Wet Food Feeding Trials

[Daisy6]

Next week I will start feeding Daisy a variety of brands and flavors hoping she will like something much better than Blue Freedom Chicken Pate. As much as I would rather only feed her grain-free recipes, she is so picky I have to expand my search (especially with the impossible-to-read labels as mentioned in another thread). This is just the first group - more flavors are coming later.

Blue Buffalo
Healthy Gourmet Turkey and Chicken Pate

Wellness
Turkey Dinner Pate
Turkey and Salmon Entree Pate
Shredded Chicken and Chicken Liver (Core Signature Selects)

Nature's Variety Instinct
Limited Ingredient Turkey Recipe Pate
Original Lamb, Turkey, and Liver Pate

Nutro Perfect Portions
Real Chicken Recipe Grain-Free

Natural Balance
Catatouille Chicken and Chicken Liver in Gravy

Which one should I try first? Does anyone have suggestions for how to do it?

 

[KarenKat]

I am getting close to giving Gohan a trial of new foods. I am lucky in that Olive won't let the leftovers go to waste. My plan will be to feed him his normal food (wet or dry) and to put the new food on a plate next to it. That way the smell of the old food is mingled with the new one and they associate it with food. Then the next day try and put some with the old food? If Daisy has anything she likes as a treat, toppers are wonderful.

As to which one, I say dealer's choice. Not sure if it matters.

 

[Daisy6]

I could never put wet food on a plate. Daisy would push all of it off with her tongue.

Hopefully none of them will stink so bad Daisy stays away from food she likes.

 

[KarenKat]

My apologies I meant to say “My plan will be to feed him his normal food (wet or dry) and to put the new food on a [insert whatever vessel Daisy eats off of] next to it.”

 

[Daisy6]

I will update everyone in the first post as it goes on.

What is your best guess? I hope Instinct LID Turkey wins but she rejected NVI in the past (original chicken) so an empty bowl would surprise me.

 

[duckpond]

Most of those foods my guys would not eat when i offered, but i think the only reason is that they are pate. I have a really hard time with my guys and pate

And they are weird with nutro perfect portions. they like the nutro minced and sliced foods in the cans, when i tried perfect portions they acted like i was trying to kill them. My moms cats like it just fine.

they did like the Natural Balance
Catatouille Chicken and Chicken Liver in Gravy it kind of fell off my list for some reason, not sure why i think i just forgot about it. may need to try that one again. Nope i just read some reviews on chewy, before i submitted this, it seems this is a new formula, it use to have spinach in it, they have taken that out. I will not feed my boys spinach, that is why i quit with it. They no longer have that in the food, so i may need to try it again

My method of trying new food is maybe not the most organised..lol. I always feed wet food i know they like for breakfast, i dont have time to mess around.

For Dinner i put out new wet food, then i have time to watch them for an hour or two. If they eat it, great, if they are acting fussy about it i put on the toppers, if its still there in about 2 hours i throw it out and give them something else. I often need to offer a new wet food 3 or 4 times before my guys will eat it.

Best of luck! Do let us know how it goes.

 

[Daisy6]

LOL Cats are carnivores and do not naturally eat spinach, so why would they like it?

The Wellness Core Signature Selects can was a mistake. I meant to get a pate flavor. Daisy does like the textures of minced and mushy food, but has mostly eaten pate because it is easy to split into four roughly equal serving sizes.

 

[KarenKat]

Cats are obligate carnivores and do not need vegetables in their diet. And humans do no need candy bars and French fries. Is it unhealthy? Yes. Is it tasty and enjoyable in small quantities? Yes.

Some cats really like the bitter taste from vegetables.

 

[duckpond]

my guys like the little bits of carrots and green beans that are in the Almo foods i feed. the carrots are small pieces, and not a lot, so im not even sure they know they are in there. But the chicken and green beans has like one small green bean cut up in the chicken. At first they avoided the green beans, now i think they eat those first. not enough in the can to worry me, but they do seem to like the little pieces of green beans

spinach i refuse to feed to my guys because of the oxalate. some veggies are not a worry, but i try to keep away from spinach!

 

[Daisy6]

Ugh, oxalates are really bad for cats. Good thing Nutro took spinach out of a recipe that had it.

Blue Buffalo does not care if cats can see carrots. In every can I can see tiny bits of carrot even though it is pate. I don't care and neither does Daisy. I just do not think cats need orange things in their food.

Green beans seem to be rare in cat food because I can't remember seeing them on any ingredient list before this week.

 

[duckpond]

Almo Nature green beans and chicken is the first i have really ever seen. Its shredded chicken, and chopped green beans. I was surprised that my cats seem to like them I also dont want to see veggies in my cat food, for the most part. But i think just a teeny little bit might be good. Of certain veggies. Im actually happy with the small amount of green beans

 

[Daisy6]

I am fine with one vegetable. What drives me nuts is how many foods have a lot of plants on an ingredient label.

 

[Daisy6]

What other brands should I try if Daisy does not like any of these?

 

[Furballsmom]

My method of trying new food is maybe not the most organised..lol. I always feed wet food i know they like for breakfast, i dont have time to mess around.

Mine either, it's pretty much exactly like this - especially since I get some serious side-eye and complaints when I've tried to feed something other than his chosen favorite food for breakfast.

He likes green beans, rinsed green olive, asparagus...

Keeping in mind I haven't checked every one of these regarding ingredients and things may have changed since I last did check some of them, you could try Caru, Merrick, Paws and Claws, Koha, LifesAbundance, Abound, 4Health, Tikicat, Tender and True, and some of the ones you like from this list possibly;
Pet Food Guide

 

[Daisy6]

Thanks Furballs. Tiki Cat and Merrick are the only two brand names I recognize.

 

[Furballsmom]

paws and claws, and 4health - are available at Tractor Supply although I don't know if they're the only supplier of these two brands.

lifesabundance, I think I just read from another member, might still only be available from their website, maybe?

Oh, and in case you aren't familiar, Only Natural Pet, lifesabundance, The Big Bad Woof and Koha allow small quantity ordering.

 

[BonitaBaby]

Well, for my cat feeding trials, in between giving my cat the new wet food, every other day, I'm giving her her previous wet food although now that she likes Blue Wilderness flaked chicken & turkey, I stocked up and am going to rotate that one with her other standard two to try to avoid any stomach upset that new wet food may cause. Just my idea in case it's necessary or helps.

I was able to find 21 cans of different flavors and brands at PetSmart for this food trial. Almost all are turkey and/or chicken and pate because she mostly likes pate. Flaked now too. Some I tried before, but didn't keep a record and want to try them again anyway in case she'll eat them now.

I definitely recommend trying different flavors of the Wellness CORE smooth pate. My cat was happy tonight with her chicken, turkey, and chicken liver.

 

[Daisy6]

Keep feeding her Blue Wilderness. It is also available in pate form.

Do you mean there are 21 different flavors or brands at Petsmart?

 

[Daisy6]

I went back to Petsmart today and bought two Nulo flavors. The reason I didn't get them last week was they are only available in 5.5 ounce cans and I need the little 3 ounce size. But I really want to try Nulo, which she liked as a kitten. One is Chicken and Turkey. The other is Limited Ingredient.

 

[BonitaBaby]

Keep feeding her Blue Wilderness. It is also available in pate form.

Do you mean there are 21 different flavors or brands at Petsmart?

I mean I found 21 different cans of wet food for my PetSmart food trials. 5 companies, but 10 sub-brands. Different flavors or textures, but mostly pate and turkey and/or chicken. Here are the sub-brands:

Blue Healthy Gourmet
Blue Freedom
Blue Wilderness

Fancy Feast

Instinct LID

Nutro Max Cat
Nutro Soft Loaf
Nutro Perfect Portions

Wellness CORE & CORE 95
Wellness Gravies