Most palatable dry food?

My cat has been on an all wet and raw diet since he was about 8 months old, and he’s nearly 3. He’s the picture of health, very svelte, and the vets just love him.

However, I am interested in adding some dry food into his diet. This is for several reasons.

Firstly, it’s a cost issue. Feeding high quality wet and raw foods (Weruva, Natural Balance, Earthborn, Rad Cat, Feline Naturals) is pretty pricey, and dry food, even the highest quality, is significantly cheaper per pound.

Secondly, I work in retail and work long hours (50+ a week). When you’re only feeding wet foods, it’s difficult to leave some out as it will go bad. I’d like to give him the option of having SOMETHING there if he gets hungry.

I realize the diet I’m feeding him now is a great one and dry food is not as good for a cat as wet and raw. My intention is to find a food he likes so it can be used in an emergency, and up to 25% of his current diet.

When he was younger and eating some dry, he ate California Natural Grain Free chicken. I haven’t tried that again, but I did try some Orijen red meat, which he totally snubbed. He also hates all things fish, and only eats canned/raw foods with poultry, lamb, or beef.

puppypiles said:

 
Firstly, it’s a cost issue. Feeding high quality wet and raw foods (Weruva, Natural Balance, Earthborn, Rad Cat, Feline Naturals) is pretty pricey, and dry food, even the highest quality, is significantly cheaper per pound.

Secondly, I work in retail and work long hours (50+ a week). When you’re only feeding wet foods, it’s difficult to leave some out as it will go bad. I’d like to give him the option of having SOMETHING there if he gets hungry.

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Some of my thoughts

Could you feed a more affordable canned food? The high end expensive ones are great but expensive. You coud feed a similarily quallity food for less. There are good brands you can find at pet stores, like By Nature and Wellness. Friskies and other usally considered "low quality" brands can also be fed, as the entire diet or a part of it.

Can you buy the high end foods in bulk? Some pet stores will let you buy a case of food instead of individual cans and may give you a discount.

Could you eliminate some of the brands you feed? One brand of canned and one brand of raw is plenty for most cats. You can rotate through all the different varieties within each brand so the cat doesn't get bored.

Have you tried a programmable timed feeder to leave canned food out all day? I used to have to leave canned food out all day for a diabetic cat. A programmable timed feeder worked great. The canned food doesn't go bad if it sits out all day but you do want to throw away any uneaten food before bedtime. To prevent drying out, add extra water to the food. Some people like to freeze canned food into cubes (use a silicone ice tube tray) and pop frozen cubes into the timed feeder. The frozen cubes slowly defrost. Since it takes a little while for a cube to defrost enough for a cat to eat, make the first meal or two straight from the can and the later meals frozen cubes. Some feeders, like the CatMate brand, have ice packs to keep food cool and fresher longer. I like this feeder: http://store.petsafe.net/5-meal-timed-pet-feeder It's super quiet and easy to program to any time you want. There's a 2 compartment model but it's very noisy (constant ticking noise) and has a manual timer that can only be set in 2 hour increments.

Instead of regular dry food, how about freeze dried or air dried raw instead? It's a lot healthier than dry food. Many people feel that dry food should not be fed at all if raw is also fed because of the different digestion rates and potential for an upset tummy. Stella and Chewy's is a popular brand of freeze dried food but last I heard there has been an issue with products getting into the stores. There's a thread on this in the Raw forum. Nature's Variety Instinct also has freeze dried raw food. Here's a thread with more suggested brands: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/292312/freeze-dried-food

If you really want dry food, I suggest any of the Nature's Variety Instinct dry foods. NV has a Raw Boost dry food wich is basically the original with a freeze dried raw coating around the kibble pieces.

Those are excellent ideas, and I'm going to reply to them one by one. Firstly I should mention that my cat has been diagnosed as anorexic by not one, but two vets, and has a standing prescription for mirtazapine as an appetite stimulant. Other health issues have been ruled out. This means it is incredibly important to find a food he likes and have it available or else he gets sick.

Affordability: I work in a pet store and actually get a great discount, so the high end cans are not too bad. It's the raw that's the killer. He's very particular about the raw he eats, and I sometimes cut it with canned (feed half canned half raw) in one meal.This cuts down on the cost there somewhat. Either way, he eats 11oz of wet food a day. With one can costing anywhere (even with my discount) between $1-$1.50, that can equal as much as $90 a month on just food for him, nevermind litter or things for my other animals.

Try other foods: this cat is seriously the biggest pain in the a$$. He will only eat poultry, sometimes red meat, NEVER fish. If fish is within the first 3 ingredients, forget it. It must be shredded or chunky, never a pate. And it can vary there too; he loves Earthborn's chicken food, but hates Weruva's paw lickin chicken. THEY LOOK IDENTICAL. THEIR INGREDIENTS ARE 99% THE SAME. He won't eat the Weruva unless it's mixed with raw, and even then it's touch and go.

Only do a few brands: This is something I try to do, but again, his pickiness defeats me. Like I said, he loves the Earthborn, but if I gave it to him for breakfast today, the soonest I could give it to him again would probably be tomorrow at dinner. He might love a food, but too often in rotation and he won't eat it.

Freeze dried food: doesn't like it. I have tried S+C, NAV, and freeze dried treats. Part of the problem is he doesn't recognize those things as food. 

I tried everything with the Acana I brought home one time, and I mean everything – poured chicken broth and parmesan cheese over it, heated it up, threw pieces around the apt so he’d chase them and eat them, crushed it into powder and sprinkled it over his favorite food, hid it underneath his food, left some in a bowl so he’d get used to the smell… I mean, I went all out!

I'm not a fan of dry food but I do keep some on hand if I am going to away for a day or so. The brand is Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Diet turkey. They eat it but they aren't happy about it. They much prefer wet food. 

Royal Canin, Science Diet, Nutro, and Solid Gold are all wonderful foods that I've had a lot of good success with.