wet food advice

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kim and simon

kim and simon

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Hi everyone,
I'm pretty new at this! We are doing pretty well so far. I've been working with Binky's list. Although I would like to feed Wellness or EVO, it isn't going to be practical for the long term. I have two cats to feed this way as the non-diabetic cat is also overweight and I see the wisdom of switching her to wet also.
We've tried various Friskies, Fancy feast, and 9 lives that are below 10%, mostly below 7%, carbs. The cats are happy to eat any of them.

Here's my question--how do I know which of the cheaper varieties are good--even if they're not top quality organic/natural? What is the deal with phosphorus? My cats don't have any other known health problems, but I'd like to still give them the healthiest shot. I guess that even cheap wet food seems better than the expensive dry food I had been feeding. I haven't really fed lower-end food before, but I can't feed $4-6 dollars a day of cat food to my cats. The insulin and vet visits are already a bit of a stretch!

Thanks in advance!
 
Better food tends to have muscle and some organ meets first, then animal by-products. That also corresponds with the price.

Cats are obligate carnivores (meet eaters, mainly) so add-ins of corn, wheat, rice, soy, carrot, spinach, etc. are unnecessary and are added to convince you that food you would eat is good for your cat too. Fooh!
 
Kim:

If you look at the price per ounce on the largest size cans of Wellness (12.5oz), it breaks down to pretty much the same price as Fancy Feast. Since you're feeding 2 cats, using the largest size cans may end up being economical.

Also, if you purchase on-line, often the sites like PetFood Direct, will offer a 15% discount for setting up an auto-ship order in addition to whatever their current price is. Right now, on this website, FF is 22 cents/oz vs. 19 cents/ounce for Wellness.
 
Great job on changing your kitties diet!!
I feed my cats the less expensive foods (mine don't like the expensive ones, which is kinda good cause I can't afford it) I look for ones that have higher protein % on binkys list (usually 38 or higher) with the exeption of a couple flavors that they really like that I give them once in a while, I also stick to flavors that are 7% carbs or less.
Mine really like the Sophisticat supreme flavors(petsmart brand) but someone on hear did say they are not gonna be carrying it anymore :sad:
 
kimhigg said:
What is the deal with phosphorus?
Click to expand...

Phosphorus isn't that much of a concern except with senior kitties (over the age of 12). Kidney disease is extremely common in older cats, so the idea is that feeding a higher quality protein/low phosphorus food will help preserve their kidneys and prevent kidney disease.

Foods with byproducts tend to be higher in phosphorus. Again, this isn't really a concern unless you have a senior kitty. You're right that cheap canned food with byproducts is healthier than the expensive dry foods.

If you do want to feed a premium food because your cat is older, check out the websites for Wellness or EVO--they have a store finder link on their pages. My locally owned pet food store sells both in the large 12-13oz cans, and which are actually cheaper per oz than Fancy feast.
 
If dollars in the wallet are an issue, and for some of us that is the case, the Wal-mart Special Kitty and PetSmart's Sophisticat are the cheapest in my area. I limit the selections to the under 10 carbs from Binky's list, and buy the 13 oz. cans when possible (a bit extra bang for the buck for multiple cats). (Prices for me range from .70 to .76 a 13 oz. can = $1.40-$1.52 a day for two cans to feed two cats.)
 
squeem3 said:
Don't forget to use this food chart :smile: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8...MzhkYTkxOGM4NThk&sort=name&layout=list&num=50
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention the updated chart! IF phosphorus is a concern, please use this updated food list and NOT Binky's chart for phosphorus values. While the carb values tend to not change much over time, the phosphorus values can change radically. There are many foods on Binky's list that used to have good phosphorus levels that you would never want to feed a senior cat now (e.g. EVO 95% Venison and Nature's Variety Instinct Venison).
 
My kitty is 12, so I guess I will add phosphorus to the list of things to watch!! @-)
The price on Wellness is pretty great right now at petfooddirect, so I will get a couple of cans locally to make sure they eat it and then order some boxes!
 
Hi Kim, you just linked me to this from my post. It's so good to hear how quick your baby showed improvement. Both my cats have been on dry food their entire lives and it makes me feel guilty. I'm going to grab a few cans of anything I can find listed above just to get them going before the big appointment. (only Junior is a sugar baby, putting the other on the same schedule)

Anybody use Trader Joe's cat food? It's 39 cents a can...

I'll post ya anything new I learn as well.

Laura
 
We don't have a Trader Joe's yet, though I read in the paper that we're getting one soon :razz:

Simon's doing great. I was lucky to have a vet that put me on the right track before I knew what to do! Then I found this board and that has been even more helpful. It's a bit overwhelming right now as I have three young children, a wonderful DH deserves better than the last bits of attention ;-) a second cat and a Labrador who runs away when the kids leave the door open. Sigh.

My prayer is that if I do a really good job up front we can get Simon in remission.

My cats were on dry their whole lives as well and I feel bad about it. When (my husband says if, but I say when) I get a kitten again someday we'll start out on wet.
 
When (my husband says if, but I say when) I get a kitten again someday we'll start out on wet.
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lol, your husband doesn't stand a chance!

Oh, and nobody should feel bad about feeding dry the whole time.
If Bob hadn't gotten diabetes, my two would still be eating it. Who knew? We all bought into the convenience, the ease of leaving the food out all day so they could free feed, it didn't stink, was easy to clean up, and we all believed they "needed" dry to maintain healthy teeth. I wish I'd seen Dr. Lisa's page on how bad dry food is years ago...

Carl
 
When I switched over-weight civvie Gustav, 17 years old, over to low carb diabetes m/d dry food a year ago, he lost all his excessive weight. So switching to a low carb dry food is good for chubby civvies too. They get fat from all the carbs.
 
Seriously! My kitties were on Hill's W/D which says low fat/diabetic/gastrointestinal on it. Are you kidding me? I don't know why they weren't on M/D like yours. My vet is actually great and knew about the diabetes protocol and all, but his associate had put us on that food and we just kept using it. I am kicking myself.
I can only find about 3 dry foods on the list that are close to acceptable. I am currently feeding Simon and civvie Molly the same wet food. They both like it better, I think!
 
Just stopping by to say welcome to FDMB. I too have guilt everyday from feeding Baxter what I thought was "the very best dry food on the market". Boy was I so uneducated until I got the vet phone call on Nov 12, 2010. My vet gave me M/D in the beginning. Baxter won't eat it. For the last 2 months I have been struggling with food. I am in the early stages to going to raw diet.

Good Luck!!
Jenn & Baxter

By the way I am from Dallas. I still have family there & miss it everyday. Also, looks like our cats are the same. Baxter is Chocolate Himalayan.
 
I'm sure Simon has some himalayan or siamese in him. He has booties like a snowshoe also. Who knows. . .he could be the real deal or part real deal, but I think he has some Heinz 57 also!! He came to me as a stray that my aunt, a vet, had taken in at her clinic. She said he had the funniest personality and asked me if I wanted a cat! I was a grad student at the time and he was my first kid in my apartment on my own.
 
kimhigg said:
Seriously! My kitties were on Hill's W/D which says low fat/diabetic/gastrointestinal on it. Are you kidding me? I don't know why they weren't on M/D like yours. My vet is actually great and knew about the diabetes protocol and all, but his associate had put us on that food and we just kept using it. I am kicking myself.
I can only find about 3 dry foods on the list that are close to acceptable. I am currently feeding Simon and civvie Molly the same wet food. They both like it better, I think!
Click to expand...


Yes, I am serious :-)

Good that they both like wet food better then dry food.


Chubby civvie Gustav was chubby before Simba got diabetes, and in 2003 the vet signed him in to the hospital's weight loss program. He was then ordered to eat r/d dry food but didn't lose any weight from that. He was also a high kidney creatinin cat since his young days, so he was also ordered to eat k/d dry food. Both the k/d and r/d are high carb dry foods.

Then Simba got diabetes in 2006 and he was ordered to eat m/d, and I gave him m/d dry food. After a few months Simba went into remission. But it didn't last for long and by fall 2007 the diabetes was back, and this time another vet at the same hospital said Simba should eat the w/d too. But that is also a high carb dry food. And when Simba was eating the w/d, I couldn't regulate his blood glucose, it required 6 U twice a day on w/d to get any regulation. I eventually changed Simba over to m/d, both wet and dry, it only requires 2 U twice daily in insulin, but was causious about Gustav eating from it since it had higher protein and I was afraid that would worsen Gustav's kidney problems. But then in January last year 2011, at age 16, I put Gustav on the low carb m/d dry food too, and within the year Gustav had lost all his chubby weight, finally, and had normalized his high cholesterol and even normalized his kidney creatinin values. The low carbs did the trick for both Simba and Gustav.
 
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