Questions regarding Tiki Cat and Weruva, cheaper varieties?

After getting a taste of Tiki Cat and Weruva canned food, Moscato will no longer eat any of the regular, cheaper pate wet food. I tried rotating and letting her have some of the cheaper wet foods so that I wouldn't break the bank, but she will barely touch the stuff now. While I'm glad she loves the healthier stuff, my wallet isn't as thrilled. 

I don't want to stop feeding her Weruva and Tiki Cat because it seems to be better for her and of course, she loves it. However, I'm not really sure how much of each I should be feeding her every day. I try to split the cans into thirds and feed her three times a day that way, but part of me wonders if she should be given more? Neither of the brands are really formulated for kittens it seems so I'm not quite sure what I should be giving her.

I've also seen many comments on this site about people's reluctancy to feed fish to their cats, and Tiki Cat has seafood in almost all of their food. Should I be avoiding it, or are there just certain types of fish I should be wary of? 

Lastly: the issue of gravy/sauces! Is it an issue feeding it to my 3 month old kitten? Weruva's foods have it but so do cheaper brands like Fancy Feast and Friskies. Is it just the quality of the gravy/broths I should be worrying about?

I'm sorry for rambling and asking so many questions! I'm fairly new owning my own kitty and even newer to the concept of healthy foods, so I just want to get it right! 

I'm not a vet. I would feed a three month kitten I'm caring for as much as they want to eat. I fed my ten month old cat both brands and would give between 1.5-2 of the large cans a day.
I avoid fish as much as possible. If you want non-fish recipes with those two brands, try Puka Puka, Fowl Bowl, Chicken Frick a See, Cat on a Wok, and Steak Frites.

Tiki Cat might be more cost effective since it is higher in calories.  You have to feed more of the Weruva for an equivalent caloric intake.  A kitten should be allowed to eat as much as he/she wants at least three times a day.

The issue with gravy in Fancy Feast and Friskies is that it is made using wheat gluten.  I wouldn't worry about it so much with Tiki Cat or Weruva.

I do avoid fish as much as possible.  For Tiki Cat, this means:
For Weruva:

You're lucky that Moscato likes these good foods! I understand about paying for them, though: that part's no fun. (These are some of our cats' favorites, too.)

The others have given you some good advice already. I couldn't agree more with @Marcus about feeding kittens as much as they'll eat but not giving them much fish. (Our vet is very against tuna but thinks some occasional salmon is fine; we pretty much do that.) @dorimon might be on to something about the calories in Tiki Cat being more cost-effective than in Weruva: I also think Tiki does well in terms of value because the cans are so stuffed with meat. We feed our cats most of the Tiki foods that dorimon lists; they especially like Gourmet Carnivore foods with liver.

As for gravy, yes, I agree that the worst ingredient for gravies is wheat gluten. That said, I also avoid potato because one of our cats is sensitive to it (she vomits) and stay away from most tapioca, too, because it's carby and adds empty calories. (I do buy two kinds of Soulistic food, with chicken shreds and pumpkin, with tapioca but I drain most of the gravy; it's not a big part of the cats' diet, so that's okay.) From Weruva, we feed the three Cats in the Kitchen foods that dorimon lists plus Quick 'n Quirky, which the cats just love. The others on that list have potato so are off-limits!

Also, just FYI, both Tiki and Weruva have good nutrition information on their Web sites so you can easily see the calorie contents and sources of calories in their foods. Also, I follow the advice on Dr. Pierson's Catinfo.org site and only feed foods that have carbohydrate dry matter percentages of under 10% (except the aforementioned foods with pumpkin that i drain), though most of what we feed is closer to 5%. That's good for all cats, including growing kittens. Meat! Protein! That's what our vet likes to say!

Have you tried the other Weruva foods like Cats In The Kitchen and BFF? The company that makes Weruva also makes the very similar but less expensive Soulstic brand which is sold at Petco.

There are other similar non-pates food like Weruva and Tiki Cat. See this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninga/sets/72157630596066364 Your cat may also like Pride By Instinct.

There are a few threads with suggestions on non-pate foods:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/307793/non-pate-cat-foods

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/311545/in-your-opinion-what-are-your-favorite-non-pate-wet-foods

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/312495/looking-for-shredded-meat-canned-foods-like-weruva

You an also try using a little non-pate food as a topper to pate food to entice your cat to eat.

Limit seafood to once in awhile meals. Too much seafood can result in a cat who won't eat meat or a cat who may develop urinary issues. Seafood also tends to be low in calories and protein.

Gravy foods are ok as a treat. Some people don't like the thickeners used to make the gravy, usually some kind of starch or gluten. Gravy foods tend to be on the higher end of carbs because of the starches but IMO it is not a concern unless you have a cat who needs to eat low carb food to manage a medical condition like diabetes.

Thank you all so much for your responses! I ordered a 12 pack variety of the Tiki Cat Gourmet Carnivore off of chewy.com and it looks like only two out of the twelve cans contain seafood. It's due to arrive tomorrow so I'm hoping Moscato will like them! I'm definitely going to try to limit how much seafood she gets. She seems to really like it, though, so hopefully she takes to the Gourmet Carnivore variety, too.

I haven't tried much variety with Weruva but I think I'm going to give it a shot. Also, it's really interesting/great to know that Weruva makes Soulistic because I had no idea! I'll definitely have to look into that brand as well. :-)

My cats like soulistic chicken dinner in gelee, blue can, no fish and good karma in the green can, no fish.

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bonepicker said:

My cats like soulistic chicken dinner in gelee, blue can, no fish and good karma in the green can, no fish.

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Yes, ours generally like that Soulistic "chicken dinner" food, too. It's not a big favorite but they will eat it without too much coaxing!

The Soulistic varieties without fish are:

Tiki Cat has a larger can of some of their canned cat food varieties that would last for more than 2 meals for one cat.  This can help you with saving money on the healthier cat foods.  Also, since I feed dry food during the day and canned in the evening for dinner, I found that getting the regular sized cans and splitting them in half makes for 2 meals.  My cat, Angie, loves the Weurva "Grandma's Chicken Soup" and "Green Eggs and Chicken" varieties.  We have also used their BFF variety canned foods too, which seem to be a little cheaper than the regular Weurva cans. 

As far as the other brands like Fancy Feast, try and get the ones without by-products such as their Appetizers and Broths.  All their other canned varieties contain by-products.  Don't buy Friskies, because all of their canned and dry foods contain by-products, and some of their new flavors are not as readily liked by cats, from what I have read.  My friend gave me a can of their new Cat Concoctions chicken in clam sauce for my cat, and Angie refused to eat it. 

Jessie

Jessie Gray said:

 
As far as the other brands like Fancy Feast, try and get the ones without by-products such as their Appetizers and Broths.  All their other canned varieties contain by-products.  Don't buy Friskies, because all of their canned and dry foods contain by-products, and some of their new flavors are not as readily liked by cats, from what I have read.  My friend gave me a can of their new Cat Concoctions chicken in clam sauce for my cat, and Angie refused to eat it. 

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By-products are not necessarily bad.  http://catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods#By-products

I personally feed Fancy Feast Classics (canned) but not Fancy Feast Appetizers or Broths.  I forget where I read this, but I believe the Appetizers and Broths are produced somewhere overseas while the Classics are produced in the U.S.  Also, the Appetizers and Broths are intended for supplemental feeding... meaning that they are essentially a very expensive treat, and not a meal.  However, the Appetizers have been replaced recently with the "Purely" line, which is complete and balanced.