What is the cheapest best quality cat food that provides the best nutrition for the cat please?

I am about to become a kitty mummy, home visit pending and I haven't had a cat for a few years. My old cat used to be incredibly picky and wouldn't eat cat food. Cost a fortune. Would like to not have that problem if possible.

you get what you pay for with cat food - cheap stuff contains lots of rubbish and ash so it's not really good for them longterm plus you often you end up throwing it away because they leave it.

According to my vet, cheap dry food (supermarket own, go-cat, whiskas etc) is far far worse than cheap wet food. I feed mine any wet food (they love Aldi pouches which are only around £2:38 and a good quality dry food (either Purina ProPlan Complete, HillsNatures Best orJames Wellbeloved) but but apparently Pets at Home Adult Complete Cat Food is very good nutritionally too. Don't forget, if you get a kitten(under 6 months), start on the kitten versions.

Good luck with your new kitty.

I'm not sure you can have best quality/best nutrition aswell as cheapest.

A big bag of decent dry food (Hills, Purina, IAMS) is about £10-£15 and lasts my cat at least a month, she gets scraps and always has fresh water (cats eating wet food won't need so much water), plus she does supplement her diet from the free range options outside.

Orijen isn't cheap (possibly the most expensive non-prescription dry cat food you can get) but it is good - a little goes a long way. Fish-4-cats is a good and cheaper alternative.

Ideally you want a food that is grain free, if not then one that is low grain.

As an alternative, you might want to look at BARF feeding - I never had long term success with my cats (dogs loved it though they are now back on Orijen for a number of reasons) but starting with a kitten you might have better success.

my cat loves felix but we wont buy too much goes he go onto something else
Alidi's cat food is also a good one

I'm looking for the best I can get on a budget. Don't want to give them cheap crap.

Can cats really manage just on dry food and water?

I don't think a cat would like my scraps I'm a veggie although my old boy used to love marmite and cooked mushrooms so maybe there are veggie cats out there

Is Aldi cat food nutritionally ok? If so I could give that a try as there is a store reasonably close. I was thinking of feeding them a mix of wet and dry food although I'll obviously have to check what they are eating already. They are 6 months old and massive. So if I do end up with one or two of them I'm sure they will be eating me out of house and home in no time.

I would see what your new cat is fed on by his previous owner first. If you do change the food over i would do it gradualy as it might give him a upset tummy if it is done too fast. Mine arnt picky eaters but some like the jelly with meat some like jelly with fish and some like gravy and meat. One of my kittens picked up a piece of buttered bread tonight of the side which i had forgotten was there licked the butter off then started to nibble it. I do feed my cats enough if they get an oppotunity to eat anything they will

Mine does, she's a Bengal, has a great coat, pearly white teeth, no health issues (goes to the vet for yearly vaccinations and check up), her weight has barely deviated in 9 years and she mainly eats IAMS Chicken or Hills Chicken dry food, but she does get scraps most days which can be anything from roast chicken or cooked ham to cheese sauce from Macaroni Cheese (as she did last night).

Toplife from Asda is really good quality - much better than felix/whiskas etc. Its made in the same factory as Bozita (about 17 different flavours) which you can get on ebay or zooplus. A lot of German cat food seems higher quality but Bozita seems to be the easiest to get hold of.

Can cats really manage just on dry food and water?
Yes, if it's very good quality dry - NOT your Go-Cat or Whiskas complete junk. However, many cats don't really like just dry food. Start with a mix and see what they eat. Mine have very little wet food (1 pouch between them at each meal) and then eat the dry.

Is Aldi cat food nutritionally ok?
No worse that any other supermarket cat food! One of my cats suffers with Colitis so we soon know if the food is dodgy! He's fine with Aldi - and it's the only one out of all the supermarket pouches and brand pouches where they both eat every last bit and leave the bowls clean

http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-nutrition/

Have a good read of the above lists of both wet and dry cat food.....and remember that a cat is an obligate carnivore..it must eat meat and does not need cereal or carbohydrate!

Waffle's become incredibly awkward with regards to his foodz. He loves the gravy or jelly, but when it's down to just the meat left he completely ignores it and is constantly whining for more even when he has a full bowl of meat left.

He will, however, be deceived into eating the majority of it if we put some kitty biccies on top.

We have him on Whiskers and Felix Kitten pouches ATM. Can anyone recommend a good alternative? Maybe we should try him on dry food due to his love of his biccies (do they even do kitten dry food? I dunno).

Me! just a pissed off puss mum..Lucy has decided she doesnt want the food I give her....(Whiskas Simpy Fish) she's been lovin it for yonks......Its soo bloody hard cos she was my darling sisters cat and I want to ask me sister *what can I do*! but she isnt here anymore......I've cooked her fish and mashed it with her food.....oh yeah she loves it...but you cant do that everyday can you! (Lucy would love it)....

Try to access the cereal free dry foods. Because my puss is allergic to many foods I have tried him on numerous dry foods and pouches. In my opinion, Orijen (most expensive but lasts ages, online sales) and Applaws (can be bought from Pets at Home or online and is cheaper) are the best. These brands also do wet food. Check out their websites and you will see the difference between these brands and other supermarket types.

Just a thought. If your budget is so tight you have to worry about how much cat food costs, can you afford unexpected vet bills? Even if you insure your kitty there is still an excess to pay.

Of course if it's going to be an indoor only kitty that reduces the risks a great deal but doesn't eliminate them.

It sounds like you are getting a rescue so I imagine it will come chipped and neutered, or with a neutering voucher if it's too young at present.

Incidentally I've switched to paying twice as much for cat food as Madam is turning her nose up at Felix and Whiskas pouches. That means Sir is eating more wet food, but at least I'm not usually feeding the birds with it. Bird food is a lot cheaper!

Thats a bit of an assumption. Being budget conscious doesn't mean I can't afford to keep a cat. Why pay top price for everything. I buy some own brand products for my own use, doesn't mean that I can't afford top whack but why pay it.

If I can get two similar quality cat foods and one is significantly cheaper I'd rather know about the cheap option and be able to put more in the kitty (pardon the pun) in the event of emergencies.

Yes it's an assumption, but when people are asking about 'cheapest' alarm bells ring. Sorry if I offended, I know nothing about you and your background, but if you are new to cats (and you might well not be) then you might be surprised just how big vet bills can be.

Not new to cats either I just like to be careful with money. Haven't had a cat for a while so I'm not so familiar with cat food brands these days hence the question.

Its strange my cat won't touch iams but loves gocat and even asda cheapo chips.

You sound like an utter moron. What a stuck up, objectionable and tactless person. Seriously, if this country could have a vet, the first operation that the UK would require would be to remove the likes of you from its corpus. I hope that you read this, although I am well aware that you have neither the intelligence nor the sensitivity to realise the truth of my sentiments.

This thread is 4 years old. That particular poster probably isn't even here anymore and I personally find your response more objectionable and unnecessary that what was said in the post you're quoting.

bumping a 4 year old thread to insult someone, strange behaviour or should that be suspect behaviour for under 100 posts

all my cats (20+) live on dry food - Royal Canin. And they all seem to adore the Kitten food. It may be more expensive initially, but you feed them less, so it works out more economical in the long run. I feed my UK cats Royal Canin Hair & Skin. I feed them each 80gms a day (big cats, over 6kgs) - as recommended by Royal Canin. I buy 10kg for approx. £45. So, £4.50 a kilo, 45p for 100gms, roughly 36p per day per cat. A mix of 'supermarket' biscuits and pouches will cost at least that per day. Better food (dry food) = better dental hygiene, less smelly poo and generally a healthier cat. As long as they drink sufficient water, there is no problem with a dry food only diet.

edit - oops, didn't see this was an old thread.

I buy Hills Science plan Oral Care - dry food - 1.5 kg £12.95, lasts 3 weeks ish.

I mix it with Hills Science plan Hairball - dry food - 1.5 kg £12.95, lasts for about 2 months ish,

Dreamies as a treat.

Feed him twice a day, a little bit of each, usually a tad more Oral care, and change his water twice a day.

I think this good value for money, I get it all, apart from Dreamies, from Pet Supermarket, free delivery.