Good quality cat food which is not carzy expensive. Does it exist?

[Fluffyandsilly]

When we got our FIV boy a couple of months ago the rescue place had been feeding him on Whiskas pouches and Iams dry food, so we did the same initially while he settled in and figured I'd see what the vet recommended.

Our vet said combination wet and dry feeding was fine, that the Iams biscuits weren't too bad, so to keep those, but she recommended moving him to a higher meat content, better quality wet food, she mentioned a few, like Applaws and Lilys kitchen etc. (she said Whiskas is equivalent to eating Mcdonalds every day, not great nutritionally).

I decided to transition him onto a better wet food as suggested but was a bit surprised at the prices. He's not a small cat, at 5.3kg now he's put a bit of weight on, and the cost of some of these options for a cat his size would have been quite pricey.
After a lot of research I bought him Bozita chunks form Zooplus. It works out a similar price to Whiskas pouches at 58p a day. These:
www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/bozita/1006252

We feed him quarter of a pack at breakfast, and a quarter at tea time, with 15-20g biscuits in a puzzle feeder in between and the same just before we go to bed. He seems to enjoy the Bozita, but doesn't always gobble it all down like he did the Whiskas. He seems to graze on it a bit more. We put that down to it being a bigger portion and it being more filling.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when a friend gave me some Untamed brand cat food which his fussy cat would not eat.
Our cat freaking loved it. He woolfed it down. Now he keeps running if he hears us opening a tin. The food really looks lovely, I'm not surprised he loves it!
However, it costs 69p for one portion. So £1.38 a day. I just don't think I'm prepared to spend £41.40 a month instead of the £17.40 a month the Bozita costs. But I do feel like I might be being a terrible cat mum.

I'm wondering if there is an option somewhere in the middle?!
What do you feed your kitties wise cat ladies of Mumsnet?

Ours is very keen on the Feringa pure meat tins. One small tin a day - can’t remember exactly how much but I’m guessing it works out at about 90p per day. We give him wet only as dry food (even the grain free) seems to have an unfortunately explosive effect on his digestion.

The greedy devil comes flying into the room as soon as he hears his bowl rattling and always wolfs it in seconds, although to be honest he’d probably do the same to a bowl of sawdust as he really will eat anything if it’s left in striking distance...

I’d never heard of Bozita, are the cartons recyclable?

@Youdontknowwhatyoureonabout

I’d never heard of Bozita, are the cartons recyclable?

My council recycles tetrapaks so yours might; if food cartons and milk cartons go into your recycling.

Thanks @jaundicedoutlook
That could be a good shout! Zooplus has it, and it would work out at 83p a day if we gave him two 100g meals.
I might buy a trial pack and see if he prefers it to the Bozita.

@NeverDropYourMoonCup they do! Thanks, I couldn’t quite make out from the picture I saw if it was that type of carton.

And yes, the Bozita cartons are recycled by some councils, which was another reason for us trying it.

My cats are mad for feringa too. Might be worth a go?

@jaundicedoutlook The feeding guide for Feringa says 2-3 per day for a 3-4kg cat, how small is your cat? It looks quite sloppy on the picture, is it? My cat prefers jelly rather than gravy, is it more gravy like would you say?

The Overlords have particular favourites in Bozita. They really like prawn, shrimp, salmon, cod/all the fishy ones and the lighter meat ones like rabbit and chicken more than the elk and reindeer. They also prefer the gravies to the jellies.

We usually buy gourmet gold for our cat but she does also love Waitrose own trays which are £1.70 for 6 trays. We free feed kibble and she has one tray at dinner time.

[quote Youdontknowwhatyoureonabout]@jaundicedoutlook The feeding guide for Feringa says 2-3 per day for a 3-4kg cat, how small is your cat? It looks quite sloppy on the picture, is it? My cat prefers jelly rather than gravy, is it more gravy like would you say?[/quote]
This one:

www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/feringa_wet_cat_food/984183

4 kg indoor sterilised cat = 200g

Should have added, it’s a pretty firm meaty texture - you have to break it up with a fork or similar

My very fussy rescue has settled on Webbox wet cat food, it's the gravy one rather than jelly and he loves it. I've tried every brand going and paid varying amounts. He eats every last bit and it actually comes out of the stupid pouch thing really easily. Circa £3.50 for 12
He's less fussy about dry food and happily munches away on GoCat dry food.

Interesting @NeverDropYourMoonCup I might order some of the mackerel and shrimp Bozita for my cat to try, as well as a trial of Feringa.
He seemed to really like the fishy flavours of Whiskas when we were feeding him that for a few weeks.

I would experiment with the grain-free food on Zooplus. My fussy brood are currently enjoying Rosie’s Kitchen which seems to be a copy of Lily’s but is cheaper. They love Applaws dry food so I give them both.

@jaundicedoutlook oh I hadn’t noticed the feeding guide! Looks like we would need to feed him less off the Feringa than the 180ish grams of Bozita we give him a day if we’re still going to give him dried food.
It’s more complicated than you might think isn’t it? I feel like I have researched cat food for hours since I got him.

I have 3 middle-aged cats and they are satisfied with the basic Felix pouches in jelly. I did try various things like Bozita from zooplus, but there was a lot of waste.
They didn’t much like Felix tins either.
They only like the fishy ones, so I get the boxes of 40 pouches which are c £10 at various places; 25p per pouch and they have 3-4 a day between them.
They also have Royal Canin vet care neutered young female biscuits, even though they’re no longer “young”, and one is male , but vet says it’s fine.
They’re all fit and healthy and maintain a good weight so we’re all happy

Butcher's Classic from the supermarkets is grain free as is one of the Lidl ones - branded as Catessy from ZooPlus. We use those in combination with Feringa tins. I also like the Feringa dried food.

Our 9 month old just had dry royal cabin active now. We've tried him on all sorts including wet food but he has quite a sensitive stomach so this is the best we normally give 40g in the morning and 20 at night

Thanks for the link @jaundicedoutlook I could only see those tiny little square ones!
That looks a better option.

Just said good bye to our darling old Ginger boy, he was 19 and had lived most of his life on the Tesco own brand pouches and the occasional rodent,

I feed Animonda Carny as the tins are recyclable. Cats go nuts for it and you only need to feed a tiny amount as it's solid meat - none of this multiple pouches a day malarkey. They preferred it to Feringa.

Did used to feed Bozita but had one picky cat who just licked the gravy off the chunks.

They have a mix of wet and dry with Purizon making up the rest.

The classic cat food is grain free & gluten free. Mine love it after swapping from felix doubly delicious. You can get a variety pack of 24 tins for about 11.00 from larger home bargains stores & it just about lasts mine the month.

We sometimes give 'the lady of the house' cooked chicken as a treat. It works out cheaper than Applaws/Lily's etc.

@Temp023

Just said good bye to our darling old Ginger boy, he was 19 and had lived most of his life on the Tesco own brand pouches and the occasional rodent,