My cat loves junk food...should I give in?

My new kitty now refuses to eat Wellness, Blue Buffalo, and Avoderm. He likes Friskies wet and LOVES Fancy Feast gravy lovers.

So should I just give up with the healthy foods and feed him the junkier stuff? He eats TOTW dry, but it's important that I give him a little bit of wet twice a day for his lysine supplements (he's FIV+, so I'm trying to keep his immune system up). I've been dividing the 5.5 ounce Friskies can in half and giving him half in the morning and half at night. But I'm thinking that maybe I'll divide up the 3 ounce FF can instead so he's eating less of the junky wet food and more of the better dry food. Is that a good idea?

And my other wet eater, Benji, has decided that he no longer likes wet food at all . For two formerly stray cats, they sure are picky!

If you put lollipops, icecream, and pizza on one table and then chicken, carrots, and spinach on another table, then let a kid decide... of course they're gunna go for the junk food!

If he's underweight, and you just need calories in him right now, by all means keep shoveling the junk food.

If he's not, then he'll slowly get used to the fact that there is no point trying to hold out for icecream and pizza and hunger will kick in IMO. I did learn that cycling HEALTHY wet food flavors every meal didn't upset tummies and had them much more interested in the food, and the dry they seem to eat anything but only get it once a day.

Let him have some of the junkier wets for now. You need to give him his supplement, so they're serving their purpose there. You can keep trying other brands if you want, maybe even try mixing the friskies or FF with those other brands. Also make the pate (which most of the nicer foods come in) a little soupy with a bit of extra water.

And, maybe I'm too lax, I really don't see a problem with those two brands unless he reacts to them or they give him icky stools. He's eating a good dry food and has a health issue that means he needs to keep his weight on. IMO as long as he's eating well and is healthy (as can be), don't feel guilty for feeding him cheaper wet foods.
And most of all don't get caught up in everyone on here telling you that you MUST feed him this or that wet. A food is only any good if a cat will actually eat it.

There's a couple of the FF that aren't as bad if someone remembers what flavors those are.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

There's a couple of the FF that aren't as bad if someone remembers what flavors those are.

Click to expand...

I give my kitties the Fancy Feast flaked fish and shrimp occasionally and they LOVE IT. It has:
OCEAN FISH, FISH BROTH, SHRIMP, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, VEGETABLE OIL, GUAR GUM, VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS (E, A, D3), SODIUM NITRITE (TO PROMOTE COLOR RETENTION), ZINC SULFATE, THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), MANGANESE SULFATE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT

Compared to other Fancy Feasts, I thought this was good. Although Calvin used to turn his nose up on pate earlier and only liked gravy, he just could not resist this flaked flavor

Here is a nice link http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm to a listing of Fancy Feast high protein, low carb flavors.

My local Wal-mart superstore sells Fancy Feast for 47 cents / can. I often find the stuck-to-top-of-can coupons good for $1 off 24 cans.

The only two Friskies flavors I feed are beef shreds and chicken shreds. Both have gravy. If you read the ingredients list wheat gluten is about the 5th or 6th ingredient down.

Mine don't like the upper end health foods either. But they will eat some of the mid grade food like Authority, Max Cat and (gasp) Science Diet. Do they prefer junk food like Friskies? You betcha. Do they get it? Only when they are seriously ill and need the calories or water more than anything else. If terminally ill, they get whatever they want.

There are a lot of foods out there in between Wellness and Friskies. You might want to try some of them.

Originally Posted by Momofmany

Mine don't like the upper end health foods either. But they will eat some of the mid grade food like Authority, Max Cat and (gasp) Science Diet. Do they prefer junk food like Friskies? You betcha. Do they get it? Only when they are seriously ill and need the calories or water more than anything else. If terminally ill, they get whatever they want.

There are a lot of foods out there in between Wellness and Friskies. You might want to try some of them.

Click to expand...

IMHO keep trying ... most will accept something in the decent to good area...

It he likes the small pieces and gravy - try Soulistic. It's at Petco... their house brand, I think. On par costwise - I think - with Wellness, BB wets. My boys also love BFF - but it is very fishy so I limit the feeding of it.

Oh - I think some of the Merrick's canned is "loose"... chunky bits w/gravy type. Some are solid - remind me of albacore tuna when you open the can.

My cat has been sick and for awhile to get him to eat I fed him anything he would take. Not he scorns science diet for fancy feast. I cringe while feeding it to him but he's still sick and won't eat anything else.