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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 21, 2009 13:08:35 GMT -5
My husband and I have hit a financial slump. He has a lot of credit card debt to pay off due to a big medical bill. We have a lot of mouths to feed. We want to keep our ferrets on raw and that is very expensive though we have found a few inexpensive sources. We currently feed our cats Nutro Indoor. We buy a 20lb bag that lasts us a month for about $30. We were wondering if there was a good quality kibble that is less expensive. We cannot put them on raw because we would not be able to afford it. Once our debt is paid off, we will put all the cats and the dog on 100% raw, but for now, kibble is our only option.
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Post by luxuriousferret on Apr 22, 2009 11:36:27 GMT -5
Hi, I understand your problem. I would do evo, but that is even more than raw... so Totaly ferret mixed with zupreem is what I used to use. It was a good mix, but it was about $30.00 a month, and right not I am paying less and I am on raw. Good luck!
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Post by tsslilsis on Apr 22, 2009 14:12:45 GMT -5
You could email Nutro and explain your situation... I emailed them once and they sent me a coupon.. I got a $50 bag of Nutro Ultra dog food and all I had to pay was tax.
-~Ketlin
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 22, 2009 19:58:43 GMT -5
How is Iams? We found a 33lb bag for about $30. We also got some wet food.
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Post by tsslilsis on Apr 22, 2009 22:04:51 GMT -5
Iams isn't what its made out to be... Its actually not good at all. If you do have to go for something that is of lesser quality, you could get Diamond Maintenanace.. It would be about $32 for 40lbs.. You could always feed that and a better quality kibble in rotation. I'm sorry your having difficulties.. I haven't even looked at the price of a bag of dog food in a long time since all the babies are raw fed now. It is a big relief on our part since 95% of what we feed is free, it is just a matter of keeping the freezer stocked and finding meat supplies year round because our freezers won't hold enough to last a year.
Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain Feline Formula with Roasted Venison & Smoked Salmon is about the same cost as Nutro but it will last longer because they will eat less.. Since it doesn't have fillers, they will be able to utilize more of the food and put it to use.
Here are some things you could check out: Chicken soup for the cat lovers soul
Diamond Maintenance Formula Dry Cat Food
Diamond Naturals (any of their formulas)
Premium edge (any of their formulas)
Kirkland cat food at Costco (Not sure what this costs or if you have a costco but its supposed to be VERY affordable and has decent ingredients).
I hope you can figure something out.. I do feel your pain though, I feed my neighbors cat.. They have apparently fed him the cheapest dry food they can find for the first 10 years of his life though and his teeth are falling out (literally).. I feed him cheap canned food now but I know in reality it is better than what he had been eating (they don't have the ability to stuff as much yucky stuff in canned as they do kibble). It gets costly to feed a cat that isn't even mine but he thinks he is mine and I love him, so what can I say.
-~Ketlin
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Post by luci on Apr 22, 2009 23:56:16 GMT -5
There are BIG rumors going around that Nutro is under investigation by the FDA. Check out www.consumeraffairs.com. There are so many people filing complaints about pets getting sick from Nutro food. As for kibble... I really can't recommend kibble at all. I spend way less money feeding raw than I did any commercial food.
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 23, 2009 14:25:33 GMT -5
We spend at minimum around $15-20 to feed our four ferrets for a week. They only eat 2oz per meal, per day. The cats would be way more than that. We have been lucky so far to find a few cheap sources of meat, but the ferrets are only getting three different kinds of meat right now and nothing else. They get chicken wings, ground beef, and boneless pork. We are trying to find cheaper sources, but we haven't found any. If feeding the cats raw would be about the same or cheaper, I'd do it. If someone could help me plan out a meal plan for my cats for a week, I could do some price checks on the meat and see how much it would cost me.
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 23, 2009 14:30:04 GMT -5
Not to mention my mother in law has on occasion taken it upon herself to feed our cats meow mix. I want my kids to go raw. They LOVE IT when I do give them raw, especially Liam, who practically crawls into your lap and tries to climb up your arm if you don't give him the raw meat. Oh and I know this is really off topic, but does anyone know any natural allergy remedies for cats? When we got Ramman, our long hair, he had a cold and because of that, his eye was really watery. That eye has never stopped being watery, and I've been told it is just allergies. I do notice that it comes and goes, and some days are worse than others. Is there anything I can do for him?
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Post by mayhemkb on Apr 23, 2009 15:12:06 GMT -5
Try Chlorotabs (generic Chlortrimeton) Split the pill (4mg) in half and give every 12 hours. It'll make him tired but he will dry up. Only use it for 3-4 days at a time with several days off.
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 23, 2009 15:16:48 GMT -5
I don't want to make him tired. He sleeps 12+ hours a day as it is and he's only a little over a year old (I think its because this house stays so hot and he's a long hair).
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Post by luci on Apr 23, 2009 18:38:45 GMT -5
My two cats only eat 4-6 ounces each per day, so I wouldn't be too sure that they would eat a lot more than that. I have an 8lb. girl and a 13lb. boy. They're both about 2.5 years old. On raw they use all the food they consume so it ends up being a lot less quantity wise than kibble or canned. Have you looked at variety meats? Tongue, gizzards, necks, heart, etc. ? Those items are much cheaper than what you're buying because they're not as desirable for human consumption. And they're chock full of nutrients. All my critters love them! They think plain chicken is a huge yawn. Gimme pork tongue! Do you have any ethnic markets around you? Asian, halal, Mexican, etc. ? You can find lots of good stuff there for cheap. How about farmers' markets? I get a lot of free stuff from my local farmers' market. Things that are past the sell by date or mispackaged or just not selling fast enough. They have to pack up and cart that stuff around, so I go at theend of the day and see what they'd rather not have to load back into the truck. How about butcher shops? Ask them to set aside the "undesirables" for you. I hope you can figure out a workable solution. Things really are tough, but I look at it as a creative challenge instead of a hardship. Keeps me happy that way.
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 24, 2009 10:51:28 GMT -5
I will look for ethnic stores around here tomorrow evening and see if I can find anything. Is that 4-6oz each or total? I have four cats. Two are 3 years old and weigh around 8lbs each. One is a little over a year and weighs 12lbs. The other is 9 months old and I'm not sure of his weight.
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Post by luci on Apr 24, 2009 12:58:26 GMT -5
Each cat eats between 4-6 ounces per day. Two main meals of 2-3 ounces and usually a small snack.
Every cat has different needs though. A good guide to start with is to calculate 2-4% of the cat's optimal body weight. And feed that much each day. High energy cats usually need 4%. Couch potatoes need the 2%. Kittens should eat as much as they want up until they're a year old.
I did a google search for "Richmond Virginia ethnic market" and came up with a ton of hits. I think you'll be really happy with what you'll find. Do you have a freezer so you can buy in bulk?
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 24, 2009 15:43:35 GMT -5
I have a decent sized freezer that is actually completely empty right now, so I have tons of space to store meat in. I only have one kitten right now, so the others would probably get around 2-3oz per meal. Thats about the same as a ferret. Each of my ferrets gets 1.5-2oz per meal, twice a day.
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Post by fuzzymom on Apr 24, 2009 15:47:41 GMT -5
I may have found a place. Its actually within walking distance from my house, so I will go there tomorrow after work and see what they have.
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