# Cat Food Stores in Canada?!



## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

I'm looking to get the following cat food brands either shipped or picked up somewhere in Canada (for pick up it would need to be near Hull, QC or Ottawa, ON)

Wellness Indoor Health Dry Cat Food (5lb)
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul Senior Hairball Control (6lb)
Blue Buffalo Spa Select Weight Control Chicken and Brown Rice (3lb)
Natural Balance Green Pea and Duck Formula (3lb)

I found this mix suggestion on this site and heard great things about all of them, but if you see any reason I shouldn't get one of them go ahead and let me know.

I have tried PETSMART, PETVALU, and various US stores, but the price for shipping alone was 125 dollars, which is crazy. 

I was hoping to just get them all at the same time and not have to purchase them all separately, unless that will be cheaper.

Really, I'm just looking for other peoples opinions and experiences.

Thanks!


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

If you have a Pet Valu nearby, they sell all of those foods. The Chicken Soup Cat either the lite or regular version is fine. I'm not sure the reason behind hairball control. I don't think it would hurt but it isn't necessary. 

Edited to add: Here's the store locations for Pet Valu http://www.petvalu.com/locations_servic ... a-location


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

Thank you for the info, I guess my search results didn't come up because I was looking up the hairball one, I went with the normal. 

All together comes up to 94.46, but I heard it will last for 2 and a half years, in case anyone is wondering.


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

Don't forget food usually has a 6monthish expiry date. Keep whatever you're not using in the freezer and even then, 2 years may be pushing it. It'd probably be stale and lack nutritional value.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Even putting it in the freezer, you are looking at 6-9 months tops before you'd have to throw it out. With one hedgehog you are best to buy the smallest bags and use a mix of 2, maximum 3 so you aren't wasting too much food. 

I have a storey about stale food. A girl who bought one of my babies, rehomed her 4 months later without contacting me. I knew nothing about it until Lucy's frantic new owner contacted me saying Lucy wouldn't eat and she'd already spent $800 at the vet trying to find out why and the vet wanted to do a barium enema as well as other expensive tests to find out what was wrong with her. In talking with the new owner, she said that Lucy would eat bugs but no kibble. I suggested she try some canned food or baby food which she did and Lucy gobbled right up so it was only the kibble she wasn't eating. I asked if she had switched her food and she said no, it was still the bag that the original owner had bought 5 months earlier. I told her to go buy fresh kibble and when she did, Lucy was back to eating her kibble. So this poor girl had spent all that money and the only thing wrong was stale food. If anyone in Toronto wants to know who the vet was, pm me.


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

OH! That's so weird!! I saw it on a previous post on here, thank you so much for telling me, that's extremely useful.

Which ones should I keep in there, if I get rid of one in the mix? Does it matter?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

I would say to get rid of the Wellness. Wellness can cause stomach upset in some hedgehogs so better to avoid it than have to waste the whole bag.


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

Good idea, I just read a post that said it can cause bleeding in their stools?? Geeez... thanks!!


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## newfie_nurse (Apr 28, 2011)

I have seen many of those brands at petland or petsmart here in alberta. I have a mix of 3-4 dried cat foods but recently found Go natural cat food ( chicken fruit and veg mix). It comes in *SMALL* bags *1lb*, 4lb or 10 lb

http://www.petcurean.com/index.php?page_id=122

its a little high in fat content, but most of my mixes are LOW fat percentages. It also has fruit and veggies in the kibble for those who are picky eaters and wont eat them seperately. Its also a VERY small kibble size. smallest I have seen.. Its an awesome addition to my mix. And with a 1lb bag I dont have to worry about it going bad or stale.


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## Quinn (Apr 24, 2011)

I as well got to petsmart for my cat food. I have been to Global Pet food store and they carry most of those brands but tend to be more expensive.


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

I wish the brands I want to use came in smaller bag, I dont want them to go bad.


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

I can't seem to find any cat food that is smaller then a 3lb bag. Does anyone have any suggestions? I really wanted to use Chicken Soup for cats and Blue Buffalo, but if there's something just as good or better that comes in a smaller bag that would be awesome


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## Christemo (Oct 5, 2011)

I have half the bag in the freezer, and the other half in an air tight container... when you go to take it out of the freezer, I just lay it out on a paper towel to dry and thaw, then store.


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

If I get 2 3lb bags will it go bad though? like will it only last 6 months? I really dont want to feed my hedgie bad food, but then again I dont mind having some extra, my dog will eat anything :roll: I guess we could always mix the rest with his doggy food.

EDIT: All the ones I'm looking at have some sort of fish product in them, like salmon. Wont that make their poops stink up worse??


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

The website for Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul has a store locator, which is handy. http://www.chickensoupforthepetloversso ... r_locator/
It's also available on amazon, as well as some other cat foods, but I don't know about the shipping costs for that - I use Amazon Prime, which has free 2-day shipping.

Of the cat foods I looked at, Blue Buffalo comes in 2 or 2.5lb bags, Innova comes in 2.2lb, and Wellness comes in 2.5lb. These tend to be a little more expensive, when you consider how much you're spending per pound. In my experience (with dogs), dry kibble doesn't go bad. I'll be getting a 6lb bag of Chicken Soup and storing half of it or so in some sort of airtight container until we need it. Just a plain ziplock bag would work fine for that.


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

Dry cat food actually loses its nutritional value after about 6months.


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

Fish products can make poo pretty stinky. My Mildred has a mix of 4 kibbles, one of which is Purina One Beyond Salmon & Brown Rice. Her poop isn't pleasant, but it's not anything too terrible. As long as you clean the wheel every day and keep on top of cage cleaning, it shouldn't be a huge issue. That's your choice, though. Some people are more sensitive to poop than I am. I'm a CNA so I've seen it all :lol: 

If you feel like you'll have too much kibble to use, you can always ask around with friends that have cats and see if anyone wants to buy half a bag of each off of you. I did that with a bag of food that I couldn't return, but wasn't feeding Milly anymore.


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

Thats actually what I'm thinking about doing, asking anyone on my fb if they want to buy half of it  no point in letting it go to waste. Heck even if they dont want to pay for half, i'll give it away


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

GoldenEyes said:


> Thats actually what I'm thinking about doing, asking anyone on my fb if they want to buy half of it  no point in letting it go to waste. Heck even if they dont want to pay for half, i'll give it away


It would be a lovely contribution to your local animal shelter


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

Immortalia said:


> GoldenEyes said:
> 
> 
> > Thats actually what I'm thinking about doing, asking anyone on my fb if they want to buy half of it  no point in letting it go to waste. Heck even if they dont want to pay for half, i'll give it away
> ...


OMG Immortalia that's the best idea I have EVER heard. I'm SO doing that!


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

GoldenEyes said:


> Dry cat food actually loses its nutritional value after about 6months.


Good thing a 6lb bag won't last that long. :]
3 tablespoons of kibble per day for a hedgie means about 1 ounce per day - so 16 days, roughly, per pound. A 6lb bag would definitely be used up all the way before reaching the point of losing its nutritional value.


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## GoldenEyes (Nov 4, 2011)

My issue was I was only finding bags that had 7lb of food in them. I wanted to mix three different types soo... that was impossible lol


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Ah, yeah, that's a bit difficult! I'm happy with the food we'll be using, and since we're going to be including mealies, fruit/veggies, and cooked chicken in the diet as well, we hadn't considered more than one kind of cat food to be necessary. Hedgie diets are kind of particular for each individual owner, of course. Good luck figuring something out! :]


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