Do I put my cat back on the expensive cat food?

[Novatherova]

Hi I currently have one female pedigree cat who is 2. She is the light of my life who I love very much.

She was on Royal Canin Intense Beauty wet and dry food which was £13.50 for 12 pouches and then the dry when I ran out.

Due to cost of living Pets at Home put Price up to £16.49 for 12. My DP asked me to change the food due to how expensive.

I put her on Purina One and then Purina Mon Petit. For 48 pouches it was £18 on another website.

Since changing her coat has gone downhill and she now also has dandruff. Her fur looks shabby and I feel v guilty.

I want to put her back on Royal Canin. I also pay fee 22 per month to vets for all consultations, flea, vacs etc plus 17 for insurance. So it all adds up.

I pay it all out my wages. If I put her back on Royal Canin I won't be able to adopt a cat.

Wedding and baby on the way so I need to minimise costs. But I can't justify cutting her food that makes her healthy. When she was on it she glowed.

But my DP is adamant. I will ignore him and do what I want as I say its my money. But want other opinions??

You can get a saved pack here cheaper if you look at the price per kg
https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cannedcatfoodpouches/royalcanincatfood/royalcaninadult/133237?variantid=133237.9&gbraid=0AAAAAD9Xn6V3legWye83na7ZRRecoOzd&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiLODkL2JgIVSu3tCh01oQ3pEAQYAiABEgInmPD_BwE

However it's not great food due to the meat content. The other option you could do is feed a higher meat content food and add a bit of salmon oil for the omega content

You could feed this and salmon oil for about the same price

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cannedcatfoodpouches/scrumbles/1175014?zootopiarec=true&cn=initial&si=3&pn=webpdp&pr=container2&strategy=18113207&rk=1-2&slot=1&pi=1175014&rri=9aa761e1-49da-456c-9d98-16dad8e83e07

This is even cheaper with a high meat content

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cannedcatfoodpouches/feringawetcatfood/feringa_pouches/519350?origin=hopps&q=feringa&i=8&ro=1&ct=Cat%7CWet%20Cat%20Food

Add some dry which has salmon oil in it

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/drycatfood/rosies_farm/1569109

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/drycatfood/crave/dry/718037

Use Quidco for cash back and buy the saver packs in bulk then you get free delivery too

Royal Canin is awful cat/dog food.

Do some research and find a better alternative.

@Rebel2 has given some really good advice/alternatives.

£22 a month for flea and vaccination is expensive. Get the vet to write a prescription (usually less than £15 per annual prescription) and order the good prescription flea stuff online, it's less than £40 a year for advocate for example. if you go to vets for pets they do vaccination for life, it's £100 but it covers them for annual vaccination forever.
Make those changes and you can afford the expensive food and still have change.

But also yes, I wouldn't feed royal canin my cat preferred something with higher meat content

You might want to look into Purina. It's made by nestle who also make Felix.
There has been a lot of coverage re Felix making cats unwell.
Personally I've never had a problem with it, but I know people who have.
Pets at home do a cat food which is high in protein (40% compared to 4% protein in Purina/whiskers etc). I think it's called Bakers, not sure. Orange label. A lot cheaper than RC so might be worth switching?

My very fussy cat has crave dry food and the occasional pouch of Purina. He is only a short haired moggy but his coat is beautifully soft and shiny.
I spent ages looking for high meat/low crap food and Crave came out as one o the best. I get it from Zooplus

If I put her back on Royal Canin I won't be able to adopt a cat that's ok though as you have a cat and also a baby and a wedding on the way. If it's coming out of your money then it's like if he's spending some of his money on a hobby only with a family member. If he's like this with your cat will he be like it with your kid too? Doesn't matter what the kid eats just make it cheap? That sort of thing?

This! Look at the ingredients of royal canin, it’s full of rubbish and cheap bulkers! You could find a cheaper alternative with much better ingredients

Thanks very much. Where do I order the advocate? My cat is an indoor cat that just goes in the garden. I still flea and worm.

Have a look at katkin food

Try Scrumbles dry food - our cats shine like a star on that. Royal Canin isn’t that great in my opinion.

Thanks so much for this. I will look into it.

Would you ever just put a cat on a dry food diet?

I'm really considering buying and cooking chicken breasts (which she loves) as her main meals.

I've read about aplaws etc and scares me.

Thank you will look.

Fab thanks so much.

@Novatherova I always used the animed website, it's well known you might get it a little cheaper elsewhere but I preferred knowing I was ordering from somewhere reputable.
Beloved cat sadly died last year, he was the light of my life and the first man I lived with 😁. We will be adopting another cat in the summer after we've been away and intend to use the same approach. Previous cat was born with a serious heart condition and we were told he would do well if he made 5, he made it to 16. The day before he died he was still jumping the six foot garden fence and his coat was thick and glossy. The vet always commented that his bloods and scans didn't match the cat she saw in front of her.

I feed Purizon from Zooplus, it compares to Canegan which is much more expensive.

I think he was just having a moan. But he doesn't look at the ingredients etc.

I get what you mean about the hobby. He's going football next week. I'd rather pay for her to be healthy and go without food myself as dramatic as that sounds.

I've felt like rubbish for weeks now over it. And it's made worse by the decline in her coat.

So basically looking for something with high meat content.

So sorry for your loss xxxx

What's wrong with Applaws?

Thank you will look at that too.

There was big news story last year making cats very ill. Sainsburys and pets at home stopped selling it. All sorted now though apparently. Google it.

Would you ever just put a cat on a dry food diet?

I'm really considering buying and cooking chicken breasts (which she loves) as her main meals.

We did this to start with, the vet suggested we buy taurine and add it to her chicken to ensure she got enough. It can cause heart problems if they don't get enough essential nutrients like taurine. We got fed up doing it though, it's far easier to buy tins of proper food. Our cat gets Greenwoods and Encore.

It's best for cats to have a combination of wet and dry food as a large amount of the fluid they need comes from food, so wet foods naturally helps with that.

My Persian has Applaws (or similar quality, high protein, no filler dry food) and then just raw chicken or game mince or poached chicken etc. The wet food is more of a treat as his dry food is a complete food. A 3kg bag of high quality food lasts at least a couple of months because they get full faster, than with the cheap stuff.

It's also a much cheaper way to feed the cat - as I can buy human grade meat on special for him.

His fur is lovely on that - I've found their fur gets dry on foods with fillers. If I ever buy supermarket wet food (Whiskas et ) as a treat, I soon regret it as he will immediately get a bad stomach. Not sure if that speaks to the quality of it!

@Novatherova Katkin, pure meat. £66 gets 28 pouches (400grams each) for about 56 days worth of food! My cat's fur really improved when I started her on it, as did her health. I have a link for 50% off your first box link if you are interested, dm me.

If you make your own you need to give the right balance of meat, organs and raw bones. I would look into feeding a raw diet. Either prepared or homemade.

Thrive is good too and can be bought cheaper from Zooplus. Because it is pure meat you don't need to feed as much. My cat is fine on two of the small tins a day and he is a big pedigree.

Salmon or krill oil are also great for their coats.