My cat likes junk wet food

Ok everyone,

My question is what brands of canned wet food do you like/recommend? I'm trying research and need some brands to start with!


Keep in mind their are some financial restraints, so please consider that. I usually shop at PetSmart or PetCo. He hasn't shown any preference for wet food texture, and eats all flavors but lamb/duck.

My kitty, Mister, was found as a stray (see thread in health for whole story) but eats both dry and wet with ease. In fact, he is a wet food JUNKIE!
When first found he needed to gain 3lbs, so he was fed Science Diet dry food, and Friskies wet food. The Friskies worked like a charm and I stopped feeding wet.
Due to some dental issues (they'll be solved soon), and some more info on cat nutrition, my vet and I decided a primarily wet food based diet ideal.
He will be offered a small amount of dry food to free feed (about 1/4 cup a day) because waiting for someone to get home from school (about 4-9hrs) would make me starved too! He actually eats very little of his dry food, so I don't worry about weight management much.
My vet recommended one whole big can (5.5oz) a day to maintain healthy weight. He eats that easily, and will try to eat that in one sitting [emoji]128514[/emoji] so I feed him 1/2 can morn/night when I am at school.

Currently he eats Science Diet dry, and either science diet or Priority wet (originally it wasn't primary calorie source).
He had no medical issues that require food management or specialty.

Any brands I should look up or you recommend?

Ps yes I am browsing on catinfo.org as we speak lol

It really does depend on what you are able to spend.  I can't find anything on Priority, it looks like it's a Safeway store brand.

Friskies pates are really pretty good for the price.  Fancy Feast Classic pates are also pretty good, a little higher than the Friskies.

In general the pates are better but like with anything there are exceptions.  Petco and Petsmart each have a store brand that is pretty good.  Petco is called Soulistic and Petsmart is called Authority I believe.

There are other good brands going up the scale money wise.  At the highest rung money wise are foods like Nature's Variety Instinct.

Priority is the Safeway brand. He likes it a lot and it was bought as a junk food treat, but isn't really "good" enough to be a long term feeding choice. He loves the Friskies Pates are ok, and he loves them, but again, I'm not sure if that's the best option for long term.

I should say, my budget isn't in dire short supply, but I'm not going to fly in a special brand or spend $100 for a weeks supply [emoji]128514[/emoji] as that's above my budget as well lol

Since a very small bag of his dry lasts all month, I'm looking to spend no more than 60-80$ for 30 cans (30 days)

That's a decent budget for 30 cans. Personally, l believe in a wide rotation. l see absolutely nothing wrong with keeping Friskies pates in the rotation some days (l do it) thus freeing up more money for different foods on other days.

Have you tried Wellness Core? My cats go wild for this food (the brown label one).

Also Hounds and Gatos seems pretty good, and my kitties love the Rabbit flavour.

Regular grain free Wellness is decent, as is Go! and Blue Wilderness.

Something else l started adding to the rotation is freeze-dried raw. lt's HPP treated and says on the bag "the Safe Raw". lt comes in a bag that can store in the cupboard just like kibble. Use only what and when needed. l add hot water to mine so by the time it's soaked in and ready to serve it's still nice and warm - they love this. l use Stella and Chewys, but only the Duck Duck Goose, and the Chick Chick Chicken flavours.

There are several higher end brands within your price range.

One is called Wild Calling http://wildcalling.com/   I'm not sure if it's available at the big box stores like Petsmart but you could probably find it at a smaller store.

EVO is good and should be within your price range.  I know it's available at the big box stores.

There is one called Hounds & Gatos that is good.  It has very limited store distribution many of us have to order it online.  http://houndgatos.com/

http://www.itsapetslife.com/search/results?q=hound   will let you buy it by the can instead of a whole case.  It has a little different texture which some kitties don't care for so it would be a good idea to get just a little to see if your kitty likes it or not.

Wellness is good, all of the CORE ones are grain free.

For $60-$80/mo. you can get some very good brands.

Hound and Gatos is good value. Good ingredients and costs a bit less, but as others have pointed out, limited distribution. See the links in my signature for places that will sell single cans. I also have access to many other brands of cat food and can mail three 5.5 oz. cans in a small flat rate box for the cost of the food and postage.

You can also find higher end brands at pet grooming salons with boutiques.

Other brands I favor:

Wellness/Wellness Core

By Nature Organics (organic line)

Dave's

Do be aware that some brands are low calorie, so you end up feeding twice as much volume and spending on twice as many cans. Weruva and Tiki Cat are examples.

Thank you all!
I am a bit confused about what my cats calories will be, vet just recommended a base volume, but I had noticed warnings online about some brands being higher or lower calories.
Then again most breeds of cats aren't supposed to be around 14lbs healthy [emoji]128514[/emoji]

I like andrya's idea of rotating a few brands/flavors in to keep it interesting (I know that's not an option for all cats) but I'm determined to stick to one main brand/line that's the healthiest in the long run for him

I will be looking at what's available in my area, though I don't know about mailing or shipping, if like to find something I could grab at a store in my area, but maybe I'm just strange like that.

Sample sizes are a great idea too! Thank you for suggesting that, it's always good to make sure they'll like it before I buy a case!

Generally a good rule of thumb is 20 calories per pound of a kitties ideal weight so a 14 pound cat would be 280 calories a day.  Your still feeding a little kibble and it tends to be high in calories.  One 5.5 ounce can of the foods listed above along with the kibble should be enough.  If the calories aren't listed on the can or bag it's usually listed on the website.

Thank all! Great tips!

so, I have to admit that I use my feral cats as experimental subjects with different canned food in order to find a decent one for a reasonable price. 

Results so far:

9 lives - threw it up (verdict: cheapest stuff, better not to buy, felt sorry for them)

Priority - ate it only if really starved (ended up giving it to the neighbor's dogs. verdict: same as above)

Friskies: pates are better nutrition wise because the saucy stuff contains much more starch. They prefer the non-pates, however. (verdict: ok)

Fancy Feast: love, love, love. Even if it is dried from having been refused by spoiled indoor brats for a whole day. Comes only in small cans. Cats make retching noises from time to time but infrequently. (verdict: would be best if available in bigger cans.)

Higher-end leftovers from spoiled indoor brats: get inhaled.

What I noticed was a not-to-miss correlation between price and them loving the food (sad, but true).

Bah. The more it costs the more my cats like to ignore it. "Oh, she paid $3 for this can? Well, guess we can't eat it then" :tongue2:.

But, yes, after much experimenting I do think Friskies is the best of the cheaper brands. I don't consider Fancy Feast to be cheaper because teeny 3-oz cans always cost too much. It would cost $2.81 for 13 ounces of Fancy Feast. . .which is somewhat cheaper than some brands but most that come in the bigger cans cost less than that.

I would ditch the Science diet. It's not cheap and the ingredients suck. For a little bit of dry I always recommend Orijen cat and kitten.

Like the others have said, I have found Hound & Gatos to be a really good brand at a reasonable price. It's better than Instinct and costs less. The H&G chicken is kind of nasty though. It's like jello and one of my cats refused to eat it. I feed the rabbit and Lamb.

If your cat does well with chicken, Tiki Cat Chicken and Egg is a good one to try. Even the pickiest eaters seem to love it.

For cheap brands, Pet Smart Authority is a lot better than Friskies (on paper anyway). It doesn't contain carrageenan which you want to stay away from. It does have brewers rice though [emoji]128513[/emoji]

Natural balance ultra wet 1.20. 5.5 ounce can. Natural balance ultra dry good also. Chewy.com good price delivers to door.

Denice said:

 
There are several higher end brands within your price range.

One is called Wild Calling http://wildcalling.com/   I'm not sure if it's available at the big box stores like Petsmart but you could probably find it at a smaller store.

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Raintyger said:

 
For $60-$80/mo. you can get some very good brands.

Hound and Gatos is good value. Good ingredients and costs a bit less, but as others have pointed out, limited distribution. See the links in my signature for places that will sell single cans. I also have access to many other brands of cat food and can mail three 5.5 oz. cans in a small flat rate box for the cost of the food and postage.
 
Do be aware that some brands are low calorie, so you end up feeding twice as much volume and spending on twice as many cans. Weruva and Tiki Cat are examples.

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I'm not sure who cans Hound and Gatos, but the reason that Hound and Gatos costs less is that their cans have less calories.  Nature's Variety's Instinct Canned Rabbit is 220 calories per can, while Hound & Gatos' American Rabbit is 161 calories per can.  In addition H&G uses fillers like Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum, and Salt Cassia, none of which you'll  find in Nature's Variety.   I'm not quite sure why they need all those food thickeners.

bonepicker said:

Natural balance ultra wet 1.20. 5.5 ounce can. Natural balance ultra dry good also. Chewy.com good price delivers to door.

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Natural Balance puts carrageenan in some of their formulas.  That's an ingredient I try to stay away from in pet food AND human food:

http://www.prevention.com/food/heal...n-natural-ingredient-you-should-ban-your-diet

teeveecat said:

 
I'm not sure who cans Hound and Gatos, but the reason that Hound and Gatos costs less is that their cans have less calories.  Nature's Variety's Instinct Canned Rabbit is 220 calories per can, while Hound & Gatos' American Rabbit is 161 calories per can.  In addition H&G uses fillers like Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum, and Salt Cassia, none of which you'll  find in Nature's Variety.   I'm not quite sure why they need all those food thickeners.

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I do not remember who cans Hound and Gatos, but I know Evanger's does not.

Most Hound and Gatos flavors are around 200 calories/can, which is above average. I found most brands to have about 165 calories/can. The Hound and Gatos rabbit could be less because rabbit is a very lean meat. The thickeners, though, are a drawback. And it seems a lot of members here report their kitties not liking Hound and Gatos, especially the chicken flavor.

Hound and Gato's is more natural than Instinct. NV uses 5% fruits and veggies as filler and that isn't counting the clay they use.

As long as the clay is free of contaminates I don't see it being a problem though as long as it's a small percentage of the formula as the gums in H&G are a very small percentage. So in other words, I don't see the gums or clay being any better or worse but I will say my cat that has a problem with soft stools can not eat any of the Instict formulas without problems and he can eat the rabbit and lamb by H&G and have a normal stool.

Instinct is a good food though and if your cat is doing well on it then I would stick with it

Alistair said:

Hound and Gato's is more natural than Instinct. NV uses 5% fruits and veggies as filler and that isn't counting the clay they use.

As long as the clay is free of contaminates I don't see it being a problem though as long as it's a small percentage of the formula as the gums in H&G are a very small percentage. So in other words, I don't see the gums or clay being any better or worse but I will say my cat that has a problem with soft stools can not eat any of the Instict formulas without problems and he can eat the rabbit and lamb by H&G and have a normal stool.

Instinct is a good food though and if your cat is doing well on it then I would stick with it

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The montmorillonite clay has always been a point of discussion because from what I understand it's difficult to ascertain where it's purchased from or how pure it is. I know the claim is that the clay has antibiotic properties and binds toxins that supposedly get eliminated. Recently they moved the clay up in the ingredients list on the label ahead of tricalcium phosphate, so I'm not sure whether that means they've increased the amount. According to their website:

Montmorillonite is a natural clay that we source from deposits in southern Utah that is approved by AAFCO for use as an anticaking processing aid. We have used this same natural source for many years.

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The moisture level of Nature's Variety has increased over the last few months according to the information on the can label by 3% to 78% while the crude fat (min) has dropped by 3% to 4.5%.

Funny that you mention that your cat has a problem with soft stool when eating Nature's Variety. Perhaps that's because the crude fiber (max) for Nature's Variety and Hound & Gatos rabbit formulas are 3.0% and 0.5%, respectively. While my cat has regular bowel movements (usually daily) with Nature's Variety, they're somewhat hard, perhaps due to the fact that she's a long hair and passes alot of hair. I have to give her Petromalt on occasion.

By the way, do you think there's a problem with adding fruits and vegetables to the NV rabbit formula? The company considers the Instinct line an holistic food and feels that the fruits and vegetables add nutrients and vitamins to the diet and in the case of the dried kelp, an anti-oxidant. For example, they feel the addition of cranberries may support urinary tract health. If anyone wants to check their reasoning for adding each ingredient, just place your mouse on each ingredient at the bottom of the page and a pop up box appears:

http://www.instinctpetfood.com/product/instinct-grain-free-canned-cat-food-rabbit

I'm not saying whether I agree with all of this but it's interesting reading nonetheless, and may be a good topic for further input from Catsite members.

It might be also be important to note that their dog and cat Instinct formulas are exactly the same, including the taurine amounts. A company rep told me that the food was originally formulated for cats, and the dog cans are exactly the same. The only reason that they don't list a guaranteed level for taurine on their dog can labels (it is listed as an ingredient) is because they're not required to by AAFCO.

http://www.instinctpetfood.com/product/instinct-grain-free-canned-dog-food-rabbit

It's more cost effective to buy the 13 oz. can of NV Instinct, but my cat seems to dislike any food that's been sitting in the refrigerator for more than a day, and that large dog food can would last two days.

I've just spoken to a representative from Nature's Variety and was told that as of a few months ago, their rabbit protein is no longer sourced from China and is being sourced from France.

Cats do not digest plants well so it's hard to know for sure if they derive much nutrients from them. NV claims that fruits and veggies are a natural part of the prey animals stomach but what you have to consider is that these plants T teeveecat are pre-digested by the prey animal before obligate carnivore like a cat eats the prey animal.

I always notice less smell and smaller stools in the litter box when my boys eat foods that don't add fruits and veggies like H&G and the homemade raw diet I feed them.

I'm glad NV is using a new source for their Rabbit formula. Sounds like they listen to their customers concerns and that's always a good thing. I think it's important to feed a couple of different brands in rotation so cats don't get hooked on a certain texture.

T teeveecat if I had to guess why one of my cats gets soft stool from Instinct and not H&G, it's probably a fruit or veggie they add to it.