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| Author | Topic: Less expensive food |
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fleafly Member  Posts: 996 |
posted 10-21-2003 09:06 PM
 
I know a lot of people on here recommend feeding Innova. I checked into it and it is a good food, but it is really expensive. I need to find a realistic balance between what I can afford and the best food for my cats. I have heard some people say on here that you shouldn't have cats if you can't afford to feed them a more expensive food. All of my cats except one were taken in from the street. I'm pretty sure they would agree that they are better off with me eating Purina than living on the street scrounging in garbage cans for food. I have tried to find good homes for them, it's not as easy as it sounds. I have a lot of cats, so I go through 18 lbs of food a week. Is there a quality food that isn't quite as much as Innova? I would really like people's advice on this. My vet said that as far as the foods at the Supermarket go Purina is the best and that is what I have always fed my cats. Just to give an idea of the price difference, Purina is about 50 cents a pound and Innova is close to 2.00 a pound. That's 4 times as much. That difference is a lot of money when you go through 18lbs of food a week. Any suggestions on what I should try feeding them? IP: Logged |
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Kayliface Member Posts: 152 |
posted 10-21-2003 09:25 PM
What about generic cat food? In Canada we have Presidents Choice and like .. Noname cat food. It can't be THAT bad, can it?! ------------------ IP: Logged |
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Simba unregistered |
posted 10-21-2003 11:03 PM
Hi I use IAMS it's good as it's ash level is low and it was recommended by my vet. At the grocery stores it's like $1.80 but at canadian tire and walmart it's like $0.85c so that works wonderfully. I feed poch both iams wet and iams dry food. GO IAMS  IP: Logged |
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footsie Member Posts: 123 |
posted 10-21-2003 11:16 PM
I'm probably not going to be popular for this one. I carefully compared all the ingredience and protien, ash, fat... contents in a bunch of kitten foods and found that the Walmart store brand was closest to what I had read were the optimum proportions for kittens. I couldn't believe it. I can't tell you the price off the top of my head, but its pretty cheap. Of course all those proportions seem to be different every where you read. Also, I was looking specifically at the kitten food, not food for adult cats, so I don't know how that compares. Store brands get a bad reputation, but for things like food they are really name brand products that the company buys at a large discount and puts into thier own packaging. I'd grab a couple bags of the various foods you're considering and compare it with the store brand. You may even be able to tell what kind of food it is. IP: Logged |
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beepbeep Member Posts: 97 |
posted 10-22-2003 08:00 AM
I feed my cats a variety of brands because i dont like the idea of them having to eat the same thing everyday.I figured it had to get old. I buy iams and a brand for wal-mart called Maxximium Nutrition. I dont agree with going out and buying the most expensive brand of food, because they may have a pretty label but they arent always the most healthy for them. I also buy vitamins for my cats which i have found to be a great idea. This might be a good idea for you because if you get a cheaper brand food and find out its lacking in some of the needed goodness the vitamins fix that problem. I buy mine also at wal-mart for about 4 dollars and its a great deal since there is 100 pills in thc container and each cat only needs one a day.
------------------ [This message has been edited by beepbeep (edited 10-22-2003).] IP: Logged |
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birdie unregistered |
posted 10-22-2003 08:12 AM
Innova & Wellness Formula (and I think a few others that I don't know about) are THE ONLY BRANDS that do not include ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS and the meat of DISEASED animals! In other words, the food that commercial brands use is garbage that humans wouldn't eat, and humans are willing to eat all kinds of garbage (taco bell and so on). So imagine how absolutely heinious the commercial cat food is for your loved one. Try buying wellness formula in bullk online. If you are (or hypothetically are) the type of parent who would not put coca-cola in your baby's bottle, or feed your kids gradeD "meat" from McDonalds, then don't give your beloved animals disease-ridden, by-product, scraps-from-the-factory-floor commercial food! IP: Logged |
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lucidity03 Member Posts: 201 |
posted 10-22-2003 08:56 AM
I understand your problem. I feel like it's a balancing act. We feed our cats Purina One. They seem to like it. It's a tad more expensive than just regular Purina, but it's not too bad buying in bulk. (Especially compared to those top brands mentioned.) We used to buy Dad's until we realized how cheap and probably bad for the kitties it was. So, for us personally, we feel that the Purina One is a decent food without breaking the bank. IP: Logged |
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fleafly Member Posts: 996 |
posted 10-22-2003 09:26 AM
I wasn't sure if Purina One was actually better for them than regular Purina or not. I'm not too sure how they are different. The Wal-Mart cat food brand is called Maxximum nutrition, I think it is a good food. It doesn't come in the big bags where I live though, so I would have to buy a lot of the little bags. My cats don't like Iams so that isn't an option. Vitamins are a good idea, but I don't think I would be able to give one to every cat every day. That would be a nightmare! birdie: I already know that those foods are better, I even said so in my post. What I'm asking is if there is a similar food that doesn't cost as much as Innova. IP: Logged |
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beepbeep Member Posts: 97 |
posted 10-22-2003 09:55 AM
I know what you mean about how it would be a nightmare. When i first started giving my kitten charlie vitamins he hated them. I finally figured out an easy way to get them in him. I crush them into powder then i sprinkle it ontop of his dry food. he doesnt even realize it is in is food. If your cats share bowls it should be ok because as long as you mix it a bit all your cats will get some of the vitamins. Its better than nothing. I hope this helps. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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lucidity03 Member Posts: 201 |
posted 10-22-2003 10:32 AM
I wasn't sure if Purina One was better, either. (I'm still not!) - We decided to get it because it was a tad more expensive than the original (it's an assumption that it may be better) and it had special formulas. (We needed a urinary tract food for our one cat and the vet did say that the Purina One would be a good choice for our kitties infection.) We haven't tried the Wal Mart food. I'll have to look into that since we're always there. IP: Logged |
nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 10-22-2003 05:23 PM
Fleafly: A few decent brands that are'nt too pricey - Authority Maxximum Nutrition Premium Edge Pro Pac Purina ONE IP: Logged |
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nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 10-22-2003 05:58 PM
quote: I totally agree.
quote: Wow, how many cats do you have?? IP: Logged |
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nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 10-22-2003 06:28 PM
quote: Many store/generic brands get a bad rap because they are lacking...they meet the AAFCO nutrient profiles but contain unusable nutrients, they often lack quality control, are low in digestibility, maintain too high of a urine ph and some even have inverse ca : ph ratios. These are not high quality foods bought at a discount and re-packaged...otherwise, they would not have such poor quality ingredients listed on their labels. [This message has been edited by nern (edited 10-22-2003).] IP: Logged |
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fleafly Member Posts: 996 |
posted 10-22-2003 10:59 PM
nern: Do you know how Purina One is different from the regular Purina? And which formula do you recommend, they have several different Purina One formulas. They have an indoor cat formula now but it only comes in small bags. As for how many cats I have, I will tell you what I tell everyone who asks: you have to come over and see how many cats you can count. ____________________________________________ Premium Edge looks pretty good, I think I might try that next. I am also limited by my cat's tastebuds. They don't like Iams at all and they don't like Maxximum nutrition as much as Purina. I can actually buy Premium Edge in town which is another consideration. The closest Petsmart or Petco is 2 hours away. We have Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Shipton's Big R, and a local place that sells Innova. Ah Wyoming! IP: Logged |
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nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 10-23-2003 03:28 PM
quote: I was just comparing them and I really don't see a big difference. Out of the Purina ONE formulas I would probably go with the Chicken & Rice formula because it has chicken listed first and lacks soybean meal. It has more protein, fat and probably more calories than Purina Cat Chow. I prefer foods that do not contain poultry by-products, corn gluten meal, soybean meal and beef tallow and Purina ONE seems somewhat pricey to me. How much is a 16 lb. bag of Purina ONE in WY? Have you ever heard of the brand Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul? It has excellent ingredients (similar to Innova's) and costs about $18 -$20 here for an 18 lb. bag....my cats went nuts over it. If you email them they will probably send you a free sample so you can see if your cats like it or you can buy a 2 lb. sample bag at most of the store that carry it. If you can get it and your cats like it I would'nt bother with the Purina ONE. I checked the store locator and found this store carries it in WY: [This message has been edited by nern (edited 10-23-2003).] IP: Logged |
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nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 10-23-2003 03:35 PM
quote: Yes, I know (I said many, not all IP: Logged |
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dj Member Posts: 39 |
posted 10-23-2003 03:53 PM
I say any food is better than no food. That fact that you have given alot of homeless cats homes is wonderful.Feed them what you can afford and love the heck out of them. I always liked to boil liver and cut it up for cat treats and the vit b helps keep fleas away.That is cheap and yummy. I only have one so Inovona is my food of choice. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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Newton the Cat Member Posts: 102 |
posted 10-23-2003 04:31 PM
I am with birdie about the byproducts. I read "the New Natural Cat" and I was shocked by the crap in regular cat food. You are supposed to get food that has no by-products and the first four ingriedents should be meat not fillers like rice. That is ok, but just not as the main ingredient. Personally, I feed my cat Prarie Brand. It is totally holistic and contains stuff I would eat myself. It is also 7.79 for a 4 pound bag. The wet food has so much variety like duck, rabbit and squirrel as flavors. But I could not believe the change in Newton from when he was eating Meow Mix. That stuff is junk food. It was so hard to get him off it. It was like he was addicted. There is no prob buying cheap food but for heaven's sakes look at the ingredients. Why would you feed your cat something you would not eat yourself? NTC IP: Logged |
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nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 10-23-2003 04:47 PM
Hey Newton, Squirrel??? LOL. Is that Nature's Variety Prairie? I got some samples of the dry awhile back but my cats did'nt seem too interested in it....they did seem to like the canned formulas though. I think their new "bio-coating" is an interesting idea. I wonder if my cats would like it with the new coating? Maybe I will get some more samples. http://www.naturesvariety.com "All Nature’s Variety™ Prairie Brand™ Kibble Diets are now coated with freeze dried USDA raw chicken, beef or lamb along with liver and freeze dried Norwegian Salmon Oil." IP: Logged |
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fleafly Member Posts: 996 |
posted 10-23-2003 09:50 PM
I don't think I would eat squirrel, so maybe I shouldn't feed that to my cat. Just kidding. Thanks for the research nern, I will try to get some samples. I tried to feed my kitty with IBS Innova and she doesn't like it. She really liked the brand I got from the vet before, but with the Innova she takes a bite then looks at me like what is this. IP: Logged |
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nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 10-24-2003 03:25 PM
Your welcome Good luck.IP: Logged |
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Newton the Cat Member Posts: 102 |
posted 10-24-2003 03:45 PM
Yes Nern, it is the variety formula. And I am not surprised your cat did not like it. After Newton got addicted to Meow-Mix, it was very hard to get him off that and onto Prairie. He did not want Prarie at first, but now he really likes it. I supplement him with wet canned food twice a week and in that I put Mirra-Coat (An Omega 3 Fatty acid supplement for good coat skin). What I did was to mix Meow Mix with Prarie and then eventually I used less and less Meow Mix. In the beginning he used to just eat the Meow Mix bits, but I would not feed him more until the Prarie food was gone. It took about two weeks but now he eats just Prarie. NTC IP: Logged |
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nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 10-24-2003 04:42 PM
Newton, I should have clarified.... Mine are'nt currently addicted to any certain brand but they were, at one point, addicted to Purina Cat Chow and I had a heck of a time trying to switch them...I had to slowly mix the foods(like you mentioned)for about 3wks and that finally seemed to work. For the past 2 yrs. I've mainly fed Innova but I do switch brands ocassionally for variety and to keep them from becoming "addicted" to any certain brand. They usually go nuts now when I bring home a new food and they did eat the NV samples but just did'nt seem to get excited over it as they usually do when I give them to a new food. Anyway, I may get some more samples and give it another try. IP: Logged |
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catwoman Member Posts: 43 |
posted 10-24-2003 05:36 PM
Hi, I was using Innova, it is a very good food and my cats loved it. However, I have 9 cats and it was getting quite expensive, I have 11 tropical birds as well. So, I looked into alternatives and found Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul. It's all natural and has comparable ingredients to the Innova. Plus it was a little less expensive. Now, it's not as cheap as what you would find in a supermarket, but it is good for them and my cats love it. Anyone else use this brand? IP: Logged |
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nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 10-24-2003 08:12 PM
Hi Catwoman...I've used the Chicken Soup for a while a few months ago. Mine loved it and it appears to be an excellent food. I mainly use Innova but sometimes rotate brands and Im sure I will use the Chicken Soup again in the future. IP: Logged |
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fleafly Member Posts: 996 |
posted 10-25-2003 04:02 PM
Okay I've done some research on food prices. Innova 1.80/lb I have seen the Chicken Soup brand before, but I thought the name sounded cheesy so I didn't really look at it. I looked at the ingredients for Purina One and they aren't much better than regular Purina. Maxximum Nutrition is much better than both of those. I looked at Chicken Soup and the ingredients look good. I bought a bag so I'll give it a try when the food they have now is gone. Hopefully they will like it. It's a good food, and it isn't that expensive. An 18 lb bag is 15.25, I can handle that. The store only had two bags on the shelf, so if the cats like it I will probably clean them out! Has anyone used Chicken Soup for their dog? IP: Logged |
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nern2 unregistered |
posted 10-25-2003 08:27 PM
quote: But this does not tell you how much it will cost to feed your cats *per day* so even though one brand is cheaper per pound another brand that is more expensive per pound may actually cost less to feed. For example - It costs me about $0.22 per day, per cat to feed Innova. Just something to consider when comparing prices.
quote: Same here....the name bothered me so I did'nt even look at it until I heard others speaking highly of it and then I checked it out and gave it a try.
quote: I have but only for a short time. I've heard good things about it from other dog owners though. I tried it on my toy poodle (but just like every other dry food)...he would'nt eat it after about 3wks. He's been on dry food now for about 7wks, Im keeping my fingers crossed. IP: Logged |
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fleafly Member Posts: 996 |
posted 11-05-2003 04:37 PM
Okay just when I thought I had it all figured out! I started using Chicken Soup. The cats seemed to like it. The only problem is it tends to break up into little pieces. Well I guess the other problem is the place that carries it apparently doesn't get it in regularly. I went to buy more and they were out and didn't know when more would come in. They had the light version, so I bought a bag of that. I am trying to find foods that I can rotate so that I wont run into the problem of running out and the cats will have some variety. The only foods I can buy in town are: -Innova (too expensive) I guess I can order on the internet, but I don't want to pay a lot in shipping costs. Any suggestions? IP: Logged |
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dolly unregistered |
posted 11-06-2003 06:55 AM
One way that I save a lot of $$$ on cat food is through mail-in rebates. Every time I go to the pet food store there usually is at least one brand offering a full or partial refund on cat food, and its the premium kinds like Science Diet or Nutro. I went a year without paying for any of it...it works well if you don't mind trying a variety of different foods. IP: Logged |
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alixw New Member  Posts: 5 |
posted 11-06-2003 03:09 PM
Hey! One idea I think might at least help would be to write the company(ies) that you decide you like the best for your cats. Explain that you are basically a good (GREAT) samaritan for cats and want to give them a good high quality diet. Some companies would send you coupons - even a years worth at a time - to help defray the costs of a higher quality food. I don't think they would have a problem with helping someone by giving them coupons. They get recognition, and still get some profit from the sales. If you are looking at a cost per lb, even a $3 coupon would make a big difference. Also, I agree with the fact that the cost per pound does not always calculate out equally by brand to the cost per daily serving. Cheaper brand foods usually have a lot of fillers, and your cats will eat more of it to get the same amount of nutrition (and therefore will leave more in the litterbox! think about that equation...:0 ) and you end up spending more than you think. One brand that I haven't seen mentioned is Maxxcat by Nutro. They seem to be reasonable although I can't tell you the price per lb - I have recently gotten so many full size samples from a rep that I haven't had to buy food for my three for about a month! Anyhow, check out all your options for assistance through the companies themselves. I am sure they benefit on the corporate level as well as many others from helping out people who love animals and need a break... give them a chance to improve their karma! Since you have a computer, pick the top three companies you like, type one letter and then replace the address header with each companies name. 37 cents in stamps may bring you a hundred times that much in savings... IP: Logged |
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fleafly Member Posts: 996 |
posted 11-06-2003 10:31 PM
Those are some good suggestions I hadn't thought of. Part of my problem is I live in a small town and things aren't readily available. There is one pet food store in town and they only carry Science Diet, Iams, and Eukanuba. No one carries Nutro Maxx. I found an independent dealer with Felidae, but I don't know that much about it and how expensive it is. Most of the foods I don't mind paying for, it's just Innova that is really expensive. IP: Logged |
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fleafly Member Posts: 996 |
posted 11-06-2003 10:33 PM
As far as the cost per day to feed it seems like the only way to calculate that is to actually feed them the food. So far they are eating more Chicken Soup than they did Purina. An 18lb bag of Purina lasts 7 days, so far the 18 lb bags of Chicken Soup have lasted 5 days. that equals= Chicken Soup = .16 per day per cat (91.20/30 days) Purina = .06 per day per cat (34.20/30 days) Projected for Innova = .24 per day per cat (136.80/30 days) I hadn't thought of looking at it this way. Still they would have to hardly eat any Innova for it to be cheap enough. I would have to ration them! [This message has been edited by fleafly (edited 11-07-2003).] IP: Logged |
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fleafly Member Posts: 996 |
posted 11-07-2003 12:31 PM
Has anyone tried Diamond cat food? Here is a link to their products page: http://www.diamondpetfood.com/formulas.html I don't know that the ingredients are the best but it does have fatty acids. IP: Logged |
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nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 11-07-2003 03:14 PM
Fleafly: I had some samples a while back and my cats did'nt seem to care for it much (again, I think this had alot to do with the shape of the kibble). I emailed the company and asked for some samples and they sent me an entire box of their various lines and formulas. IMO, Diamond is a reputible company and even though there are a few ingredients in it that I don't care for I do think its a good value for the price and much better than many of the grocery store brands. Get some samples, see if your cats like it and go from there. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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nern Moderator Posts: 1591 |
posted 11-07-2003 04:02 PM
quote: Well, now you just gave away the answer to how many cats you have. IP: Logged |
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catwoman Member Posts: 43 |
posted 11-08-2003 07:28 AM
Hi, me again, Catwoman. Just want to say I love this message board. I love cats and it is so great to be able to chat with other cat lovers. Someone asked about using the Chicken Soup for dogs. Just wanted to say, I have used it for our dogs. In addition to the 9 cats, 11 tropical birds, we also have 5 dogs, 2 are wolf hybrids. The dogs loved the Chicken Soup, however, with the 2 big wolf dogs, they eat quite a bit and it was getting expensive. Plus, they require a higher protein content. Believe it or not, for the big dogs, the best dog food we were able to find (the highest protein content) is Costco Lamb and Rice. No cornmeal and it has something like 27% protein. We have found some higher but they all had corn of some form in it and that is not good for wolf dogs. Probably not that great for regular dogs either. Sorry, I got off the subject of cats, but someone was asking about the Chicken Soup for dogs :-) IP: Logged |
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fleafly Member Posts: 996 |
posted 11-08-2003 12:37 PM
That's okay I was asking about it for dogs. I have dogs and cats. The dogs are starting on Chicken Soup today. I tried Maxximum Nutrition, but they were pooping A LOT! We will see how they do with Chicken Soup. The store actually seems to carry it on a regular basis for dogs. My cats actually look really good on Chicken Soup. Their coats are sleeker and shinier in just a week and a half. I got them some Maxximum nutrition b/c I couldn't get Chicken Soup, so when that is gone I will try Diamond. I want to find a couple good brands to rotate so they get variety and I don't have to scramble if the place is out of their food. I wondered if anyone would realize they could calculate backwards to figure out how many cats I have. The mystery is solved, I have 19, and 2 dogs. There is never a dull moment at my house! IP: Logged |
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fleafly Member Posts: 996 |
posted 12-03-2003 10:20 PM
Just an update: So far I have tried Chicken Soup, Maxximum Nutrition, and Nutro Maxx Chicken Soup- pros: coats were very shiny and soft, not too expensive, good ingredients. cons: kibbles break into small pieces easily, store doesn't carry it on a regular basis, more waste than normal. Maxximum Nutrition- pros: cats loved the taste, not expensive, less waste, can buy it at Walmart. cons: not as good of ingredients, coats weren't as nice and shiny. Nutro Maxx- pros: coats look great fluffy, soft and shiny, less waste, cats like the taste. cons: have to drive 2 hours to buy it, more expensive So far Nutro Maxx is my favorite followed by Chicken Soup. I am feeding Nutro right now and their coats are so nice and soft. I am going to try Diamond next, then Authority, then Chicken Soup again. If anyone is looking for a good relatively inexpensive food, I recommend both Chicken Soup and Nutro Maxx (I think my cats like the salmon flavor best). IP: Logged |
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