Alternatives to Tiki Cat?

[BucDan]

Is there anything out there comparable to Tiki Cat? My two cats just started turning away Tiki Cat Chicken and Egg after being pigs that couldn't stop eating it. I even opened a new sealed bag, and they still won't eat it.

Did Tiki Cat slip in quality control or something? I'm seeing that their food bags aren't in stock very much at Petco anymore. I hope they're not being hush hush about stopping production to address an issue worthy of a recall.

 

[BucDan]

They ate over 5lbs of the 5.6lb bag, then suddenly stopped. Their bag cycle is once a month roughly. I opened a new bag that was sealed, and they still won't eat it. Very frustrating.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I don't know anything about Tiki Cat dry food, so I can't help from that aspect. But, if it were me, I would check all the ingredients/values in the Tiki Cat and then compare those with other dry foods to see which ones might be the closest. Your biggest issue might be finding another dry food that is baked like Tiki Cat's is. I know Lotus is one that touts it is baked, but I have no idea how close it would compare to Tiki Cat.

It doesn't seem likely, but maybe the old bag is stale and the ingredients have been changed between that bag and the new bag. So, you might want to compare the ingredients in the two bags to see if you notice any changes - and, then, still use the old bag for comparison to other brands.

 

[BucDan]

Hi. I don't know anything about Tiki Cat dry food, so I can't help from that aspect. But, if it were me, I would check all the ingredients/values in the Tiki Cat and then compare those with other dry foods to see which ones might be the closest. Your biggest issue might be finding another dry food that is baked like Tiki Cat's is. I know Lotus is one that touts it is baked, but I have no idea how close it would compare to Tiki Cat.

It doesn't seem likely, but maybe the old bag is stale and the ingredients have been changed between that bag and the new bag. So, you might want to compare the ingredients in the two bags to see if you notice any changes - and, then, still use the old bag for comparison to other brands.

I should have clarified better. They stopped eating the food after eating 90% of the bag. I tried opening a new bag, and they're not eating that bag either.

I've been feeding them Applaws Chicken and Pumpkin wetfood as their wet food.

I would hate to go on another food experiment again if they don't clear up in a few days.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I've been feeding them Applaws Chicken and Pumpkin wetfood as their wet food. I would hate to go on another food experiment again if they don't clear up in a few days.

I suppose you could use the wet foods as a 'topper' for the dry and see if they will eat it that way, or even mix them together.

The only thing bothering/confusing me about this - while it is not necessarily impossible, it seems implausible, that both would start hating the same food at the same time. Nonetheless, at a minimum, you really should have a couple of 'back-up' foods (both wet and dry) that you know they can eat and like, if for no other reason that what you are going through now. Perhaps, they will change their mind soon, but the odds don't seem to be in your favor. Sometimes, once a cat eats some other food for a while, you can re-introduce them to a food they shunned previously, but I suspect it would take weeks/months for that scenario to play out. Hopefully, not in your case!

 

[BucDan]

I suppose you could use the wet foods as a 'topper' for the dry and see if they will eat it that way, or even mix them together.

The only thing bothering/confusing me about this - while it is not necessarily impossible, it seems implausible, that both would start hating the same food at the same time. Nonetheless, at a minimum, you really should have a couple of 'back-up' foods (both wet and dry) that you know they can eat and like, if for no other reason that what you are going through now. Perhaps, they will change their mind soon, but the odds don't seem to be in your favor. Sometimes, once a cat eats some other food for a while, you can re-introduce them to a food they shunned previously, but I suspect it would take weeks/months for that scenario to play out. Hopefully, not in your case!

They've both been finicky since this past Friday. I did neglect to say that one of the cats is having a stomach bug and getting diarrhea since Thursday, so that could explain why he's not eating as much. If he doesn't clear up in 2 more days, he's going to the vet.

And before, it was the other cat with diarrhea. I took him to the vet to get checked and got some relief items from the vet and he cleared up. I'm going to assume this current stomach bug cat might have came into contact with the first cat's feces by licking his behind and picked up the bug as well.

Been sanitizing their litter boxes as well. Strictly indoor cats.

But I still can't see why the first stomach bug cat won't eat very much now.

Idk, I think I'm over stressing.

 

[FeebysOwner]

But I still can't see why the first stomach bug cat won't eat very much now.

Sometimes cats will correlate not feeling well with their food. Just like when a cat has a UTI and pees outside the litter box, they correlate the painful peeing with the box, not their body. Maybe this same theory is playing out with your cats and their stomach bug?

 

[BucDan]

Sometimes cats will correlate not feeling well with their food. Just like when a cat has a UTI and pees outside the litter box, they correlate the painful peeing with the box, not their body. Maybe this same theory is playing out with your cats and their stomach bug?

I'll keep that and mind and monitor them.

 

[Babypinkweeb]

I recently took my older cat to the vet to check a few issues, mainly vomiting/slight diarrhea and acne, and only the last 2 days his appetite came back. Before then he was very on and off with his eating for about a week. I think it's definitely possible the stomach issue your cat has might have influenced his feelings about certain foods! I currently have the same Tiki Cat kibble you do plus the Dr Elsey chicken kibble, and my older cat is very on and off about how he feels towards the tiki cat. Some days he will eat around it and wait for Dr. Elsey, some days he will eat the tiki cat happily no issue. I think for now if your cat isn't feeling up to it, just stick to foods they will eat so they do not lose weight while recovering (my boy lost some weight throughout all his recent issues). Sometimes if it's been a little while, they might feel up to eating it again.

 

[Maurey]

They could just be tired of the Tiki if they’ve been eating it for a long time. As has been mentioned, have you checked labels between the two bags? Any ingredient differences, or differences in order? Any differences in the size or shapes of the kibble?

Some premium options for dry food are Dr Elsey’s Chicken (other flavours have chickpeas in them for some reason) and Wellness Core RawRev.

Keep in mind that Applaws wet foods aren’t nutritionally complete, so shouldn’t be fed as a primary wet food/more than as a treat. Plus, the chicken and pumpkin formulation has a lot of rice and veg in there for a non-complete food at that price point. A bit of pumpkin is good for gut health, but rice is a grain, which cats really don’t need in their diets. I’d suggest looking into a different brand of wet food for them that will meet their nutritional needs.

 

[BucDan]

They could just be tired of the Tiki if they’ve been eating it for a long time. As has been mentioned, have you checked labels between the two bags? Any ingredient differences, or differences in order? Any differences in the size or shapes of the kibble?

Some premium options for dry food are Dr Elsey’s Chicken (other flavours have chickpeas in them for some reason) and Wellness Core RawRev.

Keep in mind that Applaws wet foods aren’t nutritionally complete, so shouldn’t be fed as a primary wet food/more than as a treat. Plus, the chicken and pumpkin formulation has a lot of rice and veg in there for a non-complete food at that price point. A bit of pumpkin is good for gut health, but rice is a grain, which cats really don’t need in their diets. I’d suggest looking into a different brand of wet food for them that will meet their nutritional needs.

They've been eating it exclusively for about 6 months now. The ingredients are the same, haven't changed. They look the same and smell the same. I'll have to take a look at that Wellness Core as a alternate.

I know, but they love it. It's a late night meal before bed time. They have their dry food during the other feeding times. They're both picky, one of then won't go for pate. It's the only textured wet food they'd eat as well, so far from offering different cans..

I recently took my older cat to the vet to check a few issues, mainly vomiting/slight diarrhea and acne, and only the last 2 days his appetite came back. Before then he was very on and off with his eating for about a week. I think it's definitely possible the stomach issue your cat has might have influenced his feelings about certain foods! I currently have the same Tiki Cat kibble you do plus the Dr Elsey chicken kibble, and my older cat is very on and off about how he feels towards the tiki cat. Some days he will eat around it and wait for Dr. Elsey, some days he will eat the tiki cat happily no issue. I think for now if your cat isn't feeling up to it, just stick to foods they will eat so they do not lose weight while recovering (my boy lost some weight throughout all his recent issues). Sometimes if it's been a little while, they might feel up to eating it again.

I plan on grabbing another bag of food brand to see how it goes. Looking to get Wellness Core. Dr. Elsey is mail order only it seems. I don't think any pet stores carry them...

Thank you for the responses!

 

[Babypinkweeb]

I plan on grabbing another bag of food brand to see how it goes. Looking to get Wellness Core. Dr. Elsey is mail order only it seems. I don't think any pet stores carry them...

Thank you for the responses!

I hope you can find something your kitty will eat! I buy Dr.Elsey from Amazon, it's only a few dollar more than Chewy which has been out of stock for a while.

 

[ObeseChess]

I don't know about the dry Tiki Cat food, but I do use their wet food so I am not coming from a place of total ignorance regarding their ingredients and approach - for dry food, I rotate Sassy between the Dr. Elsey clean protein and Wysong Epigen 90, which are similarly high-protein and grain-free.

 

[BucDan]

Well, he cleared up and went back to normal for about 1 week. Now he's throwing up again and has diarrhea again as of today. Ordered a bag of Dr. Elsey's Chicken off of Amazon.

I was hoping it was a one off, but I guess that won't be the case. I guess I was putting too much weight on what CatFoodDB was suggesting in terms of ranking, and ranked Tiki Cat as #2 for product line and the dry food at #5. It made food decisions easier for me at the time when I switched him off of Blue Buffalo Carnivora as they went discontinued on that product line.

The transition to Dr. Elsey's begins. I hope it goes well!

 

[Krienze]

It's funny you mention this because my cats (all three) started shunning Tiki too.

I'm not sure HOW it compares, but since one of my cats -needs- wet food when he eats, we started buying these nulo packets and putting it over their dry food (for dry food they really like Merrick's which I mix sometimes with the tiki dry) - The nulo packets are mostly meat and juices, so it's awesome.

I used to wonder if maybe something was up with the tiki brand but part of me really just thinks the cats got picky.