My cat will only eat wet food and Fancy Feast only!

jkalex05

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I have a 1 year old female cat, white persian.

When we bought her as a kitten the owner said she would not eat dry food only wet canned food. We tried to feed her dry iams but she wouldn't eat. So we gave her canned fancy feast and she would eat it.

After a month we found some new fancy feast delicates. She loved them.

Now she is pregnant and going to deliver in 1 month.

My dad ordered some really good natural balance canned wet food but she didn't like. We even mixxed it with the fancy feast and she wouldn't eat it.

What should we do?
 

mzjazz2u

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Many believe canned food is actual better then dry. Cats need the moisture to stay healthy and avoid things like crystal and urine blockages. Keep feeding her the fancy feast and every once in awhile buy a can of some other higher quality food and try it until you find one she'll eat. You could try Nutro Max Cat canned, which you can find in any pet store. But maybe just mostly stick to the fancy feast for now since she's pregnant. Have you started a breeding program for Persians? If not, then I would have her spayed after her babies are weened. She'll be healthier and happier.
 

natalie_ca

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My vet tells me that canned food is better for a cat than dry.

Unfortunately my youngest, Abby (9 years old), doesn't like wet food. Lately she will eat a wee little bit of Fancy Feast Grilled Salmon, but it's like only a couple teaspoons. So I can't seem to get her off of the dry food
 

goldenkitty45

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Keep trying. FF is ok as a treat, but not as a regualar meal. I use Max Cat and Natural Balance and a few Iams canned.
 

yosemite

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You might also want to try Merrick's wet. That's the only brand my 2 will eat. They don't like any pate style food.
 

moggiegirl

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Keep her on the Fancy Feast if that what she likes to eat. Although it's got some flaws as all commercial cat foods do, you're getting the advantage that many of these flavors are low in carbs which can prevent diabetis and your cat is getting the necessary moisture to prevent UTI's. Be glad you're cat doesn't like dry food. Dry food is not that good for cats. It's more of a convenience for the owner. Be sure to read this article.

www.catinfo.org

You should occasionally try some higher quality brands of canned just to see if she'll eat them and as you find brands she will eat buy more of them. Whatever you do, stay away from canned food from Wallmart if you can. I bought some Iams cans from Wallmart and my cats threw up from eating the food. I heard they tend to let their products get exposed to heat. I was tyring to figure out if it's Iams company or Wallmart. Don't know for sure but I suspect Wallmart since after the recall Iams doesn't want to lose business.

If your cats really don't eat anything but Fancy Feast it's not the end of the world. I would rather have my cats on an all FF diet then an all dry diet. Fortunately my cats do eat some of the better brands like Avoderm and Natural Balance but I also rotate in some FF occasionally because Natural Balance is high in carbs and I want to balance things out. So you see, no commercial cat food is perfect.
 

sharky

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Moggie
Where did you find NB high in carbs>>>
 

robertm

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I agree with everything that moggiegirl said.

FF is far from the best canned food on the market, but all you can do is periodically try serving something better, to see what her reaction is. Who knows, you might be able to at least mix some higher-quality food with the FF. I know the Natural Balance attempt failed, but there are so many other brands out there to try.

Is it really worth getting into a battle of wills over food? Especially since cats have been known to starve themselves if there's no "acceptable" food available.

The only negative about your present situation is that ideally your cat should be eating kitten food both while she's pregnant and after she delivers. FF does not make kitten-specific food. If you were going to start the mixing experiment like I mentioned, using kitten food would be a wise idea.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by moggiegirl

Keep her on the Fancy Feast if that what she likes to eat. Although it's got some flaws as all commercial cat foods do, you're getting the advantage that many of these flavors are low in carbs which can prevent diabetis and your cat is getting the necessary moisture to prevent UTI's. Be glad you're cat doesn't like dry food. Dry food is not that good for cats. It's more of a convenience for the owner. Be sure to read this article.

www.catinfo.org

You should occasionally try some higher quality brands of canned just to see if she'll eat them and as you find brands she will eat buy more of them. Whatever you do, stay away from canned food from Wallmart if you can. I bought some Iams cans from Wallmart and my cats threw up from eating the food. I heard they tend to let their products get exposed to heat. I was tyring to figure out if it's Iams company or Wallmart. Don't know for sure but I suspect Wallmart since after the recall Iams doesn't want to lose business.

If your cats really don't eat anything but Fancy Feast it's not the end of the world. I would rather have my cats on an all FF diet then an all dry diet. Fortunately my cats do eat some of the better brands like Avoderm and Natural Balance but I also rotate in some FF occasionally because Natural Balance is high in carbs and I want to balance things out. So you see, no commercial cat food is perfect.
Originally Posted by RobertM

I agree with everything that moggiegirl said.

FF is far from the best canned food on the market, but all you can do is periodically try serving something better, to see what her reaction is. Who knows, you might be able to at least mix some higher-quality food with the FF. I know the Natural Balance attempt failed, but there are so many other brands out there to try.

Is it really worth getting into a battle of wills over food? Especially since cats have been known to starve themselves if there's no "acceptable" food available.

The only negative about your present situation is that ideally your cat should be eating kitten food both while she's pregnant and after she delivers. FF does not make kitten-specific food. If you were going to start the mixing experiment like I mentioned, using kitten food would be a wise idea.
The only thing I'd like to add there is that if your cat will ONLY eat FF, then feed at least a decent quality dry to supplement because FF on it's own is not a very well-balanced diet for your cat.
 
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jkalex05

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My male cat eats EVO dry cat and kitten food and she will eat some of his from time to time.
 

courtney_ou

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i have the same prob. my older kitty will only eat friskies pouches and only certain flavors. she absolutely refuses to eat the exact same thing in the cans. ive tried numerous times to switch her and the last time i did, i gave them iams wet and they both only took a couple of bites and got sick. (this was jan of last yr so i guess i lucked out.) chloe isnt nearly as picky but patchy is so skinny that im afraid to take my chances (shes 13lbs but she looks skinny)
now both of them have gotten to where theyll only eat friskies dry food also.
 

blaise

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SOME of the Fancy Feast varieties are fine...some are NOT.

I would urge you NOT to feed those which have (what looks like) gravy.

The "gravy" is made with wheat, and grains are BAD for cats.

Here is a list of some Fancy Feast varieties without "gravy"
http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm

You mentioned that she sometimes eats a little of the other cat's EVO...I believe that' a good grain-free high protein dry - someone will correct me if I'm wrong - I would encourage her to continue!
 

moggiegirl

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Originally Posted by sharky



Moggie
Where did you find NB high in carbs>>>
You can calculate it, here are some examples:

Avoderm Chicken Formula
10.00% protein
7.00% fat
1.50% crude fiber
78.00% moisture
1.90% ash

Canned food has 22% dry matter. Divide each by .22 on your calculator

45% protein
31.8% fat
6.8% fiber

Now to get carbs add up all the protein, fat, fiber, moisture and ash and subtract from 100. That would be 100 minus 98.4 equals 1.6. But we must convert 1.6 to dry matter. 1.6 divided by .22 equals about 7% carbohydrate in Avoderm canned cat food.

Compare this to Natural Balance Chicken and Liver formula and this is the one without the brown rice and cranberries.
9.0% protein
6.0% fat
1.5% fiber
78% moisture
Ash content not listed on label

40.9% protein
27% fat
6.8% fiber
25% carbohydrates

Want Ultra formula? Moisture is 78%

Crude Protein 9.0%=40.9% protein
Crude Fat 5.0%=22.7% fat
Crude fiber 1.0%=4.5% fiber
31.9% carbohydrates.

I added the protein, fat and fiber and subtracted from 100% I learned this from Dr Elizabeth Hodgkin's book. She specializes in treating feline diabetis and she uses this formula. Can labels are very misleading with their water content and you don't see it on a dry matter basis.
 

laurag

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I try to feed my cats the higher end canned foods, and some just don't care for it, so it can end up being a huge waste of money.

The two issues that I see with widely available canned foods is that they pump up the protein percentage by using corn meal gluten or wheat gluten rather than with actual meat.

Some of the Fancy Feasts have actual meat at the top of their ingredient list, but almost all have wheat gluten as a protein enhancer. Aside from the now obvious issue about point of origin for wheat gluten, the other issue would be that wheat is a common allergen for kitties.

The other problem people have is with the unidentified "meat by-products" and it feels creepy not to know where it comes from. Purina, who makes Fancy Feast is in the business of keeping kitties healthy and not a single one of their products were recalled last year.

Several of the high end, but smallish companies had their products recalled because they have to depend on companies like Menu foods to round out their manufacture. Purina, at least, seems self-contained and try to make kitties happy for relatively low prices. Although Fancy Feast per can is now quite expensive. And Pro Plan canned now exceeds the price of Wellness canned.

I too try not to feed the kitties the Fancy Feast but they uniformely love it and the high end stuff is hit or miss, miss, miss.
 

karebearcasey

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my cats are picky and will only eat pouch food. the only canned they will eat is merrick and that is their favorite of everything i feed them. they get a nutro pouches, meow mix pouches, and wellness pouches. when i go to the pet store i just grab one can/pouch of something to see if they like it so i don't waste money. if they like it, i go back and get more. i really don't want them to get too picky about flavors and such so they get a huge variety of flavors. i had a cat once that would only canned food that had tuna in it. my damian was pretty picky, but when i brought all the kittens home and he saw what they were getting he now eats more. he loves the meow mix pouches in all flavors. i also know people who think that fancy feast is a quality diet, i don't know why, maybe because of the price of it.
 

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sharky

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Originally Posted by angryrectangle

Yeah, I've heard there can be problems with feeding your cats tuna, but I would think a salmon diet would be just fine.
NO salmon does the same thing"_
 
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