Looking for palatable dry food

I'm looking for a highly palatable dry or semi-moist food for a sick cat. I normally feed Nani canned food but I need something to leave in the bowl for when I'm not at home. If she doesn't have something to eat she will eat her paper litter (because she's anemic). I can't leave canned food in the bowl because it will spoil. I would only need the dry or semi-moist food for maybe once or twice a week for a couple hours or possibly for an entire weekend once a month. She stopped eating two different dry foods. I would normally try something like Tender Vittles but it was discontinued in the USA. Any suggestions?

What has she eaten in the past? What did she stop eating?? What's wrong with her??

She has a suspected liver tumor and is anemic. There's a couple of threads about it somewhere in the health forum from a couple days ago. She stopped eating dry foods about 1-2 weeks ago. She eats canned food pretty well except I sometimes have to prod her to continue eating, it's like she gets distracted. Sometimes she licks the gravy and I have to hand feed her the chunks. She had been eating regular Cat Chow until a couple months ago when she lost interest in it. Then I switched to Purina One Chicken & Rice which she loved, until recently. I was thinking of maybe going with Fancy Feast or Whiskas. I've never tried them on any of the cats so I don't know if they're tasty or what size they are. I think she would prefer something with small pieces.

I'm going to have to start feeding her turkey baby food (no onions or garlic) in the early morning. I'm asleep then and no one else has time to sit there and make sure she eats. I know she'll eat all the baby food with no problems at all. I have to order some vitamin supplements that contain iron. Hopefully they'll help with the anemia. She may be more inclined to eat dry food then. At least for awhile anyway.

I don't know about Fancy Feast or Whiskas, but my cats go insane over Evo Salmon and Herring. It has a very strong fishy smell that I hate but they seem to love. I bought it in a sample size the first time, so maybe you can find that and give it a try.

Have you checked with your vet?

When my Zoey was sick, my vet gave me a little baggy of Medi Cal Gastro Formula. It is extremely palatable (it smells really tasty to me), is tiny little pieces, and supposed to be easy to digest.

Zoey never ate it (we ended up having to assist-feed her wet food, she didn't eat any dry), but when I got Belle and Delilah after Zoey died, I started feeding it to them as treats. They LOVE it. I had to buy a bag from the vet because it's the only thing they will eat as treats.

The ingredients are OK, not great (not something I'd want to feed to my healthy cats on a regular basis, but I'm not bothered by them having it as a treat...or if a cat was sick).

Dry -

Chicken Meal, Rice, Chicken Fat, Corn Gluten, Cellulose Fibre, Natural Flavour, Dried Egg Powder, Soy Protein Isolate, Dried Beet Pulp, Potassium Chloride, Fish Oil, Brewerâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s Yeast, Soy Oil, Sodium Silico Aluminate (Zeolite), Fructo-Oligosaccharides, Salt, DL-Methionine, Brewerâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s Yeast Extract (Source of Mannan-Oligosaccharides), Choline Chloride, Trace Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulphate, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulphate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite and Calcium Iodate), Taurine, Vitamins (DL-Alpha-Tocopherol [Source of Vitamin E], L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate [Source of Vitamin C], Niacin, Biotin, Riboflavin [Source of Vitamin B2], D-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Source of Vitamin B6], Thiamine Mononitrate [Source of Vitamin B1], Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate and Vitamin D3 Supplement) and Marigold Extract (Source of Lutein).
Naturally Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract and Citric Acid.

Dry: 395 kcal/cup

Originally Posted by lilblu

I'm looking for a highly palatable dry or semi-moist food for a sick cat. I normally feed Nani canned food but I need something to leave in the bowl for when I'm not at home. If she doesn't have something to eat she will eat her paper litter (because she's anemic). I can't leave canned food in the bowl because it will spoil. I would only need the dry or semi-moist food for maybe once or twice a week for a couple hours or possibly for an entire weekend once a month. She stopped eating two different dry foods. I would normally try something like Tender Vittles but it was discontinued in the USA. Any suggestions?

Click to expand...

my post got "lost" - and it was a long one, too!
Briefly: (ha)

My experience with both inside cats and outside cats - feeding canned meat - it will get eaten- without health issue problems - no matter how long it sits out.

I once thought that the canned meat would spoil, too - but no longer.

I often put out the canned food at night before bed - they don't eat it all at one time - they are grazers - and when I wake up in the morning the food is either eaten or not. There have been no ill effects of just letting it sit out - even for a 8 hours.

For the outside cats I do put the meat in a bowl that will sit inside a larger bowl of solid ice once the weather begins to warm up. (I live in the desert.)

During the winter months, I just put it out on top of a water mote to discourage ants.

The bowl of solid ice helps keep out the ants, too. The outside cats will eat the meat no matter how old, or dried up it is.

I really wonder who came up with the idea that the canned meat will spoil if you leave it out for over 20 minutes (or whatever time)?

Was it the manufacturer's instructions just to cover their behinds?

Was it an actual scientific study?

or

Was it just someone thinking that since the food guidelines for humans was a certain way it must be the same for cats?

I don't know - but - if you look at the way the animal digests stuff, or how they hunt in the wild - they don't have a place to refrigerate their leftovers!

So, maybe you could put your canned food in a bowl that sits on ice
(if that's the way you feel comfortable about keeping it "fresh")
for her to nibble on during the day while you're gone ?

The only thing that I would share a caution about is the difference in my cats, and yours is the health concern - I'm just saying that I don't believe that you have to be overly concerned about leaving the canned food out while you're gone - she probably won't eat it anyway - but???

I wish my previous try at this post hadn't disappeared because I had the patience to explain more, in detail, about my experience. But then, maybe you're grateful that this is the "short" version.

Both of my cats love Taste of the Wild. I give it to them as treats, and Swanie is so addicted he is always showing me where I keep the bowl. Even Cindy trolls for them now and again (and she's a picky eater who mostly grazes). I figure there must be something in there that's pretty tasty.