Good food doesn't have to be expensive! [OPEN]

[Moth Feathers]

DeeSpark

Henrika

Good idea. I added it to the first post, using Henrika's example of 1 cup of Orijen vs 1 1/2 cup of a worse food.

Henrika; I'm slowly adding the kcal/cup to each food, per Latran's request, so do you think that would be adequate?

[Ici Chiot]

Merrick has a couple of other brands/formulas that are pretty good.

Dogs: Before Grain Salmon 25.3lb (dry formula) - $52.49 at Petco
Salmon Deboned, Chicken Meal, Potato Dehydrated, Turkey Meal, Chicken Fat(preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Vitamin E), Sweet Potato Dehydrated, Natural Chicken & Pork Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Yeast Culture, Blueberry Dried, Organic Alfalfa, Salt, Sodium Phosphate, Salmon Oil, Choline Chloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Zinc Amino Acid Complex,Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Rosemary Extract, Dried Lactobacillus Plantarum fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Casei fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

Cats: Before Grain Chicken 11.1 lb (dry formula) - $24.71 at Petco
Chicken Deboned, Chicken Meal, Potato Dehydrated, Turkey Meal, Chicken Fat(preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Vitamin E), Sweet Potato Dehydrated, Natural Chicken & Pork Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Yeast Culture, Blueberry Dried, Organic Alfalfa, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Salmon Oil, Choline Chloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Rosemary Extract, Dried Lactobacillus Plantarum fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Casei fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

[o m g tainbait]

blue buffalo has gone to s**t (having multiple recalls and poor customer service relating to the recalls and just in general) and evo was bought by iams

i dont trust either company anymore.

granted they are better than the others, i think they may come out as a teeny bit more expensive with the price jacking and all..

edit:
you also should put up fromm and solid gold.
if you'd like i wouldn't mind figuring out the prices for dehydrated raw per pound/serving/equivalent of a cup

[Kammykidd]

Hurro loves :3

I just adopted a cat, picked him up today! They gave me a free bag of food, and I also got a free sample bag of food from another pet store. I was wondering if you guys could give me some input on which brand is better?

Pet Smart gave me Purina Pro Plan; Pet Valu gave me Performatrin Ultra. Both are dry kibble-types.

I haven't owned a cat on my own before, and I know there is an importance in wet food? Could someone enlighten me on that?

Thank you! ^_____^

[Vegeta_Lover239]

nikkitina12345

White Top xD ahahah Im so random smile

You don't know the MEANING of the word "random," dearie. You've never met me. Now please, PLEASE stop spamming. ><

ANYWAY...awesome thread! 8D

[Moth Feathers]

o m g tain

blue buffalo has gone to s**t (having multiple recalls and poor customer service relating to the recalls and just in general) and evo was bought by iams

i dont trust either company anymore.

granted they are better than the others, i think they may come out as a teeny bit more expensive with the price jacking and all..

edit:
you also should put up fromm and solid gold.
if you'd like i wouldn't mind figuring out the prices for dehydrated raw per pound/serving/equivalent of a cup

Fromm and Solid Gold were put up.

Sure, go ahead! I'd love for you to. Calculate it all and I'll post it. If you're able to, doing both dog and cat would be nice, as well as doing multiple brands.

[o m g tainbait]

Kammykidd

Hurro loves :3

I just adopted a cat, picked him up today! They gave me a free bag of food, and I also got a free sample bag of food from another pet store. I was wondering if you guys could give me some input on which brand is better?

Pet Smart gave me Purina Pro Plan; Pet Valu gave me Performatrin Ultra. Both are dry kibble-types.

I haven't owned a cat on my own before, and I know there is an importance in wet food? Could someone enlighten me on that?

Thank you! ^_____^

personally i wouldn't use either, heh. but if you must, google should let you know. i've never heard of performatrin, but i'd let my pets eat me before purina.

the importance in wet food is that it has more protein and moisture, cat's urine is very acidic and they dont drink too often.. even in the wild.most of their moisture is from their prey.
the water helps break down urinary crystals and keeps the cat hydrated.
if your cat EVER develops urinary crystals, the vet will try to push a prescription diet on you, don't fall for it. soaking dry food in water works just as well, but some cats can't get used to the texture or might like it warm.

but tbh you could probably feed your cat an egg every other day with dry food and it could yield good effects.

before i fed raw, we gave our cats whiskas, which there is a HUGE noticeable difference. but idk if going from purina to orijen has the same dramatic changes or anything.

edit:
also, cats are strictly carnivores, nothing omnivore about them.
wet food doesnt have a ton of starches and fillers to dry it out, thats why its wet.
however that can be false depending on the brand. but most of the time in canned food the top ingredient is meat.

[Moth Feathers]

Ici Chiot

Merrick has a couple of other brands/formulas that are pretty good.

Dogs: Before Grain Salmon 25.3lb (dry formula) - $52.49 at Petco
Salmon Deboned, Chicken Meal, Potato Dehydrated, Turkey Meal, Chicken Fat(preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Vitamin E), Sweet Potato Dehydrated, Natural Chicken & Pork Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Yeast Culture, Blueberry Dried, Organic Alfalfa, Salt, Sodium Phosphate, Salmon Oil, Choline Chloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Zinc Amino Acid Complex,Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Rosemary Extract, Dried Lactobacillus Plantarum fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Casei fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

Cats: Before Grain Chicken 11.1 lb (dry formula) - $24.71 at Petco
Chicken Deboned, Chicken Meal, Potato Dehydrated, Turkey Meal, Chicken Fat(preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Vitamin E), Sweet Potato Dehydrated, Natural Chicken & Pork Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Yeast Culture, Blueberry Dried, Organic Alfalfa, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Salmon Oil, Choline Chloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Rosemary Extract, Dried Lactobacillus Plantarum fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Casei fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

Added!
Thanks for including prices and weight, by the way. ^^ Saves me time.

[Moth Feathers]

Kammykidd

Hurro loves :3

I just adopted a cat, picked him up today! They gave me a free bag of food, and I also got a free sample bag of food from another pet store. I was wondering if you guys could give me some input on which brand is better?

Pet Smart gave me Purina Pro Plan; Pet Valu gave me Performatrin Ultra. Both are dry kibble-types.

I haven't owned a cat on my own before, and I know there is an importance in wet food? Could someone enlighten me on that?

Thank you! ^_____^

Ehh, like someone else said, I really don't like either brand.

As far as wet food goes, cats are animals that evolved in the desert. Consequently, they are adapted to getting nearly all their moisture from their food (and also have several ways of conserving moisture, like concentrating their urine). They also have a poor thirst drive...aka, they don't feel as strong of an urge to thirst as we do.

Dry food is very desiccating (moisture around 10 percent) with a cat's natural prey being around 75-78. As a result cats frequently end up with urinary tract problems among other sad things because of sub-clinical dehydration.

The solution is to feed at least one wet meal a day. It could be raw, canned, dry with water added, whichever, but they need wet food. Providing a water fountain also helps increase water consumption.

[Kammykidd]

o m g tain

personally i wouldn't use either, heh. but if you must, google should let you know. i've never heard of performatrin, but i'd let my pets eat me before purina.

the importance in wet food is that it has more protein and moisture, cat's urine is very acidic and they dont drink too often.. even in the wild.most of their moisture is from their pray.
the water helps break down urinary crystals and keeps the cat hydrated.
if your cat EVER develops urinary crystals, the vet will try to push a prescription diet on you, don't fall for it. soaking dry food in water works just as well, but some cats can't get used to the texture or might like it warm.

but tbh you could probably feed your cat an egg every other day with dry food and it could yield good effects.

before i fed raw, we gave our cats whiskas, which there is a HUGE noticeable difference. but idk if going from purina to orijen has the same dramatic changes or anything.

I think that Pro Plan was what they were feeding my boy before I got him, so I think that I'm going to let him eat it until he settles in at my house. Then, once he feels comfortable, I'm going to mix it with a better brand until it's gone (it isn't a very big bag). I'm not too sure what to do with the Performatrin stuff... I may let him try it, and if he likes it, I'll give him pieces as treats? Not too sure.

When you say feed an egg with dry food, you mean crack a raw egg into the dry food, mix 'er up and feed it to him? Also, typically it is suggested that I feed him twice a day, correct?

[Mistress of Rain]

o m g tain

blue buffalo has gone to s**t (having multiple recalls and poor customer service relating to the recalls and just in general) and evo was bought by iams

i dont trust either company anymore.

granted they are better than the others, i think they may come out as a teeny bit more expensive with the price jacking and all..

edit:
you also should put up fromm and solid gold.
if you'd like i wouldn't mind figuring out the prices for dehydrated raw per pound/serving/equivalent of a cup

Yes Innova has been bought by IAMS but they haven't changed the ingredients (yet) and so it is still a good food. When I can I get their wet food on sale since it is nicer than anything I can get around me without charging an arm and a leg.

I will probably still use stuff that is Innova (and check the ingredients) every time.