Canned food challenges - trying to find a decent back-up/rotation brand.

Hello there; long-time lurker, first-time poster.

Over the past few months, I've done an insane amount of reading about cat food, and am basically going crazy at this point. Between my cats' issues and the various "rules" about what to avoid, etc. it's been extremely difficult to find a canned food I'm happy with.

That said, for now we've settled on the Wellness grain-free and CORE lines. My cats like them, I can afford them, and they generally meet the criteria I'm looking for. However, I know it's important to have a rotation going and/or try different brands so the cats don't get hooked on a single one. This is where my problem lies... there are blessed few other cat foods out there that make both me and my cats happy. I'd also like to add that while I know raw will probably be suggested, and I'd consider it in the future, I don't really want to go down that road yet (and my husband still needs to warn up to the idea as well).

We have two 3-year-old cats, a brother and sister (Ray and Luna). Luna is super easy when it comes to food... she will basically eat whatever I give her. Ray is my problem child - he is picky about flavors, and he's also extremely picky about texture. He's a "licker," in that he doesn't seem to know how to pick up wet food and actually chew it - he just licks and licks until the food's mostly gone (I had a previous cat like this as well). Because of this, he can only eat pate (I've tried stuff that's shredded/minced/in gelee... he licks at it a little and then peers up at me in frustration because he can't figure out how to eat it). It's all very weird because in the past he's eaten kibble and crunched/chomped on it just fine. He just has issues with wet. Anyway...

So keeping the pate restriction in mind, I also narrow choices down based on these criteria:

- high protein

- grain-free

- low-carb

- no fish

I have had decent success with Instinct (particularly the rabbit flavor), though I was hoping to find an option that isn't $2.50+ a can (Wellness is about $2 here for a 5.5 oz can). I give the Instinct as an occasional thing.

Here are the brands I've considered and why they didn't work out:

- Addiction:  This is the only food that Ray will just sniff and walk away from. He really doesn't like it for some reason.

- Authority:  Has rice, and also has fish even in the non-fish flavors.

- Evo:  Possibility, but due to the numerous recalls, nobody seems to carry it anymore. I haven't been able to get a can to try it.

- Fancy Feast:  I was actually considering this because it keeps to the basic restrictions above and most folks seem to say it's a decent budget choice. However, I noticed how much phosphorus is in this food (even non-fish flavors) and it kind of freaked me out - see below.**

- Go!:  Ray nibbled this a bit (chicken/turkey/duck), but he wasn't really a fan.

- Halo:  Their chicken pate is probably the most successful of anything I've listed. He'll eat most of it, but he doesn't love it.

- Hounds & Gatos:  I would have to get this online - it seems like this is in shreds and not pate, is that correct?

- Merrick:  I've fed their Purrfect Bistro a bit in the past, but then I read that this new formula is apparently really high in carbs.

- Weruva/Cats in the Kitchen/Tiki Cat/Soulistic:  Promising, but no pate texture. I tried all of these brands and Ray had problems eating them.

** To add to my worries, there's the issue of phosphorus. Everyone says it's bad - that it's one of the reasons you don't want to feed fish regularly, and that it causes UTIs. Most foods seem to fall within a similar range, but I was looking at Fancy Feast, and holy moly, it has a ton of phosphorus compared to the other brands. According to the catinfo.org chart, Fancy Feast classic chopped grill (no fish) has 569 mg/100 kcals. That's actually more than some of the fish flavors, but they all range around 500-800 mg. That's compared to say, Wellness chicken at 219.

Apologies for the long post, but in the end, these are my questions:

1. Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent canned pate that I haven't tried? What would be the lesser of two evils - low-carb with some grain, or higher-carb but no grain?

2. To everyone that mentions Fancy Feast as a decent budget choice - is the phosphorus enough to worry about? Why is non-fish Fancy Feast better than other foods that may have fish but way less phosphorus?

Thanks. As you can probably tell, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this; just trying to come up with a reasonable solution.

We have Hound & Gatos in Chicken and Lamb, Chicken & Salmon.  These are definitely a very pate style - more so than the FF Classics we've had. Someone said the beef wasn't as fine in texture. My kitten did not care much for them, especially the chicken. However, today she ate a good sized spoonful of the chicken after she'd eaten her FF Turkey (?). We were going out with the fresh can to feed the other cat.

It certainly is pate anyway.

LOL, you sound like me a year ago, except my cat didn't like pate textures. The Hound & Gatos varieties are all pates, so that may be an option that you may want to try. Another option to try is the Nutro Naturals soft loaf which is a pate style, high protein, low carb, no carrageenan. To me, it comes down to carbs. I would rather have the lower carb food. I hate the marketing gimmick of no-grain foods that are still high in carbs because the grains are substituted with a lot of starchy vegetables.

I think keeping an eye on phosphorus levels is important, but if you're going to only be feeding the FF in rotation, then I wouldn't be as concerned. If it was their sole food, then it would be more of a concern. If neither has kidney or urinary issues now, I would tend to be less worried.

Question about Ray, does he have any health issues? When was his mouth/teeth checked last? I'm wondering if there's a recent issue there that's causing problems with the wet food?

Thanks for the info about H&G. Sometimes it's hard to tell what the texture will be, especially with products that are mostly available online. It helps to hear from someone who's actually used them.

Ray had a checkup about five months ago and everything was fine - he was doing the food "licking" thing at that point too, so I've assumed that it's just a quirk of his.

Here is one place where you can order Hounds and Gatos by the can,  http://www.itsapetslife.com/category.cfm/pets/Cat-Food/brand/HOUND AND GATOS    I have only tried the lamb and my two picky kitties liked it.  I used to feed Fancy Feast until my IBD kitty who can't tolerate beef recently developed an allergy to chicken.  With the Fancy Feast that pretty much just leaves fish.  You would want to stick with the cans that have classic on the label.

I rotate between two canned wet foods that may meet your criterion:

1. Hounds and Gatos Chicken ($1.31/ 5.5 oz can)
http://www.petfooddirect.com/Produc...os-98-Percent-Chicken-Formula-Canned-Cat-Food

The H&G is REALLY a dense pate. I would even call it a "loaf" almost. I cut it down with hot water and add a dash of Mercola krill oil for good measure. Seriously, it's really dense and filling for my cat. On the downside, there a three types of "gums" in the ingredient list. Phosphorus min 0.25%

2. Great Life Essentials Chicken and Friends ($1.57/ 5.5 oz can)
http://primepetsupply.com/product/great-life-chicken-and-friends-canned-cat-food/

I'm REALLY impressed with the Great Life Essentials, and my cat just LOVES it. It's mid-priced and only available at a few select online retailers. Phosphorus min 1.4%

I've switched to online ordering for ALL my cat food and litter. I order two cases at a time which typically enables free shipping.

Good luck!

I have links in my signature where you can buy single cans of cat food online in order to try them out. Hound and Gatos is in the first two links. And yes, it is pate. I tried several flavors, all pate.

Dave's is a brand that seems similar to Wellness and they just came out with a higher grade line.

By Nature is also very good. Their 95% line and organic line have different textures to the pate. The 95% line has some roughness to it, kinda like a pate with porridge texture. The organic line is more smooth, like a regular pate.

I've tried Great Life Essentials. My kitty loved it for a few meals, then stopped eating it. But I didn't know she was sick at that point. Great Life is a little high in carbs, though.

As t the texture, you can make anything into pate using either a Magic Bullet or Ninja type personal blender.  I use my Magic Bullet to turn Soulistic and Weruva  (with additional water or egg whites and whatever else I want to add) into pate because I have a licker just like you .  I don't understand it, because she will eat freeze dried treats just fine, but will only lick, and lick, and lick and lick her canned food.  Her brothers will be done for what seems like hours and she's still licking

Is there a problem with Nature's Variety Instinct?  We just tried the beef and Dandy loved it but she seems so hungry that she might have eaten anything... I did see a bit of carrot but it was gone.

DianaMc said:

 
Is there a problem with Nature's Variety Instinct?  We just tried the beef and Dandy loved it but she seems so hungry that she might have eaten anything... I did see a bit of carrot but it was gone.

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I'm sorry, when you say "is there a problem with it", are you asking if it falls into your parameters of high protein, low carb, etc?  On a dry matter basis, the protein of the beef is 43% and carbs are 4%.  Sounds pretty good to me .   Have you seen this chart?  http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf  It's my bible when it comes to food shopping, mainly because I have one that needs low phosphorus, so I really need this!

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
I'm sorry, when you say "is there a problem with it", are you asking if it falls into your parameters of high protein, low carb, etc?  On a dry matter basis, the protein of the beef is 43% and carbs are 4%.  Sounds pretty good to me

.   Have you seen this chart?  http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf  It's my bible when it comes to food shopping, mainly because I have one that needs low phosphorus, so I really need this!

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My apologies for my wording. I wondered if there was some reason it didn't fit into the original poster's parameters since it hadn't been mentioned. I was looking at as an option for an adult food for my cat so I didn't see a problem. I'm somewhat lost with all the charts and such. Okay - I might as well confess that I get a little lost on that chart and did not want to spoil the holidays by asking a M.D. to decipher it . Thanks for your help. BTW, the H&G can chart didn't make sense to the M.D. but the art major said she understood it so go figure that one.

Mits said:

 
I have had decent success with Instinct (particularly the rabbit flavor), though I was hoping to find an option that isn't $2.50+ a can (Wellness is about $2 here for a 5.5 oz can). I give the Instinct as an occasional thing.

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The OP does include NVI in her rotation, but it's one of the most expensive options.

Originally Posted by DianaMc  

 Okay - I might as well confess that I get a little lost on that chart and did not want to spoil the holidays by asking a M.D. to decipher it

. Thanks for your help. BTW, the H&G can chart didn't make sense to the M.D. but the art major said she understood it so go figure that one.

Click to expand...

On the chart, really, if you are looking for high protein, low carb, just look at the columns under Dry Matter Basis % and there are 4 sub categories there.  Protein, Fats, Carbs and Phos.  So if you are looking at a specific brand, then you just go to this chart and see what the numbers are after the moisture has been removed, which is what dry matter basis means.  You may have noticed, if you've ever looked at dry food, that the protein amount is much higher (on the package) than on canned!  That's because kibble doesn't have much moisture in it, so what they show is much closer to the actual dry matter basis.  I'm sure this is very confusing, but, help in on the way.  On January 21st, TCS will be publishing on article on "Comparing Cat Food & Calculating Carbs:  Dry Matter Basis"  which really does a great job of explaining the entire thing.  How lucky are you .  You only have to wait a few more days

Thank you.  (Don't think Dandy can afford NVI either.)

Thanks to the folks who have replied so far.

As vball91 mentioned, I do use NVI and like it, but it's not something I could totally switch to if (for example) Wellness went out of production or something (due to the price).

I was able to order some single cans of H&G, which should be arriving tomorrow. So we'll see how that goes.

I must be in a parallel universe with the OP. I also have a "licker" who only likes CORE and Spot's Stew pate. After trying virtually every other grain-free pate, EVO is the only other brand tolerated in the rotation.

My other cat is less picky but loves Merrick Purrfect Bistro. Are the carbs really that high?

I don't know about the Fancy Feast. I used to have a very finicky cat that I tried Fancy Feast on. He loved it and wolfed it down, but he had horrible diarrhea the next day. I guess every cat is different though. You didn't mention Blue Buffalo. They have several canned grain-free varieties. Some of them do have carrageenan though, which may or may not be an issue, depending on who you ask.

There is quite a difference in the FF lines/flavors.  Someone (sorry, but I forget who) warned me about one of the gravy ones that my husband got by mistake and it did give Dandy a loose stool. She's done all right on the Classics, but it can be daunting to sort through the display. All cats are different, as you say.  Report back on the H&G.  I'm thinking of trying Rabbit and Beef ((not personally).

GO canned cat food is very good. It is made my Petcurean and is carageenan free. There are 4 choices which do not contain any fish.

Hound & Gatos is another great one as is Fromm which is a family owned business--5 generations.  Organix by Castor & Pollux has some nice choices and Nature's Logic Chicken cannot be beaten in terms of healthy products. Also Nature's Variety Instinct is another great line of pate cat food.

Merrick has a new "Limited Ingredient" pate out which is still hard to find and our cats love it as well.  I hope this helps. I was in your situation and am pleased to say that all the wet foods we feed our three Cats are carageenan free and grain free. You really do not want foods with any carageenan.

Two of our cats are 14 years of age and the other is 9 months old.

I feed Merrick duck and chicken pate (my cats prefer it to wellness core), it is cheaper and low carb. They also like nutro natural choice chunky chicken loaf. They like pride by instinct rockstar rabbit. They like FF chicken & liver or chopped grill in classics. The rest they eat are shredded