Cat food?

[kaika_dragon]

After extensive research into the world of cat food, I have decided on the only (as far as I can tell) good quality, balanced, cat food that is not RIDICULOUSLY expensive.  However, it is still not cheap.  So this has brought up a few questions:
1.  Is it possible to get canned food cheap in bulk from most manufacturers?  I mean more than just flats.  Our cats will be going through about 950 ounces a month, put together...
2.  Is there any kind of rating system for cat food?  I seem to remember Spectrum saying that dog food has a star system... what would that be like for cats?  The closest I could find is this.  http://catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods

If anyone can answer this, I would appreciate it a lot.

[Roxie]

I know nothing about cat nutrition!  I always fed 9 Lives, and my daughter feeds a Diamond product. I give canned food a few times a month. My cats were always indoor - outdoor cats.

Roxie

[state_of_nowhere]

I know a lot about cat foods. What do you need to know? There is this website: http://catfoodreviews.com/

But it's not as extensive as the dog food one. You should try google searching "reviews" for the food you are considering.

Despite the claim that 100% wet diet is the best, Tigger gets dry in the AM and wet at night. I want him to be comfortable with dry food in case there's an emergency, etc. Feeding the same food all the time to a cat can be problematic because they can develop "addictions" to very specific bags and brands.

Tigger stopped doing well on some of the dry foods that had rice (such as Halo), so he is strictly grain free now. He gets about 1/4 cup of dry in the AM with canned pumpkin (right now he's eating Orijen in the AM) and about 3oz of canned at night. The canned food varies. I just put an order in for Evo (Cat and Kitten canned), Evo (duck), and Tiki Cat (mostly fish based, just a few cans because it really is his favorite).

I also put an order in for dry Taste of the Wild and Go! Natural. I like to rotate the foods out every few weeks.

He also gets about 1/2 pump of Salmon Oil on the wet food at night. He recently has had some issues with constipation, but for awhile I had gravitated away from the canned food at night due to cost.

ETA: Why are you feeding so much food? Do you have multiple cats? Which canned food are you referencing?

[kaika_dragon]

Thank you for the link, State.  And no, I do not have a mountain lion or something- I have 4 very large cats.  We are currently using Wellness for two of the cats, and are trying to switch the other two over.  I am not really worried about their willingness to eat dry food in an emergency, as the boys will eat ANYTHING (and I mean, they'll even eat tortilla chips!) and the girls are both reforming dry food addicts.  EVO actually looked pretty good, but I've heard it is kinda high on phosphorous.  The two brands that seem to be better than Wellness and EVO are Nature's Variety and Merrick, both of which are prohibitively expensive.  But, yeah, we use A LOT of cat food each month. 

[Magesteff]

Hobbes has had a canned and kibble diet all her life. I free feed the kibble. Spike, because he has renal disease, I now feed the cats Hills prescription K/D kibble (Hobbes is 14 and takes prednisone so I expect her to have kidney issues in the future and the Vet said it would not hurt her to eat it), and a can of friskies (purina brand) with the glucosamine/chondroitin they need for arthritis mixed in. For some reason the cats don't like the canned K/D (Hobbes has never liked any of the Prescription diet canned for some reason). Since Spike's kindley enzymes were in the normal level last time with this feeding routine, I'll stick with it for a while.

Hobbes has always been in the normal weight range for her size so I'm not too worried about her food at this point. Spike is underweight, but I think that is because of the renal issue and because he is 21-22 years old.

[state_of_nowhere]

I've used Merrick (dry) before with good success. Didn't like Nature's Variety.

You really don't need to worry about the phosphorus unless the cat has dx kidney issues. The amount is on the higher end, but the higher end of what is allowed. Also, not all of the EVO canned foods are that high.

[kaika_dragon]

Yeah, but the 95% ones that are lower in Phosphorous are also kinda on the fatty end.  The original does actually seem to be cheaper than Wellness, and has a slightly better protein/fat/carb ratio, and the ingredients look okay.  If the phosphorous is not normally a problem, then I'll try to convince my family to switch, cuz it is a LOT cheaper!  (14.4 cents an ounce vs. 17-18 cents an ounce for Wellness).  I am still curious if you can buy food in large quantities!

[state_of_nowhere]

You can order online in bulk. I just ordered several 13 oz cans yesterday. Cat food, once opened, can only keep for 3 or 4 days in the fridge and it needs to be in a tupperware or similar container - never store it in the can. I don't know how large the cans possibly come.

[kaika_dragon]

I meant how to order many cans at once- I think 13 oz is as big as they come, and we'd need maybe 2 a day of those.  I never keep it in the fridge more than just overnight.  What I'm trying to figure out is the cheapest way to get, say, 60 of the 13oz cans at a time would be.

[Magesteff]

Check with different suppliers. Some of them may have a special on shipping (i.e. order $50 + items and get free shipping), just check the websites to see which ones might have it.

Sometimes if you are ordering in bulk, the stores in your area may order it for you - you wouldn't pay shipping as it is going to the store, and the store gets credit for a big sale.

[kaika_dragon]

Only one store in my area sells EVO, and they charge $5 a can.  I KNOW that is overpriced!  So I think it is ordering online for me...

[Spectrum]

I don't know nearly as much about cat nutrition as I do dog nutrition. But I do know cats are obligate carnivores (they MUST eat meat), so the more meat content a food has, the better. Just as with dogs, grain-free is better than food with grains.

My cats eat Taste of the Wild (grain-free) or 4Health (not grain-free) cat food. I've considered Diamond Naturals but it only comes in a HUGE bag and would either go stale or my mom would overfeed them even more than she already does.  Taste of the Wild is BY FAR their favorite food. I haven't tried the new formula with them though (the one in a brown bag...the one in a greed bag they absolutely love).

[kaika_dragon]

We recently switched our cats to wet food, because apparently the higher moisture content is good for them.  Also, a lot of cats overeat less on wet food, whether they are free fed or not.  I actually did consider TOTW, but they only make one canned food, and it is fish flavored (which my cats HATE).  I think the most helpful website I have found about cat nutrition is this, btw: http://www.catinfo.org/  The author is a bit opinionated, and I take some of what she says with a grain of salt, but it's still very helpful.

[Spectrum]

If I switched mine to wet food they'd put themselves into liver failure from not eating. They will not TOUCH wet food. Weirdos. Every cat we've had before would kill for wet food lol

[kaika_dragon]

Yeah... of our kitties, 2 (the boys) will eat ANYTHING, 1 girl actually likes wet a LOT better, but my mom's cat was a SERIOUS kibble addict.  We had to start putting kibble on top of wet, and slowly phase out the kibble until she decided to eat that strange stuff in her bowl.  Forti-flora helped, too.  Apparently it smells like really tasty kibble to cats.  Course, the girls will still only eat trashy wet food (maybe one TS of wellness mixed with fancy feast)    but we're working on that.