Looking for recommendations. I’m starting to get a bit more educated about proper nutrition for cats and I want to switch over to a better brand of wet food.
My cats currently get fancy feast, Iams “pure”?, Healthdiet, and sometimes I even give them some human-grade canned turkey or chicken flakes.
Some of the expensive brands seem to have a lot of fruits and vegetables added, but now I understand that’s not what cats should be eating.
What do your cats eat?
I think fancy feast classic chicken is fairly decent considering the price of it versus some of the more expensive stuff. Also a cat vet friend of mine always recommends friskies pate for the budget minded. It does have rice, but it is low on the list of ingredients and its by far the best option for those who are budget minded.
Mine get a mix of raw rabbit/chicken in the AM dry TOTW (grain free)/friskies pate in the PM. That’s partly because raw food is expensive - the three of them get a half pound/day and I do not feel like paying for a pound/day (2 Maine Coons and 1 normal size cat is like feeding 5) and partly because if anything ever happens that they can’t get raw, either due to being boarded, lack of availability, whatever, they are perfectly happy with a regularly available commercial food.
And actually this works really well for my petsitter when I am out of town. She feeds the can+dry at night and puts out frozen rabbit chunks at the same time - they won’t touch that until it gets to room temp (around breakfast), so they get two meals a day and only one visit. Win!
Mine eat a combo of Earthborn Holistics and Natural Balance. We’ve tried other varities, but these are the “favorites” that don’t seem to cause any tummy trouble between the 4 cats. Of these 2 brands, there are flavors with no fruits/veggies. Another option would be Best Friends Forever which the cats loved and also tolerated well. All are grain free and mid-priced brands that won’t break the bank.
http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/us/cat_formulas/
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/product-category.aspx?ProductCategoryID=6&category=Cat+Canned+Formulas
http://www.bestfriendsfoods.com/
I feed canned Friskies. I’ve heard it’s one of the better foods for the price. I’ve tried some of the more expensive grain-free brands, but my cats won’t eat those!
My cat will only eat fancy Feast, and only the ‘grilled’ option, he will starve himself until I offer him the FF, I’ve tried the better and more expensive options, he absolutely will not eat it. I even tried cooking chicken since he won’t eat it raw, but nope, he won’t have anything to do with it.
In fact he will flip the bowl off of ‘his’ table and onto the floor if it’s not what he wants.
He is however healthy, shiny, and active on the FF. So at (in my area) $0.54 per can, he gets FF.
I feed a mix of raw and canned. Raw is a commercial prepared food (RadCat) and I add 1/2 can for each cat (total 2) of Fancy Feast Classic…either the chicken, salmon or seafood. The FF Classic has no grain/gluten, no carrageean and NO vegetables. I would rather feed some meat by-products than vegetables (to a cat). Sometimes I buy the “good stuff” when I get their raw. I like (and they will eat:lol:) Weruva, Hound and Gatos chicken or BFF (tuna and chicken or tuna and salmon). They don’t get these all the time but suck them right down. Again, no veggies or carrageean in any of these.
I refuse to pay premium prices for any cat food that has vegetables.
Susan
I WAS feeding By Nature–awesome ingredient list and pricing–but they had issues with finding someone to manufacture it (common problem lately??) and are now changing their whole line up 
Had the same issue with Hound & Gatos.
So, it’s Wild Calling for 3 of the four and Weruva, Tiki Cat and some Soulistic for Juliet.
Canidae grain-free wet
Weruva makes a high quality grain free canned cat food. My dog and cat like the Paw Lickin Chicken. They have one for cats and one for dogs.
My picky eater turns her nose up at anything but Fancy Feast (has to be in gravy, too!). Her brother will eat anything that sits still long enough, but I feed them both Fancy Feast for simplicity’s sake.
It’s not the best out there, but it’s certainly not the worst. And I do enjoy the price!
yankee, sharing because I feel like it’s pretty comparable to Weruva chicken–
Look at the Soulistic “Good Karma” pouch:
http://www.soulisticpet.com/pouches.php
It’s got a similar ingredient list (tapioca instead of potato starch) and a slightly higher kcal/serving.
I turned it up because it’s got lower phos/sodium, which my kidney cat needs. Available at PetCo (always nice to have an option at a big box store) although a lot cheaper if you autoship from the website.
I’d never heard of the brand, but ran across it in a food table on a CRF website.
For those that feed the fancy feast (or friskies) version that is not “classic” or “pate”, that is significantly different (wheat, gluten, etc.) than the versions recommended (classic and pate).
Anytime a cat food has gravy or chunks, it generally requires wheat, gluten to hold the shape, make the gravy, etc.
(just a PSA - a lot of times people hear that friskies/fancy feast recommended as budget options and do not realize that there is a specific version of the humpty bjillion varieties that is being recomended)
If you do want to transition your cat over to one of the recommended varieties, it is a long process, but this site has some good advice (just substitute the canned food for raw)
http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/how-to-transition-your-cat-to-a-raw-diet
I’ve been experimenting too - but my problem is that I have a cat that is allergic to chicken. <sigh> I finally got them on a dry food that they like, and doesn’t have a bit of chicken in it. So, onto the wet food. What is it with cat food companies putting chicken in every single thing?! Grrrr! Even Taste of the Wild’s one canned formula has it! They all seem to agree that Fancy Feast is a GREAT thing to eat, so one day I spent about 30 minutes in the cat food aisle reading all the FF labels…and made a list of the ones that would be okay.
so if you have a new kitty who is on dry-only how do you even begin to figure out what wet food to try???
my head is spinning with all the choices!
[QUOTE=Grace67;8043419]
so if you have a new kitty who is on dry-only how do you even begin to figure out what wet food to try???
my head is spinning with all the choices![/QUOTE]
Buy one little can of everything.
Make a chart of what they eat and what they won’t.
Feed whatever they don’t eat to your chickens (See chicken enabling threads).
Buy more of what they will eat.
^^exactly.
I wish it was easier, but it’s really not. And because they are cats, and cats are jerks, expect that this week’s favorite may one day be completely unacceptable to them. No rhyme or reason to it. :lol:
My cats have been on EVO chicken wet food for years and they are doing great. They also have a beef and I think a duck. I order from PetFoodDirect.com and they always have a coupon that’s enough to cover most or all the shipping. I think it’s a great food.
I used to feed a very expensive canned brand but then my horse came into my life and I had less discretionary money. They primarily eat a high quality grain free kibble and they get canned friskies as a treat each day. They seem to be doing just fine.
[QUOTE=jen-s;8043832]
^^exactly.
I wish it was easier, but it’s really not. And because they are cats, and cats are jerks, expect that this week’s favorite may one day be completely unacceptable to them. No rhyme or reason to it. :lol:[/QUOTE]
This meme sums it up perfectly: https://i0.wp.com/justsomething.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/cat-owner-14.jpg
I fed my Ragdoll Weruva, Evanger’s, and Precise Holistic Complete.
The weirdo wouldn’t touch anything with fish in it. What kind of cat doesn’t like fish?! :lol:
I feel so lucky that my cats generally eat what I put in front of them.
I think it helps that we have four.
I think it also helps that we don’t rotate flavors.
Feeding in crates, at set times, might also have something to do with it?
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
