best canned food brand?

Have decided to transition our cats to wet food only. At this time i cannot commit to making their food myself. I would like to feed raw but nervous to transition to quickly as we are having issues already. (Sensitive tummies) So the question is what is the healthiest canned brand to go to for an exclusive wet food diet? We have a persian, himalayan and a domestic short hair. Cost is not an issue. Im reading through many threads and becoming overwhelemed with which brands are best, feeding schedules etc. We live in the Rochester Ny area, i would prefer to be able to buy at the store but will order online if need be. Thank you!

My suggestion is to feed whatever brand your cat likes to eat That's the most important thing. A brand that fits in your budget and easily available are also plusses.

People generally recommend grain-free foods. Here are some recent threads on the subject:

http://www.thecatsite.com/newsearch?search=best+canned+food

Here's a thread outside of TCS that lists some good grain-free brands: http://www.catster.com/forums/Food_and_Nutrition/thread/774137

Popular brands TCS members feed are Weruva and their various lines (BFF, Soulistic, Cats In The Kitchen, etc), Nature's Variety Instinct, Tiki Cat, Wellness, Innova EVO, Merrick, Blue Buffalo. Even Fancy Feast, Friskies, and other more well known brands are good to feed to a cat if that's all the cat will eat.  Some brands are sold only at  independent pet stores, like most of the Weruva foods and Tiki Cat. Others can be found at chain pet stores like Petco. Soulistic is basically an inexpensive version of Weruva that is sold only at Petco. Of course, buying online is always an option.

Feeding schedule - it varies. Cats seem to do best with a few small meals spread throughout the day. A programmable timed feeder works great for this purpose. It may take a little time to figure out a feeding schedule that works for your cat.

How much to feed a cat is another topic. One 5 oz can is generally enough but some cats may need more or less. Catinfo.org is a good place to read up on nutrition and how much to feed, usually about 20 to 25 calories per pound of ideal body weight per day.

loveyzoey104 said:

Have decided to transition our cats to wet food only. At this time i cannot commit to making their food myself. I would like to feed raw but nervous to transition to quickly as we are having issues already. (Sensitive tummies) So the question is what is the healthiest canned brand to go to for an exclusive wet food diet? We have a persian, himalayan and a domestic short hair. Cost is not an issue. Im reading through many threads and becoming overwhelemed with which brands are best, feeding schedules etc. We live in the Rochester Ny area, i would prefer to be able to buy at the store but will order online if need be. Thank you!

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Our cats have sensitive stomachs, too, (they're Siamese mixes, thus prone to stomach issues) and we feed them only canned and commercial raw foods. They've been doing well for the last year or so, ever since we took them off dry food and got them eating a combination of healthy foods that they consistently like.

Their canned brands are Tiki Cat (the chicken foods from Tiki's Hawaiian line plus lots of the non-fish foods from the Gourmet Carnivore line), Weruva (the chicken-but-no-fish foods from their Cats in the Kitchen canned line, plus an occasional chicken/pumpkin pouch), Nutro Natural Choice (minced chicken, sliced turkey, and chunky chicken). They get an occasional can of Hound & Gatos lamb as a variety meal.

Those foods were chosen because the cats will eat them and because they don't have potato (it makes one cat vomit), carrageenan, peas, menadione, grains, or high carb levels. (I drain the carby sauce from the pouch chicken/pumpkin food and the cats still love it.) We also hardly feed them fish: Tiki's chicken/salmon is the biggest exception but they only get it once every two or three weeks. A lot of Cat Site members recommend feeding multiple recipes from more than one brand. That way if there's a recall, cat rebellion, or change of recipes, you're not stuck wondering what to feed.

As for schedules, we find that feeding four or five small meals a day works well.

Good luck!

I try to feed the healthiest that my cats will eat. I rotate a lot of different ones. Tiki Puka Puka luau, against the grain chicken samba, red barn tricky chicky, Merrick duck Pate chicken Pate or Grammys pot pie, Prides Rockstar rabbit or Daredevil duck, Iams Purrfect delicacies slow roasted turkey & liver, Fussie cat tuna & prawns. Buy large dog size bag of purebites freeze dried chicken treats for toppers if need be!

LTS3 said:

 Even Fancy Feast, Friskies, and other more well known brands are good to feed to a cat if that's all the cat will eat.

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I would just like to say here that, honestly, the only cans of Fancy Feast and Friskies that I would consider "good" are the pates.  And then I would absolutely consider Fancy Feast CLASSICS (their pates) good.   They don't even use carrageenan, which some people consider taboo.  Sheba falls into this same category.   Friskies I, personally, consider at least one step below Fancy Feast and Sheba, but their pates are still pretty low in carbs, which is really what cats need...low carbs. 

Bottom line, though, is the best food is whatever your cat will eat AND can tolerate

Canned food is much better for cats. I'm glad you've decided to move them over to it. Food that they will eat mixed with a little water is very good. As for the type nothing in sauce/gravy etc as gravy/sauce is made from flour and that's carbs, you're to be looking for something low in carbs and possibly nothing fishy flavored other than for a treat, you won't want it to be the daily diet as it comes with its own bones. High in minerals especially phosperous.

mrsgreenjeens said:

I would just like to say here that, honestly, the only cans of Fancy Feast and Friskies that I would consider "good" are the pates.  And then I would absolutely consider Fancy Feast CLASSICS (their pates) good.   They don't even use carrageenan, which some people consider taboo.  Sheba falls into this same category.   Friskies I, personally, consider at least one step below Fancy Feast and Sheba, but their pates are still pretty low in carbs, which is really what cats need...low carbs. 

Bottom line, though, is the best food is whatever your cat will eat AND can tolerate

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And what you can afford!

Several stores have their own line of Fancy Feast "clones" .... Petsmart's is the Great Choice. I just discovered that Publix also has a "clone" of Fancy Feast Classics. These are a few cents cheaper than Fancy Feast, but the REALLY great thing is that even though FF doesn't have carragenan, it does have the menadione (not sure I spelled that right)...the K3 that some folks try to avoid. Great Choice and the Publix brands don't have either of those ingredients, but everything else is identical to the corresponding FF Classic flavor. So, not only can you save a little money, but you also don't have the carragenan or K3. I feed these plus Natures Variety Instinct Rabbit, Mauri Kangaroo, Nutro Natural Choice Chunky Turkey, Weruva and Tiki (only a couple times a month because I will use their salmon as the only fish they get)

I prefer Hill's Science Diet. As a vet tech I've had a lot of experience with prescription diets (Hill's makes one of the best) and they make non-prescription foods too that are great. If your cat doesn't have a food allergy/sensitivity, there's no point in going grain-free. A lot of that is hype, according to the 8 doctors I work with. Same with feeding a raw diet. Just make sure any food you're feeding has the AAFCO seal of approval, and you should be good to go. In my experience Hill's makes tasty food that cats really seem to like. When trying to tempt our critical patients that aren't eating I often offer them the Science Diet indoor canned formula and a lot of them respond well to it. It's what I feed my cats too.

@CatLadyVetTech  Why do they put  powdered cellulose in the canned food? None that I buy contain that. I've seen dry food add powdered cellulose but not in canned. I feed either Friskies Pate or Special Kitty, they have meat-by products and also rice, no cellulose. Also not all the raw feeding/canned feeding is hype. I found the only food one of my cats could eat without getting explosive litter accidents was raw meat with raw bones. I feed Dr. Piersons, www.catinfo.org recipe and he's done so well on it. He is a solid 15 pounds resembles a Maine Coon but not as furry. If you could look over the site, its really informative.

nansiludie said:

 
@CatLadyVetTech  Why do they put powdered cellulose in the canned food?

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It's a fiber to add bulk to the food without adding any nutritional value: http://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/33-cellulose Basically it's wood pulp that's been ground up very very finely.

I understand the appeal of a raw diet for cats. They are carnivores and that would be their natural diet, however just because a dry or canned diet has vegetable and grain products doesn't mean it doesn't have enough meat in it too. Also, if you have to add supplements to a raw diet such as calcium, is it really a well rounded choice to begin with? Canned is better in my opinion. It may not be all meat but it comes with a balanced vitamin and mineral content that cats need. I read the article you suggested and I can see the author has quite a bone to pick with Hill's. All I can say is in my experience both their regular and prescription diets have worked wonders in patients I've dealt with. The previous vet I worked for did a 2 year nutrition degree and he highly recommended the Hill's brand. I've seen cats with bladder stones whose stones dissolved on the U/D and S/D diets and cats in renal failure that perked up when fed K/D. Ultimately it's up to each owner to make their own choice for what is best for their cat. I know Hill's dry and wet food has been wonderful for my cats and so that's what I will continue to feed.

CatLadyVetTech said:

 Also, if you have to add supplements to a raw diet such as calcium, is it really a well rounded choice to begin with? Canned is better in my opinion. It may not be all meat but it comes with a balanced vitamin and mineral content that cats need.

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So are many commerically available raw cat foods such as Nature's Variety Instinct and Rad Cat. These are complete balanced diets. Making raw from scratch from a recipie can be tricky to balance out the nutrients but by following a good recipie such as the one at Catinfo.org or the one at Catnutrition.org one can be sure that the resulting food is balanced. Pre-mixes such as TC Feline contain vitamins and minerals in the right amounts so one just has to measure out the right powder and add it to the right amount of meat and water. Anyone who is considering raw food needs to read up on the subject and discuss with others to full understand how to properly  make a complete  balanced raw diet. It's not as easy as many people think, ie just giivng meat and nothing else at all.

Canned food is an acceptable food to feed to cats. Many brands these days use real Human grade meats, not some mystery by-product.

There is no one perfect type of food to feed. For some people, it's raw food. For other's it's dry food. Prescription foods may or may not be necessary for certain health conditions and some cats may not even eat them. The "perfect food" is, as I said in my post above, is the one that your cat will eat and you can afford. Food is a touchy subject here on TCS so I'm going to hide now