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 lot have 50/50 wet and dry Applaws dry and I don’t know what wet just now 80% meat grain free stuff was Applaws but they went off that. They prefer fish flavours too.

They came here on Whiskas and their litter trays stank, much better once they were on a better cat food.

I do keep meaning to try animonda but they are fish freaks

When I got my kitties I did lots of research. I decided they were only going to have dry food mainly as I lived on a boat and didn’t want to use all my water tank up scrubbing cat bowls.

I read that cats have trouble digesting grain, it gives Male cats UTIs. Also that cats need high protein, low carb, but lots of brands will add cheap carbs to cat food.

I feed them Applaws 70% protein dry food. Grain free. They have been in perfect health for the past 6 years. I’ve switched to similar but pricier brands like Orijen and Purizon but they hang out by the feeder like crack addicts with those and get fat.

I’m fairly sure Applaws is more expensive than Royal Canine or Hills if you’re buying in bulk online but it’s much cheaper than buying those in the supermarket. It’s about £12 a kilo in store but £4,50 a kilo if you buy 15 kilos Much cheaper than buying from the supermarket/Petsmart.

Ours has Royal Canin, but once she's an adult I'm planning to buy Acana, is grain free and has 70% meat and 30% vegetables and that's it. Pricy but to me it's worth it

I don’t know about cat food but my family has two dogs. The younger one eats hills (I think?) and the older dog has Lily’s kitchen dog food. The one who eats Lily’s kitchen seems to have a stronger immune system and gets ill less easily than the other dog. For example, YD (young dog) has been with the family for two years and has had to rush to the vets for an emergency appointment twice - the first time was almost definitely because of something he’d eaten. He also has diarrhoea more often than OD and is sick more easily. Despite our best efforts and watchful eyes, older dog has the unfortunate tendency to eat all sorts of muck when he’s out - grass, seaweed, fox poo, bird poo, sweeties, bits of crisps and biscuits on the ground, and he’ll chew chewing gum, cake wrappers, sandwich packets etc etc. (We live near a school and there’s always plenty of rubbish on the ground 😡 he does spit most of the wrappers etc out luckily!) Despite his bad habits and having had him for over five years, I can only think of a couple occasions when he’s been ill. I was discussing this with a relative recently, and we do think it’s due to the difference in diets. I’d definitely recommend Lily’s kitchen as a brand - grain free, organic options, fairly high meat content, veg and herbs, packed full of vitamins and good stuff. If I got another dog in future I’d 100% choose that brand again

Silky cat, who would like to be a fat cat, gets fed her Purizon in a slow feeder.

fetch.co.uk/catch-interactive-cat-feeder-toy-294042011

Keeps her entertained and gives us (and Old Lady Cat) some peace and quiet for longer. Otherwise she just inhales it.

For recycling reasons I have bought hundreds, nay thousands, of tins over the years. Pouches were treats. My wet food eaters would only eat certain tins out of the pack. Turkey yes, chicken no. This fish yes, that one no. I would try cheap, middle or, for my purse, expensive. She liked jelly, he liked gravy. The waste bothered me. Barely touched bowls. Charity donations have done well over the years!
This week, and I hardly dare say this, I have found one product they both eat and FINISH.

Sheba Fine Flakes in jelly, poultry pouches.
There! I have jinxed it now!
On special offer, 40 pouches, £12.
I buy Purina One Turkey sensitive biccy, wonderful for glossy soft fur. Again, large pack, only on special offer. And Whiskas with chicken pockets so they all have a 2nd choice.
I am not happy about the non recycled pouches, but OMG the novelty of clean bowls

And now, thanks to you guys, i've also ordered a trial bag of Orijin Cat and Kitten This one is from VioVets.

So ... in a few days we'll see if madame prefers Orijin or Applaws. (at the mo. on PurinaOne)

I switched recently to an online one "Blink" which he fell on like a starving beast. It did reduce the puking he is prone to, so I ordered a big box. He took one sniff and stalked off indignantly.
He eats Purina biscuits and whatever wet food we currently dont have in! Bastard!

We got our cat at age 2/3 from the RSPCA they were feeding her on a decent brand so we bought that for continuity. Having had other cats before, I could tell the difference in her coat compared to theirs. I wouldn't now go back to a lesser brand and buy the recommended brand from our local pet shop now.

I used to use Royal Canin Persian which was great. But cheddar is very sensitive so we use Iams vitality which has stopped her vomiting.

@willowmelangell

For recycling reasons I have bought hundreds, nay thousands, of tins over the years. Pouches were treats. My wet food eaters would only eat certain tins out of the pack. Turkey yes, chicken no. This fish yes, that one no. I would try cheap, middle or, for my purse, expensive. She liked jelly, he liked gravy. The waste bothered me. Barely touched bowls. Charity donations have done well over the years! This week, and I hardly dare say this, I have found one product they both eat and FINISH. Sheba Fine Flakes in jelly, poultry pouches. There! I have jinxed it now! On special offer, 40 pouches, £12. I buy Purina One Turkey sensitive biccy, wonderful for glossy soft fur. Again, large pack, only on special offer. And Whiskas with chicken pockets so they all have a 2nd choice. I am not happy about the non recycled pouches, but OMG the novelty of clean bowls

Sherba fine flakes also comes in foil trays which as long as you wash them you can recycle

www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/sheba-tender-pieces-cat-food-with-salmon-in-jelly-85g

Probably works out more expensive but often there are offers.

Mine are on Orijen, which is around £58 a bag. They get through one a month as I have three cats. They're on Applaws, Lily's Kitchen and Encore for wet food. They're in good health and rarely have any dental issues.

Zooplus is good for dry cat foods too

Having just crawled out from my google rabbit hole i found that Zooplus has had a fall out with whoever produces Orijin and Acana* so you can't buy those particular from them right now.

Amazon and VoiVet do them.

No, it’s a cat, not a fucking Masterchef judge.

Defo never had a cat

My two cats [from Cats Protection as kittens] will ONLY eat Lidl cheapie pouches!!!!
They had Felix in CP but we swapped to Lidl as it was cheaper and now they don't like anything else. I used to buy a 'posher' one if I saw it on offer but they both turn their noses up.
I'm not complaining!

@Laiste

Having just crawled out from my google rabbit hole i found that Zooplus has had a fall out with whoever produces Orijin and Acana* so you can't buy those particular from them right now.

Amazon and VoiVet do them.

That will be why they have suggestions for other foods like purizon and yarrah!

dementedpixie yep.

I read the reviews for Purizon and a lot of them weren't good for one of the flavors tbh. Tales (tails?) of cats tummies getting upset on it.

I tell you my head hurts from researching bloomin' dry cat food this afternoon

@dementedma

I switched recently to an online one "Blink" which he fell on like a starving beast. It did reduce the puking he is prone to, so I ordered a big box. He took one sniff and stalked off indignantly. He eats Purina biscuits and whatever wet food we currently dont have in! Bastard!

I bought Blink from Tesco last year.

Of course he wouldn't eat it if you bought a big box.

One other thing I have learned is that they will always lick up every scrap of something new and wait for you to buy a bulk order of it before deciding it isn't what they fancy. Hence rotating types.

@willowmelangell I'm sure I read somewhere that you can recycle the pouches. They need to be washed and posted somewhere for recycling.

I once had a girl who would only eat Go Cat Salmon biscuits. They're so cheap I never thought they could be that good for her and was forever buying her posher ones to try but she would look at me as if I was absolutely stupid and refuse to even try them. She ignored all human food unless we were having a Chinese takeaway and then she would go batty trying to get some! She was a lovely silly thing.

@willowmelangell

Recycling

I tried every fancy food going with my two cats, as one of them had allergies. Eventually had to accept that the only wet food they will touch with a barge pole is the Gourmet brand. They like the pouches with gravy and the savoury cake. Nothing else will do! Your cat will let you know what they like, just try a few!

My fussy cat will only eat gravy, no fish and no duck. She hates all the supermarket own brands and doesn’t like Felix or Whiskas.

She likes Gourmet Pearle or whatever it’s called but she prefers the even more expensive ones like HiLife. And only tinned food never pouches.

Once upon time I was a member of cat group (fanatics more likely) but to the point.
I learnt that cat shouldn't have dry food whatsoever only wet food.
And ideal wet food shouldn't have any cereal in it as cats cant digest it.

Anyway on my cat 's journey she used to eat dry Whiskas and 1 wet food pouch and she was extremely fussy.

these days she's only on wet pouches but from Lidl or Aldi and she's doing very well And my cat is almost 6 now.