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Hi all!
My husband and I have four cats (Two are 11 years old, one is 2 years, one is 1 year) that are fed both wet and dry food daily. Up until recently we fed Instinct Original Chicken for the their main wet food (They all loved it!), until the recent unfortunate formula change. Now only two of the cats eats it well and the others are hit-and-miss. I don't feel great about feeding it anymore either, because of the ingredient and packaging changes. So we've been looking for some new wet food staples that are similar in quality, with as few questionable ingredients and gums as possible.
For reference, our schedule is usually, for each cat:
Morning — 1/3 3 oz. can wet food, 1/8 cup kibble
Lunch — 1/3 3 oz. can wet food
Dinner — 1/3 3 oz. can wet food
Before bed — 1/8 cup kibble
...with some treats and toppers (usually freeze-dried turkey) here and there through the day.
First, I've noticed a pattern with my pickiest eater and oldest, Captain. He'll eat just about anything first thing in the morning when he's the hungriest. So in trying out other wet foods he gobbles it up eagerly, but by the dinner serving he seems to be over it. Sometimes he'll eat some if I REALLY put a lot of topper on it, but often just walks away. Note that he WILL eat kibble for dinner, though. It's difficult to know if he genuinely doesn't like the wet food or is just being fussy because he's not as hungry as the morning and is holding out for kibble. As an additional complication, he is an occasional puker and gets medicine at the morning and dinner feedings, so I'm always nervous giving him something new for fear it will come back up along with his meds. He threw up the new Instinct twice, so we've stopped giving it to him completely. Today I thought we might front-load the day with wet as a new tactic, and gave just him a 1/2 can of wet food in the morning, which he ate all of happily. If he can do that at lunch as well, then kibble could be dinner when he's at his pickiest? We'll see.
As for the wet foods, I'm having trouble finding something everyone likes. The new Instinct is out, but I'm trying to use up some cans because it's so expensive, and we'll probably donate the rest of our last shipment. Anyway, here's where I'm at on trying things:
— Nulo Freestyle Chicken & Chicken Liver: this one seemed to be a winner, but I fed it in the morning when everyone eats at their best. At the dinner feeding, Captain didn't want it at all, dang it! Will try it again though, I think, or other flavors.
— Fancy Feast Ocean Whitefish/Tuna, Seafood Feast: My other picky eater is Olive, the two-year old, and she loves these. The the others will usually eat them also. I don't feel as great about feeding it though, especially the seafood varieties, but it's the only flavor Olive will eat.
— Purchased but not tried yet — Koha Limited Ingredient, Wellness Core, Stella & Chewy Purrfect Pates: We've fed Koha a long time back, but it is difficult to find near me and doesn't seem to be very available online, either. The others I'm a little leery about (Wellness has a lot of gums, for instance) but will try soon.
Does anyone have other recommendations? Ideally it would be pate, have a poultry flavor to keep in rotation as it's their favorite, be grain-free, have few gums, no carrageenan, be available on Chewy/Amazon, and come in 3 oz cans. One of our cats *might* have had a reaction to green mussel in the past, so I've been trying to keep that out of foods as well. I know, probably a tall order. I'm totally open to keeping more foods in rotation to fit each cat's tastes, but trying to get a handle on that is though. Thinking of going for Tiki Cat After Dark Pates next, but I can't find it in single cans near me so would have to gamble on a whole case.
On dry food, we do still feed the kibble for practicality (as an overnight meal or for when we are gone all day) and especially because I can always count on our picky eaters to eat dry if wet isn't doing it for them on a certain day. However, we want to pare back the amount of dry we're feeding but keep it as high protein/quality as possible. Thankfully Dr. Esley's cleanprotein Chicken samples were a winner for all cats — hooray — so we'll be transitioning them to that soon and cutting back a little since it is more calorie dense.
TL;DR — I'm having a tough time finding new wet food staples to fit as many tastes/needs as possible while balancing our 4 cats' eating schedules. Any advice or examples of what you're doing with your furbabies would be very helpful. Thanks!
My husband and I have four cats (Two are 11 years old, one is 2 years, one is 1 year) that are fed both wet and dry food daily. Up until recently we fed Instinct Original Chicken for the their main wet food (They all loved it!), until the recent unfortunate formula change. Now only two of the cats eats it well and the others are hit-and-miss. I don't feel great about feeding it anymore either, because of the ingredient and packaging changes. So we've been looking for some new wet food staples that are similar in quality, with as few questionable ingredients and gums as possible.
For reference, our schedule is usually, for each cat:
Morning — 1/3 3 oz. can wet food, 1/8 cup kibble
Lunch — 1/3 3 oz. can wet food
Dinner — 1/3 3 oz. can wet food
Before bed — 1/8 cup kibble
...with some treats and toppers (usually freeze-dried turkey) here and there through the day.
First, I've noticed a pattern with my pickiest eater and oldest, Captain. He'll eat just about anything first thing in the morning when he's the hungriest. So in trying out other wet foods he gobbles it up eagerly, but by the dinner serving he seems to be over it. Sometimes he'll eat some if I REALLY put a lot of topper on it, but often just walks away. Note that he WILL eat kibble for dinner, though. It's difficult to know if he genuinely doesn't like the wet food or is just being fussy because he's not as hungry as the morning and is holding out for kibble. As an additional complication, he is an occasional puker and gets medicine at the morning and dinner feedings, so I'm always nervous giving him something new for fear it will come back up along with his meds. He threw up the new Instinct twice, so we've stopped giving it to him completely. Today I thought we might front-load the day with wet as a new tactic, and gave just him a 1/2 can of wet food in the morning, which he ate all of happily. If he can do that at lunch as well, then kibble could be dinner when he's at his pickiest? We'll see.
As for the wet foods, I'm having trouble finding something everyone likes. The new Instinct is out, but I'm trying to use up some cans because it's so expensive, and we'll probably donate the rest of our last shipment. Anyway, here's where I'm at on trying things:
— Nulo Freestyle Chicken & Chicken Liver: this one seemed to be a winner, but I fed it in the morning when everyone eats at their best. At the dinner feeding, Captain didn't want it at all, dang it! Will try it again though, I think, or other flavors.
— Fancy Feast Ocean Whitefish/Tuna, Seafood Feast: My other picky eater is Olive, the two-year old, and she loves these. The the others will usually eat them also. I don't feel as great about feeding it though, especially the seafood varieties, but it's the only flavor Olive will eat.
— Purchased but not tried yet — Koha Limited Ingredient, Wellness Core, Stella & Chewy Purrfect Pates: We've fed Koha a long time back, but it is difficult to find near me and doesn't seem to be very available online, either. The others I'm a little leery about (Wellness has a lot of gums, for instance) but will try soon.
Does anyone have other recommendations? Ideally it would be pate, have a poultry flavor to keep in rotation as it's their favorite, be grain-free, have few gums, no carrageenan, be available on Chewy/Amazon, and come in 3 oz cans. One of our cats *might* have had a reaction to green mussel in the past, so I've been trying to keep that out of foods as well. I know, probably a tall order. I'm totally open to keeping more foods in rotation to fit each cat's tastes, but trying to get a handle on that is though. Thinking of going for Tiki Cat After Dark Pates next, but I can't find it in single cans near me so would have to gamble on a whole case.
On dry food, we do still feed the kibble for practicality (as an overnight meal or for when we are gone all day) and especially because I can always count on our picky eaters to eat dry if wet isn't doing it for them on a certain day. However, we want to pare back the amount of dry we're feeding but keep it as high protein/quality as possible. Thankfully Dr. Esley's cleanprotein Chicken samples were a winner for all cats — hooray — so we'll be transitioning them to that soon and cutting back a little since it is more calorie dense.
TL;DR — I'm having a tough time finding new wet food staples to fit as many tastes/needs as possible while balancing our 4 cats' eating schedules. Any advice or examples of what you're doing with your furbabies would be very helpful. Thanks!
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