Affordable grain-free cat food recommendations for a hungry rescue cat

[Verbena91]

I've got another thread going about my hungry new cat, but thought I'd ask about food brands. We have a new rescue cat who is hungry. The centre told us to feel 2 x whiskas pouches per day and also 20g Purina kibble. I know these brands are padded out with grains and filler which isn't good for kitty and also makes her poos smellier.

We have experimented with Untamed which she loved, but the cans provide less calories and so we would actually need 3 a day. They are already really pricey and so this gets pretty expensive.

I asked AI and it recommended some Scandinavian brands like Bonita and Animonda which are meaty without fillers / grains but come in larger bulk tins, so therefore work out cheaper. I don't want to commit to buying a box full without finding out more.

Has anyone used those brands or others? Can anyone suggest or recommend a good balance for our new cat, which is more healthy than what the rescue centre suggested but also won't cost a frightening amount each month? Thank you!

I currently use Harrington's. It's grain-free, high meat / protein content and very affordable when compared with other brands. Agatha eats it without complaint. I thought she might get bored, as there's only 1 flavour, but she doesn't seem to care.

I also use Harringtons for wet, mine prefer the meat in gravy pouches (chicken, turkey, beef & lamb flavour) but you can get those ion jelly as well plus an all poultry selection, an all fish selection or a mix of fish & meat.

I also use HiLife. Bit more expensive and slightly smaller pouches (70g rather than 85), but good quality - they have this in the tuna for breakfast & the Harringtons for supper.

@ShoutyCatSlave just saw you said only one flavour? The wet comes in a good selection (see above) and even the dry comes in either salmon or chicken. If your normal place to go for cat food doesn't do them all, you can order direct from Harringtons.

untamed, it seems more expensive buying online is cheaper and they need so much less than the cheap food so end up paying about the same my girls share half a tin in the morning and 1/2 tin at night and 1 table spoon of the dry every afternoon.

edit… ignore me just seen you have said you’ve tried untamed 🙄

Another vote for Harringtons.

We buy it in bulk direct from the company.

Ahhhh. Thanks. 👍. Agatha will only eat the jelly ones. I tend to get it on my Amazon subscribe & save (it's an extra 15% off). It may be my penny-pinching which reduces my choice.... I will check to see what else is on offer!

I tried Animonda but it upset my two’s stomachs. I switched to Scrumbles which really suits them

We found JamesWellBeloved does an affordable grain free. Otherwise the sky is the limit on fancy food. We now use Smilla and other exorbitant hypoallergenic diabetic foods. I'd do something decent but not completely top of the line if the cat is young.

The 'As good as it looks' range from Felix is grain free. Not as high meat content as the other brands suggested on here but could be a good intermediate step if cat is used to Whiskas.

We buy a sack of purizon dry food and it lasts at least 6 months. The sack is £44ish it's good quality and then I don't obsess if cat has not so good wet food. Currently on morrisons mouse tins.

Amazon's own brand do a good grain free dry and wet food (pouch, pate and cans) variety and are exceptionally good value.

Scrumbles for dry food.
Butchers for wet food.
You can usually buy taster packs of some of the European brands from Zooplus.

Every ingredient in commercial uk cat food has a function. Purina are not ‘padding out’ their food.

Smelly poos can happen with all sorts of food, completely depends on the cat. Obviously if whiskas gives your cats bad poos then don’t use it 🤷🏻‍♀️ but please don’t spread misinformation about pet food.

My cat gets tummy upsets if he has anything with grain, but is also the fussiest bugger going and refused every one of the grain free wet foods we tried. High meat, grain free dried food goes down well though, and he gets a licky treat a day and water fountain to keep him hydrated.

We get two giant bags in diferent flavours and alternate between them. Lasts about 6 months.
https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/wild_freedom/adult/649067?activeVariant=649067.8

Works out good value to buy in bulk, though I'd recommend getting a smaller pack first to make sure yours eats it before committing to 6.5kg.

Amazon do one. My cats were on it for ages.

Thank you this is helpful. We are going to try the Harrington’s to begin with.

We get bozita in bulk from zooplus. The Cat Beast is very happy on it.

We use James Wellbeloved grain free dry food. Wet food we use Felix As Good As It Looks - it’s the only one my fussy cats will eat despite trying every expensive, high quality brand going!

This is how we arrived at Felix, I swear we tried every one of the popular recommended high-quality ones on Zooplus but Dcat wasn't having any of it!

Another vote for Amazon. My cats love the dry and pouches and it’s reasonably priced.

My kitten goes from one fave to another. We're currently on Pets at home seriously good after being on Scrumbles for a fair while.