Picky eater

My cat Buddy is almost a year old. At our last vet visit the vet told me I shouldn't be feeding him Fancey Feast she said "that is the McDonalds of cat food". She said I should feed him something like Iams or Science Diet, so I bought a few cans of each and he won't touch it. He won't eat any brand of patte for that matter he will only eat "sliced", "grilled", or "flaked". So confused! This is my first cat, I rescued him as a very tiny kitten.

Kool Kitty411 said:

My cat Buddy is almost a year old. At our last vet visit the vet told me I shouldn't be feeding him Fancey Feast she said "that is the McDonalds of cat food". She said I should feed him something like Iams or Science Diet, so I bought a few cans of each and he won't touch it. He won't eat any brand of patte for that matter he will only eat "sliced", "grilled", or "flaked". So confused! This is my first cat, I rescued him as a very tiny kitten.

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hi and welcome to TCS!

iams and science diet are overpriced cat foods that are basically junk. some/many vet's "push" the stuff they sell at their office.

my suggestion would be to read up on cat nutrition, then decide what you feel is good food nutritionally for your boy based on that. as long as your boy is healthy and doesn't need a special diet for a medical issue, your best bet is to learn about cat nutrition.

to find articles/info about cat nutrition here, go to the "cat nutrition" forum (folder). you'll see "raw & home-cooked cat food" at the top, and just below that you'll see a list of articles in blue print. those articles in blue print are links, and you can just click on them to get to the articles.

i trust my vet with medical issues, but i don't agree with my vet about cat nutrition. vet's get very little training about nutrition in veterinary school, and what they do learn is from classes/seminars/etc taught by pet food companies.

Most vets, unless they are holistic or integrated, don't know much about nutrition and rely on brands that commercial pet food companies push on them, this is especially true for prescription food. The Iams and Science Diet are high in carbs, which is not what your kitty is designed to eat. Cats are carnivores and do best on meat.

While Fancy Feast is not a high end brand, the pates are a reasonably good budget choice. I would try blending some of the grilled/flaked/sliced varieties with the pate and see if he eats it. Alternatively, there are other brands of sliced food that are not gravy based. The gravy adds carbs, which is why gravy based foods aren't as healthy. Examples of sliced/shredded foods that don't have gravy are Soulistic or Weruva. Some of these are lower calorie, so compare to what you are feeding now and increase portions as necessary.

In general you want to feed a high protein/low carb, grain free wet food or a raw food diet. The following articles can get you started:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat

http://www.fnae.org

http://www.catinfo.org

Raintyger said:

 
While Fancy Feast is not a high end brand, the pates are a reasonably good budget choice. I would try blending some of the grilled/flaked/sliced varieties with the pate and see if he eats it. Alternatively, there are other brands of sliced food that are not gravy based. The gravy adds carbs, which is why gravy based foods aren't as healthy. Examples of sliced/shredded foods that don't have gravy are Soulistic or Weruva. Some of these are lower calorie, so compare to what you are feeding now and increase portions as necessary.

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I second the thought of trying Weruva for Buddy: Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen foods are particularly good because they're reasonably priced and low-carb. Our cats particularly like Fowl Ball, which has shredded turkey and chicken. (Some of Weruva's other foods are higher carb and/or have potato, which seems to make one of our cats throw up.)

Our cats also like Tiki Cat's chicken, which is pretty much pure, shredded chicken (one kind has pieces of egg, too) but it's pretty expensive so they don't get it as often as they might like. It's great food. One other low-carb shred food they love is Natural Balance's Catatouille, which is also expensive, though it's been on sale a lot lately. I only feed it every couple weeks, as a treat, and they lap it right up.

My biggest problem with the Fancy Feast slices, shreds, and flakes is that most of them (maybe even all?) contain wheat gluten.

Thanks for all the feed back. We really appreciate it!