Do I dare venture into Fancy Feast territory?

our oldest (spivey), is 9. she is a dry-only eater, and has proven very resistant to all attempts to get her to eat canned food. i've tried many. she will eat 'real' meat, such as chicken, ground beef, ham (i know ), as a matter of fact, she LOVES meat. but on the canned food... nuh uh.

so. i've read about the crack-like qualities of fancy feast, and wonder if i should give it a try, with hopes that i can transition her to the canned food the others eat (wellness grain-free varieties) eventually.

what do you think? am i paddling in dangerous waters? are the benefits of getting her to eat canned food worth the risk of addiction to this magical substance? will she wind up on fancy feast alley, a shadow of her former self?

some wet food is better than no wet food IMHO... I say try it , mine wont eat kitty crack

It is all one of mine will eat as far as wet food, he used to eat Fromm but they stopped making it and its better than no wet to me, at least he is eating it- he still gets a high quality dry but he is happy on fancy feast crack alley.

thanks sharky, that's what i kinda thought too. if she eats it at least it's SOMETHING.

of course, i'm prepared for her to turn her nose up at it like she does everything else that isn't prepared for human consumption. maybe i'll just buy one can to start

to the fancy feast feeders, which flavor seems to be the most widely liked?

the chicken and liver one with the beige label - its the only one he eats

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

the chicken and liver one with the beige label - its the only one he eats

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thanks ickle. is that flavor a pâtÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] style? chunks?

A pate, which he gets with a little warm water.

All of mine like pate style food, with chunks/shredded foods, two of them lick the gravy off and leave the meat

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

the chicken and liver one with the beige label - its the only one he eats

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Mine refuse every wet food except FF Chicken and Liver, and FF Turkey and Giblets. There were a couple of beef flavours they used to accept, too, but Tisol doesn't stock them anymore, and they were the less favoured ones anyway, so I don't bother. They only accept pate style -- well, they'll lick the gravy off the chunks and gravy ones, but the meat is ignored. And as others have said, some wet is better than no wet, particularly when they're getting a good quality dry as well.

My picky cat (who refuses all the high quality canned foods) likes the beef flavor of Fancy Feast.

Mine like the FFelegant medleys.

Some is better than none, and nothing says you can't try other brands occasionally to see what will be accepted. Maybe after you figure out her favorite flavors you can use that to help find others she'll eat?

I know one person on here tried a lot of foods and finally got their cat to eat the blue buffalo spa select can (I think that's the name?). There are some brands that smell like human food, or better if you're comparing them to canned/potted meats. The blue buffalo chicken is like that - it actually smelled nice even to me.

And since you have two others, surely one or both of them can clean up any food she's too picky for.

Try to stick to the pate/classic styles of FF if you do use them. They do not have grain or soy in them... other not-so-good stuff... but still.

My guys like them all.

The one non-pate with no grain or soy is fish and shrimp with a medium blue label... it looks like tuna when you open it.

I mix it with better wets so there is the FF "taste" but somewhat better qualities and the artificial stuff that's in FF gets "diluted" .... I also feed a very good dry in a 50/50 w-d ratio.

My guys also LOVE human food - i give them freeze-dried chicken and/or fish as treats.

ETA - fussy cats also like Meow Mix Market selects in the plastic cups. $$$ when you cost it out but maybe you can transition.

Fin looks at any food you give him and says "oh, goody, food!", but doesn't like fancy feast. I mean, he'll eat it, but he gives you his sad face first. He LOVES meow mix market selects. And I just got him something called wholesome goodness or something. It was at the grocery outlet for 39 cents a cup (comes in a plastic cup like meow mix, same size), ingredients looked pretty good. He liked that too, very much. Just not a fancy feast fan.

My picky cats who won't eat canned food won't eat 'human' food either!

Interesting that I stumbled on this thread. I just brought one of my strays in after a coyote attack I saved her from. For eleven years living outside she gobbled down a can of canned food every day. Now that she has access to dry food, that's clearly her preference. She only nibbles on canned food now. I have an indoor cat and I'd like the two of them to have the same things, i.e. same brand of canned food, dry food, same litter, etc. - so one doesn't think the other is getting different treatment. So I don't want to change the healthy brand I'm feeding them, but now I'm worried that Little One won't get enough water if she rejects wet food. Any suggestions?

(Sorry - don't mean to hijack the thread)

If you can add water to the wet food that she nibbles on. Other than that I dont have any suggestions because I dont feed wet to my cats. Im working on pricing out cases though so I can get them some but 2 out of 3 are picky and 1 will eat everything in sight!!

Originally Posted by lovemahkitties

to the fancy feast feeders, which flavor seems to be the most widely liked?

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We feed Fancy Feast, in rotation with some better quality wet foods. The current favorite FF flavors at our house are: Tender Beef (brown label) and Savory Salmon (orange label).

Originally Posted by badkelpie

He LOVES meow mix market selects. And I just got him something called wholesome goodness or something. It was at the grocery outlet for 39 cents a cup (comes in a plastic cup like meow mix, same size), ingredients looked pretty good. He liked that too, very much. Just not a fancy feast fan.

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My 4 who will eat most wet foods like those Meow Mix cups too

Originally Posted by Nekochan

My picky cats who won't eat canned food won't eat 'human' food either!

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Oh I wish, Bumper is picky and won't mooch for human food, but Magnum and Boomer were taught to mooch by Scully (who was the king of mooching) and Autumn will steal food from out of your mouth given a chance, especially chicken - but I can't get her to eat enough cat food!

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

Oh I wish, Bumper is picky and won't mooch for human food, but Magnum and Boomer were taught to mooch by Scully (who was the king of mooching) and Autumn will steal food from out of your mouth given a chance, especially chicken - but I can't get her to eat enough cat food!

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LOL!!! Fatman would do the same at Autumn we have to have any and all food supervised because Fatman stalks us during meal times. He has actually stolen pizza off BFs step brothers plate once and now after that everyone who comes over knows to follow our warning!! NEVER EVER EVER LEAVE YOUR PLATE UNATTENDED OR GUARDED!!!!

When we first got Autumn, she used to steal food and take it to the litterbox knowing I wouldn't put my hand in there to get it back from her, she is much better about the kitchen now but will jump into your lap and bed, lick your lips if she can get close and slowly put her paw towards your plate to see if you notice. All you have to do is glare at her and she jumps down.

They fed her chicken to catch her though and to this day, if we have fried or baked chicken, you can't get rid of her, she won't necessarily steal, but she will bug you with her whining and pawing so now we just bake her a piece to share with the other cats and use it as treats