Transitioning new cat to a better diet - is Wellness fish-blended food OK?

Hi Everyone!

I just adopted a sweet little ~2 year old kitty! She is an absolute doll (and apparently ate quite well prior to coming to us, since she's a little full-figured, LOL!).

She passed her vet check and organ/blood test panels with flying colors. Vet would like her to drop about 1.5 lbs (she's 9.2 now, but is a petite girl), which brings me to my next question. The rescue group (and vet) said that Wellness canned food (and Petsmart's Simply Nourish dry) would be a good choice to start her with since nobody knows what she was fed prior. The vet would like her to be on wet food exclusively and thinks Wellness is a good choice.

When I went to buy the Wellness, I noticed that other than the chicken and turkey flavors, everyone other one had some kind of fish or a fish/mix in it. I'm confused, because I thought that having  "fish" wasn't good for them. Is that true and/or also the case with this Wellness fish-blended food?

Our kitty is interested in the Wellness chicken, but not crazy about it. Will much on the Simply Nourish dry, but again, not crazy about it.

I realize that food/nutrition discussions can get quite passionate, but I would ideally like to get a good quality canned diet for her that I can rotate, flavor-wise, and also leave out a SMALL amount of dry food (at least in the short-term) as well. Thoughts?

I also looked up "Natures Variety Instincts" canned food, which doesn't have any fish in it. I'm wondering if that might be a better way to go...

Thanks in advance for any help!

Yeah you for adopting an adult kitty.

Some of the more learned members will chime in, but here is my 2 cents: Wellness is a decent enough brand, but you're right, fish is not a good idea, okay once in a while, but not more often than that.  I strongly urge you to rotate foods (protein and brand) so your kitty doesn't get picky.  Manufacturers are known/famous for changing formulas without notice, though trust me, your kitty will let you know!
The reason I think fish is in a lot of foods is (1) it's cheap and (2) it smells a lot and has a strong flavor so cats are drawn to that food.  Somewhat paradoxically, fish is not necessarily the first--or even second--ingredient in canned food that has the word "fish" in it.  As you are learning, you need to read the labels carefully! 

Ritz use to like Soulistic, AvoDerm, Wellness--and Fancy Feast.  Trader Joes canned food is high quality, relatively low price (avoid Tuna).

Ritz was a fish addict; the only kind of food she would eat was fish based, Fancy Feast, for over a year. ( I didn't follow my own advice.  )  I have since transitioned Ritz to raw food--she likes most any kind of meat and poultry.

And of course, nix the dry food as soon as possible--or sooner!

Congratulations on your new addition . Wellness is an excellent choice IMO. I used to feed Core with great result's. I rotate brand's and Wellness wet foods is in my rotation. I also have used Instinct wet foods as well. Instinct Nature's Variety is also an excellent choice. A bit expensive thought :lol3: I have one very picky cat - and she got addicted to a tuna based canned food - and now I am having a hard time getting her to eat another brand of wet food. I would also avoid too much tuna/fish. My cat's love Weruva wet foods as well. Perla will eat the chicken and the Mack/Jack (of course because that is tuna... ) Good luck and I am sure other's will come along with more ideas for you and add more confusion :lol3: - there are SO many choices.....

Wellness is a great brand, but yes certainly you shouldn't eat too many large predatory fish like tuna.   A little is fine though and high in omega3s and other healthy minerals, but the thought is that a lot would have too much mercury and be a risk for UTI prone cats. 

Several of the foods I feed have fish in them, but usually as a minor ingredient.   No problems to date, and my cats love the fishy foods, that much is for sure.

Thanks, everyone, for the great advice! I'm going out today to get some more to add to the rotation! Hopefully she'll like them a bit better than just the plain old chicken, LOL!!!

Happy food shopping . Keep us updated

So far so good with trying new food! She'll happily try anything I put down for her - finishing about a quarter of the small sized can, but isn't cleaning her plate at all. Do you think she should be? I'm hoping this just means that I haven't found her absolute favorite food yet. Everything else seems normal about her - sweet, wonderful attitude, always using litterbox, etc. I've only had experience with a special needs cat before this sweet girl, so I'm not completely sure what to expect, food-wise with a "normal" cat.

This little kitty seems more interested in her new toys (LOVES toys now that she actually knows what they are) and just hanging out and lounging around with us. She's sitting next to me as I type this on her new window seat checking out all the birds and squirrels running around, which she also loves! 

I've only had her for two weeks, so I'm trying to gently get her used to a feeding "routine" (clearly she didn't have one before and I suspect she was just free fed). I tried adding a second food dish in a different location this morning, and that did seem to help generate some more interest (and a bit more eating).

One good thing is that she quickly lost interest in the dry food I left out and is just eating the wet, so that should be an easy transition!  I'm hoping that with some more time and patience, she may become more interested in eating a bit more. I still have some more flavors and brands to try (all grain free healthy stuff thanks to a lot of good suggestions on here!). If anyone has any more advice, by all means please keep it coming!

Thanks so much!