Juicy canned food recommendation needed

audiocat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Aug 29, 2007
Messages
433
Purraise
13
Location
Austin TX
My cats love the little 3oz size cans of Wellness. I rotate the grain-free flavors so they don't get bored with having the same food day after day but I would like to add a little more variety to their diet. All the other high end canned food I've tried seems to be more pate' or loafish. I've tried Natural Balance, Evo, NutroMax and Merrick but they really don't like the "firmness" of it and won't eat very much of it. I've also tried putting a bit of warm water into the loaf style canned to see if they will eat it and no. If I give them the "gravy" type pouches they will lap up the gravy and leave the square chunks of food behind. They love the Solid Gold Tuna flavor (which is also juicy) but it really reeks and smells up my house so my husband told me not to buy it again.

I'm tired of wasting money on cat food they won't eat. Perhaps I'm overlooking a brand I haven't yet tried. Can anyone recommend another canned food comparable to grain-free Wellness in a 3oz size that has a juicy consistency and high moisture content?
 

goldenkitty45

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
19,900
Purraise
44
Location
SW Minnesota
Mine hate the "gravy" foods - they like the pate' ones a lot better.

Maybe make some of your own gravy (chicken) and keep it a day or so and add to the food.
 

kiwi kat

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
76
Purraise
2
Location
Ontario Canada
There's quite a bit of variety with the wellness, I'd just stick with what your doing.


If you can't find a store that carries them all, maybe you could order some online?
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
stick with what works... Natures variety is similiar ... Solid gold may go over
 

momofmany

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 15, 2003
Messages
16,249
Purraise
70
Location
There's no place like home
My toothless Stumpy is a gravy licker and I've tried every single high quality canned food out on him. They are nearly all pate type with none having extra gravy. But since he generally likes them, I haven't resorted to the el-cheapo brands like Friskies. Those have lots of gravy, but also lots of carbs and fillers.

Stumpy's favorites are Wellness, but he will occassionally like Felidae, Evo and for slightly less quality, Authority. There was 1 flavor of Merrick that was very runny, but he didn't like the flavor. If you find that brand, shake all the cans and you can hear 1 of them that is very liquidy.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

audiocat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Aug 29, 2007
Messages
433
Purraise
13
Location
Austin TX
Originally Posted by Momofmany

Stumpy's favorites are Wellness, but he will occassionally like Felidae, Evo and for slightly less quality, Authority. There was 1 flavor of Merrick that was very runny, but he didn't like the flavor. If you find that brand, shake all the cans and you can hear 1 of them that is very liquidy.
I only tried a few of the Merrick flavors. Next time I'm at the store I'll shake a few cans.

Mostly I'm just trying to find a few other flavors to augment the flavors I feed them now. They seem to get bored easily if I don't mix up their food variety often. After a few days of the same food they won't eat it for a while so I'd like to find more to add to the rotation.
 

momofmany

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 15, 2003
Messages
16,249
Purraise
70
Location
There's no place like home
If you have a pet health food store in Austin, buy 1 can of everything. I did that for Stumpy when his teeth were extracted and wrote down every flavor that he liked. Thankfully there are enough cats in the household that none of the ones he didn't like went to waste. But your right - Stumpy gets tired of Wellness once in a while (even though I switch flavors daily) and when he hits that point, I rotate in another brand for a couple of days. I limit the flavors he really likes to no more than once a week so that he doesn't tire of those.
 

misskiwi67

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Messages
210
Purraise
2
Location
Iowa
Have you tried the purina one cans? They're pretty soft in my opinion, and there are blended type varieties. I love the sardines and tuna (its 99% whole fish!) but try to keep it just as a treat so the kitties don't get too much fish.
 
G

ghostuser

Guest
The Dr Fosters cans are pretty soft.. you can find them at some Targets I think? The EVO 95% meat cans are good and soft.. at least in the flavors I've tried. I think the regular Innova cans were pretty soft too..
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #12

audiocat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Aug 29, 2007
Messages
433
Purraise
13
Location
Austin TX
Originally Posted by kluchetta

I think there are Wellness pouches - they might like them. Tiki Cat is also less loaf-ish...
We've tried the Wellness pouches. The cats will lap up the gravey and leave the chunks.

I've never heard of Tiki Cat...is it a grain free?

Originally Posted by littleraven7726

Stimpy likes Authority loaf style and California Natural. They are both a little more of a "wet" loaf style without being runny.
I don't remember if I've tried the California Natural in cans yet. The feed store I shop at carries that brand so I will get some of those too.


I've got some good recommendations to try now. Hopefully the fur kids will like a couple of them. It's so annoying to put food down and they turn their little noses up at it...then cry later cause they say they are starving.
 

jandm

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 23, 2007
Messages
87
Purraise
1
Location
NYC
I am recommending WERUVA, once again! It is expensive, more so than Wellness. (3oz 1.19/5.5 oz 1.49) I was feeding grain free Wellness to my girls, but they wouldn't eat the any of the fish, so we were stuck with turkey and chicken. That is when I found Weruva at my local pet supply store. They have both grain free and whole grain flavors. The chicken and beef flavors are shredded in a gravy and are grain free. You can see REAL chunks of potatoes, peas and carrots! My girls love it!!! Then I tested out the fish flavors, which are real chunks of fish, not a pate or loaf, and I think they love it more than the chicken now!!! The fish flavors do contain whole grains. There is lots of variety, check out their website!
 

sakura

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 21, 2007
Messages
1,604
Purraise
3
The Avoderm Select Cuts are grain-free (3oz cans) and are not pate.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #16

audiocat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Aug 29, 2007
Messages
433
Purraise
13
Location
Austin TX
I've never heard of the WERUVA or Avoderm before. After going to their websites I'm going to check them out and see if the fur kids like some of the flavors.

Lilly has always had a dandruff issue and the Avoderm seems like it might be helpful for that. Sakura....have you been using the Avoderm Select Cuts for your cats? If so, did you notice a difference in their skin and coat afterwards?
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
yes Zoey likes some select cuts( not longer using since she reacts to something in them, likely a gum) ... Zoey already eats high end foods and according to her vet has one of the best coats ever( so I cant answer )
 

alleygirl

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
11,814
Purraise
24
Location
hiding in the bathtub
Riley likes the Avoderm chicken and it is very wet. There are several Merrick flavors that are very wet, Turducken, Thanksgiving Dinner and Chicken Pot Pie are all very juicy with little chunks, but not large ones like the pouch foods.
 

robertm

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Dec 1, 2007
Messages
452
Purraise
3
Over the last several weeks I've been trying to wean both my cats off Fancy Feast. The dry food fan has rejected each and every healthier canned food that I have attempted to serve, which doesn't surprise me. But the voracious canned food addict has shocked me by rejecting literally ALL of the loaf/pate-style cans that I've tried to feed him so far (Nutro Complete Care, Innova, Natural Balance, Castor & Pollux), regardless of manufacturer. He never did that with the FF. So AudioCat, I know exactly what you're going through.

So far the two brands of non-pate that he absolutely loves are Weruva and Merrick. Merrick has been well documented at TCS so I won't say anything else about it, but Weruva...he goes nuts over Weruva. I have only fed him all of the fish flavors so far and he cleans the bowl every single time. Weruva is expensive-ish (about $1.50 for a 5.5 ounce can in some stores around here) but I have found that all of the fish flavors except for the one with Mackeral and Aloe are very dense (the M&A is Merrick consistency), so I typically can get 4 servings from a 5.5 ounce can instead of the usual 3 with other brands. So if your cat is like mine, that helps offset the cost somewhat.

He also likes the Nutro Max Cat Gourmet Classics 3 ounce cans, as well as Solid Gold, all Pet Gold and all Tiki Cats. I gave him one of the Wellness Healthy Indulgences pouches and he gobbled it all up in one shot, so that's also promising. Honestly, I smelled it before putting it in his bowl and *I* was tempted to eat it, that's how good it smelled.

He has rejected the Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care pouches, and he's iffy with Spot's Stew Chicken & Clams (which I think might be discontinued soon).

I've bought the Nutro Max Cat Gourmet Classics pouches, Evo, and Wysong Chicken au jus and Beef au jus cans (which aren't nutritionally complete) but haven't tried them yet.

Eventually I'll buy the byNature pouches and the Avoderm and Drs. Foster & Smith cans that were recommended. I didn't know that Avoderm and DFS were not pate-style, so thanks to wishiwas and Sakura for mentioning them.
 

yosemite

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
23,313
Purraise
81
Location
Ingersoll, ON
Originally Posted by RobertM

Over the last several weeks I've been trying to wean both my cats off Fancy Feast. The dry food fan has rejected each and every healthier canned food that I have attempted to serve, which doesn't surprise me. But the voracious canned food addict has shocked me by rejecting literally ALL of the loaf/pate-style cans that I've tried to feed him so far (Nutro Complete Care, Innova, Natural Balance, Castor & Pollux), regardless of manufacturer. He never did that with the FF. So AudioCat, I know exactly what you're going through.

So far the two brands of non-pate that he absolutely loves are Weruva and Merrick. Merrick has been well documented at TCS so I won't say anything else about it, but Weruva...he goes nuts over Weruva. I have only fed him all of the fish flavors so far and he cleans the bowl every single time. Weruva is expensive-ish (about $1.50 for a 5.5 ounce can in some stores around here) but I have found that all of the fish flavors except for the one with Mackeral and Aloe are very dense (the M&A is Merrick consistency), so I typically can get 4 servings from a 5.5 ounce can instead of the usual 3 with other brands. So if your cat is like mine, that helps offset the cost somewhat.

He also likes the Nutro Max Cat Gourmet Classics 3 ounce cans, as well as Solid Gold, all Pet Gold and all Tiki Cats. I gave him one of the Wellness Healthy Indulgences pouches and he gobbled it all up in one shot, so that's also promising. Honestly, I smelled it before putting it in his bowl and *I* was tempted to eat it, that's how good it smelled.

He has rejected the Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care pouches, and he's iffy with Spot's Stew Chicken & Clams (which I think might be discontinued soon).

I've bought the Nutro Max Cat Gourmet Classics pouches, Evo, and Wysong Chicken au jus and Beef au jus cans (which aren't nutritionally complete) but haven't tried them yet.

Eventually I'll buy the byNature pouches and the Avoderm and Drs. Foster & Smith cans that were recommended. I didn't know that Avoderm and DFS were not pate-style, so thanks to wishiwas and Sakura for mentioning them.
I currently pay $1.69 CDN per 5.5 ounce can of Merrick's so that seems pretty reasonable at $1.50 per can to me.
 
Top