Kit N Kaboodle Cat Food

[Marshfield]

[QUOTE=Wellspotted;7787148]

I have read the ingredients on high-end dry foods – same crap as the affordable grocery-store brands.

Purina cat foods were recommended to me by local vet clinic.[/QUOTE]

I somehow have to doubt that you’ve every actually read the back of a bag of high quality dry food. There is a world of difference between this Salmon, salmon meal, menhaden fish meal, potatoes, peas, canola oil, sweet potatoes, natural flavor, minerals (zinc proteinate, manganese proteinate, which is the start of the ingredients in Felidae

and this Ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, meat and bone meal, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), oceanfish meal, turkey by-product meal, phosphoric acid, salt, brewers dried yeast, animal digest, which is the ingredient list in Kit and Kaboodle. Cats are NOT meant to eat corn. They’re carnivores

Purina One is vastly different than what you’re feeding. Purina makes some decent foods and they make some crap ones

[Louise]

Go to Chewy.com and, under cat food, sort by price. You’ll have to choose wet or dry food, otherwise the lowest priced items will be page after page of cat treats. Then, among the low priced foods, spend some time reading the ingredients. Some will be better than others. The lowest priced dry cat food for adult cats is Evolve. It’s not great, but it does have salmon as the first ingredient. If you can’t afford to buy the $49 worth that will give you free shipping, check around. Maybe one of your local stores will carry it. A phone call or two will tell you.

If you don’t like the looks of the Evolve, which I basically used as an example, check Chewy a little further and find one that you do like. Then, start the calling process over again.

And, a tip for those of you who have persnickity cats and end up with lots of unused food that you didn’t get at Petsmart, like me, sigh. Check with your local humane society. Many of them would be glad to get it.

[dressagetraks]

I’d also check into a “rewards club” or such. Lots of stores have them. At the Petsway (I think; it’s a Pet-something or other) where I buy for the indoors, each purchase gives you points, and when you get to a certain level, which isn’t too many bags if you’re buying regularly, you get $5 off. I also got a $5 off coupon for giving them my email address for their list. $10 off my next bag between those two perks. I’ve also noted since switching to Taste of the Wild a while back for my indoor cats that they eat less than they did formerly. Honestly, one 15-pound bag is lasting me a month with no weight loss for the cats. So a better quality food has to be bought less often, something else to figure into price.

That said, I do realize financial constraints, and to present another side, Mom had umpteen cats over the decades who subsisted solely on Cat Chow and Meow Mix. They were all very healthy. I only once remember a urinary issue, and that’s over decades of history. Many lived well into their teens.

Even now, I don’t feed the more expensive stuff to the barn cats. They are on Special Kitty. I figure they supplement with their own “wet.” My oldest current barn cat just rolled into her teens. I’ve had several others hit their teens, too.

[Guin]

My former cats used to love it, but I’d only give them a little bit a day to supplement their canned food. Cats are funny. They may eat only one thing for three months in a row, and then refuse it forevermore. One cat would only eat Fancy Feast for years, and then one day: “NO! NO FANCY FEAST! I will only eat FRISKIES, the cheapest of the cheap.” Who knows. They are independent thinkers.

[Field_of_Dreams_Mini]

Our barn cats eat Kit and Kaboodle. Really the only thing they like. I don’t have house kitties, so no help there.

[french_fry]

Do you have a Trader Joe’s nearby? Their canned food actually isn’t bad for the price.

My kitten was very sick when she came to me and would only eat the cheap gross wet food with gravy. She needed to take her medication in her food so it was imperative that she eat. We ended up feeding her the Meow Mix Savory Morsels which admittedly is not a high quality food but we thought it was temporary. Now, of course, she won’t touch anything but this food. We’ve been mixing it with higher quality food to no avail.

It is relatively inexpensive, fish broth and chicken are the first two ingredients and it comes in small containers so you never waste any by having to put it back in the refrigerator. Despite my guilt over not feeding her the “perfect” food her coat is healthy and shiny and she is in good weight with no apparent physical issues.

She doesn’t really get any dry food. Occasionally we give her a handful of Simply Nourish , which isn’t the best food ever but isn’t stuffed with wheat or corn.

[wireweiners]

I don’t know where you live but my feed store carries a local brand of cat/dog food called Victor that isn’t too expensive and is of decent quality.

I guess I’m lucky that I don’t have picky cats. My adult cats eat ProPlan urinary tract dry food and Fancy Feast wet. The two kittens eat ProPlan kitten food. Every body is healthy and looking good.

I will agree that its best to feed the highest quality of food you can afford. Generally speaking, they will eat less and be healthier so you do save money in the long term. However, I’m sure Wellspotted’s cats would rather be with her getting regular feedings of KitnKaboodle than on death row in a shelter or homeless living on what they can catch.

[Wellspotted]

[QUOTE=Field of Dreams Mini Horses;7787971]
Our barn cats eat Kit and Kaboodle. Really the only thing they like. I don’t have house kitties, so no help there.[/QUOTE]

Thanks

Thanks, wireweiners :). I keep telling myself that too–good to read it here.

My kitties are now eating the Kit N Kaboodle mixed with the Iams from our neighbor. I am still trying to get a ride to the store to try something else, but since I have no idea whether or not they would eat that, I think I will let them continue with the K N K, supplemented with the Iams while it lasts and some people fish and meat. Yesterday we ate mackerel and some hamburger meat, and were all very happy. No one has thrown up, and since one kitty is 16yo I think they are doing well on their food.

[vxf111]

So many places ship for free… Chewy is great, others have even lower free shipping thresholds.

[Justmyluck]

OP: You feed your cats what you can afford and and still put food on your own table. That is nothing to be ashamed of.

Everyone else: Would you rather have cats die in shelters or have people give them a home and provide them with something to eat? Seriously chill pill everyone. Dogs and cats have survived on low end food for years. While not ideal not everyone can feed what you deem appropriate.

[Wellspotted]

Thanks, Justmyluck. Your thoughts are justmythoughts.

[clint]

Here is a good webpage for info on cat food and appropriate diets for cats: http://catinfo.org/ One thing this vet says is that the worst wet food is better than the best dry food for your cats.

[wireweiners]

I feed most of my horses an 8 percent sweet feed that costs $8.50 a bag. I’m sure that would give some folks on here the vapors. :lol: You do the best you can with what you got

[Jhein12]

Ingredients are listed by whatever the food has the most of. So even if the high end foods do have fillers like alfalfa, they don’t come first like the fillers in the crap food. Meat always comes first in the good foods which makes them more appropriate for a carnivore. I’m a college student who doesn’t make much money. I have two cats. I feed them Prey Model Raw which is cheap for me because I find free/ very low cost meats and my family who hunts gives me stuff.

[vxf111]

I will also say that often the better quality food is dense and you can feed less of it.

But hey, I’ve used “cheap” food before. I had a cat who vomited up everything except Purina One Sensitive Stomach. We tried everything short of raw food (not practical for my house) and that was all that worked. So all the cats ate that until he passed and they did fine. Was it a great feed, no, but it worked out fine for housecats.

You shouldn’t feel constrained, however, but what’s available locally. SO MANY PLACES ship for free and offer a wide variety and sometimes you can find online coupon codes etc. I would not limit yourself to what you can buy at the supermarket strictly because of inability to drive to other stores.

[cnigh]

Th![](s is Mojo - A little lion that rules my house.
[IMG]http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp239/cnigh_2008/004_zps77381017.jpg)

He will not eat anything but Friskies wet and dry. I have tried so many different quality foods with no response. So I stick with what works.

[skykingismybaby1]

Well I buy my cat food on Amazon. Free delivery on a schedule that I set and a discount for a recurring order. It is cheaper than driving to the grocery store.

[Wellspotted]

[QUOTE=skykingismybaby1;7789837]
Well I buy my cat food on Amazon. Free delivery on a schedule that I set and a discount for a recurring order. It is cheaper than driving to the grocery store.[/QUOTE]

Free shipping only on orders over $35.

[HappyTalk]

[QUOTE=Justmyluck;7789040]
OP: You feed your cats what you can afford and and still put food on your own table. That is nothing to be ashamed of.

Everyone else: Would you rather have cats die in shelters or have people give them a home and provide them with something to eat? Seriously chill pill everyone. Dogs and cats have survived on low end food for years. While not ideal not everyone can feed what you deem appropriate.[/QUOTE]

^^^^ this. I work for a vet clinic and my cats have always eaten Meow Mix (we jokingly call it kitty crack) and Friskies. They absolutely will not eat the “healthier” foods. Since they routinely live to 15-16, I just don’t worry about it.

[TurnpikeOpera]

[QUOTE=Wellspotted;7789841]
Free shipping only on orders over $35.[/QUOTE]

There is no minimum order for free shipping with their Subscribe and Save program. You can also skip a month or cancel a subscription if needed with no penalty of any sort, and it costs nothing to join. If they offer what you need (not every thing on amazon is eligible) and the price is right, it’s a straight-up win.