Cat that doesn't like EVO!!! Help!

eeron

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I am new to this forum, I am hoping that I might be able to get some advice from you cat lovers/experts!

My new cat of 2 weeks (that I got from the humane society) hardly eats at all. I got him EVO (both the dry and canned food) because of all the wonderful things I had heard/read about it, but he shows little interest in it (well, he seems to like the canned food more than the dry food-he probably eats about 1/4 of a 5.5 oz can/day) My vet says that he actually needs to GAIN weight (which I know is a rarity in the cat world!) and she seemed to feel that he probably just simply doesn't like the EVO, which is why he eats almost none of it. So basically I am wondering....has anyone else had this problem? And if so, what other good quality dry cat foods could you recommend that seem to be very palatable? He has no diet restrictions, and in fact, a higher calorie food would probably be even better for him, as he is also QUITE active which doesn't help his weight situation either.

Hopefully someone out there can give me some help! Ahhh...I guess we just have to love these guys..even with all of their little peculiarities!


Thanks!
 

okiron

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My cats doesn't seem to like Evo either. I'm trying to figure out what other grain-free I could switch them to.
 

sharky

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what foods DID your cats like ???

to the original poster ... did your cat have blood work to ensure nothing serious is causing the underwt issue??
 

okiron

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Originally Posted by sharky

what foods DID your cats like ???

to the original poster ... did your cat have blood work to ensure nothing serious is causing the underwt issue??
Dahmer is fine with Purina (Indoor and Kitten), Special Kitty Urinary Tract Formula, Meow Mix (darn catsitter fed him it), 9lives (eww never again), and Kirkland's. He had Felidae for a month as a kitten because thats what the petstore was feeding him but I had to switch to something cheaper. Not sure if he'll eat it now.

Kayden is fine with Purina (Indoor and Kitten) and 9lives.

Sassy has only had Purina Indoor besides the Evo.
 

sharky

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you might want to look at

Nutro max

Chicken soup for the cat lovers soul

these are chn based with some grains
 

misskiwi67

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Stick with the Purina. Your cat has to actually eat a good food to gain any benefit from it. As of yet I haven't had ANY luck with any of the grain free kibbles, only the canned foods, so I fail to see any value in them.
 

gregg

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I'm new to the forum, however we use Iams Kitten Formula for our kitten and it works great. We also use the multi-cat formula (which has the hairball control and weight control)for the rest of our cats. It helps the cats that need to lose weight or the cats that need to stay lean. The formula works well for all types of cats. The cats must be at least 1 yr or older. So, once our kittens are 12 months old then we will change them to Iams multi-cat formula. It's worth a try. Good luck!


Originally Posted by eeron

I am new to this forum, I am hoping that I might be able to get some advice from you cat lovers/experts!

My new cat of 2 weeks (that I got from the humane society) hardly eats at all. I got him EVO (both the dry and canned food) because of all the wonderful things I had heard/read about it, but he shows little interest in it (well, he seems to like the canned food more than the dry food-he probably eats about 1/4 of a 5.5 oz can/day) My vet says that he actually needs to GAIN weight (which I know is a rarity in the cat world!) and she seemed to feel that he probably just simply doesn't like the EVO, which is why he eats almost none of it. So basically I am wondering....has anyone else had this problem? And if so, what other good quality dry cat foods could you recommend that seem to be very palatable? He has no diet restrictions, and in fact, a higher calorie food would probably be even better for him, as he is also QUITE active which doesn't help his weight situation either.

Hopefully someone out there can give me some help! Ahhh...I guess we just have to love these guys..even with all of their little peculiarities!


Thanks!
 

consumerkitty

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Blue Buffalo makes a grain free formula called Wilderness. My cats love it! I would avoid cheap brands of food if possible. The better the nutrition the fewer the vet bills in the future.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by ConsumerKitty

Blue Buffalo makes a grain free formula called Wilderness. My cats love it! I would avoid cheap brands of food if possible. The better the nutrition the fewer the vet bills in the future.
It is NOT grain free //// It has oatmeal .... NOTE it is not on the front of the bag
 

littleraven7726

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My cats weren't super excited about any of the grain frees. I think the only one we haven't tried is the new Blue Buffalo one.

I decided to stay with a regular cat food, chicken based. But we had to switch to Iams because Nabu decided he wouldn't eat Nutro anymore. But he eats the new Iams Healthy Naturals just fine.
He's such a brat.
I know there are plenty of "better" foods, but if he won't eat them...they don't do us any good.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by ConsumerKitty

Oops, my bad.
OFF topic but NOT your BAD .. at first I thought it was grain free too but then noted the front didnt say that and read the back
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by Misskiwi67

Stick with the Purina. Your cat has to actually eat a good food to gain any benefit from it. As of yet I haven't had ANY luck with any of the grain free kibbles, only the canned foods, so I fail to see any value in them.
You have a point but shouldn't rule out good food just because your cat won't eat a certain brand. When I was trying to get Bijou to eat wet food I tried at least 8 different brands and several flavours of each before we found that they would eat Merrick's and even then they won't eat but 2 flavours since they don't like any fish flavours, just beef and chicken. I also switched their dry over to Orijen which is grain-free and they both loved it immediately.

Sometimes it's trial and error. Naturally you want to keep some of the stuff your cat is used to and likes to mix in with any new food you start feeding in order to switch them over gradually to avoid tummy upsets and/or diarrhea, although our cats have never had any issues with a complete and immediate changeover.
 

misskiwi67

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After 5 errors, I'm sticking with what works. Intractable diarrhea is not my idea of fun, and I'm sure my kitties feel the same.

Purina pro plan, Innova, Innova EVO, California Natural and Felidae have all been failures. Satin currently has diarrhea from snitching the new kittens Royal Canin (figured if I started with something other than Science Diet, I could stay away). Tried and true works for me. My cats are healthy and happy, and they tell me more than an ingredients list ever will.
 

misty8723

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Neither of my cats will touch Evo (dry or wet), not even Swanie who rarely turns anything down. The only grain free dry they'll eat is Orijen, and I've tried them all. Natural Balance has a grain free Chicken (I think it's grain free). I'm sure there are others. I know Wellness has grain free, but they still have the stuff with garlic in my area, so I haven't tried that yet.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by Misskiwi67

After 5 errors, I'm sticking with what works. Intractable diarrhea is not my idea of fun, and I'm sure my kitties feel the same.

Purina pro plan, Innova, Innova EVO, California Natural and Felidae have all been failures. Satin currently has diarrhea from snitching the new kittens Royal Canin (figured if I started with something other than Science Diet, I could stay away). Tried and true works for me. My cats are healthy and happy, and they tell me more than an ingredients list ever will.
That is your right to choose what you think is best for your cats and nobody would deny you that. That does not make it best for everyone else's cat and there are better foods out there for our cats if we can get them to eat them. And yes when changing foods many of us will experience digestive problems but these will often go away after a short period of time when their system gets used to the new food unless the cat is allergic to one of the ingredients.

I know when I changed foods my big concern was to choose foods with NO BY-PRODUCTS and few if any grains. That was my choice and I'm comfortable with it.

As others have said in the past, even if Fancy Feast (junk food for cats) is the only wet food your cat will eat, it's better than no wet food as long as the dry food you feed is a quality food.
 

artgecko

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I know this might not help you immediately, but if you write some of the companies, many will send you not only coupons, but samples of foods, that way you can tell what they like and don't like before investing in a bag... I tried chickensoup this way and all of my cats DEVOURED it. It is also relatively inexpensive. Some others that I've had luck with are Nutro natural choice, and the authority canned foods. I am feeding EVO right now, but one of my cats is on natural balance duck/green pea due to allergies.

My cats wouldn't touch the regular EVO cat cans either..BUT they love the EVO 95% meat line of cans, esp. the chicken/turkey and beef.

Another food that all of mine liked is california natural..not a grain free, but a good quality food also made by natura (makers of EVO).

Also, walmart carries a pretty good food (equivilant to nutro max) called maxximum. It is fairly reasonably priced too, but I haven't tried it so can't vouch for the cats liking it or not.

My cats also loved the samples I got of Wellness, but it is far too pricey for me to afford.

HTH,
Art
 

sakura

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Originally Posted by eeron

I am new to this forum, I am hoping that I might be able to get some advice from you cat lovers/experts!

My new cat of 2 weeks (that I got from the humane society) hardly eats at all. I got him EVO (both the dry and canned food) because of all the wonderful things I had heard/read about it, but he shows little interest in it (well, he seems to like the canned food more than the dry food-he probably eats about 1/4 of a 5.5 oz can/day) My vet says that he actually needs to GAIN weight (which I know is a rarity in the cat world!) and she seemed to feel that he probably just simply doesn't like the EVO, which is why he eats almost none of it. So basically I am wondering....has anyone else had this problem? And if so, what other good quality dry cat foods could you recommend that seem to be very palatable? He has no diet restrictions, and in fact, a higher calorie food would probably be even better for him, as he is also QUITE active which doesn't help his weight situation either.

Hopefully someone out there can give me some help! Ahhh...I guess we just have to love these guys..even with all of their little peculiarities!


Thanks!
Did you do a gradual switch with the the dry? You always should change dry food gradually over a period of a week or so. Otherwise diarreah could be an issue. They have to get used to it too, cats like routine!

The really rich stuff doesn't go over well with my cats either.

There are so many brands you can try besides EVO, in no particular order:
*Wellness
*Chicken Soup
*Merrick
*Nutro Max
*Nutro Natural
*Solid Gold
*Tiki Cat
*Avoderm
*Organix (Castor & Pollux)
*Blue Buffalo Spa
*By Nature Organics
*By Nature Naturals
*California Natural
*Newman's Own Organics
*Innova
*Natural Balance


Originally Posted by Gregg

I'm new to the forum, however we use Iams Kitten Formulafor our kitten and it works great. We also use the multi-cat formula (which has the hairball control and weight control)for the rest of our cats. It helps the cats that need to lose weight or the cats that need to stay lean. The formula works well for all types of cats. The cats must be at least 1 yr or older. So, once our kittens are 12 months old then we will change them to Iams multi-cat formula. It's worth a try. Good luck!
Hi and welcome!!

I think almost any kitten will scarf down Iams kitten, they love it. It's not the best ingredient list though. It's almost like feeding McDonalds to your toddler everyday (I got that analogy from someone else on this forum, hehe). Iams in general is just ... meh. Plus, they do animal testing if that sort of thing is a deal breaker for you. I would consider switching to something of higher quality.

Originally Posted by Misskiwi67

After 5 errors, I'm sticking with what works. Intractable diarrhea is not my idea of fun, and I'm sure my kitties feel the same.

Purina pro plan, Innova, Innova EVO, California Natural and Felidae have all been failures. Satin currently has diarrhea from snitching the new kittens Royal Canin (figured if I started with something other than Science Diet, I could stay away). Tried and true works for me. My cats are healthy and happy, and they tell me more than an ingredients list ever will.
I wonder if she has diarreah from switching dry food because it wasn't a gradual change?


Anything sold at a grocery store = junk in my book. Yep, even Purina. There are some grocery store breands that are better than others. My favorite grocery store brand is Meow Mix, I feed the pouches to my cats sometimes). There are PLENTY of good brands that aren't all grain-free.

True, a cat has to like the food but there are so many options these days. My cat isn't super picky but she clearly has favorites and "what the heck is this on my plate" foods. (For example, she's not so much a fan of Chicken Soup, Merrick, or Wellness but she loves Nutro Max, Solid Gold, and Natural Balance).
 

misskiwi67

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Originally Posted by Sakura

I wonder if she has diarreah from switching dry food because it wasn't a gradual change?
No, when I switch foods I measure it out and switch 1:3, 1:1, 3:1 for about a week at a time. The kitties didn't have a problem with the EVO until they were a month into the switch and had been eating 100% EVO for a week. Both of them had explosive diarrhea within that week. Angel has done a little bit better with some of the foods, but Satin gets diarrhea on every food except the prescription Hills. Both cats look incredible, and I really don't see any advantage to the "better" foods when they don't give good results.

I also find it interesting that Iams and Meow mix are acceptable but Purina is not?
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Misskiwi67

No, when I switch foods I measure it out and switch 1:3, 1:1, 3:1 for about a week at a time. The kitties didn't have a problem with the EVO until they were a month into the switch and had been eating 100% EVO for a week. Both of them had explosive diarrhea within that week. Angel has done a little bit better with some of the foods, but Satin gets diarrhea on every food except the prescription Hills. Both cats look incredible, and I really don't see any advantage to the "better" foods when they don't give good results.

I also find it interesting that Iams and Meow mix are acceptable but Purina is not?
Iams and Meow mix wets have SOME acceptable.. ie no grain , no by products in several MM wets ...Iams again seems to be changing so IMHO I would be caustious
 
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