Completely agree on cats liking the cheap stuff best! I always buy small bags to start to see how it goes over. My husband complains we have too much cat food 
well, if they would just eat what I buy them, it wouldnât be a problem lol
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I have 2 bags open at the moment. They arenât eating either. 
Too bad. Kibble can sit awhile. Fortunately, they are small, that is what I buy too.
IMHO, cats end up liking the higher carb foods because, well, they taste good an companies make them taste good! We got a 2yo from the shelter who was eating random kibble there (as they usually are), and for YEARS I couldnât get her to even consider licking wet food, not cheaper stuff, not more $$ stuff. Not even cooked chicken. She finally did cave, but was still picky about it
Every species has whatâs generally considered an unhealthy diet, with the individuals more or less following a bell curve from âlooks like hell after 1 meal of crapâ, to the majority âlooks fine, seems fineâ, to the other end of the minority seemingly thriving and dying at a ripe old age with few to no health problems. We all probably know some person whoâs 96 whoâs smoked and had 1 (or more) drinks their whole life, eats like crap, still sharp as an axe and living on their own. They are not a role model for how to eat LOL
Same applies to the really cheap cat/dog foods, filled with carbs before any hint of meat. Some will do really poorly on it from the get go, some will live to be 22, most will have some sort of health issue directly related to that sort of diet, whether allergies, âearlyâ CKD, who knows what else. Our shelter âkibble only please!â kitty did have CKD - caused by the early years of dry food only, who knows? But last year we lost a 19yo to CKD and heâd been canned only for 17 of those years, not super high end, but reasonably low carbs, and many of those years he was on a basically a no-carb diet (homemade raw). So, both ends of the spectrum
That said, in the end, cats canât be on hunger strike for long, that brings its own set of issues, so you have to get them to eat what theyâll eat, even if itâs technically not in their best interest. You do the best you can to direct them to a healthIER diet, which can be a painfully slow transition or compromise, and you do the best you can.
Fancy Feast Classics (wet) isnât the cheapest per ounce, but itâs actually a pretty good line, and if youâre only feeding 1 cat, itâs not expensive
When I went back to feeding commercial canned, Iâd get 12-13oz cans in packs from Chewy, cheaper per ounce than Fancy Feast, a variety of brands, like Wellness, Daveâs, Nulo, and some others. Not high end, not the cheapest. Nulo was pretty well received by everyone, as were the Wellness varieties. Daves was hit and miss
Often, cheap canned food is still better than even some of the better kibble, and cheap canned foods tend to be flavored to entice eating. At least the cheap canned get more water into kitty, which is one of the bigger issues
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I was told to grind the dry food the cat likes and sprinkle some on a little bit of the wet food youâre trying to switch them to. My cats ate Fancy Feast wet and Cat Chow Indoor dry. Not the best diet but they would never touch the expensive stuff and I didnât try to make them eat any of the other âhealthyâ alternatives.
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Itâs no different than what happens to people. 
All those flavors and processed carbs are addicting.
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Yep! Companies spend enormous amounts of money to find out how to make food tasty, addictive even, without spending a lot on the end result
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years ago I got 2 kittens from the same place. One ate canned food, the other would.not.touch.it!
Not even Tuna or chicken. On the other hand, I had to share my chicken biscuits with her. And not just the chicken either. For her I switched to Purina Naturals. The crew now gets what the current store has I walk into. Temptations kibble, Purina, Aldi brand (and no, the grain free is not a big hit)
But the main staple these days is canned. What current kitty does not finish the chickens get and love. Friskies, Little Sheeba, AldiâŠand the success is never guaranteed with either. What she ate for breakfast might be a no-go for lunch.
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that is why high fructose corn syrup was invented. Imagine how cranky we will be if it goes away. Can tobacco be any more addicting than sugar in any form?
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My three go APESHITBERSERK for Weruva, especially the Cats in the Kitchen line! That said I do not have a wet-food-only budget so they each get one ounce of it thinned out with water per meal and thatâs the âgravyâ to their 4health dry food from TSC. Both boys had urinary issues in their one-year-old year on straight kibble but have been okay sinceâŠ
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Yes!!! I used to buy 24 packs of Fancy Feast and stopped because they got too tired of the same old. My two girls eat wet, but my older male will not.
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I also used to buy the wet food by the case. Now I just bought a case of 2 oz wet food. I Mostly buy that for Puddin who is old and looks like a scarecrow. She will eat it mostly, then I have started buying the toppers and she wolfs them down. Tater resembles his namesake, and Bug is a lean mean machine.
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Wow, so far the girls LOVE the Go! cat kibble. We will seen if it keeps up haha
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Every species has whatâs generally considered an unhealthy diet, with the individuals more or less following a bell curve from âlooks like hell after 1 meal of crapâ, to the majority âlooks fine, seems fineâ, to the other end of the minority seemingly thriving and dying at a ripe old age with few to no health problems. We all probably know some person whoâs 96 whoâs smoked and had 1 (or more) drinks their whole life, eats like crap, still sharp as an axe and living on their own. They are not a role model for how to eat LOL"
THANK YOU!!!
And yes, kibble is more appealing because itâs all sprayed with a flavor enhancer at the end of the manufacturing process, which acts like kitty crack - makes the food taste delicious and irresistible. But in turn, it makes âhealthy foodâ (i.e. good wet or even raw meat) unappealing because it simply doesnât smell or taste like the addictive junk theyâre used to. 
I am fostering two older kittens (9-10 mos now) from a rescue, and i was given a big bag of various donated canned food and also a big ziploc bag of kitten kibble for them. My resident cats are on Performatrin, the kittens initially didnât want that, and they were both very picky about the wet food (which alarmed me because they were skinny colony cats that needed weight on, pronto!). They also turned their noses up at yummy, juicy roast chicken pieces. 
Within 36-48 hrs of taking them off the kibble, suddenly they were wolfing down anything in sight. Any wet food, any (appropriate) human food, it was all YUMMY to them.
The kibble was the problem. They arenât picky at all, as it turns out.
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My barn cats THRIVE on Kitten Chow. They have free choice Kitten Chow and get a Fancy Feast petite every couple of days. Super healthy and they have wintered beautifully.
I have mostly indoor/outdoor cats, but I have one who has been banished to a life indoors. She has FIC, so her diet needs to be managed a little more closely. Sheâs on the Diamond Urinary Care - she prefers it over Purinaâs formula. Unfortunately she gets real chunky on wet foods. Luckily sheâs typically a good drinker, and I monitor her pretty closely. If she starts to get stressed (she has a very firm cuddle time requirement) thatâs when her habits change and I supplement with Hydra Care toppers.
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This is the website of a veterinarian who has published research on cat nutrition. All of it is interesting, but the take away is that the worst wet food is better for a cat than the best dry food. https://catinfo.org/
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But if cat does not eat it? /shrug
Yes, I remember a long thread on here a while back in which the cheaper brands - with their flavour enhancements (âcats ask for it by nameâ) were called âcat crackâ, and a number of people here said that the worst wet food was still better than the best dry.
I donât know, I am not a nutritionist, but my one fussy little house critter was addicted to dry and would. not eat canned.
She is a tiny cat with an enormous shrill voice and she was not happy, but gradually I have got her completely off dry food.
She seems to love one brand until I buy a case of it, and then I switch, rinse and repeat. My cat food cupboard is full of different brands.
Right now she is eating Fancy Feast Creamy Delights, Salmon Feast. But the day is young and that can change. 
@clint - I posted before I saw your post - apologies! But that comment was exactly what I remember seeing posted here before. Thank you!
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This is so true. I just threw away open bags of kibble that petered out and had been clogging up my cupboard.
Appreciate the discussion here regarding the dry kibble issues. I have a hard core kibble fan here so it would be a commitment to wean him off.
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Try FortiFlora, itâs like crack for most kitties. I didnât know about it when I was trying to transition the aforementioned shelter kitty off kibble, I only learned about it when I started making my own, and the vet who created the recipe (in the above catinfo site) suggested the FF to help get the pickier eaters onto the raw. Itâs great for so many things!
I use it sometimes to roll a pill pocket in when the pp isnât enough to entice someone to eat it with a pill inside. I use a packet a day on the few occasions one of the kitties has a herpes flare, or someone has some diarrhea
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My friend is using Fortiflora on her dog being treated for toxoplasmosis. I checked it out and i think it would be great to try for my crew! Thanks JB.
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