Problems with wet food

I have a 1 year old cat that I adopted from Nine Lives Rescue. He is a great little boy, and I love him. I had him on Wellness kitten with half of a 5.5 oz can of wellness a day.

Then I lost my job. I had to switch him over to Authority (Petsmart brand) which isn't horrible, but isn't the best, and 1-2 cans a week of Authority wet food.

Now I am wanting to make the switch back to Wellness Core and I know how important wet food is in a cat's diet.

However, he no longer is interested in wet food. If I feed half a can, or the e quilivent of a 3 oz can, he doesn't eat it all. When I split a 5.5 oz can, he refuses to eat the entire can. If I save it for the next day he doesn't touch it at all. (heating it up or leaving it out did not work)

And now, when I buy a 3oz can, he doesn't eat most of it. Maybe a fourth

I have tried Wellness, Blue Buffalo, and Natural Balance. I have even tried the little gravy packs. the gravy goes, but not the meat I have also tried all the flavors as well.

I have even tried putting up his dry food (he gets 2/3 cup a day but doesn't finish it all) for the entire day then feeding wet.Nothing.

I really would like to stay grain free, although with wet food, I would just be happy to have him on it. Any suggestions?

**Edit...cat food is so confusing I work mainly with exotics so I want to make sure I get this right. I am very interested in doing an all wet diet. Finicially, it is over $40-50 a month, which is very expensive. Does anyoen use the 13.2 oz cans? I read someone else said they last 3 days. Do you store it in the fridge? Any help appreciated! Sorry if this has been asked before..I have been scouring the fourm and it seems so confusing.

Not really sure how to encourage him eating wet food again. I am sure someone will offer some suggestions.

I buy the large cans. Usually 10 large cans will last me a month (Wellness, it comes to just over 30 for a month but its 3.19 a can here). Some people say a 2-3 days in the fridge, however I leave mine in the cans for up to 4 days, (5 is my limit) with a fitted lid. However, some argue that its risky leaving it in the tin itself and suggest putting it in a glass tupperware type dish in the fridge.

Large Cans: check out if BPA lines the cans
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/art...free-cans.html

Which Pet Foods have BPA free cans?
BPA or Bisphenol A is a hot topic these days with health conscious consumers and petsumers. Pet owners, concerned about the risks associated with BPA are contacting their pet food companies asking if canned pet foods contain the chemical. However, many Pet Food answers to the BPA questions seem to be as varied as pet food itself. Which pet food companies are using BPA lined cans and which are not…you judge by their responses and the available information. ...

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She lists some of the responses from cat food producers - very interesting.
I recall something that the Wellness folks said, something like only the larger 12.5 oz cans ?had? it because they couldn't find a larger can without it.(?)

Storage: I don't leave the food in the cans, but have some small Pyrex glass storage containers with lids that I put the food into. I usually strip off the can label, and put the date and time on it (so I'll know which food I need to use first), then put it under the lid so it doesn't get into the food. I found a set of 4 at Marshalls for under $6.00 - I chose the kind that you can stack. (They have some that you can't stack that are similar - same price.)

Healthier Food:
Well, now you've done it. A junk food junkie, eh?
Well, at least he was eating!

I continually go through the processes you describe to get my crew to eat healthy, it's exhausting!

I have a FeLV guy, that only gets the grain free Wellness (not CORE). He started out liking the Turkey, then he grew tired of that - so I bought the kinds with either Salmon or Herring. Turkey and Salmon, and Chicken & Herring. I'm not in favor of the fish stuff because of urinary health issues that may develop, but if that's all he'll eat - then that's what he gets.

Sometimes he slows down on those, too - so, in order to "prime the pump" and get him starting to eat the food I put before him, I give him a couple pieces of a quality kibble - this seems to get his appetite up, and he'll then eat the other stuff.

Also, another grain-free is Merricks' Cowboy Cookout. When I first bought it for him he loved it, then they produced a batch that didn't have the sloppy, soupy consistency that Buddy so enjoyed - that's when I went for the Wellness Turkey. Occasionally I try to offer him the Cowboy Cookout again, but I get this look - you know the LOOK. Then, the Cover UP.

I like another resource: http://catinfo.org

She has an article on Canned Foods, here's the link:
http://catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods

Scroll way down on the page to find this:

High Quality, Grain-Free Canned Foods

Merrick: (www.merrickpetcare.com) This company makes some varieties of canned products without grains but several of them do contain grains. Read the labels carefully. Note that they have a more species-appropriate protein content than some of the other foods listed below. For instance, Cowboy Cookout has the protein/fat/carbohydrate profile that mimics a mouse.

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I think there's been some issues with Merrick's response about the BPH - but, you'll need to do your own research on Merrick.

Wellness continues to shine as a quality food, while others have their issues.

I purchase my food from PetFlow.com - and find I can get some savings - and I need them !! with 8 cats.

Best to you - you're sure not alone in this endeavor to keep you cats off the junk food - I kinda think it's the carbs they're addicted to, but ??? I'm not a nutritionist, so don't quote me.

Well at this point I have already decided to go Raw, LOL.
I didn't before because I was always told rabbit was the staple meat..and I am a rescue volunteer for rabbits. Rabbits are my life, so obviously that was out of the question. Right now I am going to stear him just on wet food and cut his dry..I read a lot through the form and I usually keep his dry out (even though its only 2/3cup) and I am going to stop doign that, offer wet twice a day, and introduce raw meat in chunks as a treat.

LOL my head is spinning from all the info out there!

Check out FelinesPride.com. They ship all the way from the East Coast to me in CA, and it was still frozen solid.

I spoke with Jennifer at : [email protected], she is most helpful.

Thanks Gloria! I was checking out Hare Today as well although I am so frightend by the rabbit products

Originally Posted by Myia09

Thanks Gloria! I was checking out Hare Today as well although I am so frightend by the rabbit products

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felinespride.com has sample pkgs -
https://www.felinespride.com/#/shop/product/FPC3T3

The menu you want is the one labeled 16oz, scroll down that menu to the samples

Hi, Mya. Welcome to TCS!

Catinfo.org and feline-nutrition.org both have transitioning articles that you might find helpful:

Catinfo.org, "Tips for Transitioning Dry Food Addicts To Canned Food"

Feline-nutrition.org, "How To Transition Your Cat To a Raw Diet"

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Good luck!

AC

I too feed Wellness. I have 2 - 6 months old siblings who get 1/2 a can of 5.5 oz, split for 2, twice a day. So one 5.5oz can a day for two, plus they are free-fed with Royal Canin 36 all day. I also add 500mg of L-lysine to their wet gravy in Wellness 5.5 can [only size with lots of gravy], for herpes protection.

I too have 12oz cans which I use on weekends, when I'm home more. I like them, but i'm too afraid of it being too long in fridge, plus I like them to eat warm food vs cold. I did find they liked the 3oz, but it doesn't have too much gravy in it.

One thought here... when you switch from high quality food like wellness to inferior foods, which are well.... tastier than the 'good for you' Wellness, you may just have a finicky cat who wants his McD's, if you know what I mean.

Before my two current babies, I had a cat who was fed Fancy Feast, and I COULD NOT switch him to Wellness, nothing worked, to almost a point of starving, he would not eat the good food.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by RarePuss

I too feed Wellness. I have 2 - 6 months old siblings who get 1/2 a can of 5.5 oz, split for 2, twice a day. So one 5.5oz can a day for two, plus they are free-fed with Royal Canin 36 all day. I also add 500mg of L-lysine to their wet gravy in Wellness 5.5 can [only size with lots of gravy], for herpes protection.
...

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Okay, I need a clue here - which flavor of Wellness do you find lot of gravy? So far I haven't found any gravy and we use Chicken & Herring, Turkey and Salmon, Turkey, and sometimes Chicken - no gravy. My cats all love gravy!

??

If you want him to finish his wet cans like before, the dry food has to go. It's like 'crack for kitties' as the saying goes, and most cats will hold out for it no matter what. I tried to 75% dry 25% wet and it didn't work because my cat would always wait for the dry.
Authority is a better brand than people give it credit for. It's 45.5% meat, which is higher than Merrick Before Grain, which I thought was a super great brand.
IMHO as long as you stay corn, gluten and soy free, grain is alright in a food. I no longer bother to calculate carbs, I just look at foods that are 45% or more meat. (Wellness, Innova, Blue Buffalo, Authority, Simply Nourish, some normal Merrick, and some Avoderm)

I know food is confusing. I think I know it all then my head is spinning and I'm staring at cat food at Petco for two hours... rofl!
I use 13.2oz Innova which is 50% meat and tastes great. (Even I've been tempted to take a bite ) Since I think you said you have two cats, it'll be gone in a couple days anyways, but the higher meat percentage, the faster the food spoils. In the fridge immediately is essential to make it last.

Originally Posted by GloriaJH

Okay, I need a clue here - which flavor of Wellness do you find lot of gravy? So far I haven't found any gravy and we use Chicken & Herring, Turkey and Salmon, Turkey, and sometimes Chicken - no gravy. My cats all love gravy!

??

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It's the turkey formula. Just turkey, 5.5oz. It's the only flavor I feed. I learned my lesson. If they eat it, do not play around. Also never feed any fish flavors, there's topics on that you can read. I find there's good 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of gravy if I hold the can to drain about 15-20 sec.

Originally Posted by RarePuss

It's the turkey formula. Just turkey, 5.5oz. It's the only flavor I feed. I learned my lesson. If they eat it, do not play around. Also never feed any fish flavors, there's topics on that you can read. I find there's good 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of gravy if I hold the can to drain about 15-20 sec.

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Turkey: never had a can with that much gravy - guess I'll try draining it to see what I can get - thx.

Fish Flavors: I'm very much schooled in the negatives of feeding fish - especially Tuna (no pun ? ) - don't need to do any research - but if your FeLV cat won't eat anything but flavors with the fish, well, it's more important that he eat. I do try to return to the Turkey flavor, but I usually end up feeding the garbage disposal than the cat.

We feed our cats a combination diet, as I like to call it. Blue buffalo soft food, has lots of gravy that they love, homemade protein and Now grain free high protein hard food for light snacking when we're at work. A raw food is the closest you can get to replicating what your cat would be eating in the wild, however I think you have to be careful to make sure your adding all the vitamins that your cat needs. We make cooked homemade meals for our cat's, at first I was a bit intimidated about making homemade meals for them, but they love it, some cooked turkey, chicken, or salmon with a little brown rice with the gravy from the can food on the rice gets eaten up quickly.

Originally Posted by Aleicia

We feed our cats a combination diet, as I like to call it. Blue buffalo soft food, has lots of gravy that they love, homemade protein and Now grain free high protein hard food for light snacking when we're at work. A raw food is the closest you can get to replicating what your cat would be eating in the wild, however I think you have to be careful to make sure your adding all the vitamins that your cat needs. We make cooked homemade meals for our cat's, at first I was a bit intimidated about making homemade meals for them, but they love it, some cooked turkey, chicken, or salmon with a little brown rice with the gravy from the can food on the rice gets eaten up quickly.

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I agree with you, Aleicia, about the raw food; in fact, I'm an active raw-feeding advocate. However, I just as strongly recommend against feeding cooked diets. It's impossible to supplement sufficiently to replace everything that's cooked out (since we haven't yet identified all those nutrients) and so there's never any guarantee the cats are getting everything they need on a home-cooked diet. From what I read in your post, it sounds as though the cooked foods are only a portion of your cats' diet, so that's good (the highest unbalanced recommendation I've come across is 10% of a cat's diet).

Also, cats have no need whatever for grains of any kind and actually lack one of the enzymes needed to properly process them (since they're obligate carnivores - like sharks, snakes and birds of prey - and don't eat grains naturally). Rice is a particularly pernicious grain, as it has been shown to decrease the amount of taurine in a cat's body and cause taurine deficiency; if I were you, I think I'd just keep the rice to myself. (American Society for Nutritional Sciences, study)

Just throwing this info out there for those who may not be aware.

Best regards!

AC

We feed our cats a combination diet, as I like to call it. Blue buffalo soft food, has lots of gravy that they love, homemade protein and Now grain free high protein hard food for light snacking when we're at work. A raw food is the closest you can get to replicating what your cat would be eating in the wild, however I think you have to be careful to make sure your adding all the vitamins that your cat needs. We make cooked homemade meals for our cat's, at first I was a bit intimidated about making homemade meals for them, but they love it, some cooked turkey, chicken, or salmon with a little brown rice with the gravy from the can food on the rice gets eaten up quickly.

Do any of you have issues with multiple cats eating together. I have a kitten who used to eat with her much larger oder kitten, but not, she waits about ten feet from the bowl and eats after he is gone. It is kind of cute unless you are trying to get her to eat wet food with Lysine. They do not fight, but the larger kitten Thumper has to be in her face all of the time. If I lock him in a room for a few minutes, the smaller kitten Cookie goes to the door and waits.

Originally Posted by tkaner

Do any of you have issues with multiple cats eating together. I have a kitten who used to eat with her much larger oder kitten, but not, she waits about ten feet from the bowl and eats after he is gone. It is kind of cute unless you are trying to get her to eat wet food with Lysine. They do not fight, but the larger kitten Thumper has to be in her face all of the time. If I lock him in a room for a few minutes, the smaller kitten Cookie goes to the door and waits.

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I have six cats. They get along, but not without some scuffling, especially around meal times. I originally solved this by feeding two cats on the floor against one wall, three cats on a special table above the two cats, and one cat on the floor across the room (today, I feed two cats on the table and everyone else is caged for meals - but that's because I feed raw and don't want them dragging the food all around the house).

Maybe feeding your cats on different levels would work for you?

Good luck!

AC

Originally Posted by tkaner

Do any of you have issues with multiple cats eating together. I have a kitten who used to eat with her much larger oder kitten, but not, she waits about ten feet from the bowl and eats after he is gone. It is kind of cute unless you are trying to get her to eat wet food with Lysine. They do not fight, but the larger kitten Thumper has to be in her face all of the time. If I lock him in a room for a few minutes, the smaller kitten Cookie goes to the door and waits.

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We have 8. We have 3 cat zones. The former stray, and his family of former feral-born (mommy and the two offspring) are in one part of the house - they don't have any problems eating together especially the feral-born son who seems to have to eat with someone else - fortunately whomever he picks to eat with has no problem with sharing, other than his daddy, and no one except mommy shares with daddy!

Buddy, of course is in his own room - so no issues from him.

The other zone is the part of the house that our three original cats have now that the others have arrived. Now, they are the characters when it comes to meal time. When I deliver the food, each are waiting in the spot where they choose to be fed - and most of the time they have spaced themselves a distance from the other. Sometimes if I just take the food out and set it down it won't get touched unless I move it to a "preferred" spot on the floor.
I once questioned this practice - especially my sanity - but if that's the only way they'll eat and not waste food - I comply.

I said all that just to say - sounds like your cats are normal, and you'll just have to find their preferences in order to get them to eat.

Aunti Crazy: I've often wondered how people feed their inside cats raw knowing that things can get real messy and unsanitary very quickly.
Your solution seems so obvious now.

Originally Posted by GloriaJH

...

Aunti Crazy: I've often wondered how people feed their inside cats raw knowing that things can get real messy and unsanitary very quickly.

Your solution seems so obvious now.

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Trust me, it wasn't so obvious in the beginning. Heck, until I started feeding food they could actually pick up and run off with, it NEVER crossed my mind such a thing would be an issue. You should have seen me the first couple of times. "Hey! Where are you going?! GAH!!!! Drop it, drop it!! No, please, not behind the couch!!! Drop the chicken, d*****!!"

The mice were the worst. Good heavens, you can't imagine how much air a mouse can catch when tossed by a rambunctious teen kitten until you've actually seen it (heard it!) for yourself.

Meal-time cage training was sheer self-defense.

AC