Frustrated! Fancy feast or Origen dry?

Hello,

Looking for opinions- I have a very finicky cat who, no matter what expensive wet food I give him (have tried Merrick, natural balance, wellness, avo derm, innova, and others I'm not thinking of at the moment), Will not eat them. His sister will eat anything and is not picky. He loves dry food and I have been supplementing with Orijen because this is what he wants to eat. He will, however, eat fancy feast. I know opinions are divided about how bad fancy feast classics are, for cats, but I wanted to know, what would you do if you had to choose between fancy feast or orijen? I love my cats, but I can't afford to keep spending hundreds of dollars on food that they won't eat and I have to donate to the local shelter.. Months ago, I never would have considered giving them fancy feast, but I'm at my wits end. My vet seems to think that fancy feast is fine. What are your opinions? Thank you!

I would choose a wet food that the cat will eat over any dry, and I think many people would say the same. Fancy Feast Classics are definitely not the worst wet foods out there.

momto3cats said:

 
I would choose a wet food that the cat will eat over any dry, and I think many people would say the same. Fancy Feast Classics are definitely not the worst wet foods out there.

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I agree. There's nothing wrong with Fancy Feast- especially the classics (pates). Granted, there are better foods out there quality wise but they are worthless if your cat won't eat them. I'd choose the Fancy Feast over any dry also. 

I'll add to that.  Fancy Feast Classics really isn't a bad food and is good for the price.  It's better then feeding any dry food.  If that's what you can afford then go ahead and feed it.  I feed it as a cheaper option in my rotation.

It's important to do with what you can afford and your cat will eat.  But I'm not sure if you should just feed Fancy Feast since having a rotation is highly important.  I'm not saying you should also feed Orijen (a dry food) but maybe find another pate since your cat seems to like that, judging from him eating FF.  Nature's Variety Instinct has a very similar texture that you could try.  Or even the regular Blue Buffalo Wilderness recipes (however, I'm not a fan of the Wilderness recipes because of the fat content).  The Rocky Mountain recipes on the other hand appear to be okay and are pates if I remember right and there's a decent gap between the protein and fat percent.

I've spent a lot of time reading and re reading http://www.catinfo.org The vet who wrote it, Dr Lisa Pierson, states categorically that any wet food is preferable over even the best kibble.

Thanks so much for the replies. I'm going to see if he will eat Sheba as well, as the ingredients seem similar. Perhaps if I find a good pet food store where I can try a few cans of some of the other brands suggested, I will do that. For now, due to where I live, I mostly order online, which is frustrating when you order a case and then have to donate the whole thing when they won't touch it after a few cans. Thank you again for all the input!

Pick some foods you like the sound of and email the manufacturers asking for samples. I did this when I was trying to find a dog food my ridiculously fussy greyhound would eat. Sometimes they're free, sometimes you have to pay and sometimes you just don't hear back. It's always worth a try though

Why not feed both? I feed Acana and Pro Plan canned (almost exact ingredients as FF), and Orijen as treats.
I can not get my cat to eat the grain free high end cat food either. I feed three dry food with water and one canned meal a day.

Orijen is a very high-quality dry, I don't think it's worse than ANY wet food. Hydration is important, but so is good nutrition! I second feeding both - personally I feed Orijen Red dry and Nulo Duck dry grinded into Cats in the Kitchen wet, plus warm water for extra hydration.

Have you thought about trying raw as well? I just made the switch to raw from canned and it is saving me a pretty penny. Even compared to fancy feast (about 3.20 per cat day) the raw is just slightly cheaper, but much higher quality. (About 2.90 per cat day). I have kittens and they eat a lot!

Kat0121 said:

 
I agree. There's nothing wrong with Fancy Feast- especially the classics (pates). Granted, there are better foods out there quality wise but they are worthless if your cat won't eat them. I'd choose the Fancy Feast over any dry also. 

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I agree--Fancy Feast Classics are very decent food. I'd choose those over dry food, too.

My parents' cat just started eating Sheba: she's pretty picky about her wet food, too, but seems to like those. (She has a history of eating Fancy Feast Classics, too, though she got tired of them after about a year!)