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?

My cats eat royal canine oral care biscuits - they have eaten them for ages. Expensive if you went to pets at home but if you buy in bulk from somewhere like zooplus it's way cheaper. They will also only eat gourmet gold pate. Again cheaper in bulk!

I used to give my cat lidls own dry food but switched to purina this year. Can't say if it has made a huge difference health wise.

She used to get wet food but went completely off it years ago so I stopped giving her it. Occasionally will buy a posh cat dish of pate or meat as a treat for her.

Wet food stinks and I don't think it really fill them up.

@StCharlotte

My one cat has started being sick after Dreamies. Are these known for being bad for them?

No but you shouldn't give them many - 18 a day max I think? And less for kittens.

Thanks. She was only having half a dozen but I limited to three. She seems to have a more sensitive tum (half breed, half moggy) than my tabby.

Have now ordered some of the biscuits mentioned upthread from Zooplus.

@ChronicallyCurious fellow ragdoll owner :)

Mine started life on royal canin. Just never seemed very excited by it though. I know a lot of breeders swear by it.

I moved them on the pruinaOne dry food and they love that. I use the indoor cat one which reduces hair balls. Good for long/fluffy hair.

As for wet food - well breeder always said don't feed it - but i decided to give them wet and dry and started out on Felix with jelly. Was fine - but then i began buying the Purina gourmet gold tins and/or the purina gourmet mini pouches and my goodness!! The difference in their coats!! Softer, thicker, whiter. It's worth the small amount extra money for the better food i think. Ours are 10 yrs old now. Very fit and fine looking.

Good quality cat foods are 100% worth it. My daughter was using Whiskas kitten until she was told it was only 4% meat. I don’t have cats of my own but with my dogs i feed either a complete raw food or a dry food which is 80% meat 20% veg with no grains.

Whiskas is not only 4% meat. It has more meat than that but in order to say its chicken (for example) then it needs to contain a minimum of 4% of that meat.

Our cats have royal canine biscuits which they have always adored. Wet food brands we buy on zooplus, eg. applaws, almo nature, Schesir. They have lovely glossy coats and so far have had no health issues at 7 years old. I was also told by the vet that feeding them whiskas was essentially giving them a diet of McDonald's. For something reason they have always turned their noses up at royal canine wet food though, which I think is what the vet recommended!

Royal canin isn't that great given its price. It contains rice and grains usually and less meat than other brands

@dementedpixie Waitrose own cat food has 14% meat which my cats like

Animonda Carny - it stinks. Absolutely stinks. But in cat world this is a bonus.

It's also an old style cat food - no chunks, jelly etc, you have to mash it up a bit with a fork. This is great for one of our cats who has a tendency to just lick off the jelly and ignore chunks.

We like that you can recycle the tins. And that the tins are small.

Other downsides - sometimes there are identifiable offaly bits like tubes. We pretend we can't see these.

Have had Feringa and Bozita in the past but Animonda has been the winner in popularity. Although I did buy some Schesir once when trying to get elderly cat to eat - she thought she had gone to heaven.

Ours don’t like fancy food (much to my disappointment!) and only really like the cheap foods with Felix and Gourmet patês being their favourites

My cat will only eat felix fish soups.She just licks the gravy and leaves the chunks!

@schubertdibdab

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

Unless they have a medical reason for needing the expensive stuff glares at gluten intolerant DTwatCat

Then they'd happily sell their your soul for a pouch of Felix and some Iams.

@dementedpixie

Royal canin isn't that great given its price. It contains rice and grains usually and less meat than other brands

We tried all the premium dry brands, it"s the only one they'll eat. And the vet's happy.

After losing our last two cats very quickly after having dental ops (coincidence I'm sure ), I will do my utmost to avoid these two needing any dental work).

@RainyDaze4

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...

I now feed my two a mix of three royal canin biscuits - hairball for the fluffy one, appetite control for the sleek one without an off button, and dental for both. Plus gourmet pouches (one between them daily) for extra water like a pp said.

Hairball care has stopped my fluffy one from vomiting hairballs four times a day - means I have some interesting poo to take out of the litter tray but she seems much happier pooing it rather than throwing it up.

Means I spend £90 a pop buying 4kg of each dry food but lasts me three months for two cats so doesn't seem horrific cost wise.

(that's royal canin hairball care!)

My cat has royal canin digestive care and it’s been great. He was having a lot of problems with soft, messy poo and sickness and he’s a ragdoll so has long hair which wasn’t fun to clean up!! The royal canin has made a massive difference, I’d tried other sensitive food beforehand but didn’t make any difference. His poo doesn’t really smell that much either now.

My cat eats up to five sachets of the felix fish soups a day along with her biscuits it costs me a fortune!

Cheap cat food made my Tiger-Lily fat.
So it's back to Applaws, Lily's Kitchen and cooked chicken for her.

Oh, and Royal Canin Bengal dry food.

@StCharlotte

My one cat has started being sick after Dreamies. Are these known for being bad for them?

No but you shouldn't give them many - 18 a day max I think? And less for kittens.

Bloody hell, better hope none of my lot see this thread, I tell them they've had enough after about half a dozen and they only get them once or twice a week or if they need bribing into the cat basket.

If they think there's other cats getting 18 a day, they'll feel even more hard done by.

My cats will eat most cat food, unless I buy in bulk, at which point they will turn their noses up

@Ilovegreentomatoes

My cat eats up to five sachets of the felix fish soups a day along with her biscuits it costs me a fortune!

5?!?! Ours have one in the morning, and one in the evening each

My pain in the backside elderly ex-street moggie will only eat Sheba wet food. Gravy, not jelly. Fish flavours, not meat.

We tried him on loads of expensive wet and dry foods as he was losing weight and the vets did loads of bloody expensive tests. Turns out he puts on weight and perks up when you feed him exactly what he demands. Little bugger 🙄

I'm not fussed about fancy flavours etc, but I will only buy grain free, no sugar, high protein content wet food, be warned though my cat now would rather starve than look twice at gourmet/Felix etc...