How to find a cat food we both can be happy with?

dsw67 · Jan 21, 2016

A couple of months ago my cat Scooter has decided he no longer will eat the cat food that I'd been giving him for years (EVO[emoji]8482[/emoji] 95 Chicken & Turkey Recipe Canned Cat Food).

Since then, I've been trying various varieties with limited success. Dry food is out. He just throws it up. Last one I tried was Science Diet Adult Sensitive Stomach. Again he just threw it up.

Right now he’s been enjoying Dave’s Tuna Entrée in Gravy. The problem is, it smells so bad it’s driving us crazy.

I’m just wondering what the best approach is to finding a food we can both be happy with. Do I just keep going to the pet store and buying random cans? How do you narrow it down?

Appreciate any help and advice.

Dana

missmimz · Jan 21, 2016

What you are describing is well, pretty normal. He got bored because you were feeding the same food every day for years. I'd be bored too if I ate the same thing every day. Ideally you want to feed a rotation of foods so that he doesn't become bored and gets variety of proteins. All you can do is buy cans and see what works and what doesn't. I'd stay away form anything like science diet.

There are tons of posts here with recommendations for food. Does he prefer pate? Here are some that my cats like -

Merrick LID chicken and Turkey (pates)

Weruva

Soulistic

Nutro Natural choice sliced turkey

Other foods that are also good -

Hound and Gatos

Pride by Instinct

Nature's Variety Instinct LID

Freeze dried like Primal and Stella and Chewy's

Tikicat

Perhaps browse Chewy.com and look at reviews for some foods to try. They only sell cases, but you can get a lot of foods at independent pet food stores or even Petco.

dsw67 · Jan 21, 2016

Thank you missmimz for your thoughtful reply. I will try the brands you suggested.

The reason I fed him the same food all the time was because if I tried to change it, he wouldn't eat. He seems to be a very fussy eater. I do appreciate the suggestions, thank you.

Scooter012-1.jpg

dsw67
Jan 21, 2016

mrsgreenjeens · Jan 21, 2016

He's gorgeous!

I've got a very picky eater too, so I can feel your pain. What I've found works is just to leave the food down and go about my business. Usually Tinky will eventually eat it if I ignore him. If he shakes his back leg when he smells it, then I know he will NOT ever touch it. All my cats do that with their back leg if they truly don't like a food. Otherwise if they paw at it, I know they will eventually eat it.

Sometimes I need to resort to using toppers to draw him in. Toppers like Wholelife freeze dried meats). I crush some and sprinkle on his food, then give him a little bite of the topper to get him excited.

BUT, if your guy likes the Daves, why not just plug your nose and give it to him. It's only for a few minutes a couple times a day, right? Lots of cat food stinks, so you might fight with him over a different food and find you have the same issue

missmimz · Jan 21, 2016

mrsgreenjeens said:
.

BUT, if your guy likes the Daves, why not just plug your nose and give it to him. It's only for a few minutes a couple times a day, right? Lots of cat food stinks, so you might fight with him over a different food and find you have the same issue

Dave's would probably be okay to keep in the rotation but I'd cautious against feeding it exclusively since its tuna based.

ghiblithecat · Jan 21, 2016

I've been discovering my cat as a picky eater, too. What @missmimz mentioned is basically pure gold. It took me probably 3 months of researching cat food to come up with the list that she provided for you. All of those foods are amazing quality, and I find that a lot of people on this site cats' like them.

I'm definitely a person who loves to read all of the nutrition forums. Its kind of my way of escaping all of the academic journals I need to read on a daily basis for grad school

. There are tons of conversations and forums about people who have picky eaters.

Here is my conclusion from many conversations I have read:

The picky cats on this site seems to (in general) approve of these foods in terms of taste:

Nutro Natural Choice- turkey (sliced, chunky loaf), chicken (minced, chunky loaf)

Weruva- pretty much anything by this brand to be honest. You open the can and there are shreds of meat that seriously look good enough for me to eat (they don't even make dry food--which is cool by me)

Tikicat- usually the non-fish flavors, but the fish flavors sometimes too if your cat likes them. This also looks good enough for me to eat lol.

Merrick (Both their Limited Ingredients Line and the normal line)- specifically, it seems like a LOT of picky cats enjoy the "Grannies Pot Pie" flavor

Soulistic

AGAIN, these are just some brands that after months of trolling the nutrition forums, I have found that picky cats seem to like. If anyone else knows some great picky cat brands, please do add to my list! Your cat is beautiful by the way

donutte · Jan 21, 2016

I have one cat with very specific needs and desires, so I do have Science Diet in my rotation for the "community food" (that all five cats get). However, this is what I feed the four non-CKD kitties:

- BFF Tuna and Pumpkin Valentine
- Weruva Paw Lickin' Chicken and Gravy (have yet to actually feed them this one, next week it goes into rotation for the first time)
- Soulistic Upstream Dream (also going into rotation next week)
- Fancy Feast Flaked Fish and Shrimp

Maple, my big girl, also gets Fancy Feast Elegant Medley Tuscany Chicken, which as the awesome combination of being relatively low cal AND in my budget. However, @missmimz posted the other day about some Weruva variety packs. Two of the variety packs are not all that much more than the FF Elegant Medley, the equivalent of about two dollars more if you go by how many ounces of food you are getting. They are also high protein, low carb, AND low cal. So, needless to say, I'll be investing in that as well.

For the most part, my cats are not picky. I've only come across one that they absolutely don't seem to like.

missmimz · Jan 21, 2016

Donutte said:
, @missmimz posted the other day about some Weruva variety packs. Two of the variety packs are not all that much more than the FF Elegant Medley, the equivalent of about two dollars more if you go by how many ounces of food you are getting. They are also high protein, low carb, AND low cal. So, needless to say, I'll be investing in that as well.

I just got my variety pack this morning and my cats are loving all their weruva choices so far.

LTS3 · Jan 21, 2016

Dave's has other varieties. Have you tried them?

http://davespetfood.com/catalog/for-cats/can-for-cats/

http://davespetfood.com/catalog/for-cats/can-for-cats/premium-meat/

It's not good to feed only seafood based food. Some cats get addicted to eating it and will refuse to eat anything else, seafood tends to be low in protein, some cats may develop urinary issues. Many people limit seafood to once in awhile meals.

dsw67 · Jan 21, 2016

I didn't know that. Thanks f

LTS3 said:
Dave's has other varieties. Have you tried them?

http://davespetfood.com/catalog/for-cats/can-for-cats/

http://davespetfood.com/catalog/for-cats/can-for-cats/premium-meat/

It's not good to feed only seafood based food. Some cats get addicted to eating it and will refuse to eat anything else, seafood tends to be low in protein, some cats may develop urinary issues. Many people limit seafood to once in awhile meals.

I didn't know that until reading these posts today. Thank you for the information.

After work I went to my local pet store and picked out a bunch of different brands. I bought some Weruva, some Dave's, and some Tiki flavors. I'll experiment with these and see what he likes.

Thanks for all the great info everyone!

bonepicker · Jan 21, 2016

GhibliTheCat said:
I've been discovering my cat as a picky eater, too. What @missmimz mentioned is basically pure gold. It took me probably 3 months of researching cat food to come up with the list that she provided for you. All of those foods are amazing quality, and I find that a lot of people on this site cats' like them.

I'm definitely a person who loves to read all of the nutrition forums. Its kind of my way of escaping all of the academic journals I need to read on a daily basis for grad school :lol3: . There are tons of conversations and forums about people who have picky eaters.

Here is my conclusion from many conversations I have read:

The picky cats on this site seems to (in general) approve of these foods in terms of taste:

Nutro Natural Choice- turkey (sliced, chunky loaf), chicken (minced, chunky loaf)

Weruva- pretty much anything by this brand to be honest. You open the can and there are shreds of meat that seriously look good enough for me to eat (they don't even make dry food--which is cool by me)

Tikicat- usually the non-fish flavors, but the fish flavors sometimes too if your cat likes them. This also looks good enough for me to eat lol.

Merrick (Both their Limited Ingredients Line and the normal line)- specifically, it seems like a LOT of picky cats enjoy the "Grannies Pot Pie" flavor

Soulistic

AGAIN, these are just some brands that after months of trolling the nutrition forums, I have found that picky cats seem to like. If anyone else knows some great picky cat brands, please do add to my list! Your cat is beautiful by the way :9:

Earthborne holistic chicken jumble, red barn trickie chickie stew, pride rockstar rabbit, Friskies pates or fancy feast classic pates

donutte · Jan 21, 2016

missmimz said:
Donutte said:

, @missmimz posted the other day about some Weruva variety packs. Two of the variety packs are not all that much more than the FF Elegant Medley, the equivalent of about two dollars more if you go by how many ounces of food you are getting. They are also high protein, low carb, AND low cal. So, needless to say, I'll be investing in that as well.

Click to expand...

I just got my variety pack this morning and my cats are loving all their weruva choices so far.

What I particularly liked when looking them up was there were a couple that I could actually feed to all of them (including Sara) once in a while. And she'd probably love it. Kinda lower in phosphorus, and not too high in protein (I think it was 67%, the one I was looking at). And of course the lower calories ones would be for Maple.

ben casper · Jan 22, 2016

missmimz said:
I just got my variety pack this morning and my cats are loving all their weruva choices so far.

weruva <3 <3 <3

loonieluna · May 8, 2017

I'm in a similar situation where my kitten is being very picky about her food. We're restricted her to wet food the last couple to days and shes been eating more lately but the problem is she will only eat the Fancy Feast Fish and Shrimp feast in sustainable amounts - still far from how much she should be eating. All the other kinds of food we have tried she only eats a couple of licks of or she'll lick off just the gravy/liquid and leave the meat. I know this isn't good for her and its been going on for a while but it gives me a little solace knowing that FF fish&shrimp is grain free. It is still fish though! I think Luna is started to get addicted to fish now but we have to keep giving it to her because that is the only thing she will eat enough of. How do I get her to eating food that isn't fish again? I live in Canada so literally all of the brands mentioned above (except FF) are not found in local grocery or pet stores. I have a specialty pet food store nearby that supplies some of these brands (according to their website) and I'll go there soon to pick up a few can for Luna to try. Are there any recommendations for transition foods from fish to other proteins that will help get Luna's appetite back to normal?

maggiedemi · May 9, 2017

loonieluna- try the Fancy Feast Grilled, Delights Grilled, Gravy Lovers, and Sliced. My cats love those in the chicken, turkey, beef varieties. They are similar to the fish flavors, same texture and everything. Also check out Friskies Shreds and Sheba Cuts if you have those in Canada. Does she like Pate or just the gravy ones?

loonieluna · May 9, 2017

She has never liked pate. I will try the other fancy feast varieties. I know she likes some of the Fancy feast melody kinds but not as much as the Fish and Shrimp

tuffsmom · May 9, 2017

maggiedemi said:
loonieluna- try the Fancy Feast Grilled, Delights Grilled, Gravy Lovers, and Sliced. My cats love those in the chicken, turkey, beef varieties. They are similar to the fish flavors, same texture and everything. Also check out Friskies Shreds and Sheba Cuts if you have those in Canada. Does she like Pate or just the gravy ones?

Try Fancy Feast Classic. Very reasonable price.

loonieluna · May 9, 2017

I just bought the the chicken flavoured Facy feast Gravy Lovers and she wouldn't touch it.

maggiedemi · May 10, 2017

Oh no, that's too bad. My two cats love the Gravy Lovers and the Grilled and Sliced ones. The one your cat likes, the fish and shrimp one is Flaked right? Unfortunately all their flaked ones are fish. Do you have Friskies in Canada? My cats love the Shreds.

How to find a cat food we both can be happy with?

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