the "perfect" wet/dry food combo?

[Wallaby]

I'm trying to switch Booth over to getting free fed dry food and about an ounce of wet food in the morning and an ounce at night. He's absolutely loving the wet food, no problems there, but I'm not sure what the best I could be getting him for my money is.

I had been feeding him Blue Buffalo Longevity Kitten dry food (he's almost 5 months old) and then the purple Wellness one (I can't remember what the flavor is... However, I don't want to feed him the green Wellness, turkey and salmon I think, one cuz he's thrown up after eating it before) for his wet food. He has thrown up before after eating the turkey and salmon one so I'm leery of feeding him things that are turkey or salmon...
However, I ran out of the dry food the other day and the store was out of BB so I got Before Grain which looked ok... So now he's eating Before Grain dry food and he really seems to like it a whole lot better than the BB. It also makes his breath a whole lot more pungent! Haha
My plan is to buy this batch of wet food online since that looks like the cheapest way, just btw.

Anyway, so I'd like to get 12oz cans or bigger cuz they last him a lot longer and I feel like they cause me to portion out his food better since I know how long they should last, yknow? And I feel like they're generally a better deal money-wise.

I was looking at PetFoodDirect and Wellness came to about $2.33 a 12oz can when I did the math, EVO 95% grain came to about $1.80 a 13oz can. So EVO is looking like a better deal, but is it a better product?
Booth LOVES Wellness, will he probably like EVO as much? I mean, I've never seen him not eat food (he's a little chow hound, that boy does not know the word finicky) but somethings he gets more excited about.

He also really liked Spot's Stew when I got that for him once a while ago. However, that didn't appear to be such a great deal and it seems like the general concensus here is that Spot's Stew is "bad" cuz of the veggies and all that...

Anyway, what's the "best"? My budget is <$30, preferably <$25, and I'd like to get as much as I can within hat amount of money. The way to my heart is frugal, yet high quality. Haha

Thanks!

Also, I've thought about going raw, but my mom (who I live with) is highly allergic to most meats and the risk involved with preparing such things while keeping her safe just seems like too much to me. One day!

[doodlebug]

EVO is a great food, however I would not buy a case before testing it out. Sometimes they'll eat something a couple times and then turn up their nose. Also, the EVO food tends to be a bit greasier than Wellness and there have been many reports of cats vomiting because of it. So I'd recommend trying it out before buying in volume.

In general, I recommend mixing up the brands and the flavors. A better variety keeps the cat more interested and they don't imprint on one food, then have the mfr make a change and they won't eat it.

[WhiteKitties]

Mine get Wellness and Evo, with the occasional can of Weruva or Merrick thrown in for some variety (those 2 don't come in the bigger cans but the girls love them). I would agree with Doodlebug that you don't want to buy a whole case of food since you don't know if Booth will like it. Even if it's a bit of a drive, it would be worth your while to search out a healthy pet food store where you could buy a few different brands to try to see if he will eat them before you order food online. I have about an hour drive to my healthy pet food store, but it's worth my while since I only do it once a month and it's still cheaper than shipping charges.

Also keep in mind that you want to try out the exact flavors you'll consider feeding him - my girls love Evo beef but won't touch any other Evo flavor, and this pickiness holds true for other brands as well. You may find that Booth prefers one type of meat over another, which is the case with mine.

Fish is generally not a good thing to feed to cats - search around here and you'll find a lot of info on that. I would totally skip any fish, unless you want to occasionally give him a treat of a little piece of fish.

Last, on the throwing up issue, it's very weird but I've found that if I play with my girls right after they eat they don't throw up. If I let them just sit and do nothing, that's when they throw up. They often get the kitty crazies after breakfast, and after I noticed that they never threw up on those days I started playing with them as often as possible after meals, and we rarely have to clean up piles anymore!

[Susan]

I agree with the other posters and would suggest you feed a few types of wet food, both different flavors and brands. I recently managed to switch my girls from dry to wet and they currently eat mainly Weruva, because they previously refused to eat pate-style wet food such as Wellness (Weruva is more like shredded meat). However, I recently tried EVO and GO!, both of which are also pate, and my girls love both brands, so I will be adding these to their mix. I also tried Wellness again the other day, figuring they might like it this time around. Nope!

As for the throwing up, a lot of cats are allergic to fish, so that might have been the problem with the salmon-flavored Wellness (I think the purple can is Chicken).