My cat wont eat wellness CORE! Help!

pumaaa

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Hey everyone! This is my first post! So I have been trying to change my cat's diet from iams to wellness CORE, and he wont eat it! I am slowly trying to transition him from iams to wellness core, but he picks out the iams and leaves the wellness..Ugh. I have mixed the food with wet food to get him to eat it, but he licks it and wont eat it. I really want to feed him grain free, so which food is good for a picky cat? I am thinking of buying him Blue Buffalo Wilderness, any thoughts?
 

just mike

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Hey everyone! This is my first post! So I have been trying to change my cat's diet from iams to wellness CORE, and he wont eat it! I am slowly trying to transition him from iams to wellness core, but he picks out the iams and leaves the wellness..Ugh. I have mixed the food with wet food to get him to eat it, but he licks it and wont eat it. I really want to feed him grain free, so which food is good for a picky cat? I am thinking of buying him Blue Buffalo Wilderness, any thoughts?
Hi Pumaaa and Welcome to TCS! Cats are funny creatures and if the food does not smell like "food" to them, they will not eat it. When transitioning food, and I assume this is kibble you are talking about here, it's best to do it gradually and preferably over the course of a couple of weeks.

You will find most people advocate a wet diet here but if that is not in your budget, we'll stick to the kibble for now.

There are many good grain freed kibble brands out there. The most well known companies are as you mentioned, Wellness, Blue Buffalo and Nutro has a new one out which has become very popular in the stores as well. Try to find a food your kitty will at least try and gradually go from there. I don't know what the Blue Wilerness website is but the Nutro website for the duck and potato grain free, there is also a salmon and potato grain free http://www.nutro.com/natural-cat-food/natural-choice-cat-food/dry/grain-free-duck-potato.aspx

While I have no experience with it, some people have given a thumbs up to the Castor & Pollux Organix grain free.

You might want to check out this site also. It has some valuable, easy to understand info on it http://www.catinfo.org/
 

peaches08

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Another thought on mixing foods: have you started by adding only a tablespoon or less? Start slowly?

Maybe crush the kibble then mix in wet food. Also, try toppers such as fortiflora or parmesan cheese.
 

marthascash

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We have four beloved fuzzy children. They were on Science Diet, Iams, Royal Canin, Blue, Nutro, and more. They were constantly throwing up. One day I was reading a veterinarian column in the newspaper, where a reader wrote in with the same problem. He recommended Wellness Core. A bit more expensive, but they deserve it. At first a couple of them were reluctant to eat. I stood my ground and did not succumb to their persnickety attitude. They finally gave in, and they have been eating it now for 4 years. BTW, only two of our cats will allow wet food. None of them like roasted chicken, or fish! Sometimes I wonder if they are cats. Stand strong and your kitty will eat it and love it. Our cats are so healthy, strutting their shiny coats and kitten playfulness.
 

nutrobricca

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Going from Iams to Wellness Core is a tough switch.  You're going from something with grain to one without.  I agree that Natural Choice's grain free duck and potato is a good choice.  I have 5 cats and when Nutro changed their formulas to make them more natural and shrunk their ingredient panels plus added grain free; well my cats had to try them all.  Plus with 5 cats they all can't agree on just one food so it's a good thing I work for Nutro and can buy a little of everything.  With that said; I have a Maine Coon who will only eat the duck and potato formula.

You did mention you cat is picky so before jumping to grain free; try looking at Nutro's Finicky formula.  If you cat has no allergies then this might be a good option because it's got chicken and salmon so very tasty plus this kibbles are such that it hits all those taste buds which helps.

http://www.nutro.com/natural-cat-fo...food/dry/finicky-cats-chicken-brown-rice.aspx

NutroBricca
 

peugeot206

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Try giving your cat the fish flavor to lure him to eat the wet food. Cats tend to be drawn to fish easier than any other kinds of meat. However, from then on, you might have to make another transition from fish to non-fish food as contaminant in fish is likely to cause urinary tract disease (if consumed for a pro-longed period of time), especially in a male cat. But if your sole intent now is to get him on wet food, this is probably a good next-step.
 

raintyger

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Hey everyone! This is my first post! So I have been trying to change my cat's diet from iams to wellness CORE, and he wont eat it! I am slowly trying to transition him from iams to wellness core, but he picks out the iams and leaves the wellness..Ugh. I have mixed the food with wet food to get him to eat it, but he licks it and wont eat it. I really want to feed him grain free, so which food is good for a picky cat? I am thinking of buying him Blue Buffalo Wilderness, any thoughts?
I hate to sound like I'm anti-Blue Buffalo, but I think you should read a thread I started about Blue Buffalo a week ago. There are some strange experiences from myself and other forum members with this food recently. Pets are rejecting it and there seems to be a lot of serious illnesses from pets who were on Blue Buffalo. A year ago I would've told you it is a really good food, but something must've changed recently.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/258997/blue-buffalo/30#post_3354973
 

lcat4

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We don't have dry food in the house anymore, but my former kibble addict wouldn't eat the Wellness Core. She loved the Wilderness Duck grain free and Nature's Logic Duck. But the Wilderness was a while ago, so can't comment on the above BB post.

I buy dry food for my husband's ferals at work. He said they had a hard time eating the Wellness Core when I bought it on a good sale, don't know if it was too sudden of a change. He just puts the food in the dispenser, he doesn't slowly introduce. He said it seems dryer, if one dry food can be more dry than another. He says they prefer the Merrick BG chicken, they'll eat Natural Balance chicken. I got them a couple bags of something Gold, looked okay on the ingredients list, but he said that was a no go. Who would have thought ferals would be picky? He gives them wet food every once in awhile, and they go crazy for that.
 

sparklexo

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I just tried to switch my kitty to Wellness this week and she won't eat it either! She loves her Purina, but I don't. In fact, she won't even eat wet food unless its topped with Purina kibble. I have a feeling this is gonna be a battle. Plus, she knows if she starves herself long enough, I freak out and give her crappy kibble again! She's too smart sometimes. Right now I'm mixing it in tiny ratios with the Purina. She mostly leaves the Wellness and won't eat it, but at least she's getting used to the smell being in her dish... before she wouldn't even touch the dish if she smelled wellness in it, but I guess hunger won out.
 
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