What do you feed your cats?

[Lastyearsmodel]

Our 4 cats have always had tinned food with dry biscuit, plus scraps and treats and the odd tin of fish. They've never been fussy until now...

They stayed with my MIL while we were away recently and were fed on minced chicken because that's what MIL's dogs get. They came back all glossy and healthy and now they're getting sniffy about tinned food. And although tinned food is getting ridiculously expensive, buying them fresh meat has got to be ludicrously pricey, right?

So what do you feed your cats without risking bankrupcy?

Real chicken- twice a week
Tinned sardines- once a week

Tinned food-rest of the week

She also has bits of ham once or twice a week and biscuits every day.

Iams Nature's Wellness dry food. A pouch of wet food if I'm feeling prepapred to deal with the fall out.

tesco dry food during the day
Tesco's own single pouches at teatime.

A slice of chicken once or twice a week

We are all economising in this house. Except the hamster

Spoilt bastard

Ah, but hamsters have to cram the high life into their short time. Damn cats are so long-lived (2 of ours are 11, the other 2 are 12).

Ours do love pouches but surely it's the same stuff as in the tins for twice the price? I'm convinced mine share that 'it's better cos it's from a packet' thing that the kids have.

And should I be giving them that biscuit for older cats, or is that a load of hooey too?

mine had some leftover pate and prawns this morning because i had run out of cat food

my cat likes tesco own pouches in jelly

but she loves felix good as it looks pouches, and as she is 12 she is getting it more and more as i feel like spoling her..

and go cat biscuits

dry biscuits in the morning & a pouch of food for tea. She rarely eats all the pouch though

Oh so meaty and Oh so fishy. Very expensive but looks so good I have been tempted to put it on toast as mackerel pate.That would save money. Thankfully things are not that bad just yet.

i think pouches for 4 cats would be mega expensive
have you got a cash and carry place you could buy in bulk from?

have you tried to mix posh food with cheap food?

Mine gets lidl tinned food and lidl dry food. He likes pouches, but i dont like him enough to get them for him

2 pouches a day plus a constant supply of dry food. He also shares whatever i'm eating if he fancies some

I've never had a cat before. And the one we have was 4 when we adopted him. His owner fed him these Whiskers chicken pouches. Basically little dry pellets. He gets water obviously. I tried giving him tuna but he barfed every time. Occasionally he eats a bit of chicken. But mostly he just wants these darn pellets.

Can cat live on dry food alone?

Cod

yes the pellets will be fine to live on
i think if i ever get a different cat that would be the way i would go

ours likes tesco pouches too. about the cheapest. and sainsburys own cat biscuits.

once or twice a week she will have a value tin of tuna or pilchards. maybe a few leftovers from dinner (fish fingers, chicken or sausages and gravy )
i tried her on the tins and still she keeps turning her nose up...but i will persevere!

Thanks everyone. Cheekysealion - mixing cheapo and posh a good idea, although I wouldn't put it past one of ours to pick the good stuff out. Our cash and carry surprisingly doesn't work out that much cheaper once you add the VAT on.

TheDullWitch - I know dogs can suffer on dry food alone but cats are apparently OK as long as they have plenty of water down for them.

I have three - one needs renal food, so he's on royal canin pouches and biscuits, one is 11 weeks old so kitten food, felix kitten pouches and James Wellbeleoved biscuits, one is 'normal' so felix pouches and ordinary Hills biscuits. Chaos.

Ordinarily I would just feed felix pouches or tins (ordinary ones not the good as it looks stuff) and good quality biscuits so hills or iams.

Price wise - do you have a farm supply shop near you? That is cheapest I find.