Wet cat food efficiency.
April 16, 2021 1:11 PM Subscribe
I wish to regularly provide my two cats with 'wet' cat food on a regular basis without the waste of endless tiny cans. Is this probable in an efficient and affordable manner?
Our cat's current wet food comes in cartons rather than metal cans, if that would be preferable to you?
I'm not sure it's actually any better from an environmental perspective though. Metal is very much recyclable as it can be easily melted down and reused. Whereas cartons, although made of cardboard, have coatings which make them awkward to recycle.
I really wish all food products were sold in standardised refillable containers.
posted by automatronic at 1:32 PM on April 16, 2021 [10 favorites]
I'm not sure it's actually any better from an environmental perspective though. Metal is very much recyclable as it can be easily melted down and reused. Whereas cartons, although made of cardboard, have coatings which make them awkward to recycle.
I really wish all food products were sold in standardised refillable containers.
posted by automatronic at 1:32 PM on April 16, 2021 [10 favorites]
I've only seen cans, plastic trays, and pouches.
Some brands have 5 oz or 12 oz cans. You could portion it out and keep the remainder in the fridge. Whether your felines will be comfortable with this arrangement depends on the individual feline.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:42 PM on April 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
Some brands have 5 oz or 12 oz cans. You could portion it out and keep the remainder in the fridge. Whether your felines will be comfortable with this arrangement depends on the individual feline.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:42 PM on April 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
Best answer: We feed our cats dehydrated food, which we rehydrate right before serving. It comes in resealable bags that hold a whole bunch of servings. We cycled thru many different foods before trying this. It's worked out really well for them.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:43 PM on April 16, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:43 PM on April 16, 2021 [8 favorites]
Best answer: You can buy wet food in a tube much like breakfast sausage comes in you simply cut off a slice. You can also get wet food in cartons and pouches.
If you're OK with cans but it's the size that bothers you, you can buy larger cans and simply put a lid on the can and keep it in the fridge until you've used it up. Though I've found the larger cans hard to find in the US.
posted by wwax at 1:44 PM on April 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
If you're OK with cans but it's the size that bothers you, you can buy larger cans and simply put a lid on the can and keep it in the fridge until you've used it up. Though I've found the larger cans hard to find in the US.
posted by wwax at 1:44 PM on April 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
(As a bonus, when I scoop their litter boxes, I use the empty food bags to dispose of the dirty litter!)
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:44 PM on April 16, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:44 PM on April 16, 2021 [3 favorites]
Our two cats eat First Mate wet catfood, from the 12oz tins - saying "tiny tins" makes me think you're using 5oz or smaller ones, so maybe bigger cans is worth a look. The only reason I can think of for small tins is for single-cat owners where they'd be kept open for too long before the cat finished it, but for 2 cats it works out fine.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:45 PM on April 16, 2021
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:45 PM on April 16, 2021
Response by poster: A note, garbage disposal is a single dumpster, in the outskirts of Phoenix Arizona, which I have no clue if they sort and recycle or not, hence the worry.
posted by Evilspork at 2:06 PM on April 16, 2021
posted by Evilspork at 2:06 PM on April 16, 2021
Response by poster: Also, I'm disabled with mobility issues which is why I'm after efficiency.
posted by Evilspork at 2:17 PM on April 16, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Evilspork at 2:17 PM on April 16, 2021 [2 favorites]
I feed my cats frozen raw food, which comes in a large resealable plastic bag. I’d say around 1 bag lasts me a week with two cats, so it’s very little trash. It doesn’t ship well like canned food does, but picking it up at a store instead of shipping is another good way to reduce trash. The success of this varies based on whether you want to feed raw and whether your cats are willing to eat it, but I’m very happy to never wash out a gross cat food can to recycle ever again.
posted by nevernines at 2:55 PM on April 16, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by nevernines at 2:55 PM on April 16, 2021 [3 favorites]
You can also add water to kibble and mush it up, if the goal is to get your cat to consume more water or for variety.
Cooking your own cat food is easier if it’s only part of their diet and they’re getting most of their nutrition from a balanced cat food. Depending on your current diet, it could be pretty easy to adjust preparation so the cat gets some of it.
posted by momus_window at 5:22 PM on April 16, 2021
Cooking your own cat food is easier if it’s only part of their diet and they’re getting most of their nutrition from a balanced cat food. Depending on your current diet, it could be pretty easy to adjust preparation so the cat gets some of it.
posted by momus_window at 5:22 PM on April 16, 2021
I feed my two cats one large (12oz I guess) can of cat food a day and we all seem to be happy with the arrangement.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:33 PM on April 16, 2021
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:33 PM on April 16, 2021
I also use 12oz cans (with adorable plastic lids with cat ears on them). Each one lasts a day and a half for us, since only one of my cats is super into wet food, and they also get some dry food.
posted by ktkt at 10:36 PM on April 16, 2021
posted by ktkt at 10:36 PM on April 16, 2021
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kschang at 1:28 PM on April 16, 2021