New cat we are getting only eats fancy feast

Ugh,

We just adopted a cat named Sawyer. He is three years old and only wants to eat Fancy Feast "grilled salmon". I don't know if this is cheap low quality cat food, but if we try to feed him anything else he throws up. My friend said that fancy feast is the most popular food that people seem to pick up because it's cheap and on sale.

I would like to switch him to a higher quality food because he is overweight (has the fat pouch where is abdomen is). He doesn't even play much (and I'm thinking that is because he has that excess weight). He doesn't like much dry food and we're trying to find the best way to get him to try a better brand. We'll still do salmon (doesn't like anything else).

My friend told me to go to the grocery store and look at what kind of cat food a lot of people put in their carts. I did this Friday, and yesterday, and lo and behold fancy feast was the brand that was picked up the most. Yuck!

(sorry if there are any fans of fancy feast here).

The supermarket is not the place to be shopping for cat food.

You need to visit a pet store, like Petco, Petsmart, etc....

I was having trouble finding quality as well, until I visited pet stores. That's where the higher quality brands are located.

I'm sure someone will be along shortly to give you a suggestion on which brand exactly to try for your situation, but supermarket brands are basically junk.

The fat pouch on his tummy is quite normal in adult cats. If he feels fat around the ribs, then he may be overweight.

My Seb will only eat MeowMix pouches and some Fancy Feast wet. The meowMix pouches aren't as awful as some of the other canned foods. I agree, go to a pet food shop and try several different brands.

Seb ate Science Diet dry for years-didn't think I would ever get him off of it. He is eating Natural Balance almost 100% now

Sharky is the expert around here. I am sure she will come along soon with some advice. Thanks for taking this kitty in!

Sharky Sharky where are you lol!

Here's a link to him.

My cats prefer Purina Pro-Plan to the natural stuff when it comes to wet. And Purina Pro-Plan is just like Fancy Feast, just a little bit higher up but the ingredients are nearly identical. I don't think most people have easy access to the higher quality brands unless they look for independent pet supply stores or shop on line. I've had bad experience ordering wet food on line because I pay for shipping fees, put the wet stuff on the plate and watch my cats turn up their noses at the stuff and then I know I wasted my money. My most convenient pet supply stop is Petco and they are also limited. So if your cat rejects canned Natural Balance, Nutro or Avoderm which is best wet food available at Petco then you're pretty much limited to Iams(some of these are not so bad), Purina Pro-plan, Science Diet, and all your supermarket brands such as Fancy Feast, Friskies, 9-lives etc. Most people just feed whatever their cats will eat as I have gotten to the point of doing but I make sure they at least eat a high quality dry food (Nutro).

But on cat forums, people are a lot pickier so if you want you can be really determined and good luck. If you go to the independent pet supply stores (or on line if you don't mind the risk of wasting your money) you can find the brands that people on cat forums boast about.

Wellness (however my Rosie had a bad reaction to the garlic)
Felidae
Merrick
Innova (how I wish my cats liked this brand, I've tried but they don't have it at Petco so I really had to travel to try this out only to get a rejection from my cats).
California Natural
Eagle Pack

Or you can go to a Natural people food store, check the pet food isle and find brands like Trader Joe's band or PetGuard and others.

Cats that are accustomed to Fancy Feast often reject Natural wet foods. You can however use FF as a flavor enhancer and mix it with a better brand of wet food to gradually switch them over. This of course requires much patience.

I'm sure Sharky will be with you shortly.

I am here..lmao...

Meow mix ( low cost and decent quality)

Sheba tubs( gold) ( not for sole nutrition as it is not complete)

Natural life ( most Walmarts excellent food for a good price )

Iam s ( yup three to five of them have no by products or corn... chicken entree , beef entree and oceanfish entree)

Fancy feast is filled with BY products of meat which is head feet intestine s of well MEAT, many have soy , some have lots of wheat( non issue if no allegys ... ARTIFICIAL flavors ICKY...

Some FF in aspic are fine no grain no by products but it is like 5 out of 40


THank you Moggiegirl for the in depth view...

Yup, thanks you guys. I bought some Evangers whole mackeral with gravy and he seemed to like that. I believe he had some wellness but I can't remember what kind it was.

I just switched a cat to all wet and had to figure out what he likes. I'm buying the better quality foods in small cans and keeping a list of what he really likes and dislikes. The bum likes FF Salmon and Shrimp and we'll only give into that once in a while.

You might want to write down what works and what doesn't work.

I have had good luck using brewer's yeast to get my picky eaters to try new foods. I found it at a health food store then found more at the grocery store (Kroger's) in the health food section.
Get the debittered variety. I just sprinkled a little on the food and they were less likely to turn up their noses.
(Thanks for the tip Beandip!)
Devlyn

Originally Posted by Devlyn

I have had good luck using brewer's yeast to get my picky eaters to try new foods. I found it at a health food store then found more at the grocery store (Kroger's) in the health food section.
Get the debittered variety. I just sprinkled a little on the food and they were less likely to turn up their noses.
(Thanks for the tip Beandip!)
Devlyn

Click to expand...

Thank you! What does the Brewer's Yeast do?

The brewer's yeast tastes good and stimulates them to eat. It's also good for their coat. It has a lot of health benefits to people as well and I started mixing it in my own food too. lol! It has lots of vitamins, amino acids, nutrients and is high in protein and fiber.
If he's throwing up the new food, you may want to try mixing a little bit of a new food in with the food he likes at first, then slowly increasing the amount. The new food might be richer to his tummy than he's used to and causing it to be upset.
Good luck with the food switch!

Dev

You could try fasting the cat for a day or so

Cats in the wild NO NOT eat everyday that is a clivilized HUMAN thing/want/not need, even people benefit from occasional fasting

In Dr Pitcairn's book on Natural Health for dogs and cats he says cats/dog can fast up to 3 days with no unhealthy effects/ while transisioning from caned/kibble to raw.

Though I WOULD watch them closely for any ill effrts just to be on the safe side.

Originally Posted by Panther pride

You could try fasting the cat for a day or so

Cats in the wild NO NOT eat everyday that is a clivilized HUMAN thing/want/not need, even people benefit from occasional fasting

In Dr Pitcairn's book on Natural Health for dogs and cats he says cats/dog can fast up to 3 days with no unhealthy effects/ while transisioning from caned/kibble to raw.

Though I WOULD watch them closely for any ill effrts just to be on the safe side.

Click to expand...

NO NO ..... FASTING IS very DANGEROUS ... and should only be done under a VETS care....

look up hepatic lipadosis( fatty liver)

Cats are finicky eaters but the instinct to survive is strong. Cats know that they are not in danger of starvation when they have a good home and get fed at least twice a day. And they learn to manipulate people into getting what they want. I personally think it's better to feed even the grocery store type wet foods than no wet food at all and then try to get them on a varied diet even if you have to mix FF with something else. Yesterday I went to petco and bought varieties of wet food ranging from FF to all natural brands and 4 jars of all meat baby food from the grocery store as I discovered that Rosie will eat something she might otherwise not eat if I mix in a teaspoon of chicken or turkey baby food (no onion powder).

I will not do fasting but I believe it's ok to put down the food twice a day, maybe even a little dry food too if you think they might not eat enough wet and then if for example Friday night the cat refuses to eat, pick up the food after two hours, wash the bowls and say, "Too bad, you didn't eat your dinner so you'll just have to wait until breakfast time to be fed again." The cat ate his breakfast that day so technically the cat is not really fasting, just occasionally skipping a meal and that's actually healthful because it allows them to build appetite. The fact is house cats very rarely go hungry and the ones that have access to dry food are never really hungry. Now if the cat is refusing to eat for days, that's a concern and I would rather give in and feed the cat what it wants to eat than to allow this.