Wet cat food that cats actually like?

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=Liberty;5792507]
Not all Fancy Feast varieties contain wheat gluten and soy. The only kind of Fancy Feast I feed my cat is the “Classic” variety:
http://felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm

with some Wellness Grainfree from time to time since he loves that too.

Interesting what I have read about Wellness and some of the other “premium” canned cat foods, and that is that most Fancy Feast varieties have higher protein counts than the more expensive “premium” muscle-meat brands:
http://www.catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods[/QUOTE]

I noticed that too about the protein percentages. Before Grain Chicken has only 9% minimum. That’s composition though, including moisture. An example: http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/product-details.aspx?pet=cat&pid=12#guaranteed-analysis

Not sure how that relates to percentage of calories though. That’s where Jan and Binky’s page comes in, although it’s 3 years old now, and some of the analyses are 5 and 6 years old. Many of the brands discussed here aren’t on there either.

[Bank_of_Dad]

My new kittens love Avoderm. Its a little hard to find, think PetSmart and Petco.

Top ingrediants in ocean fish flavor: Fish broth, ocean fish, chicken, liver, turkey, rice flour, oat bran, avocado oil…

My barn cats will eat anything out of a can, but they get Friskies. Were terribly overweight on dry food, now they are svelt and sleek.

[JB]

Sign up for Pet Food Direct’s emails. I order nearly all my canned food from them, and I wait until there’s a REALLY good sale going on. The variety is nearly endless.

[KateKat]

another Wellness user. Great food that is easy to get ahold of, and not super duper expensive (although it is more than Fancy Feast)

It doesn’t have flax seed in it, but if you’re feeding that for coat health/Omega 3, honestly since this is a cat, just give them fish oil. Or maybe toss a couple of sardines on top of the canned food at mealtime. You cat will probably love you even more for it

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=KateKat;5792873]
It doesn’t have flax seed in it, but if you’re feeding that for coat health/Omega 3[/QUOTE]

Also for added fiber… it works very well, thank goodness. Both me and the cat were getting fed up with her … er… problems.

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=JB;5792801]
Sign up for Pet Food Direct’s emails. I order nearly all my canned food from them, and I wait until there’s a REALLY good sale going on. The variety is nearly endless.[/QUOTE]

That’s a good idea. I like the variety part too.

[JB]

Yep you just have to wait for sales, then order a LOT. It’s a big hit of $$ at once, but you can save a good amt over the long haul.

The bigger cans are cheaper per ounce, for the most part, so do that if you can. I had been spending a couple hundred about once a year on the big cans, but it fed a boy-cat on all-wet (UTI issues) and the other 2 adults with a tsp/day of the canned along with their wet. I did my last order a few months ago and figured I was set for another year, but then we got kittens, and the surviving one was going through week period of a whole can a day :eek: because of being on pred, and now she’s down to about 1/2 can a day all by herself LOL

[Simkie]

@JB;5792944

The bigger cans are cheaper per ounce, for the most part, so do that if you can.

In this vein, the dog cans are often complete for cats, too–just check with the manufacturer to make sure. The only difference between the Before Grain dog cans and the cat cans is the inclusion of glycine in the cat cans. It’s there solely as a flavor enhancer. That’s very useful for me, as I have four cats to feed and they don’t make the cat cans in the big 13 oz version!

[Coyoteco]

[QUOTE=Simkie;5792960]
In this vein, the dog cans are often complete for cats, too–just check with the manufacturer to make sure. The only difference between the Before Grain dog cans and the cat cans is the inclusion of glycine in the cat cans. It’s there solely as a flavor enhancer. That’s very useful for me, as I have four cats to feed and they don’t make the cat cans in the big 13 oz version![/QUOTE]

My vet is adamant that we not feed dog food to cats. She is concerned about the taurine levels, so you need to check that, or supplement with taurine (and taurine seems to taste very bad according to my cats who have had to have the supplement).

[JB]

Yes, the taurine has always worried me in dog food being used as the sole source for kitties. But maybe there are certain brands or varieties that have enough for cats?

[Simkie]

@Coyoteco;5792995

My vet is adamant that we not feed dog food to cats. She is concerned about the taurine levels, so you need to check that, or supplement with taurine (and taurine seems to taste very bad according to my cats who have had to have the supplement).

Yes, that’s why I said that you will need to contact the manufacturer before proceeding.

I DID contact the Before Grain people, and they have confirmed that the dog cans are 100% complete for cats.

EVO is the same way, although it’s much less of an issue, since they do make the cat branded stuff in the large cans.

[JB]

Thanks Simkie, I will look into the BG food!

[Shiaway]

Fancy Feast has food coloring in it. That in and of itself is enough for me not to feed it to my cats. I will use it when I need to get them to eat–I have one cat who likes to go anorexic once in a while, get sick, won’t eat, needs to see the vet and get fluids and if they don’t have the prescription Royal Canin bland diet (canned one) which she loves, then I’ll go with fancy feast. Neither are good foods but it gets her to eat. Then I get her back on the evo.

Personally I wouldn’t use flax for kitties. I would go with fish oil for omega 3s. It’s more species appropriate. I’ve noticed a lot of cats don’t like pate form and that’s hard with the Evo canned because it’s pate.

Simkie thinks they have changed the formula but I know they haven’t. We could argue 'till the cows come home about it but I thought I should at least give you a second opinion. I’ve been feeding Evo 95% canned for years and have not seen any difference. Cats still doing great on it. No skin issues. I don’t feed dry though. Just the cans.

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=Shiaway;5793903]
Personally I wouldn’t use flax for kitties. I would go with fish oil for omega 3s. It’s more species appropriate. [/QUOTE]

You would if your cat had constipation issues! very common in older cats. It’s not much - just a small pinch in each bowl – but it helps a lot. I had already tried pumpkin and she wouldn’t consistently eat it. I allow her outside to eat grass but she just eats that when she’s starting to get uncomfortable. 99.5% of the time she’s inside so she can’t really graze at her leisure. In addition, the fish oil got the big thumbs down.

@Shiaway;5793903

Simkie thinks they have changed the formula but I know they haven’t. We could argue 'till the cows come home about it but I thought I should at least give you a second opinion. I’ve been feeding Evo 95% canned for years and have not seen any difference. Cats still doing great on it. No skin issues. I don’t feed dry though. Just the cans.

I’m wondering if there were batchs where the herring and/or herring oil wasn’t added. The food is supposed to have omega 3s.

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=JB;5792944]
I did my last order a few months ago and figured I was set for another year, but then we got kittens, and the surviving one was going through week period of a whole can a day :eek: because of being on pred, and now she’s down to about 1/2 can a day all by herself LOL[/QUOTE]

My JRT was on a few brief courses of pred after her back surgery, and it was a nightmare. She was so hungry!

[JB]

I know, it was just amazing. A little 4lb kitten was eating 12oz-ish of wet food a day :eek:

[Shiaway]

[QUOTE=grayarabpony;5794270]
You would if your cat had constipation issues! very common in older cats. It’s not much - just a small pinch in each bowl – but it helps a lot. I had already tried pumpkin and she wouldn’t consistently eat it. I allow her outside to eat grass but she just eats that when she’s starting to get uncomfortable. 99.5% of the time she’s inside so she can’t really graze at her leisure. In addition, the fish oil got the big thumbs down.

I’m wondering if there were batchs where the herring and/or herring oil wasn’t added. The food is supposed to have omega 3s.[/QUOTE]

I see. I thought you were feeding it just for the omega-3s. That’s actually not a bad idea at all and I think I may try it with my girls who get a bit constepated. Grass doesn’t really get digested and for my cats it just makes them puke. But the flax seed has that casing that turns into a sort of slimy coating much like psylium–or is it even the same thing? Do you soak it, grind it or feed them whole?

I don’t know if my cats will tolerate it–sensitive stomach and the other has IBD but I could give it a shot.

As for the dry food and the fish oil, I personally am skeptical about how much they really put on it. I imagine they have to spray it on afterward or the cooking process would just destroy it. But I don’t know how they put it on and keep it from going rancid. I know someone wrote a book about the fish oil going rancid on food and that you should never feed an open bag of dry food after 7 days–someone was telling me about this and saying she couldn’t find a natural food that didn’t have either fish or sunflower oil in it.

But personally, I think that if it was really going rancid that you’d see a lot more animals being sick from it. I know it does go bad quickly but I imagine the companies do something to make it not go rancid which makes me think heating it to a certain temperature which would pretty much negate its benefit anyway. But really that’s all just conjecture.

I think it’s best to just top dress with fish oil. Someone told me recently that cats who don’t like fish oil often like krill oil better. Might be worth a shot.

[JB]

yes, whole flax gets that mucous-y coating when it gets wet, which helps things move along ( as well as taking sand with it in horses). Very similar indeed to psyllium.

Many foods have mixed tocopherols as preservatives which helps keep things from going rancid sooner.

[grayarabpony]

[QUOTE=Shiaway;5794369]
But the flax seed has that casing that turns into a sort of slimy coating much like psylium–or is it even the same thing? Do you soak it, grind it or feed them whole? [/QUOTE]

Right now by default I’m feeding it ground because the feed store only had ground last time. She will eat unsoaked whole if I’m feeling too lazy to grind the whole when we have it and if memory serves the flax works well either way. I add a little water to the wet food and mix it together. I was surprised – she really likes it.

as an aside - Our flax seed is kept in our air-conditioned laundry room because we only have 2 horses and it takes a while for us to go through a 50lb bag of anything.

[grayarabpony]

Good news - all 3 cats like Wellness Chicken and Herring. Yay!