Picky cat, picky owner - Canned food suggestions?

narelle

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My cat Astrid is the pickiest cat I have ever met - and she was feral!  She will only eat two flavors of one brand of wet food, one dry food, one freeze dried raw (dry only, not when rehydrated), and three kinds of treats.  Once she finds something she likes better than whatever I tried last, she will usually stop eating the last food.  Luckily, with the dry food, that meant upgrading to a better, healthier food.  Unfortunately, she won't budge on the canned food she eats currently and I'm just not 100% happy with it.  I'd really like her to eat healthier.

I am picky in that I strongly believe that the majority of health problems cats face as they age are linked to dietary issues, so I would like her to eat a diet that is as healthy as possible.  And to me, that means a biologically appropriate diet.  So I only feed her canned foods whose protein sources come from poultry or rodents.  She does not get beef, pork, venison, or any variety of fish. (Well, I had to budge on dry and use one that includes fish, but that means I definitely don't want to be feeding canned food with fish as well.)  Of course, I also do a lot of reading on what pet food ingredients are "bad" and read my labels carefully, so I try to avoid the big bads like carrageenan.  Really, I'm looking for foods that include as few ingredients that a cat would not naturally consume as possible - no fillers ! Not just grain free foods, but nothing that's full of things like potatoes and peas either.  Unfortunately, since Astrid is so picky, I'm having to budge on some of this.  I want her to eat the healthiest food on the market, but I think I just need to settle for healthier than what she's currently eating, at least for now. (I will not budge on biologically appropriate protein sources though.)

Right now she eats Nutro MAX Chicken Supreme Entree and Savory Duck Chunks in Sauce. They aren't the worst foods on the market, but there are things I don't care for that I would like to weed out if possible. Beef liver, potato starch, wheat gluten, and pork plasma are the main ingredients I don't like.

I thought that the texture was the issue with the other foods I've tried, that she didn't like pates or shreds, but I've since found foods with that processed chunk texture that the Nutro MAX has and she didn't touch them. So I'm willing to try any textures at this point. Her favorite protein sources seem to be chicken and rabbit.

Foods I've tried, that I can remember (probably missing quite a few):

 - Naure's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Duck

 - Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Turkey

 - Nature's Variety Instinct Rabbit

 - Nature's Variety Instinct Duck

 - Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken

 - Nutro Perfect Portions Turkey Recipe

 - Nutro Perfect Portions Chicken Recipe

 - Nutro Perfect Portions Turkey and Liver Recipe

 - Nutro Perfect Portions Chicken and Liver Recipe

 - Nutro Chunky Loaf Chicken Dinner

 - Nutro Chunky Loaf Turkey Dinner

 - Nutro Sliced Turkey Entree

 - Nutro Minced Chicken Cuisine

 - Applaws Chicken with Duck *

 - Applaws Chicken *

 - Grreat Choice Chicken Flaked Appetizer *

 - Merrick Limited Ingredient Duck

 - Merrick Limited Ingredient Chicken

 - Merrick Limited Ingredient Turkey

 - Tiki Cat Puka Puka Luau

 - Tiki Cat Koolina Luau

 - Tiki Cat Gourmet Carnivore Chicken with Turkey

 - Wysong Epigen Duck

 - Wysong Epigen Rabbit

 - Wild Calling Rabbits Burrow

 - Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Chicken Frick 'a Zee

 - Merrick Backcountry Duck Recipe

 - Merrick Backcountry Chicken Recipe

 - Koha Guineafowl Stew

 - Fussie Cat Chicken with Duck

Foods I have on hand that I will be trying soon:

 - Weruva Cats in the Kicthen Fowl Ball

 - Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Pumpkin Lickin' Chicken

 - Weruva Truluxe Peking Ducken

 - Merrick Backcountry Turkey Recipe

 - Wild Calling Cabin Fever

 - Evanger's Rabbit

 - Evanger's Duck

 - Tapa Chicken and Duck *

Foods I don't yet have but really want to try:

 - Halo Impulse Rabbit

 - Halo Impulse Quail

 - Halo Impulse Chicken

 - Hounds and Gatos Chicken

*I am aware that these are not complete foods, they would not be fed on their own if she liked them.

Before these things are recommended:

- A slow transition doesn't work. No matter how little of a new food I try mixing into her Nutro MAX, if something else has "contaminated" her normal food she won't touch it. This cat would rather starve than eat something she doesn't like, even just a taste.

 - I cannot currently feed raw, as much as I would love to. I think that would be the ideal option, given that she was feral and likely survived on rats, mice, and shore birds (she lived on the beach). But a lot of change is coming in our lives in the next couple of months, and I don't know what our situation will be like. The way she is, I'd be afraid she'd like the raw so much she'd refuse to go back to any of her old foods if I needed to.

tl;dr: Are there any foods that are healthier/higher quality than Nutro MAX you can think of that are not on any of these lists that I could try?
 
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destinyz12

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Wow, and I thought MY cat was picky!  I think yours wins.  How old is she?  Just a heads up- Weruva's fowl ball is the same texture basically as the frick a zee so don't be too surprised if she doesn't like it, however, the Paw Lickin chicken is a bit different.  It's a similar texture to Soulistic's good karma chicken & gravy (another good one to try- although it does have tapiocca starch),  If you're also willing to try something that's a step up from Nutro Max, but still has a few ingredients you're not crazy about- my picky cat's favorite type of food is the Merrick Purrfect Bistro trays (they don't have carrageenan,  which their cans do have, but they do contain potatos and tiny bits of spinach and carrots-but they aren't even noticed by my cat, and they are grain-free.  There's 5 different flavors including chicken, turkey, and duck. 
 
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narelle

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The vets estimate Astrid is around 3? But she was feral and an adult when I brought her home, so who knows. A young adult for sure.

I'll check out the soulistic next time I'm at petco (the local one is a little out of the way), and I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for the merrick purrfect bistro! I haven't even seen the trays before. There are a couple of ingredients I'm not excited about (particularly potato starch, pea protein, and chickpea flour), but if nothing else if she eats it and still will eat the Nutro I can finally have some foods in rotation. I'm a little worried that at some point her food will be changed or won't be produced anymore and I won't be able to get her to eat anything else.
 

destinyz12

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I think the Merrick trays are fairly new, but my cat will eat any flavor of them I give her (even fridge leftovers which she normally turns her nose up to!) so I am definitely sticking with those for as long as possible, and I also rotate in Soulistic Good Karma (another one she will actually eat leftovers of), Weruva Fowl ball and Frick a zee sometimes (but the leftovers often get snubbed when refrigerated), and I sometimes give the Nutro perfect portions chicken since she loved the kitten food version.  She of course wouldn't touch the really healthy brands like Nature's variety, Wild Calling, Evo 95%, and Hound & Gatos-except for their trout flavor, but I try to only feed fish occasionally.   Almost forgot, I recently tried Earthborn Holistic's Chicken Catccitori and she seemed to like it so hopefully she keeps eating it- all great ingredients listed except for potatos.
 

missmimz

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Feline Naturals canned foods, and Ziwipeak. Venison is a great protein source for cats. It's high protein, low fat, very good for them. I'd be much less concerned with what protein sources they would eat "in the wild" vs getting your cat on the highest quality food you can. It's really debatable what they could and might eat in the wild, big cats can tackle much larger prey then you'd think. You may also want to consider feeding raw or homecooked. Use treats she likes to entice her to eat. I have a cat that doesn't like wet food, but does really well on raw food. My suggestion is not to feed any freeze dried foods dry. They are high bone, and can trigger urinary issues. My trick to getting my cat to eat it rehydrated was to crumble up the freeze dried food in his bowl, and then drizzle water on top so that the top is dry but all the water is under it, and when they lick it up they get all the moisture. Start with a small amount of water and work your way up. 
 
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narelle

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Biologically appropriate diets are something I feel strongly about. I work in animal care, primarily with fish, and have become a bit of an animal nutrition nerd. You mention big cats, but our domestic cats are not derived from the big cats, but a smaller species of wild cat. They would have vastly different diets than say, lions and tigers. There is more to a protein source than fat content vs protein content - different protein sources have different nutrient contents, different lipids. They are different. Proteins are not equal. Feeding an animal a diet with the wrong nutrient profile or fats that are more difficult for their species to digest only has negative long term effects, nothing easy to spot. It can cause deficiencies, it can put a strain on the organs that are trying to digest and process these not quite appropriate foods.
For a common example, you could give a cat fish on occasion and it wouldn't hurt them, they'd seem healthy and fine. But too much fish over a lifetime will catch up with them, and they might develop hyperthyroidism or problems in their urinary tract.
We don't generally see what happens to our animals as a result of the foods we feed them because of the cumulative, long term effects of diet.
Until I can find studies that prove to me that a cat can as easily digest alternative protein sources as those they have evolved to eat and that they provide the proper nutrition for animals evolved to eat small prey (or until I have a cat develop an allergy to what I feed and am forced to look for other protein sources), I feel better sticking with the closest I can find to what they might naturally eat. I'd much sooner include feeding insect or small reptile protein than large mammals.
My cat no longer gets a whole lot of say in her diet - picky as she is, her options are only what I put in front of her. My aim is to make sure what I offer will not cause unforseen long term health problems. I think there are enough high quality food options on the market to be picky about proteins. I think in all of my research, Ziwipeak is probably the only brand that doesn't offer a protein that I feel comfortable feeding.


As I said in my original post, I would love to be feeding raw, but I don't know how my situation will change in the next couple of months, just that it will be drastic. I am 22 and living at home presently (no expenses, all disposable income, some free time), but will be moving out and going back to school for a change of career (from public aquariums to scientific research), and moving in with the boyfriend. Until I get to a point that things are stable, I'm comfortable with balancing my income and expenses, and know I have the time for preparing raw regularly, it's just not a smart option for me.


She barely eats two of the treats, and too many of the other and she doesn't eat actual food. She is very picky about things mixed together - I've tried her treats and her dry food on different occasions on top or mixed into foods I'd like her to try. I've tried to cover them up with as many things she likes as possible and she doesn't touch it. I've had better luck getting her to try new things if I offer them unaltered. (She used to sample new canned foods, before she got locked on to Nutro MAX.)


Her freeze dried food is Vital Essentials Rabbit Mini Nibs for Cats. Its kind of a strange texture for raw, which I think is part of why I can get her to eat it. Very dense, closer to a puff cereal texture than the typical freeze dried ice cream texture, except for how dense it is. It doesn't rehydrate well at all. The most I could get it to do is soften slightly just on the very outside, and still be solid in the middle. She currently gets it mixed into her dry food - its the only thing I get away with mixing and, last I tried, the only way she even eats the freeze dried raw. I don't think I could sufficiently rehydrate this food, never mind convince her to eat it if I ever manage. Do you think the problems with it outweigh the benefits? I much prefer it to my dry food (Orijen Cat and Kitten), as good as it is for dry. No fillers or fish in her VE.
 

missmimz

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Biologically appropriate diets are something I feel strongly about. I work in animal care, primarily with fish, and have become a bit of an animal nutrition nerd. You mention big cats, but our domestic cats are not derived from the big cats, but a smaller species of wild cat. They would have vastly different diets than say, lions and tigers. There is more to a protein source than fat content vs protein content - different protein sources have different nutrient contents, different lipids. They are different. Proteins are not equal. Feeding an animal a diet with the wrong nutrient profile or fats that are more difficult for their species to digest only has negative long term effects, nothing easy to spot. It can cause deficiencies, it can put a strain on the organs that are trying to digest and process these not quite appropriate foods.
For a common example, you could give a cat fish on occasion and it wouldn't hurt them, they'd seem healthy and fine. But too much fish over a lifetime will catch up with them, and they might develop hyperthyroidism or problems in their urinary tract.
We don't generally see what happens to our animals as a result of the foods we feed them because of the cumulative, long term effects of diet.
Until I can find studies that prove to me that a cat can as easily digest alternative protein sources as those they have evolved to eat and that they provide the proper nutrition for animals evolved to eat small prey (or until I have a cat develop an allergy to what I feed and am forced to look for other protein sources), I feel better sticking with the closest I can find to what they might naturally eat. I'd much sooner include feeding insect or small reptile protein than large mammals.
My cat no longer gets a whole lot of say in her diet - picky as she is, her options are only what I put in front of her. My aim is to make sure what I offer will not cause unforseen long term health problems. I think there are enough high quality food options on the market to be picky about proteins. I think in all of my research, Ziwipeak is probably the only brand that doesn't offer a protein that I feel comfortable feeding.


As I said in my original post, I would love to be feeding raw, but I don't know how my situation will change in the next couple of months, just that it will be drastic. I am 22 and living at home presently (no expenses, all disposable income, some free time), but will be moving out and going back to school for a change of career (from public aquariums to scientific research), and moving in with the boyfriend. Until I get to a point that things are stable, I'm comfortable with balancing my income and expenses, and know I have the time for preparing raw regularly, it's just not a smart option for me.


She barely eats two of the treats, and too many of the other and she doesn't eat actual food. She is very picky about things mixed together - I've tried her treats and her dry food on different occasions on top or mixed into foods I'd like her to try. I've tried to cover them up with as many things she likes as possible and she doesn't touch it. I've had better luck getting her to try new things if I offer them unaltered. (She used to sample new canned foods, before she got locked on to Nutro MAX.)


Her freeze dried food is Vital Essentials Rabbit Mini Nibs for Cats. Its kind of a strange texture for raw, which I think is part of why I can get her to eat it. Very dense, closer to a puff cereal texture than the typical freeze dried ice cream texture, except for how dense it is. It doesn't rehydrate well at all. The most I could get it to do is soften slightly just on the very outside, and still be solid in the middle. She currently gets it mixed into her dry food - its the only thing I get away with mixing and, last I tried, the only way she even eats the freeze dried raw. I don't think I could sufficiently rehydrate this food, never mind convince her to eat it if I ever manage. Do you think the problems with it outweigh the benefits? I much prefer it to my dry food (Orijen Cat and Kitten), as good as it is for dry. No fillers or fish in her VE.
I'm active in a lot of raw feeding groups with a lot of very well educated raw feeders that do a lot of scientific research on the biological needs of cats, and I can tell you that none of them think it's inappropriate to feed something like beef, venison, or lamb, to cats. If you feel that strongly about feeding that specific of a bio appropriate diet, you shouldn't be considering anything other than raw. Everything else is way below everything you've just said above. Look into Rad Cat, no prep required, just thaw and feed. 
 

laura ritchie

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Try VE Vital Cat Freeze-Dried Rabbit Patties, my girl loves them and they are much easier to rehydrate than the nibblets. Otherwise, there is a rebate or free chubs on their website and Facebook page if you want to try the frozen.
 
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