

Finding the perfect, affordable food is a challenge, that is for sure!

Suze
 
I did not know that. Currently I'm stuck on Friskies Pate for Tip since I wasn't very smart and bought A TON of them. But when I go to the pet stores for other things for the other pets, I'll definitely keep pricing out things for Tip. Yeah, it's very challenging. I've looked at the link before, but it's definitely worth another look. But, say, within a brand, is there much difference between flaked, pate, etc.?
 
Sometimes yes, sometimes no... chunky varieties of Fancy Feast will have wheat gluten whereas pate style don't. They have to use the gluten to hold the "chunks" together. Shredded type foods generally tend to have a sauce or gravy that might be high in carbs.
 
Within a brand, there can be huge differences in the carb contents, as well as the protein and fat contents.

Suze
 
Huh! I'll definitely keep all this stuff in mind then when I need to get more food and while pricing things out. Thank you so much. :)
 
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