Losing battle...

After experimenting with few cat foods and donating many-a-bags of untouched food , I finally found Innova EVO dry to be her absolute favorite (she inhales this stuff ). However, I'd really like her to eat mostly wet with a little dry throughout the day to nibble on. Natural Choice was okay, so was Nutro Max taste wise, but ingredient wise, I didn't really care for it. She seemed to have like Pet Gold (Petco's store brand) better than those two, but the ingredients were relatively the same. I went out and bought a lot of pricey Merrick (Wasn't a very smart choice... and I realize this now ) because she cares for this stuff even LESS !!!

Ok, so I go to Albertsons the other day and Fancy Feast is on sale, I thought what the heck, let's give it a try, bought 4 cans. Aphro normally eats half of a 3 oz can per meal (2x/day), but when I put down Fancy Feast, she inhales this stuff and then whines for more, so I feed her 1 can per meal which is better for me because I wanted her to eat more wet food.

Here's the dilemma: Fancy Feast isn't a great food and makes her poo smell like (insert horrible expletive here_____) I really don't like the ingredients.. Is there some way I could get her to switch off.. what other canned foods taste good to kitties (she doesn't care for fishy flavors). I want to give my kitty the best...

Originally Posted by julebean

After experimenting with few cat foods and donating many-a-bags of untouched food

, I finally found Innova EVO dry to be her absolute favorite (she inhales this stuff

). However, I'd really like her to eat mostly wet with a little dry throughout the day to nibble on. Natural Choice was okay, so was Nutro Max taste wise, but ingredient wise, I didn't really care for it. She seemed to have like Pet Gold (Petco's store brand) better than those two, but the ingredients were relatively the same. I went out and bought a lot of pricey Merrick (Wasn't a very smart choice... and I realize this now

) because she cares for this stuff even LESS !!!

Ok, so I go to Albertsons the other day and Fancy Feast is on sale, I thought what the heck, let's give it a try, bought 4 cans. Aphro normally eats half of a 3 oz can per meal (2x/day), but when I put down Fancy Feast, she inhales this stuff and then whines for more, so I feed her 1 can per meal which is better for me because I wanted her to eat more wet food.

Here's the dilemma: Fancy Feast isn't a great food and makes her poo smell like (insert horrible expletive here_____)

I really don't like the ingredients.. Is there some way I could get her to switch off.. what other canned foods taste good to kitties (she doesn't care for fishy flavors). I want to give my kitty the best...

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Innova EVO is a really good dry food..what's wrong with her eating mostly that? It's high in protein, good fat content, no grains and it's good for her teeth!
I feed my cats a raw diet, but most of them get some EVO as a good way to keep their teeth sparkling clean and it has some other nutrient benefits.
IMHO the best diet for your cat is 90% Raw, but it's not practical for everyone and not everyone agrees.
There are a number of people on this message board who have much more experience with canned foods than I do...hopefully they can advise you in that regard.
Innova EVO is an excellent dry food and would work very well as the bulk of your cats diet.

Heavens! Join the club! Our cats love Fancy Feast too and my vet gently cautioned me not to feed it as she said most of the cases of crystals in cats she sees are from cats that eat Fancy Feast.

I just went out the other day and bought $36 worth of quality food for our two and am trying different ones to see what they like best. I have to tell you it took me some time to find ones that didn't have by-products. I ended up with Wellness and some gourmet brands. So far, we've been lucky as far as their poo goes - no runny stuff and no smelly stuff.

I'm assuming the pet store will let me return any unopened cans if the kitties don't like them, but so far so good. They have eaten the Wellness and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. At the same time I'm making sure I leave the dry food that I know they like out so that they will have food should they not like the wet I put down.

Unfortunately, the few Fancy Feast flavors that are good (meaning no by-products or soy/wheat) are their fish in aspic, and you say she doesn't like fishy?

Other's to consider getting one of two of PetGuard - try their rabbit and rice, or turkey and rice, or their organic chicken and vegetables. Felidae is a bit rich, but it is a good quality food, she may like it. California Natural Chicken and Rice I like due to it's high quality ingredients but most of all, it's short ingredient list.

Once available again, I can't recommend Active Life highly enough. If you are willing to supplement, wysong has a line of just meat canned foods (and a 6 pack that includes several flavors). Evangers is another top line to consider if you can find it.

I do not advise feeding any food with garlic, of which Wellness is one brand that does contain garlic.

I feed Innova EVO dry as well. Clinton just loves it. However, the only (and I do mean only) canned food he will eat is fishy flavored. We have had good luck with Natural Balance canned food. It seems to be a good quality food (to the best of my knowledge) and has a reasonable price tag. I know that Innova also makes a canned food, not in the EVO but their regular formula. I think it is chicken/turkey based.

Good Luck!

My desexed boy eats crap wet food, but I can't stand the texture of the expensive ones they are so dry and un foodlike!

Nutro shrimp chowder is the big hit here.they are going nutty for it. which is great cause i bought a case heh. anyone know of any nutro canned food, thats chunky and not pate though. Dutchy prefers chunks..but she is likeing the shrimp chowder

look at some of the meow mix puches the filet meow has no real yuckies..here are the first few ingrediants... beter than most but not perfect( what is ??) tuna fish broth tuna liver beef gaur gum veg.oil.. this one is a huge hit and isnt hard to find and not big$$ ...

brands that go well at my house .... nutro ( shrimp and salmon chowder and veal pate mainly) authority ( beef and catfish formulas ) blue spa ( salmon).. they like some merrick (the cowboy one but reading it I relize cats dont need veggies and fruit so for the cost ) meow mix ( fillet meow , upstream something and one other one...) Petguard they liked all flavors ( I wish I could get the rabbit)

for yours try
Pet guards beef one
Nutros beef and egg the hunter stews and veal pate
meow mix fillet meow
Authoritys beef and beef and liver
Pro Pac chn lamb and something , beef
these are reasonable in $$ cept for petguard

Evo reads well ... it didnt pan out here but eating is good

Maybe you could mix Fancy Feast 50/50 with a better quality food.

I have one who would only eat the Fancy Feast and some of the Friskies flavors. I recently discovered that I can add some Cat Sip to his dry food, and he'll eat that (he's been underweight for a while due to his thryoid, so I'm trying to put some weight back on him). You might see if your kitty likes the Cat Sip. If so, maybe adding it to one of the higher quality wet food might encourage her to eat the better-for-her food.

Originally Posted by Pat & Alix

I do not advise feeding any food with garlic, of which Wellness is one brand that does contain garlic.

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I didn't realize that. Thanks for the heads up. There aren't many to choose from in our pet store that don't have by-products.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I didn't realize that. Thanks for the heads up. There aren't many to choose from in our pet store that don't have by-products.

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It is much debated, but a "yes I'm sure" decision for me That said, I see serious fans of Wellness everywhere, and know it is a great food (other than the dang garlic,imho!!)

I've got a dumb question. What harm does the garlic do to cats?

Our cat Ebony (who lived to a ripe old age) used to go nuts whenever I made my homemade spaghetti and meatballs and they were loaded with garlic. He had to have his own dish of pasta, meatballs and sauce or we wouldn't be able to eat in peace.

Mine just love Fancy Feast. My vet said to think of it as McDonald's for kitties. Ok, once in a while for a special treat, just like we feel like fast food every now and then.

The dry food I am feeding right now is Nutro Max Cat, but I dont know if this one is good or not. I used to feed wellness, but got a free sample of this that they really liked.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I've got a dumb question. What harm does the garlic do to cats?

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That is not a dumb question at all! I still remember the days of garlic being suggested as a flea control method for cats. Onions are known to cause Heinz Body anemia, chives and garlic are in the same family with no studies showing that garlic is safe. It is known that cats have varied sensitivity to garlic, meaning what is too much for one cat might not cause an issue with another. I just don't like playing Russian Roulette.
Here are some article links that helped me make up my mind:click here..quotes a phd in chemistry and vet article
sorry I at the moment do not have the source for this quote: "Toxin
S-methylcysteine sulfoxide, n-propyl disulfide, methyl disulfide, allyl disulfide

Source
Onion or garlic (Allium spp.) including those that are fresh as well as those dried for use as spices."

Reasons I've seen given for continuing to use garlic (it's not fresh, it's a special brand, it's cooked)...no where have I yet read a study result that shows the type or method of preparing/serving the garlic changes the key offending component in such a way as to render it unharmful.

All this said, anecdotally, the crf support list I am on, one long time member who isn't a kookla by any stretch of the imagination, had her cat die from garlic consumption. On the other hand, there are sites listing that the damage can be reversed (if not too severe - as it seems to me if severe, it would not be sensible to expect severe anemia to just resolve quickly) by ceasing to feed garlic.

One more click here

So...that's my reason for my decision. I don't use nor do I sell any treat or food containing garlic.

Originally Posted by Kitty89

Mine just love Fancy Feast. My vet said to think of it as McDonald's for kitties. Ok, once in a while for a special treat, just like we feel like fast food every now and then.

The dry food I am feeding right now is Nutro Max Cat, but I dont know if this one is good or not. I used to feed wellness, but got a free sample of this that they really liked.

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Max is a good food ... it does have wheat which can bve an allergen in cats... Kandie ate max senior till I pulled her from dry... I would use the Natural choice if there is any concern , My Zoey eats that

I think a good food with chunks or non-pate style would be more appealing to my kitty.. i think it may be one of the reasons why she liked FF so much. Any suggestions? She didn't like Merrick and it was chunky.. so I don't know. Thanks for the idea of mixing the food.. might taste weird..

Unfortunately, the only wet food mine will touch is Friskies crap.
My oldest will eat anything, but the other 5 will only go for the Friskies
Hence I only give wet once a week here with Nutro dry left down 24/7

If I could some day discover something good they like, I'd be giving far more wet.