Are fancy cat foods worth the money?

[RainyDaze4]

My kitten is nearly old enough to start eating ‘Adult’ food so am thinking about which brand/type to start feeding her as there’s obviously so much choice.

I’m not interested in raw food etc. I’m talking about your normal cat food you can buy in pet shops and supermarkets but even so, I’m bombarded with all the usual Whiskas, Felix, then you’ve got Sheba, Gourmet, Lily’s Kitchen and on to the fanciest looking ones like Royal Canin, Hills, James something etc.

I’m sure there’ll be some people waxing lyrical about how rubbish Whiskas and Felix is but my kitten has thrived on these normal brands!

Does buying a fancy cat food brand make a difference or are they all the same really?

What do you feed your cat?

Our cat ( female aged 7 ) will only way the gourmet brand wet food. So prefers the savoury cake tin , but will sometimes eat the pouches. Never jelly , has to be gravy.
With her dried food it's Royal Canin , always savior exigente, as it has different shapes and apparently some cats prefer it

Cats will invariably enjoy only the most expensive food you give them.

Mine eats Felix and is a thriving ten year old. Ones before that both lived to 15+ healthily on Felix. I know the expensive cat food is meant to be ‘better’ and people will tell you Whiskas/Felix are full of ‘rubbish’ but I haven’t actually seen the evidence for that in my house.

I got mine on kitekat, then they discontinued it. I've swapped them to lidl's own. I'd start them on a brand that you can easily get. Mine will have Tesco's own in gravy, but they've got to be really hungry to eat the duck.

Mine never liked whiskers, or fancy flavour combinations.

Research ingredients, I've found with rabbit nuggets and my dog's food , the most expensive isn't necessarily the best.

The almost 3 year old has felix in the extra gravy. We've gone through a few different brands with the little fusspot and that seems to be the winner so far (although now I've said that she's going to start refusing to eat it isn't she!)

5 month old kitten has had a myriad of digestive problems with each brand of wet food we have tried so is now just on applaws complete biscuits. They are one of the more expensive brands but it's worth it for her to not have the problems!

My friend's cat is 21 and up until recently used to thrive on aldi pouches. She now has renal issues so is on a veterinary diet.

My daughter feeds royal canin and that is a good diet, it is expensive though.

Back when i had cats it was whiskas or whiskas.

We tried with ours but they will only eat Felix as good as it looks, won't touch the cheaper one! I buy them Applaws biscuits though to make up for it. I'd prefer them to eat Sainsbury's own grain free but they won't touch that either.

I have always gone the fancy biscuits, cheap wet food route. I buy super posh high meat content biscuits online (Zooplus) - a huge sack that doesn’t work out that expensive in bulk (having tried sample packs to make sure they like it) and supplement with a small amount of normal wet food (half pouch a day) to make sure they get extra water in. My cats have the most beautiful sleek shiny fur which I think reflects their overall health pretty well. Well that and no health complaints!

Whiskas gives all my cats the chronic farts. Felix is ok and they mainly have that for wet food. We have Royal canin dry food, which they all like and is needed for one who has a sensitive stomach. I'd use the RC wet food too but with multiple cats it's just far too expensive.

Fancy, no. Quality ingredients, yes. I am buying continental European (but unknown here) cat food from the online retailer and it is a fraction of the price of lily's kitchen with better content.

Cats are fussy buggers, I’d feed them whatever they’ll eat I have tried the “better” foods from Zooplus, and guess what mine all eat consistently now? Sheba in gravy. It’s the only thing they’ll eat. There’s little different in the quality of supermarket food, the vast majority are basically identical. Ones off the top of my head that have a higher meat content are Lily’s Kitchen and HiLife but I’m not convinced it makes any difference!

I feed encore and thrive dry as they have a high meat content with no grains. They get a mix of wet food - gourmet, sheba, encore, etc. They have dry down all the time and wet a couple of times a day which adds up to about a pouch each

Mine only likes trash. I even bought her organic free range treats and she didnt like them.

I've got a good compromise with her now: she eats trash kibble but also an organic soup every day

You need to remember that cats are obligate carnivores, which means they should eat meat and only meat. The cheaper brands of cat food have a much higher ratio of non meat things like cereals in them, which give bulk and tends to smelly poos but little or no nutritional value. Another advantage in the more pricey brands, at least for dry, is that you can get food that's more suitable for the lifestyle of your own cat e.g. mine are indoor only, and have a lower energy formula.

I feed high quality dry and Felix AGAIL wet, so they get the mix of comparatively cheap and high nutrition. They are always praised by the vet at their annual MoT on their superb condition

All my cats have eaten purina one and lived to at least 18. Which a mid-range food.

Our cat for years had tesco/asda/aldi own biscuits but went off it and we realised she was losing her teeth - she is very old. So we switched her to wet food, again tesco/asda own brand but she then went off it again so we started buying felix soups and extra gravy and she manages a few of the chunks most mostly the sauce. We then got another cat and gave her biscuits and i noticed our cat having a nibble. So she will eat biscuits she is just a fussy bugger.
I think now though that I don't like tesco/asda value food so why would my cat. At the moment Morrisons do a box of 40 felix extra gravy for £10 which seems good value

This is really useful, thank you!

I am thinking stick with the Felix which she likes but invest in some more expensive dry food - she is long haired so I am keen to get one that helps with hair balls (unless that’s just advertising!!) - I’ve seen Royal Canin do one...

My two will eat literally any type of cat food I put down for them. They are outdoor cats so also catch their own food. They are in perfect health. Every health check they have the vet is always pleased with how healthy they are.

I’m not as bothered by the brand as I am about the content. I only feed my cats grain-free and no added sugar foods. Look for as high a meat content as you can.
I figure I try to feed myself & my family a nutritious diet that’s not trash, and my cats are a part of my family, so why wouldn’t I do the same for them?

Mine have gone right off Felix and Whiskas wet food. I'm not sure they are keen on Go Cat or Whiskas dry. Wondering if I replace that with a fancy brand that my older cat won't seem hungry all the time.

They now eat the Perle wet pouches or Encore wet food.

There’s a brand called butchers choice (I think that’s the name!) which is available in supermarkets, cheap, and pretty good quality. You want to look for something with high meat content and zero grains in it.
My kitten wouldn’t eat whiskas, which I’m quite pleased about because the stink of it when I opened the pouch nearly knocked me unconscious. Much worse than the smell of what came out the other end!

Agree with a PP that the Sainsbury’s own brand is good. My cat just kicks all the jelly off it though and leaves the chunks of meat😤

People saying about researching ingredients - is the main thing meat content really?

And yes Whiskas does absolutely stink!!!

@RainyDaze4 yes that's the main thing for cricketkitten. She seems to be intolerant of anything that's high cereal and grain. Felix and whiskers if you look on the back of the box the chicken ones are 4% chicken!!! The applaws she is on now is grain free and 80% chicken.