ethical cat food help

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I'll admit that ethics are something that I don't think about a lot with cat food as cats are fussy enough without bringing something else into the equation (along with cost, availability etc.) but I do appreciate that it's something worth thinking about.

I am a bit stuck with feeding expensive foods to Mosi as he does like soft pate texture (the mousse type) and for his first few years he ate hi life essential pate which he liked and was 25p a tin at Asda for years!  That has now been discontinued and replaced by the ridiculously expensive tempt me (or whatever it's called) tins - 65p each now at Sainsburys! and don't come in multipacks.  So I've gone back to zooplus and buy miamor pastette which as the same texture and a little cheaper.  I buy various brands from zooplus including Hermann's organic (very expensive but it's pate and Mosi likes it), Terra Faelis, Catz finefoods and Natures menu.  He will eat flaked stuff like Applaws, Almo nature, Thrive and Porta 21 too.  To make it a bit more economical I feed 50g per meal topped with a little Applaws (grain free) dry.  And occasionally Tesco pate which is grain free and he will eat sometimes.  Mosi is quite a good eater but I am trying to get him to eat different textures as he has become a bit fixated on the very soft pate type food. 

If anyone fancies trying a pouch of Hermann's organic send me a pm and I will send you a sample to try.  I bought a box when Jaffa was alive and I was looking for foods that were good quality, grain free and low in phosphorus and something both he and Mosi could eat.  I bought a multipack of Hermann's (variety of flavours) but only got 1 pouch fed before Jaffa was pts.  Mosi does like it so he'll eat the rest and I will buy it again for an occasional treat but have lots of pouches so if anyone would like to try it before committing to buying a box of the stuff just let me know.

[Beatrix Potter]

Lilly's Kitched does natural organic cat and dog food.  Organic cat food. Complete, grain free, natural cat food, ethically made from best quality organic ingredients. Home style delicious cat food recipes.:  http://www.lilyskitchen.co.uk/

Natures Menu is also really good, Providing high quality natural and raw dog and cat food. Natures Menu produce raw natural meals for cats and dogs, based on the bone and raw food diet: http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/

Thanks Sam, I really like the lilys kitchen ones although the tins are not organic just the trays are and they are super pricey.  Cans are £2.49 for 400g. 

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

Lilly's Kitched does natural organic cat and dog food.  Organic cat food. Complete, grain free, natural cat food, ethically made from best quality organic ingredients. Home style delicious cat food recipes.:  http://www.lilyskitchen.co.uk/

Natures Menu is also really good, Providing high quality natural and raw dog and cat food. Natures Menu produce raw natural meals for cats and dogs, based on the bone and raw food diet: http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/

[Beatrix Potter]

I'm not sure exactly and have changed food quite a bit, as trying to find a ethical food they both like. Xander only eats biscuits so is quite cheap but Buffy has biscuits and wet food. I would say around £45 a month but that is including cat litter. I've started trying to buy the smaller sachets recently as I don't want to waste any food and would rather pay more than have food not eaten. So that will probably increase the bill.

Do you just feed your cats wet food?

Unfortunately Buffy didn't like the Yarrah or Lily's she like Herrmanns for a while then went off it 

I'm always looking out for new food coming onto the market as would like a food like a applaws that's organic. Will probably cost an arm and a leg though when it does.

Mostly wet food, Storm often refuses to eat his wet without a sprinkling of dried food, then I leave some biscuits out for them when I am at work all day.  I might look into the applaws food a bit more, like you say not organic but then not tested on animals I think this was one of the main reasons I did change food in the first place, I had discovered that animal testing was still happening (thought it was long gone) and ended up changing every household/beauty brand in the house then started on looking at the cat food!

[Mymblesdaughter]

I'm not sure exactly and have changed food quite a bit, as trying to find a ethical food they both like. Xander only eats biscuits so is quite cheap but Buffy has biscuits and wet food. I would say around £45 a month but that is including cat litter. I've started trying to buy the smaller sachets recently as I don't want to waste any food and would rather pay more than have food not eaten. So that will probably increase the bill.

Do you just feed your cats wet food?

Unfortunately Buffy didn't like the Yarrah or Lily's she like Herrmanns for a while then went off it 

I'm always looking out for new food coming onto the market as would like a food like a applaws that's organic. Will probably cost an arm and a leg though when it does.

[Beatrix Potter]

I've looked into cat food quite a bit to try to find the most ethical. I'm vegan so it's a big compromise for me feeding my cats meat. Unfortunately there aren't many organic foods around. I was feeding Porta 21 dry they do an organic (holistic) whichhas rice rather than wheat or soya. Apparently Herrmanns wet food is one of the most ethical food on the market but neither of my cats will eat it. Both my cats like Almo nature organic dry and wet although not sure if it's wheat free. Also Happy cat do a dry organic food they like. They are all available from Zooplus. I feed mine applaws quite a lot so I contacted them but their foods aren't organic and they have no plans to supply an organic food. They don't test on animals though which is something I suppose.

Thank you, I hadn't noticed the Herrmanns organic food on zooplus, it is a bit cheaper than Lilys' so I might give that one I try.  I didn't notice the Almo Nature organic one either but their pouches work out more than Yarrah.  I think I definitely want to stick to the organic route so I am limiting my options somewhat! Thanks for your help   How much do you spend a month on your cat food if you don't mind me asking? I was spending about £40 every 4 weeks I think, if I stick them on the yarrah trays I am looking at about £60 every 4 weeks!

[Mymblesdaughter]

Yes I was going to try to feed mine a raw diet as you could get organic human food easily in the supermarkets. Unfortunately they wouldn't touch the organic chicken I brought them even when it was cooked.

[Kay and Penny]

cooking an organic free range chicken and freezing it would probably work out no more expensive than Applaws, and nutritionally would be fine if good quality biscuits form the rest of the diet - I also feed one of mine a lamb's kidney each day, which he loves - lamb is more or less naturally organic and free range, and the kidneys are around 40p each - he won't eat lamb mince, but that is another alternative you could consider - cooked or even better raw

[Mymblesdaughter]

I've looked into cat food quite a bit to try to find the most ethical. I'm vegan so it's a big compromise for me feeding my cats meat. Unfortunately there aren't many organic foods around. I was feeding Porta 21 dry they do an organic (holistic) whichhas rice rather than wheat or soya. Apparently Herrmanns wet food is one of the most ethical food on the market but neither of my cats will eat it. Both my cats like Almo nature organic dry and wet although not sure if it's wheat free. Also Happy cat do a dry organic food they like. They are all available from Zooplus. I feed mine applaws quite a lot so I contacted them but their foods aren't organic and they have no plans to supply an organic food. They don't test on animals though which is something I suppose.

[Beatrix Potter]

I think I am over complicating matters…..my cats were on Whiskas for quite a few years, until I discovered how unethical some brands were, and also how low the meat content was.  Ie 4% in most supermarket foods! So after someone kindly sent me a tin of yarrah organic, my cats have been having the tinned chicken chunks for the last few years along with Arden Grange biscuits.  However, both cats seem to suffer with smelly and loose stools, and Yarrah tins contain grains so I did wonder if this was a problem.  So I have been looking at changing them to a food that is grain free.  So far we have been using Yarrah trays which are grain free, however these work out more expensive than the tins.  Also Lily’s Kitchen which are grain free, but the tins are not organic, just the trays are.  And these are almost twice the price of Yarrah.  Yarrah also contain animal deriatives, although they are a very ethical company.

I have seen the following foods recommended, miamor, pet natur, macs and catz fine foods, but none of them appear to be organic.

My other issue is that both my cats are not given huge amounts of food as one in particular is over weight and the other one is an indoor cat.  So they have between 120-140g of wet each day plus around 20-25g of dried biscuits.  So trays are not ideal for me given that they come in 100 grams.