Ongoing Cat Food Issues
Woman in the Middle | August 25, 2016Those of you who have cats, do you have the same ongoing cat food issues I have? Let me explain.
Where I live, we have five grocery stores. Four are Stater Bros., a local So Cal chain, and one is a Walmart Neighborhood Market. Stater Bros. has been cutting back on the number of products it stocks, including my previously mentioned problems when they eliminated the one kind of food Blackie liked as well as eliminating any kind of canned kitten food.
After the kittens grew a little older, I fed them primarily dry kitten food. Now that they are adults, I fed both canned (which my vet and other sources says is better for cats) and dry (which is easier to feed and store.) I have no problem finding dry food at my local stores that I want to feed my cats, but wet food is a real issue.
The Walmart store isn’t very big, and they carry the same basic line up of cat food all those Stater Bros. carries: Friskies, Fancy Feast, store brand, and a very small assortment of Iams. While I can find all kinds of different brands on the dog food side of the aisle, not so much on the cat food side.
In order to access a wider variety of cat food, I have to traipse 20 minutes away to the closest pet food mega store. This is annoying as all get out. It is also expensive. Today, for example, I spent $60 for about a two-week supply of canned food. I have three cats, I admit, and a very picky elderly cat. I also buy the small cans, as they are much more the correct feeding size for my cats and come in a wider variety of flavors than the large cans seem to come in.
Folks who have cats, am I being too picky about my canned cat food? Should I just buy Friskies or Fancy Feast for my babies and move on with my life? I have fed the dog food I can get in the grocery store her whole life and she is still going strong physically at 16+. In spite of Blackie’s many issues, he has only eaten “fancy” brands when problems began to crop up, problems not caused by his diet.
“Mom, I think you need to keep buying me the expensive cat food, so you can treat yourself to frozen yogurt at the place with the yummy cheesecake bits every time you go to the pet store!”
I know exactly what you mean. Cats are hard to please when it comes to food, dry or wet. I had Mo’o, Pepper, & Lucy on Fancy Feast and Friskies wet food for years and then all of a sudden, they started throwing it up. So I changed and tried different brands, same thing. I no longer have Mo’o or Pepper but I still got Lucy who likes Pro Plan brands and Nutro Minced, sliced, and perfect portions. I now and then throw in something else for her to try. Some she does and others she don’t get close to. She loves the Chicken and chicken mixed blends. This even work with the dry food. I have like 4 different kinds and leave it in different places in the apartment so she can help herself to it. I’m lucky to have Petco right next to our apartment building but sometimes they run out of stuff and I have to drive like 12 miles + away to the main Petco to get my products. I got to the point to read what’s in the ingredients and very particular in what I get. Although a little more expensive than Friskies & Fancy Feast, it’s worth it.
Funny, Blackie likes the Nutro pate and I feed the kittens the Pro Plan. Great minds think alike, I guess, at least when it comes to cat food!
I have 3 cats and they all like something different except for Hazel who will eat anything. Mollie only eats dry but it has to be grain free or she’ll throw up. Morgan doesn’t like poultry much, preferring beef. Some meals are a can of Friskies, Mollie gets any gravy I can squeeze out, Morgan gets 2 tablespoons and Hazel gets the rest. Some meals are Fancy Feast. Again Mollie gets any gravy and I split it between Hazel and Morgan supplementing roasted fresh chicken mixed in (yep, I cook for them too). It’s easy for me but when I have a sitter it gets complicated. At least everyone is eating in your house.
My cats aren’t as spoiled. They only get dry Iams. But if they would be served anything other than Iams they would probably turn up their nose.
Someone sounds like a spoilt little kitty, just saying