I’ve never regularly fed wet food before (my sadly departed old guy wouldn’t touch it, and the younger one eats whatever is in front of her), but the baby (7months) definitely does better on it.
I’ve always fed a local, grain free dry food, but local canned is harder to find (if not impossible). The 2yo is active but tends to be chunky. What wet food would you recommend?
Good question. I have a 14 yr old kitty who has had the strangest eating habit her whole life, she doe not CHEW. She swallows whole, or licks the wet food.
She has been always healthy, but gets a bloated belly. Vet says it is not uncommon for some cats not to chew.
I am reluctant to ever use any grocery store wet. Even Purina one, and iams.
The grain free stuff is so expensive.
I would like to also hear the recomondations.
What’s your budget?
It’s hard to find anything (grain-free) both of my cats like equally (she’s picky, he’s not), but through trial and error, both of them like Natural Balance’s Duck & Green Pea or Venison & Green Pea.
PetGuard Premium Feast was another mutually enjoyed. She likes the Wellness Chicken Dinner but he’s a bit “meh” about it (the only food he is!). Soulistic’s (Petco’s store brand) Aromatic Chicken goes over fine with both (he’ll eat any of that brand; she’ll eat just the chicken). I rotate through all of the above so she won’t bore of one particular flavor.
If I need to get her to eat the Cosequin sprinkles and she’s not in a canned food mood, I just mix it in with freeze dried chicken chunks I’ve rehydrated in warm water. I also crumble up the freeze dried chicken to “top dress” when trying to get her to sample some new canned food – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
[QUOTE=Sannois;7425343]
I am reluctant to ever use any grocery store wet. Even Purina one, and iams.
The grain free stuff is so expensive.
I would like to also hear the recomondations.[/QUOTE]
The “Classic” varieties of Fancy Feast are pretty good if you’re looking for cheap(er) grain free alternatives.
ETA: If you have a Tractor Supply Co nearby, their 4health brand is a) cheap and b) has a “no corn, no wheat, no soy” ingredient list.
fancy feast classic is readily available, is affordable, and is of reasonable quality for a cat.
Iams and purina one are both over-priced very low quality foods.
Look on the label- cats don’t need vegetable matter, period. So things like peas, grains, glutens, etc. shouldn’t be in there, or if they are, they should be way down the ingredient list. The best are foods that are basically just meat, like 95% EVO or Hound n Gatos.
cats don’t chew, that’s normal for a carnivore. Look in their mouths- they have knives in the front for stabbing, then in the back they have scissors for slicing off big chunks of meat, which are then swallowed. Most carnivores don’t chew kibble, they just kind of lick it up and swallow, much like they do wet ground foods. Which is one reason why if anyone tells you cats need to chew kibble to clean their teeth you know they are spouting off nonsense- the other being that carbohydrates in foods are the major cause of teeth being dirty, and most kibbles are heavily laden with carbohydrates.
[QUOTE=wendy;7425388]
Most carnivores don’t chew kibble, they just kind of lick it up and swallow[/QUOTE]
Yup, or they just up-and-down “knife” or “boulder crush” the kibble with their molars since they don’t have the side-to-side muscle ability to grind like herbivores/omnivores. It’s how they crack bones to be able to swallow them.
Thanks! I’d actually picked up some of the 95% evo in the big cans to try… so far so good 
[QUOTE=VaqueroToro;7425375]
The “Classic” varieties of Fancy Feast are pretty good if you’re looking for cheap(er) grain free alternatives.
ETA: If you have a Tractor Supply Co nearby, their 4health brand is a) cheap and b) has a “no corn, no wheat, no soy” ingredient list.[/QUOTE]
That’s what I feed. Mine won’t eat the 4Health brand. 
[QUOTE=LauraKY;7425418]
That’s what I feed. Mine won’t eat the 4Health brand. :([/QUOTE]
One will eat the 4health and Fancy Feast, the other won’t touch either. sigh
I did find this stuff in Wegman’s and it received a “so so” to “not bad” rating from both felines – Evolve. I bought a can of the turkey version too to see if that gains any traction. Cost is sustainable for my budget – $0.89 for a 5.5oz can.
My cat gets the grain-free flavors of Wellness (not Wellness CORE) and does very well on it. She is at a perfect weight (the vet told me at her last checkup that she wanted to hold her up as a model for all owners of house cats), and her coat is very soft, no skin issues.
cats don’t need vegetable matter, period.
considering that - besides the brain - the gut is the first thing predators devour, I call BS…they just need a little help from Pre-Chew Charlie…after all, plants is what mice eat - most of the time…
[QUOTE=wendy;7425388]
fancy feast classic is readily available, is affordable, and is of reasonable quality for a cat.
Iams and purina one are both over-priced very low quality foods.
Look on the label- cats don’t need vegetable matter, period. So things like peas, grains, glutens, etc. shouldn’t be in there, or if they are, they should be way down the ingredient list. The best are foods that are basically just meat, like 95% EVO or Hound n Gatos.
cats don’t chew, that’s normal for a carnivore. Look in their mouths- they have knives in the front for stabbing, then in the back they have scissors for slicing off big chunks of meat, which are then swallowed. Most carnivores don’t chew kibble, they just kind of lick it up and swallow, much like they do wet ground foods. Which is one reason why if anyone tells you cats need to chew kibble to clean their teeth you know they are spouting off nonsense- the other being that carbohydrates in foods are the major cause of teeth being dirty, and most kibbles are heavily laden with carbohydrates.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for that Wendy, All my worry over her not chewing. She has made it to 14 no problems.
[QUOTE=Sannois;7425483]
Thanks for that Wendy, All my worry over her not chewing. She has made it to 14 no problems. :)[/QUOTE]
Oh yeah, my cat doesn’t chew at all either - which does make a mess while she’s eating her wet food, since she also will ONLY eat off a plate, not a bowl. So she licks the food on the plate and little pieces of it splatter all around.
[QUOTE=Frivian;7425508]
Oh yeah, my cat doesn’t chew at all either - which does make a mess while she’s eating her wet food, since she also will ONLY eat off a plate, not a bowl.[/QUOTE]
Have you tried a very wide, lower rim bowl?
Some cats are freaky about having anything touching their whiskers when they eat – it sounds like yours is that way. But if the container is wide enough to accommodate the whiskers, they usually will take to it.
My 3 love Earthborn Hollistics. My special allergy kitty does really well on it, and picky brat cat wolfs it down. We don’t usually buy the chicken variety because of allergy cat, but all four flavors are equally liked.
Wellness was unanimously vetoed by all 3. Even our ‘garbage disposal’ cat hated it, and he’ll eat almost anything. Blue buffalo and TOTW get eaten, but not enthusiastically. Brat cat usually left some of them behind. The blue buffalo gave them the runs a few time, so we stopped buying it even if it’s on sale.
EVO and Weruva were liked and are high quality. If price wasn’t a problem we’d go for those. but, going through 3 cans a day adds up fast, so we stick with Earthborn unless our local pet store has a good sale.
[QUOTE=Frivian;7425508]
Oh yeah, my cat doesn’t chew at all either - which does make a mess while she’s eating her wet food, since she also will ONLY eat off a plate, not a bowl. So she licks the food on the plate and little pieces of it splatter all around.[/QUOTE]
LOL Oh yeah… Very familiar with that scenario! LOL
Another paws up for earthborn holistics! My three cooperative kitties all enjoy Fancy Feast classic, but my picky guy will ONLY eat EB! We tried Evo and Daves and wellness and Blue Buffalo and Appaws, but ONLY EB passes the test ( and the evil science diet W/D- hate to do but he won’t poop at all without it!)
When I was feeding wet food (do prey model raw now- cheaper and healthier in my opinion) I fed Nature’s Variety wet food. I always looked to make sure the food was grain free and carageenan free, which NV is. I used this website since the chart makes it easy to see what a food does not have:
http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2010/12/the-7-best-natural-commercial-cat-foods-so-far/
[QUOTE=Alagirl;7425476]
considering that - besides the brain - the gut is the first thing predators devour, I call BS…they just need a little help from Pre-Chew Charlie…after all, plants is what mice eat - most of the time…[/QUOTE]
Actually, in the wild only when the prey is small enough do they eat the stomach with contents. Otherwise wolves and big cats shake out the stomach contents and then sometimes eat the stomach afterwards. Vegetation is of no interest to wolves or big cats or other carnivores.
I feed the Wellness CORE Seafood flavor and my two cats love it. I have to make sure I watch the spoon really well or they’ll chase it down in the sink. The cans have to be thrown away in the garage or kitties will get in to lick it clean.
I just hate how expensive it is. I just might try the Fancy Feast Classics. I always assumed it was a bad brand.
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