Cheaper alternative to Royal Canin?

Pumpkinseeds

My parents feeding their own 2 cats plus 2/3 others that are strays. They're using Royal Canin, I think it's the feline beauty one, but it's just too expensive even though he's buying it in bulk and they're eating him out of house and home. I use Applaws but I know that he'd find the smell too strong to have in his house.

Can anyone recommend a good alternative to the Royal Canin?

bluecherry74

I've just switched to Porta 21 Sensible - it's very good value at 39 Euro for a 10kg bag and both cats seem to like it. Can't comment on the smell as I've never been bothered by that kind of thing.

http://m.zooplus.ie/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/porta_21/feline_finest/170966?previousProductGroupId=20758

Dtp1979

bluecherry74 wrote: »

I've just switched to Porta 21 Sensible - it's very good value at 39 Euro for a 10kg bag and both cats seem to like it. Can't comment on the smell as I've never been bothered by that kind of thing.

http://m.zooplus.ie/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/porta_21/feline_finest/170966?previousProductGroupId=20758

Jesus Christ 39 euro for 10 kilo?? If that's a cheap alternitave then how much is royal canine??

anniehoo

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Jesus Christ 39 euro for 10 kilo?? If that's a cheap alternitave then how much is royal canine??

You could pay anything between €60-70 for the 10kg equivalent of RC

Nody

Porta21 as noted, Almo Nature Holistic or Applaws. To deal with the smell how about something like this?

Dtp1979

anniehoo wrote: »

You could pay anything between €60-70 for the 10kg equivalent of RC

Holy sh1t. That's an incredible amount of money to feed an animal that eats mice and rats. OP are they pedigree champion bred cats?
My mother feeds our cat basic normal supermarket food And scraps. It still walking along the rooftop of the house and even along the edge of the gutter. Climbs fences with ease. The cat is 18 next week
And that cat is not an exception... Most of her previous cats lived from 12-16 and only died from being too fond of the road!

Pumpkinseeds

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Holy sh1t. That's an incredible amount of money to feed an animal that eats mice and rats. OP are they pedigree champion bred cats?
My mother feeds our cat basic normal supermarket food And scraps. It still walking along the rooftop of the house and even along the edge of the gutter. Climbs fences with ease. The cat is 18 next week
And that cat is not an exception... Most of her previous cats lived from 12-16 and only died from being too fond of the road!

Each to their own.

Dtp1979

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Each to their own.

Absolutely. Some people like to waste their money on ferraris, some people on cat food. End of the day a Ferrari is a car and cat food is cat food

Pumpkinseeds

Nody wrote: »

Porta21 as noted, Almo Nature Holistic or Applaws. To deal with the smell how about something like this?

My mother is very fussy about smells. I sometimes notice how strong the
Applaws smells in my own cats bowls and it doesn't bother me but I know she wouldn't use it as she'd hate the smell. We're just assuming that the tabby thats been visiting us and helping himself is a neighbours since I've seen him asleep outside their front door.

The thing is though, Jazzy attacked him a few days ago and I chased tabby off 4 times today, for his own good, but a short while later my husband saw him trying to get a bin bag out of our wheelie bin, so I'm guessing he's really hungry. So another mouth to feed here brings it up to 5 but he'll have to be rehomed if he's a stray, I can't, just can't take on a 5th cat and he's gorgeous:(

bluecherry74

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Absolutely. Some people like to waste their money on ferraris, some people on cat food. End of the day a Ferrari is a car and cat food is cat food

You generally have to feed a lot less of a high quality food so it's not really as expensive as it sounds. A 10kg bag lasts my two greedy cats for a couple of months, supplemented with a little wet food, so it probably works out at around 5 Euro per week.

Dtp1979

bluecherry74 wrote: »

You generally have to feed a lot less of a high quality food so it's not really as expensive as it sounds. A 10kg bag lasts my two greedy cats for a couple of months, supplemented with a little wet food, so it probably works out at around 5 Euro per week.

Not too bad I guess. Although put a mouse beside its expensive food and see which one the cat will eat!!

muddypaws

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Not too bad I guess. Although put a mouse beside its expensive food and see which one the cat will eat!!

In the case of my cats, the Royal Canin. My black cat kills a lot of mice and rats, doesn't tend to eat many of them though. I have tried Lidl, Aldi, Whiskas, Go Cat etc, none of which he will eat. He eats Royal Canin, and I'm happy enough to buy it for him, I couldn't get to a pet shop for a couple of weeks and had run out, he would not eat the supermarket own brand, and lost a lot of weight. So if it costs me €5 or €6 a week to feed him, then so be it. He will also eat JWB

Dtp1979

muddypaws wrote: »

In the case of my cats, the Royal Canin. My black cat kills a lot of mice and rats, doesn't tend to eat many of them though. I have tried Lidl, Aldi, Whiskas, Go Cat etc, none of which he will eat. He eats Royal Canin, and I'm happy enough to buy it for him, I couldn't get to a pet shop for a couple of weeks and had run out, he would not eat the supermarket own brand, and lost a lot of weight. So if it costs me €5 or €6 a week to feed him, then so be it. He will also eat JWB

I suppose. If you fed me steak for dinner every day and then offered me lamb chops I'd refuse

Pumpkinseeds

Dtp1979 wrote: »

I suppose. If you fed me steak for dinner every day and then offered me lamb chops I'd refuse

I'm starting to smell a whiff of troll Dtp and it ain't coming from me:D

muddypaws

Dtp1979 wrote: »

I suppose. If you fed me steak for dinner every day and then offered me lamb chops I'd refuse

Even after two weeks of not eating?

Dtp1979

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I'm starting to smell a whiff of troll Dtp and it ain't coming from me:D

Haha not at all. I'm no troll. It just amuses me how some people buy into the " premier animal feed " business. Royal canine and similar must be laughing their arses off. And don't get me wrong I'm an animal lover

muddypaws

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Haha not at all. I'm no troll. It just amuses me how some people buy into the " premier animal feed " business. Royal canine and similar must be laughing their arses off. And don't get me wrong I'm an animal lover

Not sure who Royal Canine are?

Dtp1979

muddypaws wrote: »

Not sure who Royal Canine are?

How terrible of me to include an extra e

muddypaws

Dtp1979 wrote: »

How terrible of me to include an extra e

If you don't know their name, just wonder how much you know about their products

Dtp1979

muddypaws wrote: »

Even after two weeks of not eating?

If a cat didn't eat for 2 weeks it'd be dead

Dtp1979

muddypaws wrote: »

If you don't know their name, just wonder how much you know about their products

Ah Jaysus will ya stop. It's a typo. So what. I've seen their rip off products in pet shops and the vets. I'm just not stupid enough to buy into it that's all.
Ye can't buy love from an animal

muddypaws

Dtp1979 wrote: »

If a cat didn't eat for 2 weeks it'd be dead

Nope.

And as for your comment earlier about wasting money on a ferrari or cat food, yep, would rather look after my cat properly than buy a car. Weird, huh.

Pumpkinseeds

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Haha not at all. I'm no troll. It just amuses me how some people buy into the " premier animal feed " business. Royal canine and similar must be laughing their arses off. And don't get me wrong I'm an animal lover

So if you're an animal lover why are you on a thread about premium cat food ridiculing people who buy it then?

Dtp1979

muddypaws wrote: »

Nope.

And as for your comment earlier about wasting money on a ferrari or cat food, yep, would rather look after my cat properly than buy a car. Weird, huh.

Maybe it was eating mice.
And that's what royal CANIN lead you to believe...... The more you spend on their food... The more you love you're cat.

Dtp1979

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

So if you're an animal lover why are you on a thread about premium cat food ridiculing people who buy it then?

I'm not ridiculing people for loving their cat I'm doing it cause RC are ripping people off. Look I'm at nothing here. People would probably spend 100 on a bag of food if they thought it would be good for their cats... When in fact it's just overpriced shi1te and are being laughed at by the ( excuse the pun ) fat cats in royal canin

Pumpkinseeds

Dtp1979 wrote: »

I'm not ridiculing people for loving their cat I'm doing it cause RC are ripping people off. Look I'm at nothing here. People would probably spend 100 on a bag of food if they thought it would be good for their cats... When in fact it's just overpriced shi1te and are being laughed at by the ( excuse the pun ) fat cats in royal canin

That's your opinion and you are entitled to it. I've tried my cats on lots of different foods and they thrive on Applaws, I'm not a big fan of RC as it didn't suit my own cats. As for equating my cats love for me based on how much I spend on their food, that's just ridiculous. They have no concept of money. The Applaws food that I give them is 80% chicken.

Pet nutrition has moved on dramatically over the past decade or so. Many people are more informed about what they feed their pets, they also know that quite often the words 'animal derivatives' on pet food packaging means dead cats and dogs that have been processed and sold as pet food. Personally I find that horrific.

Are my cats spoiled? Hell yeah. One arrived with a growth in his ear that reeked to high heaven and had been ignored by whoever had him for so long it grew down through his jaw. The 2nd was a half starved feral kitten that just showed up. The 3rd was another half starved tom who was peeing blood from a urinary tract infection. Our 4th and newest additon was a little female cat that someone dumped in a wood to fend for herself or die.

So yeah, I give them the most balanced and nutritious food that I can afford and I'm happy to do so, it makes me happy to see them healthy and in great condition.

muddypaws

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Maybe it was eating mice.
And that's what royal CANIN lead you to believe...... The more you spend on their food... The more you love you're cat.

You have a very low opinion of people and their intelligence don't you. I used to feed my cats on the cheaper food, but they would sick it back up again, bad teeth etc. So I tried RC, and they are flying on it, I tried the cheap stuff again when I couldn't get to the pet shop, and they refused to eat it. Now I'm not sure how intelligent you think my cats are, obviously you are giving them more intelligence than their owner, but I don't think they have seen any of the RC marketing, so I'm guessing the fact that they can eat it without being sick, their coats are shiny and soft etc, is actually the end result of what they're eating, not them buying into the 'hype'?

Dtp1979

muddypaws wrote: »

You have a very low opinion of people and their intelligence don't you. I used to feed my cats on the cheaper food, but they would sick it back up again, bad teeth etc. So I tried RC, and they are flying on it, I tried the cheap stuff again when I couldn't get to the pet shop, and they refused to eat it. Now I'm not sure how intelligent you think my cats are, obviously you are giving them more intelligence than their owner, but I don't think they have seen any of the RC marketing, so I'm guessing the fact that they can eat it without being sick, their coats are shiny and soft etc, is actually the end result of what they're eating, not them buying into the 'hype'?

Well my cat can read can't yours?? What are u feeding it

anniehoo

This thread is going way Off Topic. Back on track please with helpful advice for the OP thanks.

muddypaws

OP, do your parents shop in MaxiZoo? I have never tried it, but their own brand of dog food seems to get good write ups on here, maybe their cat food would be the same?

rannerap

I feed both of mine royal canin mixed with some wet food. Tried them on some other foods but I think you get what you pay for really. People comment on how healthy and shiny blues coat is all the time and they're both thriving.

Rommie

I've just put mine onto Select Gold after months of chopping and changing foods constantly to find one that suited, then went to visit my sister and couldn't get over her inky, shiny black cat (made my poor black cat look brown alongside her). She's been on select gold since she was a kitten so we're going to give it a go and see how they take to it. It's about a tenner cheaper than Royal Canin. Used to use Royal canin for my guys but one started throwing it up out of the blue, anytime they go back on it he throws it up again, so that's the end of that. I do still use the kitten one for fosters though

Nody

Sarannewrap wrote: »

I feed both of mine royal canin mixed with some wet food. Tried them on some other foods but I think you get what you pay for really. People comment on how healthy and shiny blues coat is all the time and they're both thriving.

With pet food your really don't get what you pay for because there are plenty of "premium brands" (inc. RC) which are not premium in quality but only in price tag.