What grain free dry and wet foods do you recommend?

  I currently have my babies on Blue buffalo Wilderness, but Zelda is having a hard time keeping it down...need some input. I plan to feed them as many cans of wet that I can afford each week ...need some suggestions as Zelda is not found of any of the wet foods I have giving her..she wont even touch tuna.

• Grain free is a must
• Easy to digest 
• Nothing made by companies who have had recalls. 
• Would be nice if Petco carries it, but not a must
• Price doesn't matter to me

Thank you!

Does she or has she ever eaten any wet? Have you tried pushing pieces of dry food into the surface of the wet food to encourage her? Any other treats she likes that you can sprinkle on top?

Also, welcome to TCS!

Right now I feed them a 3oz can ea every other day. She licks a bit of the juice up then never goes back to it. She doesn't get excited about dry or wet food....shes not crazy about treats that much...strangest cat ive ever had..never had a picky eater before. She ate out of a dumpster before I got her..guess she decided to get picky... I'm on a quest to find things she actually will get excited about ...Ill try putting some dry food bits on her wet food to see if she gets interested.

Thank you!

Do you scoop it out of the can or put down the whole thing? She may just not like sticking her face in the can, most cats don't.

Use a flat saucer.  As suggested, try mixing some dry with wet.

I feed Nature's Variety Instinct Duck and Chicken (lamb, venison, rabbit were a bit dry, so needed some water added) and Wellness chicken, both regular and minced.

I do feed Nature's Variety dry Instinct Turkey, Chicken, and Rabbit and Wilderness Blue Buffalo Chicken, Turkey, and Rabbit.  Mixing and changing them out.

All available at Petco.

I like the Merrick BG wet foods and those are carried by PetCo. They are similar in texture to Natural Balance. Some PetCo's have the small and large cans both, and some carry only the large. The Turkey is great, the quail/chicken was only moderately successful at my house, they like the Chicken, and they like the Tuna altho it is strong flavored. Beef is also a big favorite. 

Minka said:

Do you scoop it out of the can or put down the whole thing? She may just not like sticking her face in the can, most cats don't.

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I put it on a plate for them, tried mixing with her food sprinkled on top this morning...same level of interest..few licks never to go back.

Thank you for the suggestions..I will be picking up some of each of these brands to try after hours of looking online last night.

Nature's Variety Instinct - Wet

Merrick BG - Wet

Fromm - Wet

Weruva - Wet

BFF - Wet

Tiki Cat - Wet

Evangers Game Meats - Wet

Fromm - Dry Food

Orijen - Dry Food

California Natural - Dry Food

Only Grain free kinds from each line

[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]I plan to buy all the dif types of wet at once and try a new kind daily till something sparks interest and decide on one of the dry foods to switch them to.[/color]

Have you tried any of the Blue Buffalo Bistro line of canned foods? I have 2 cats that do not touch pate-style wet food of any brand/flavor...it has to be in chunks or flaked. Maybe Zelda is looking for a different texture of wet food. Neither of my cats were big fans of Weruva (most flavors have shredded chicken) or Merrick (mostly pate or a mushy babyfood-like texture). Blue Buffalo Healthy Gourmet is another line my cats will eat- chunks or flakes in any of the flavors it comes in. Another suggestion I have is Freshpet Vital Complete Meals. It comes in a 1LB package in the fridge section of Petco, they look like tiny little meatballs and smell pretty appetizing too, haha Just be sure to check the expiration date on those before purchasing.

As for dry food, I wish I could help you there. My babies are both dry-food addicts...before I adopted them from their foster mother, they were on a Friskies kibble only diet...never had a can in the 11 months of their lives! I think this is what made it so difficult for me to find a type of wet food they will eat.

Good luck in your search!

If she's not excited about kibble or canned and used to be a dumpster diver, have you tried raw food? It's grain free, low carb, for the most part much like a cat would eat in the wild (only with different proteins and some supplements added). Next time you're making dinner, if you're not vegetarian, slice of a small piece of chicken or steak or whatever, and offer it to her. See if she likes that.

If she does, consider feeding her raw. Google "holistic pet store" and see if any pop up for your area. Call around - see if you can find Nature's Variety, Stella & Chewy's, Rad Cat, or Primal. They often look pricier up front, but because they're so packed with nutrition, cats usually need to eat less volume, so it often ends up costing less to feed them. Those are the main brands available, but there are many other online options, though shipping can be pricey for some. Here's an article on it, and as canned and kibble are compared, you can easily look up foods, there are links to the manufacturers for all of them so you can see ingredients, and the costs and carbs information is on there, and it's indicated whether or not the food are grain free. http://catcentric.org/nutrition-and...y-cat-or-i-can-afford-to-feed-commercial-raw/

I have had the ultimate picky eater and a cat who would eat anything I gave him at the same time. Not knowing wet food is better than kibbles 18 years ago, I only fed her dry food when she was a kitten. Looking back, I wonder if feeding wet food back then would have prevented what happened 12 years later - acute kidney failure advanced to the point where she had to be euthanized.

What I know now is your best chance of getting "grain-free" cat food is making it yourself. Many cat foods have soy, milk, corn, wheat, etc., so the only way to feed your cat exactly what she needs is not buy any of them.

LDG said:

If she's not excited about kibble or canned and used to be a dumpster diver, have you tried raw food? It's grain free, low carb, for the most part much like a cat would eat in the wild (only with different proteins and some supplements added). Next time you're making dinner, if you're not vegetarian, slice of a small piece of chicken or steak or whatever, and offer it to her. See if she likes that.
If she does, consider feeding her raw. Google "holistic pet store" and see if any pop up for your area. Call around - see if you can find Nature's Variety, Stella & Chewy's, Rad Cat, or Primal. They often look pricier up front, but because they're so packed with nutrition, cats usually need to eat less volume, so it often ends up costing less to feed them. Those are the main brands available, but there are many other online options, though shipping can be pricey for some. Here's an article on it, and as canned and kibble are compared, you can easily look up foods, there are links to the manufacturers for all of them so you can see ingredients, and the costs and carbs information is on there, and it's indicated whether or not the food are grain free. http://catcentric.org/nutrition-and...y-cat-or-i-can-afford-to-feed-commercial-raw/

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Thank you so much for that link! All the brands I had looked at were way out of my price range, but I found a site that sells 15 Chub Cases @ 2lbs ea of Bravos Balance Chicken for $120 bucks..shipping included..that breaks down to around $40 a month to feed two cats. Only thing now is I'm wondering the quality of this brand, safeness and if my cats will eat it or not.

ellevee said:

Have you tried any of the Blue Buffalo Bistro line of canned foods? I have 2 cats that do not touch pate-style wet food of any brand/flavor...it has to be in chunks or flaked. Maybe Zelda is looking for a different texture of wet food. Neither of my cats were big fans of Weruva (most flavors have shredded chicken) or Merrick (mostly pate or a mushy babyfood-like texture). Blue Buffalo Healthy Gourmet is another line my cats will eat- chunks or flakes in any of the flavors it comes in. Another suggestion I have is Freshpet Vital Complete Meals. It comes in a 1LB package in the fridge section of Petco, they look like tiny little meatballs and smell pretty appetizing too, haha Just be sure to check the expiration date on those before purchasing.

As for dry food, I wish I could help you there. My babies are both dry-food addicts...before I adopted them from their foster mother, they were on a Friskies kibble only diet...never had a can in the 11 months of their lives! I think this is what made it so difficult for me to find a type of wet food they will eat.

Good luck in your search!

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No I haven't, but Ill def try it. Thank you

EmilyMayWilcha said:

I have had the ultimate picky eater and a cat who would eat anything I gave him at the same time. Not knowing wet food is better than kibbles 18 years ago, I only fed her dry food when she was a kitten. Looking back, I wonder if feeding wet food back then would have prevented what happened 12 years later - acute kidney failure advanced to the point where she had to be euthanized.

What I know now is your best chance of getting "grain-free" cat food is making it yourself. Many cat foods have soy, milk, corn, wheat, etc., so the only way to feed your cat exactly what she needs is not buy any of them.

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I wish I had the time to buy a meat grinder and make food for them, but sadly at this time..I don't.

Ive always wanted to feed them raw.

Hi,

Im feeding my cat Innova Evo canned food turkey and chicken formula, no grains, my cat love it. But I keep on switching so he didnt get bored, sometimes I feed him Natural Balance and Holistic Select diferent flavor. Or mix it with actual raw/cook meat. For dry food you can try Innova Evo too, its grain free. I feed my cat Orijen for dry food, he dont really eat dry food, I only give him dry 2 table spoon a day just because Im scared he will get hungry once he finish his wet food.

freakNpink said:

I wish I had the time to buy a meat grinder and make food for them, but sadly at this time..I don't.
Ive always wanted to feed them raw.

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The great thing about feeding raw is you don't Need a meat grinder! You can just feed them whole slices of raw meat, nothing special added. (Up to 15% of their total food for the day)

I can't say much about Bravo Balance, however some of the raw feeders here may be able to give you some good advice about it. 

We also have a VERY picky eater. One thing we noticed is that her pickyness is somewhat behavioural as well. To get her to eat, not only did we have to experiment brands like crazy but figure out when she likes to eat (at night or after nap and that she prefers to eat in high places). Also is your picky eater spayed/neutered? Many cats who are not spayed tend to eat less due to their large drive to mate and they can put eating second. 

One thing you may have to experiment with is consistancy. We noticed she only likes pate style food and will not touch food with gravy or sliced meat. We also noticed after experimenting that she prefers dark meats such as Venison and Beef over chicken and turkey. So you may need to play around with foods to figure out her preference.

You mentioned that Zelda has a hard time keeping the Blue Buffalo down, do you mean she is vomiting the food back up? If she does have digestive sensitivities, raw may be the way to go, but you may want to start her on probiotics first before implementing it even though she's used to eating out of a dumpster, just as a safety precaution.

Wet foods that I find remind me of human food (and by that I mean smell good enough for me to eat  ) are Blue Bistro and Nature Variety Prairie (the lamb one especially, however it does have one or two grains in it).

Before Grain and Evo are awesome foods, but aren't as appetizing to some cats, but Merrick has some human-like ones, here's the link: http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/canned_cat_food.php

And as Minka suggested, you don't need a meat grinder to feed raw, you can buy pre-made raw diets, but I recommend checking out the raw food threads first if you have any questions or concerns.

All the best! 

-V

Minka said:

The great thing about feeding raw is you don't Need a meat grinder! You can just feed them whole slices of raw meat, nothing special added. (Up to 15% of their total food for the day)

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Three of my cats decided they didn't want to eat ground raw food. So they get "frankenprey" raw food ("whole prey model" raw). It's just chunks of stuff. I don't need a grinder, just scissors. So if you don't have a problem working with chicken liver and beef kidney, you can just feed your cat 80% meat, 10% bone (chicken wings), 5% liver, and 5% kidney. Give her an egg yolk to eat as a snack once or twice a week (raw) and a canned sardine once or twice a week (packed in water, no salt). That IS balanced, and provides everything she needs. You CAN add some supplements - some of us do, some of us don't. I don't feel comfortable feeding my cats bones, so I use a calcium supplement I just sprinkle on their food at each meal (in a properly measured amount given the amount of meat I'm feeding at the meals). But it's easy, and MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper than feeding ANY commercial food (other than crappy kibble).

And Bravo Balance is a very good food with a long, excellent history. I don't know if Bravo has a "Balance" product in pork. But when starting on raw, pork and lamb seem to be preferred over chicken. And I would check local stores just to see if you can try some things first. You definitely don't want to end up with a case of food she doesn't like.

LDG said:

Three of my cats decided they didn't want to eat ground raw food. So they get "frankenprey" raw food ("whole prey model" raw). It's just chunks of stuff. I don't need a grinder, just scissors.

So if you don't have a problem working with chicken liver and beef kidney, you can just feed your cat 80% meat, 10% bone (chicken wings), 5% liver, and 5% kidney.

Give her an egg yolk to eat as a snack once or twice a week (raw) and a canned sardine once or twice a week (packed in water, no salt). That IS balanced, and provides everything she needs. You CAN add some supplements - some of us do, some of us don't. I don't feel comfortable feeding my cats bones, so I use a calcium supplement I just sprinkle on their food at each meal (in a properly measured amount given the amount of meat I'm feeding at the meals). But it's easy, and MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper than feeding ANY commercial food (other than crappy kibble).
And Bravo Balance is a very good food with a long, excellent history. I don't know if Bravo has a "Balance" product in pork. But when starting on raw, pork and lamb seem to be preferred over chicken. And I would check local stores just to see if you can try some things first. You definitely don't want to end up with a case of food she doesn't like.

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I'm now looking at Natures Menu now, they seem like a good place to start along with the Bravo Balance. Do you just buy that stuff from a butcher or what?

DO you have a guide or anything with measurements ? Totally new and kinda lost here...a lot to learn. I'm still kinda scared Ill give them food poisoning or something. 

Thank you for all the help

I take that back went back looking on that link you posted yesterday catcentric.org about the prices of raw diets. Found everything I need to read up on at then moment. Awesome site full of info. Thanks a lot LDG

Yep, it's a great site, very helpful! And you can just email the site owner for help too.

There's also more resources you'll probably find helpful here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240809/raw-feeding-resource-thread

And you can ask anything here, or in the raw feeding forum.

And if you want suggestions for wet food, I'd try Nature's Variety, Before Grain, or Weruva. :nod: For kibble, since cost isn't a concern, I would recommend Epigen90. It's got almost no carbs, and NO starches. It's by Wysong. Free shipping with the code FREESHIPJX from Wysong's site. :nod: (But really, I'd forego the kibble altogether).

And FYI, our vet recommended raw food in October 2010. It took me over a year to get comfortable with it. Wish I wasn't so stubborn. It took a while to transition my cats as they're all older (most of them are 10). But now they (mostly) love it, and the difference is truly noticeable. And I'd already transitioned them to all wet, which they'd been on for over a year (from dry/wet) - and THAT change had noticeable results. :lol3:

Oh, in answer to your other question, about sourcing. I buy my cats' meat when I go grocery shopping for us. I shop at the A&P and Walmart. I do like to buy vegetarian-fed chicken, but really, all you have to do is ensure the meats aren't enhanced with anything: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/244291/salt-and-water-solution-added-to-grocery-store-chicken-oy. I live in a rural area, so I buy local eggs, the chickens are pastured, and the eggs are completely different than supermarket stuff. But for cats, the DHA eggs or Omega3 eggs (chickens fed a feed high in flax seed) are GREAT for their yolks. And in Missouri, you can order stuff from here: http://www.hare-today.com (this is where I get hearts to feed them - I feed those 3 times a week) or here: http://mypetcarnivore.com

In fact, I just posted my current menu recently: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240497/started-them-on-raw-tonight-d/660#post_3205525 (the amounts you see are because I'm feeding 8 cats). (And the only reason I combine red meats and light meats in one meal is because one of my cats was throwing up meals that were all red meat. Splitting the meals into 50/50 solved the problem).

I have tried just about all of them.  My kitties get it for breakfast mixed with canned chicken.  Like I've said, I've tried them all and so far the only one they absolutely LOVE is Taste Of The Wild... Unfortunately it was recalled a couple of weeks ago so I have been giving them their alternatives and searching for some new replacements in case they don't resolve the issue with TOTW, which appearantly they haven't as it is not on the shelves still..... They like Blue Buffalos Wilderness OK.  They like the Natures Instinct OK, too.  Wellness Core is OK, as well.  They aren't at all enthusiastic about Merricks Before Grain or any of the others.  I am hoping this issue gets resolved soon.... It breaks my heart the see them sniff at their breakfast take a couple bites and then beg for TOTW.