A strange happening at Tiki Cat

poivre said:

 
Wow LisaLE: You are a gal after my own heart!

I also decided to take back the "new and improved" (HA!) Tiki Cat cans and keep several of the old cans (just in case one of my babies decided to get persnickety again, which is not unlikely).

But hallelujah for me -- as I was packing up the Merrick limited ingredient chicken cans that they snubbed their noses at, I decided this morning to give them that instead of the puka puka chicken and, bless their little hearts -- they slooped it up and fast too.  So I added another 1/4 of a can and they finished that too (because the company does not make (ready for this?) a 3 oz can of the limited ingredient chicken!  Whoever heard of such a thing?  Even the lovely representative I called, Brittany, was shocked and appalled herself.  So I have written to the company pleading on bended knee to consider a 3 oz can just like all the other top rated cat companies have.

As for now, I just have to go with 3 cans a day of Merrick's Limited Ingredient Chicken and go through the pain of having to refrigerate the morning can and then heat it up to room temperature for their dinnertime which is a pain in the you-know-what (and not to cheap either -- but money was never a problem when it came to my babies!! Only the best for them!)

Wish me luck!

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I hope the Merrick LID works out for you. And I hate to say it but there was a recipe change there this year, too: they added peas to the ingredient list. At some point our cats decided they didn't like it and I won't feed them peas anyway. In any case, fingers crossed it's the new version you already have... it sounds like you're dealing with some picky characters!

msserena said:

 
the differences don't really seem that major, if it's still shredded chicken in gravy, I'm sure my cats will still like it

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The differences I listed definitely don't look that major but the calorie issue really bothers me because one of the reasons I've liked Tiki is that it's calorie-dense! And at something around $3 per can, I don't want to be getting fewer calories for the money. I might feel differently about this if our cats start putting on weight and need diet food, but for now it's caloric I'm looking for! It's also frustrating that several foods have changed recently so I'll no longer feed them. As @poivre and @missmimz have mentioned, companies have a tendency to cut corners and reduce their costs in ways that are hard for consumers to notice. I couldn't believe it when I compared all three Tiki Cat labels and found the changes. Those changes--and the ones to the Merrick LID, too--may seem small and they often go unnoticed but they can make a huge difference for picky cats or cats with sensitive digestive systems.

New to this old thread but just myself figuring out changes to tiki cat! One of my cats has severe allergies and needs to be grain free; the other is older and has had UTIs and we need to avoid fish and high ash content. One is 8.0-8.5 pounds, the other is 10 pounds. I've been feeding them a split can of tiki cat in the AM, and their own can at night. We rotate with weruva but they don't like it as much and I'm not a fan of all the gums in it anyways.

I'm at a loss as to what to switch to... they are such picky eaters on top of all the health issues. It took me forever to find tiki cat and maybe I'm being dramatic, but I'm devastated it's not the same quality anymore!!

So does anyone have any suggestions of new foods I can try?? Thank you...!!

I am trying to understand what your problem is.  I too use Tiki Cat but am very strict in that I use ONLY the Puka Puka chicken which, although I agree I prefer the cans that had the purple cat instead of the yellow cans, my cats still adore this one food and as far as I am concerned it is still the best quality out there which is grainless, no fish, and low in ash. 

I also started with Weruva (also a good product) but they tired of it quickly and when I gave them Puka Puka chicken (which looks very much like Paw-lickin' chicken from Weruva except smaller and easier to chew chicken strips), they devoured it.

No cat food is without some kind of problem and sadly we can no longer purchase the original cans of Tiki cat that we liked best of all, when another company less dedicated bought them out, but frankly, it's still the best out there and my cats are close to the same weight as yours --one is 9 and one is about 101/2-11.

I feed them either 1 entire 3 oz can each or half a 6 oz can between them at breakfast and again at dinner.

They seem to be thriving.

You are so right about Merrick Lisa.  Another letdown and disappointment.  I researched and researched and researched until I was blue in the face. I stayed up late at nights till I figured this darned conundrum out.

Eureka!  I am going with the Tiki Cat puka puka chicken right down the line.

I realize its quality has been compromised by the new and not as dedicated company but my cats still flip for it and I feel it is close enough until a new company comes along with something better.
 

PS. Their bowels and litter habits have never been more neat and perfect.  Gets them to have more water in their system too which is a decided plus.

So Puka Puka chicken it is till something new and better comes along.

poivre said:

I am trying to understand what your problem is.  I too use Tiki Cat but am very strict in that I use ONLY the Puka Puka chicken which, although I agree I prefer the cans that had the purple cat instead of the yellow cans, my cats still adore this one food and as far as I am concerned it is still the best quality out there which is grainless, no fish, and low in ash. 
I also started with Weruva (also a good product) but they tired of it quickly and when I gave them Puka Puka chicken (which looks very much like Paw-lickin' chicken from Weruva except smaller and easier to chew chicken strips), they devoured it.
No cat food is without some kind of problem and sadly we can no longer purchase the original cans of Tiki cat that we liked best of all, when another company less dedicated bought them out, but frankly, it's still the best out there and my cats are close to the same weight as yours --one is 9 and one is about 101/2-11.
I feed them either 1 entire 3 oz can each or half a 6 oz can between them at breakfast and again at dinner.
They seem to be thriving.

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My problem is that the contents of the food have changed, and I don't feel it is for the better. This is based on the info already given in this thread and some other research I'm done. So I'm asking what people have substituted for tiki cat as on this thread they were saying they would not be using this food any longer.

KittyCity: I think I am one of those posters you refer to.  I was really angry at Tiki cat for down-scaling their product but after intensive (and I do mean intensive) research, I realized that even though the new company decided not to be as conscientious, the puka puka chicken still came out smelling like a rose in comparison to all others I tested. 

I cannot speak for any of their other products which may not be as good, but puka puka chicken, imperfect as it may be, is still definitely a cut above.

Good luck.

​Poivre: Thanks for responding! May I ask what led you to still feel more comfortable with the Tiki cat versus other brands? Also, are there any other brands you rotate in with Tiki cat, or do you just feed that exclusively?  Thank you!

This subject is what led me to this site. Our babies were on tiki...but our newest cat started refusing to eat it. We've found some other brands that he liked. That's where we were at a few days ago until, on a whim, I decided to do some digging for something better. I found a site that gave an in depth breakdown of over 1700 different cat foods ... unfortunately, their top picks for soft food are no longer available on amazon - or anywhere else. One of the brands had a thread discussion here - and based on that, decided NOT to try that brand. We still haven't found a new soft food to try out but I'm having a blast getting to know the people here and checking out all the resources (extensive!).

Hi Kittycity:
The reason I settled on the puka puka chicken (notice I didn't say Tiki cat but rather puka puka chicken in particular) is because I did EXTENSIVE research and testing for months and months . I must have spent plenty of wasted bucks trying high rated brands and every one paled next to the puka puka.  Either my cats snubbed them even though they got high marks (Weruva is one that they started out liking their paw lickin' chicken but soon gave it the snub) or else I found too many recalls or looks of the others not to be up to my taste (Merrick being one of them -- and one of my cats actually liked the Merrick).

I am not saying that these are not decent cat foods if someone's cat takes to them because, face it, it could be gold, but if your cat turns his/her head, what good is it?

But seeing that both my kitties devoured the puka puka, chicken which is human grade chicken, (one person says she makes chicken sandwiches for herself out of it - ha!) I decided that even with the less than perfect new cans EVERY cat food has some kind of deficit so, being that my cats are suddenly thriving, and the product looks pretty good in comparison to all others, and their stools are suddenly perfect and the litter box has a lot more urine (a good thing), I m not about to make any waves thank you!  It took me forever to get this far.  I'm sticking with it until I hear a negative report about it which I have not. Hope this helps.

Great info P poivre . Thank you!

I've found Soulistic makes quite a few just plain chicken items & Good Karma is one of the ones that's a lot like Weruva. There are nice chucks but quite a bit of gravy. Whenever I open a can, I just pour out most of the liquid first. My cats won't even eat Paw Licking anymore.

I've also discovered Fussie Cat. Even though the cans are small, they make a decent product. The also make a plain chicken, I think it's called chicken in gravy & it's not terribly soupy, lots of meat in there. The only thing is I have to open 3 cans for my cats. I wish they made bigger sizes!