My Cats Won't Eat the Best Canned Cat Foods

My two cats, ages 6 and 8 have been on dry food their whole lives, with only an occasional cat of wet food.  Both cats are overweight.   I finally decided for health purposes to switch them to wet food.   After hours of research to find the best high protein, low carb, grain free cat foods, I settled for Wellness.  They both barely touched it.   Then I attempted Evo and the same thing happened and I ended up wasting a lot of food and my cats going hungry.   It's apparent that the texure was unappealing to them.  I then mixed a little of Friskies chicken and gravy into the Wellness or Evo and they lapped that up as though they were starving.   I don't know if mixing the two was  the right thing to do since the Friskies is neither grain free or low carb.   However, I don't know what to do at this point.  Anybody have any suggestions as what I can do to keep my cats healthy and to lose some weight.   I can't afford any food that is more expensive than Wellness or Evo and I don't think any kind of pate food will work for them.

Well, tracking calories is really the best way to help them lose weight. And if you want them to eat the Wellness, you can use transitioning tools to get them to eat it.

Think of the situation as having young kids that have only eaten sugary cereal - and now you want them to eat salad. It's going to take a lot of salad dressing, cheese and bacon to get them to eat any salad at first, but over time you'll be able to use less incentives on the salad... and eventually they'll come to crave the salad.

Here is a thread that may help: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264675/transitioning-free-fed-kibble-kitties-to-timed-meals-and-new-food

And here is another transition guide: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

Oh! In this thread, a TCS member was fostering a 27 pound cat. It took a year, but he lost 10 pounds. How mschauer did this is documented basically step-by-step: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/245236/mickey-my-27-lbs-foster-and-his-journey-back-to-a-healthy-weight

My male cat was a kibble addict for 15 years of his life and he turned 16 this past June. I tried for years to get him to like and eat wet canned food. It was always a no go. Many times through the years I wanted to give up, but he's my best bud and my vet told me to "keep trying".

I kept trying and finally found a brand he would eat and like a lot. It's Nutro Natural Choice. It comes in lots of different flavors and basically two textures, slices and pate. He goes for the slices, but he won't touch pate. This is good grain free wet canned cat food. No grain, no gluten, no soy, no veges and no carrageenan. It is slightly expensive since it normally sells at Petsmart for $1.19 for a 3 oz can, but most of the time it's on sale for $1.10 a can.

Petsmart puts Natural Choice on sale lots of times and I've bought a 3 oz can for $0.90  and $1.00 a can. Petsmart has a small in store special, which isn't advertised, where you purchase 18 cans, but only pay for 16 cans.

But, my cat is finicky so I rotate the the flavors he likes which are: Minced Cod, Minced Chicken, Sliced Turkey and Sliced Chicken & Tuna.

Recently, I wanted to try another brand. I met a lady at Petsmart and she also had a 14 year old female life long kibble addict. Her cat likes Sheba wet canned cat food. It's also grain free, no gluten, no soy, no veges and no carrageenan. It also comes in a 3 oz can, but it's only $0.59 per can. I bought one can of Sheba chicken for a taste test and he ate it with gusto. I recently went back to Petsmart and along with the Natural Choice he likes, I bought one can of Sheba Grilled Classic (chicken, turkey & beef) flavor for another taste test and I'm going to see if he likes this flavor.

I want to have two different brands just in case these companies change their formulas and he won't eat it anymore. BTW, as an added benefit, my cat has lots more energy now since I've had him on wet cat food for the last 3 1/2 months. The link for Sheba at Petsmart is below.

http://www.petsmart.com/family/inde...PAD/Brands/Sheba&fbc=1&fbn=Brands|Sheba&fbx=0

Try two cans of Sheba for your two cat's taste test and see if they like it.

Thanks for the very helpful responses.   Nightwing,  Does the Natural Choice come in larger cans.   i have two cats and the 3 oz. cans aren't economical at all, but I read the ingredients in Natural Choice and I'm really impressed.   I think my cats would like it.

Night Wing said:

 
My male cat was a kibble addict for 15 years of his life and he turned 16 this past June. I tried for years to get him to like and eat wet canned food. It was always a no go. Many times through the years I wanted to give up, but he's my best bud and my vet told me to "keep trying".

I kept trying and finally found a brand he would eat and like a lot. It's Nutro Natural Choice.

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Too funny, my former kibble addict (12 yrs old) loves this brand as well - she's a terribly picky fussbudget.  She's all about the Duck flavor, in addition to Catfish.  I think she must have roots in the Deep South or something...duck and catfish!  Go figure - all that's missing is "Squirrel Flavor" (hey, SOMEBODY has got to be working on a squirrel flavor somewhere...)!  I took advantage of the "buy 18 get two free" recently....yay - definitely eases the pain of the higher cost.

Sinbad1 said:

 
 I then mixed a little of Friskies chicken and gravy into the Wellness or Evo and they lapped that up as though they were starving.   I don't know if mixing the two was  the right thing to do since the Friskies is neither grain free or low carb. 

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Many of us had to go through a few types/brands of food to get our cats to switch.  In my case, my kibble addict went from kibble, to Weruva/Cats in the Kitchen fishy brands - to Nutro Natural Choice.  The brand of canned food that works to get them off kibble may not be the one you stick with for good.  If Friskies works - I'd try that first...get them into a routine eating canned...and then mix in higher quality brands once they have gotten used to "no kibble".  Look at it as a 3-Step rather than 2-Step process.

I have my own opinions/values about this.  With an older cat so set in their ways...my tendency is to compromise with canned that is less than ideal if that's what can be accomplished with a minimum of stress - don't forget to factor in stress and its effect on a cat's health.  I tried to get my 12 yr old to eat raw - she just won't eat it consistently, so decided to stick with the best quality canned she'll eat after 4+ months of trying. So what - she's healthy...she eats what I give her...its not the raw I'd prefer she'd eat, but its all good so I am leaving it at that. Even Dr. Pierson herself, author of www.catinfo.org, (raw food advocate) states that some of the Friskies and other mainstream brands are still better than a diet of kibble.

To conclude: I would say its easier to get them to eat the canned you want AFTER the kibble has been worked out of the routine - one thing at a time. If I were in your shoes - I'd stock up on the Friskies that works, then deal with the quality issue of the brand you are feeding after that.  I recently took one of my cats to a well regarded, cat-only vet.  He stated: "I've cured diabetes with Fancy Feast"!

Regarding cost: I was recently shopping and was pretty impressed with the prices of Evanger's limited ingredient line.  I feed Nutro Natural Choice Duck all the time....Evanger makes a duck that is only .30 more a can, but for a 6 ounce can instead of a tiny 3 oz!  It does need a supplement like Call of the Wild - but even that would not bring the cost up to the level of Nutro.

But will the Little Brat eat it? Hmmm....

You could try the Fancy Feast Classics line.  It's probably one of the best of the lower cost choices; high protein and grain-free.  Real meat is the first ingredient. Comes in many flavors.  Basically, it's kitty crack to many for whatever reason.  It only comes in 3oz cans but at as low as .45 cents a can on sale (that's about the lowest I've seen it) to an average of .60 cents, it's a pretty good choice.  We use it in rotation with other higher quality brands and I feel pretty good about using it to help cuts costs a bit.  I just stay away from the seafood flavors.

Sinbad1 said:

 
Thanks for the very helpful responses.   Nightwing,  Does the Natural Choice come in larger cans.   i have two cats and the 3 oz. cans aren't economical at all, but I read the ingredients in Natural Choice and I'm really impressed.   I think my cats would like it.

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Unfortunately, Nutro Natural Choice only comes in 3 ounce cans. I think Sheba only comes in 3 ounce cans too, but at $0.59 a can for Sheba, you might want to give it a try. I only feed my cat sliced and minced flavors since he absolutely refuses to eat any type of pate canned cat food and this includes the Natural Choice in pate flavors.

Getting back to Natural Choice, my cat isn't a large cat. He weighs in at 11 pounds. He normally eats between 1 1/2 to 2 cans a day so he doesn't put the bite on my wallet so to speak. But, I really don't care what it costs to feed him. I gladly pay the price for his food because of all the love and joy he's given and shown to me during his 16 years being with me.

Wellness also makes a grain free dry food-Evo. It is super dense though and my cats gained weight on it, even with controlling the quantity. They had fabulous fur though. I have multiple cats and some are slender and others are tubby.  Wellness also makes cubed canned food with more gravy which might be more appealing to cats who aren't thrilled with the pate versions. Tuna is super stinky and the kitties enjoy it.  Of the pate versions, the only ones mine will eat are Turkey, Turkey with Salmon, chicken.

My vets (see multiple ones in the same place) feel that any canned food is better than a dry diet and aren't concerned so much with which brands. They really don't want the cats eating the gravy though because that's basically wheat gluten. The fancy feast that is the purest in terms of ingredients is probably the fish, cod and shrimp. However that particular variety is a product of Thailand. 

It's my own personal thing but after the gluten/melamine issue with gluten imported from foreign sources years ago, I'm very wary of feeding my cats any food made any where else but the U.S. That pet food issue killed a lot of pets and implicated store brands and high end brands which all turned out to be made in the same factory. Purina wasn't affected by that issue. Wellness wasn't either.

Hi Sinbad1,

The others have given some good advice about seeing this as a multiple step transition - kibble to satisfactory wet food, then on to better wet food. My kitty made the transition from kibble to wet very easily, she is not very picky. But now she has problems with IBD and I'm having to get her different food. Instead of just feeding her a new food, I may have to mix it with less healthy but more palatable wet food at first.

By the way, Wellness and Evo are good choices within a reasonable price range, but they tend to be a bit high in calories. This thread discusses some lower caloric options:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/265600/weight-loss-diet-canned-food-suggestions-please#post_3418087

You should be able to return the food they didn't like to the store you got it from, unless it was online and even then I would still ask. If anything you could always sell it too someone else or donate it too a kitty shelter. Have you tried starting them into wet slowly? At that age and knowing they've been on kibble so long it might be too drastic for them. Try mixing it with their kibble so they get used to it. And as long as their having mostly wet food their already doing better then on a 100% dry diet! Try giving them the "chunk", "sliced", "minced" wet food, might help them feel like its just moist kibble, it should help with the transition. You could also ground up some dry and top it off on their wet, use toppers? I would also suggest giving a grain free dry so the dry is at least grain free What kind of dry were they on before? Another Brand I like besides Evo &Wellness is Soulistic (sold solely at PetCo) its pretty low on calories if I recall correctly and its grain free and looks and smells delish! Its wet only, they come in gravy or gelee. The prices are cheaper then wellness &Evo.I would even suggest Fancy Feast Classics or some Friskies (I'd have too look up the names of the grain free ones...) But whatever wet works for now as long as you can get them loving wet

So much good advice on here.  I'm loving this site.   Raintyger, After what you said sbout Evo's calories, I'm inclined not to use  it anymore.   My two cats are both overwieght, so in addition to  a healthy food, I need low fat. low carb and low calories.   I'm disappointed to hear that Evo is high in calories.  I looked at the sites you suggested and I was confused about gravy.  Some said that gravy was low calorie; others said it was high..   My instinct is that gravy would be high in calories.  This transition isn't going well for me, even with my mixing friskies with the Evo or Wellness.   They're definitely not getting enough to eat.  One of my cats has trouble with not being able to free feed as he did with the kibbles.   He eats so very little and comes back a while later wanting more.  I've been taking notes of some of the foods suggested here and trying to make  a decision of which way to go.   Did any of you have problems with your cat wanting to eat at his leisure?   Should I feed 3 meals a day instead of two?  I don't want them to starve, nor do I want them to gain any more weight.   They're now 16 and 14 lbs.  Everyone is always commenting on how fat my Calico, Candy is.  She's the one weighing 16 lbs.

Gravekindi, You asked what kind of dry food I gave them before.   They had Iams all their lives.   I had always heard it was a good food for cats.  Now I'm learning just how bad it is.   Luckily, they've been healthy all their lives---just overweight.

sivyaleah said:

You could try the Fancy Feast Classics line.  It's probably one of the best of the lower cost choices; high protein and grain-free.  Real meat is the first ingredient. Comes in many flavors.  Basically, it's kitty crack to many for whatever reason.  It only comes in 3oz cans but at as low as .45 cents a can on sale (that's about the lowest I've seen it) to an average of .60 cents, it's a pretty good choice.  We use it in rotation with other higher quality brands and I feel pretty good about using it to help cuts costs a bit.  I just stay away from the seafood flavors.

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Why do you stay away from seafood flavors? I have Peanut on a mostly dry food diet but we are adding wet food because of a urinary infection he had. All he will eat so far is Fancy Feast and only the seafood flavors. He hates anything chicken. We also tried Natural Balance but he won't touch it. Anyway, is seafood bad? Or is that a personal preference?

lt was my experience that when l switched my previous cat Thai   from kibble (lams) to canned, he lost his blubber naturally. He was a large well-muscled cat who looked spectacular once his fat layer disappeared.

That was before l found this site. Now l have 3 cats who eat a mix of homemade raw, freeze-dried raw, and canned.

The cans they get are EVO kitten & cat, Fancy Feast pate, the odd Friskies pate once in a while, and any old stock of Merrick's Cowboy Cookout that l run across (l won't buy the new stuff).

Freeze-dried raw is something l just started buying a couple of weeks ago, and they love it!! lt can stay in its bag in the cupboard, just like kibble. Add a little water to a couple of pucks, and voila - healthy meal in a minute. l like that option in case anyone else has to watch my cats, and their diet isn't suffering, it's still healthy, nutritious raw. (l'm predicting that l'll eventually become lazy and quit the homemade in favour of freeze-dried).

As to feedings, l'd vote yes to 3 meals. Mine are down to 2 a day since l work 12 hour shifts, but all 3 cats self-regulate and go back for more at each feeding. l give them enough that it's gone in about an hour at both meals. They're all slim, the heaviest being 10lbs.

petcrazy76 said:

Why do you stay away from seafood flavors? I have Peanut on a mostly dry food diet but we are adding wet food because of a urinary infection he had. All he will eat so far is Fancy Feast and only the seafood flavors. He hates anything chicken. We also tried Natural Balance but he won't touch it. Anyway, is seafood bad? Or is that a personal preference?

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Fish, while a great source of protein, can affect the absorption of certain vitamins. lt's fine to feed them fish once in a while, but a lot of foods have fish hidden in their ingredients (even if they're called Chicken Dinner for example), and feeding fish every day would lead to certain vitamin deficiencies.

Despite all the good advice I've received in this forum, I'm still confused as to what cat food to purchase instead  of  the Wellness and Evo that my cats don't like.  Someone mentioned Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken which I almost settled on.   Then, it was mentioned that Dr Pierson didn't recommend it because of high carbs.   Well, I'm looking at her chart now and if I'm reading it right, it's showing 3 carbs in a 5.5 can.   Isn't that exceptionally low?  Am I missing something?   I did notice that the calories are lower than most canned food at 103.  Although I'm trying to get my cats to lose weight, is that too few calories in a 5.5 can?  This food looks so good from the pictures that I feel sure my cats would devour it.   Can anyone help?

Sinbad1 said:

 
He eats so very little and comes back a while later wanting more.  I've been taking notes of some of the foods suggested here and trying to make  a decision of which way to go.   Did any of you have problems with your cat wanting to eat at his leisure?  

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I have one of those!  Its very frustrating, especially since Cat #2 is the opposite: he eats in 3 minutes or less.  Boo takes all day to finish - she is 12 and had a number of years as a free-kibble feeder. You might want to do 3 or 4 feedings to start - there are some great tips here on establishing the concept of a meal rather than grazing - I think they are linked in one of LDG's early responses.  Boo is slowly coming around to eating more and more at each feeding, but is a slow transition.  We did put our foot down and the "kitchen closes at midnight" (we are night owls) and I have noticed she seems to be catching on and makes an effort to finish at 11:30 or so. 

Sinbad1 said:

 
Despite all the good advice I've received in this forum, I'm still confused as to what cat food to purchase instead  of  the Wellness and Evo that my cats don't like.  Someone mentioned Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken which I almost settled on.   Then, it was mentioned that Dr Pierson didn't recommend it because of high carbs.   Well, I'm looking at her chart now and if I'm reading it right, it's showing 3 carbs in a 5.5 can.   Isn't that exceptionally low?  Am I missing something?   I did notice that the calories are lower than most canned food at 103.  Although I'm trying to get my cats to lose weight, is that too few calories in a 5.5 can?  This food looks so good from the pictures that I feel sure my cats would devour it.   Can anyone help?

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I have looked closely at calorie counts for weight gain reasons, so I have a pretty good idea of the range. That is low for a 5.5 can.  I was trying to get at least 200 calories in a can that size, and its tough.  So the low 100's is pretty darn low - I'd say 160 is close to average calories for cans that size.

Weruva has extensive nutritional info on their website; I have found some errors between Dr. P's chart and company info posted on websites, so I'd go with the company website as it is probably more current.  The Cats in the Kitchen line is the same company and I'd recommend that too.  My cat LOVES their food, but she had to GAIN weight - that's the only reason I stopped buying that brand. In fact, she did lose weight eating their food, but that wasn't our intent!

^ They also make Soulistic for PetCo  

my cats do not like high quality canned food. we dont force it upon them. they currently eat sheba and purina proplan. as they long they are eating that all that matters.