Another wet food related question..

[skullman80]

Ok so still trying to figure out what my wonderful Emma likes and doesn't like. She seems to be quite the picky eater. When she was at the shelter she ate only dry food(Purina Cat chow). I slowly switched her to wet food after I got her, but it seems she only will eat the "bad" food brands.

First off I finally figured out she hates the pate style food, she turns her nose to it and that is that.

So I had initially been feeding her natural choice canned food. She seems to like fish flavors, and not chicken or turkey. She never finished a whole can in a day(5 oz), I would feed 1/2 morning 1/2 evening with about a 1/3 cup dry left out(which she barely nibbles on). She would always leave about half of what I put out wet food wise.

So I got some Friskies wet cat food(I know I know) in Salmon/Tuna/Ocean Fish flavors, and I go the non pate style.... I.E shredded/chunks in gravy. She LOVES to lap up the gravy. It's the first thing she does. Those seem to be a big hit, I put down half a 5.5 oz can ... and she devoured it.. I'd never seen her eat like that. Ditto today with another can of Friskies.

So I guess my question is what is out there in the "good" wet canned variety that is non pate form that is mostly fish flavored. My local PetSmart sells Blue Buffalo, Natural Choice etc, so I do have choices of premium cat foods.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Alan

 

[cat person]

Hi Alen,

My first question for you is this why do you feel this cat needs to eat wet food? No disrespect, but if your cat prefers dry cat food why not just switch to another brand of dry food? I would just like to hear your thoughts on that issue.

Now I feed my cats wet and dry food. The dry foods I feed are as follows: Iams, Eukanuba, and Purina One. Then once a day I feed my cats one spoon full of Iam's proactive adult wet food mixed with one of the above dry foods.

Since you want to feed wet food I would recommend Iams Proactive adult cat food in either of these flavor: Iams ProActive Health Adult Filets with Salmon Canned Cat Food 3 oz or Iams ProActive Health Adult Pate with Pacific Salmon Canned Cat Food.

I know you said your cat does NOT like pate textured cat food but it is worth a try. Just get one can and see if she likes it.

Lastly, I hope this was semi helpful to you. I hope your are not offend as well. But as a licensed veterinarian technician I feel I can this: The best nutrition in cat food is useless unless the cat will eat it

.

 

[skullman80]

No offense taken.

I still do leave dry food out throughout the day. I didn't stop feeding it completely, but I wanted to try and get her on a wet diet. I guess you could say I feed a mixture.

I've just read that in general wet food is better I guess. I'm not an expert on these things. She is going to the vet this week anyways for a rabies shot update and I'll talk to the vet to see what they recommend as well. This is not my area of expertise, so I can only go on what other people advise me of and what research I do myself. I just want my cat to have a long and healthy life.

I don't think the pate style is gonna go over no matter what. I've tried fish flavored style in that and even then she won't eat it. If It doesn't have lots of gravy and chunks she doesn't like it for some reason. She is a picky eater I guess.

 

[cat person]

Hi Alen,

I am VERY GLAD you are not offended

. I know I do tend to come on too strong at times. So I am glad I did not in this case.

Now first of all I would recommend that you ask the vet when you go what they recommend for the cat to eat. Also make sure to tell them she prefers dry food

. As well as the the cat will not eat pate style wet foods. So he/she can advise you better.

I FEEL that if you feed a good quality dry food AND the cat likes it then you are doing fine.

If your cat will NOT eat pate style cat food, then just try the other Iams canned food I listed.

Also, most well fed cats are picky. So that is normal

. A long and healthy life in a cat is also partially genetic. I have seen plenty of cats fed low quality foods live long and healthy lives.

Lastly I would recommend you continue to feed your cats some dry food as well.

 

[otto]

Canned food, most any canned food, is better for cats than an all dry diet. High quality dry food should be fed as snacks only.

You're doing great with Emma, and will soon find some good for her brands she likes. Feeding a variety of brands is a good idea, because as so often happens, manufacturers change formulas, or ingredient sources, and the cat will suddenly refuse something she's been eating happily for a long time.

So if you have more than one canned food she will eat, it's not as worrisome, if she suddenly sticks her nose up at her favorite.

Try to encourage foods other than fish. Too much fish and seafood is not good for cats. Even if you have to offer a sliced in gravy form of chicken, with a little of some seafood flavor on top, that can work sometimes.

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by otto

Canned food, most any canned food, is better for cats than an all dry diet. High quality dry food should be fed as snacks only.

You're doing great with Emma, and will soon find some good for her brands she likes. Feeding a variety of brands is a good idea, because as so often happens, manufacturers change formulas, or ingredient sources, and the cat will suddenly refuse something she's been eating happily for a long time.

So if you have more than one canned food she will eat, it's not as worrisome, if she suddenly sticks her nose up at her favorite.

Try to encourage foods other than fish. Too much fish and seafood is not good for cats. Even if you have to offer a sliced in gravy form of chicken, with a little of some seafood flavor on top, that can work sometimes.

Well put

.... Some cats will need to eat a mostly dry diet do to not eating enough wet

 

[lonelykitten]

have you ever come across wellness? they sell the pouches of cat food and i believe one is all fish flavored. the pouches aren't pate they are sliced with some gravy. Hope this helps! I'm lucky so far our kitten hasn't turned her nose up at any wet she's been offered. I hope you find a good wet food. I also agree canned is very beneficial, which's why our kitten gets 90-100% canned.

 

[motoko9]

My cats seem to prefer the non-loaf style foods as well.

This question comes up frequently; for example, see this thread (I'm guessing most of the foods listed there have a fish option):

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ighlight=gravy

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by otto

Canned food, most any canned food, is better for cats than an all dry diet. High quality dry food should be fed as snacks only.

You're doing great with Emma, and will soon find some good for her brands she likes. Feeding a variety of brands is a good idea, because as so often happens, manufacturers change formulas, or ingredient sources, and the cat will suddenly refuse something she's been eating happily for a long time.

So if you have more than one canned food she will eat, it's not as worrisome, if she suddenly sticks her nose up at her favorite.

Try to encourage foods other than fish. Too much fish and seafood is not good for cats. Even if you have to offer a sliced in gravy form of chicken, with a little of some seafood flavor on top, that can work sometimes.

definitely, wet food is the way to go... IMHO, the quality has to be kept though... it does not good to feed junk either on wet or dry...
Wet is important because cats need more more water than what they usually drink on their own...
It is also believed that when taken with food, moisture is used better by the cats organism.
Also, a recent study by a renowned Feline foundation, called Winn, recently indicated that fountains, unfortunately are not effective making a difference whatsoever in urine dilution, thus it makes no difference in preventing lower urinary tract disorders... The found indeed that the cats seemed to drink more, but the urine was not at all more diluted, which made them conclude that the water consumption was actually falsely elevated.
Eating a canned diet however does help with urine dilution and has been long recommend for in maintaining kidney and bladder health.
With all that stated...... Have you tried Taste of the wild canned? I hear cats go ga-ga- over it!