Expensive vs Inexpensive Cat Foods

Joined
Aug 16, 2019
Messages
1,245
I've been feeding my 2 indoor cats Purina Indoor Advantage dry food which is one of Purina's better dry cat foods, plus giving them Friskies and Fancy Feast canned food often, then I started feeling bad about the Friskies canned food and concerned about carageenan, which is often added to canned cat food pate to help add texture. They say it can lead to health problems and possibly GI tract lesions and cancer. So I went to PetsMart and bought some more expensive canned foods, and already they seem to be getting bored with it and they seem to want their kibble and lower tier canned foods back. And the funny thing is that many vets highly approve of anything made by Purina.
I talked to someone who had two cats that died last year, one was 19 and one was 20, and she said she fed them Friskies and Fancy Feast.
The world seems to be full of people who had cats live to be 15-20 years or more on lower tier brands of food such as Friskies, Purina, Meow Mix, Fancy Feast, etc. And Friskies canned foods in sauce or gravy have no carageenan in it, so I can avoid carageenan without resorting to more costly foods they don't like as much.
I actually think Purina anything is a good brand to stick with because they say Purina spends the most on R&D and testing and have the lowest recall rates.

I just want to feed them a food they will gladly eat over a food that costs 2-3x more that they have little to no interest in.
And brands like Blue Buffalo claim to have no soy, corn, or wheat in their foods but I've heard it said that most cats do OK with these ingredients, and have heard vets tell me that grain free foods are not a good idea for most cats.
 
Last edited:
Be careful when reading about carrageenan and other similar thickeners (guar gum) because there's food grade and non-food grade. Cat food contains the food grade and the negative press relates to non-food grade.

IIRC Fancy Feast is known as being one of the higher quality cat foods at an unbeatable price. I feed mine Merricks Limited Ingredient Turkey mixed with a high protein dry food.

I've only fed my guys very low carb cat food. I've fed them raw as well as freeze dried and always a mixture of wet/dry.

I know there's a lot of talk about IBS/IBD/Cancer. Some studies suggest a high qualify wet food or raw diet will reduce the likelihood of it occurring. My own experience is mixed and I think it's breeding. I had a Main Coon and a Himalayan (not my cat originally) who both had IBD/IBS respectively. They were fed a low carb dry food and later on a hydrolyzed(SP?) prescription dry. I spent a better part of two years taking care of the Main Coon with steroids (Pred) but at age 17 he was worse for wear and I had to put him down. At that time I swore I would not feed my cats only 1 food their entire lives.

Two new Main Coons and we fed them a steady rotation of the wet/dry w/raw (Nature's Variety Instinct). This food had NO carrageenan, guar gum, etc. The thickener is clay. We mixed proteins almost daily and they were doing great until around age 7 when one developed stomach problems. We now having them on Turkey/Chicken and I spent some $$ to have a food sensitivity test. The problem child didn't express a sensitivity for any of the proteins he had been previously eating.

On other thing. Domestic feral cats have a lifespan of around 2 yrs w/out the help of humans. Cats have not evolved to live 20 yrs of age although the routinely do because of human intervention with regards to food, safety, and medical care. So I don't think it's healthy to worry about whether or not the food you choose to feed a cat is going to give him cancer at age 17.
 
Some cats can only eat the wet food, one of my cat has officially entered the older cat category and can't really chew the dry.

We used to give kitty the Friskies Shreds about exclusively, kitty went through a phase of finicky eating (she still is like that, somewhat,) but she regained her health thankfully and now has quite the appetite! For a long time, Kitty's liquids were in the form of the gravy in the wet food.

Somewhere along the way, ( probably when someone else did the shopping for the cat food not me and got a different brand) it was discovered that my older cat will suck down the cheap food like a Hoover vacuum cleaner the same as the other food. This was not always the case, but I feel the food is giving her the nutrition for her body to do what it needs to do, she doesn't have all her teeth anymore. Some cats just don't have the best dental health. And kitty mouthwash is not really a thing.. they drink water, they lick their lips, they groom and lick their paw and take care of it themselves.

There is the dry food, as well, but it is the cheaper dry food that may not be the best thing, sort of like an all day sugar coma buffet for the cats. They prefer the wet but a balanced diet is supposed to be a blend of the two for them. Again, older cat cant really chew dry food, thankfully we discovered best feeding routine.

They love cold water, finicky cat still drinks less but again, the gravy in the wet food.

To answer the thread.. Friskies Shreds. Ocean Whitefish, Beef, Chicken N gravy.. also the Filets were a close second. Not really a fan of the Pate. Some varieties come in a 48 pack more readily available than per can on the shelf.
 
I tend to buy very high grade kibble (not something you'll find at a grocery store) and cheaper wet foods because the latter are just supplements.
 
I've seen too many warnings re Fancy brands. Feed 'em the Friskes and what they like. Keep the water fresh, love them, and play with them. .02
 
On our farm with 80,000 chickens, the wild cats ate mice and whatever else they could get their paws on. We never fed them. They usually died trying to read the letters on the license plates when they were 12 to 15 years old and their eyes got bad. The guard dogs would eat Purina dog food, the only stuff available then and they would live sheltered outside 24/7 for 10 to 12 years unless their chain would break. None of them ever died early from what they were fed.
 
Real quick, I do believe it is every pet owner's worst nightmare if their pet (in this case, cats) stops eating, or no longer shows an interest in eating food. This indicates illness/that something is wrong.

I think when they find a food they like, make it a routine, these are our best friends.
 
I've been feeding my 2 indoor cats Purina Indoor Advantage dry food which is one of Purina's better dry cat foods, plus giving them Friskies and Fancy Feast canned food often, then I started feeling bad about the Friskies canned food and concerned about carageenan, which is often added to canned cat food pate to help add texture. They say it can lead to health problems and possibly GI tract lesions and cancer. So I went to PetsMart and bought some more expensive canned foods, and already they seem to be getting bored with it and they seem to want their kibble and lower tier canned foods back. And the funny thing is that many vets highly approve of anything made by Purina.
I talked to someone who had two cats that died last year, one was 19 and one was 20, and she said she fed them Friskies and Fancy Feast.
The world seems to be full of people who had cats live to be 15-20 years or more on lower tier brands of food such as Friskies, Purina, Meow Mix, Fancy Feast, etc. And Friskies canned foods in sauce or gravy have no carageenan in it, so I can avoid carageenan without resorting to more costly foods they don't like as much.
I actually think Purina anything is a good brand to stick with because they say Purina spends the most on R&D and testing and have the lowest recall rates.

I just want to feed them a food they will gladly eat over a food that costs 2-3x more that they have little to no interest in.
And brands like Blue Buffalo claim to have no soy, corn, or wheat in their foods but I've heard it said that most cats do OK with these ingredients, and have heard vets tell me that grain free foods are not a good idea for most cats.
Would you consider cooking for your cats?

If so, I have some suggestions.

Ed
 
I've been feeding my 2 indoor cats Purina Indoor Advantage dry food which is one of Purina's better dry cat foods, plus giving them Friskies and Fancy Feast canned food often, then I started feeling bad about the Friskies canned food and concerned about carageenan, which is often added to canned cat food pate to help add texture. They say it can lead to health problems and possibly GI tract lesions and cancer. So I went to PetsMart and bought some more expensive canned foods, and already they seem to be getting bored with it and they seem to want their kibble and lower tier canned foods back. And the funny thing is that many vets highly approve of anything made by Purina.
I talked to someone who had two cats that died last year, one was 19 and one was 20, and she said she fed them Friskies and Fancy Feast.
The world seems to be full of people who had cats live to be 15-20 years or more on lower tier brands of food such as Friskies, Purina, Meow Mix, Fancy Feast, etc. And Friskies canned foods in sauce or gravy have no carageenan in it, so I can avoid carageenan without resorting to more costly foods they don't like as much.
I actually think Purina anything is a good brand to stick with because they say Purina spends the most on R&D and testing and have the lowest recall rates.

I just want to feed them a food they will gladly eat over a food that costs 2-3x more that they have little to no interest in.
And brands like Blue Buffalo claim to have no soy, corn, or wheat in their foods but I've heard it said that most cats do OK with these ingredients, and have heard vets tell me that grain free foods are not a good idea for most cats.
I don't have a great answer here. I feed my dogs expensive dog food. I tried expensive cat food for my cats and they either wouldn't eat it or picked around it. Our final cat was on Purina One dry and a healthy amount of Friskies treats (man, she loved those things, used to buy them bulk!). She passed away last year at 21 years old.

For wet food, we would mix in inexpensive wet foods on occasion. To be honest, there seem to be a direct, inverse correlation with the cost of the food and how much she liked to eat it...
 
Would you consider cooking for your cats?

If so, I have some suggestions.

Ed
Thank you for the offer but I guess I prefer to feed them Purina brands of wet and dry cat foods.
I used to feed them raw and it got to be a hassle when they would refuse to eat so I drifted back to canned, and now with both dry and canned.
If I cooked their food I'm afraid I'd get back to them turning their noses up at their food again.
 
Cheaper cat foods are loaded with grain and wheat gluten - as well as “prescription” foods. While there are reports of dogs getting myocarditis on grain-free diets, cats thrive from grain-free, due to the fact they are obligate carnivores. That said, we had a cat who did fine on Purely Fancy Feast, Nulo and Chicken Soup brand.

Also, the pet food industry is very consolidated. If it’s not Nestle(Purina), Mars(Pedigree/Whiskas/Sheba/Cesar/Iams/Nutro) or Big Heart Brands(Meow Mix/Kibbles and Bits and the former Del Monte pet food business), it’s from Diamond Foods(who supplies Costco and the “premium” brands at pet food stores) or a handful of private label makers.
 
Cheaper cat foods are loaded with grain and wheat gluten - as well as “prescription” foods. While there are reports of dogs getting myocarditis on grain-free diets, cats thrive from grain-free, due to the fact they are obligate carnivores. That said, we had a cat who did fine on Purely Fancy Feast, Nulo and Chicken Soup brand.

Also, the pet food industry is very consolidated. If it’s not Nestle(Purina), Mars(Pedigree/Whiskas/Sheba/Cesar/Iams/Nutro) or Big Heart Brands(Meow Mix/Kibbles and Bits and the former Del Monte pet food business), it’s from Diamond Foods(who supplies Costco and the “premium” brands at pet food stores) or a handful of private label makers.

The one main report about that, IMO, is very suspicious. It specifically listed quite a few brands, not just "grain-free" foods. Huge brands like Purina, Pedigree, Iams/Eukanuba, Royal Canin etc were not listed. That seems peculiar.

The study was also only 500 dogs if I remember correctly, and further research points to it not even having to do with lack of grain, but a lack of taurine instead.
 
Back
Top