Good quality wet food recommendations?

hannahe01

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So I’ve been feeding my 2 yo cat fancy feast pate wet food for awhile now and also dry food (purina pro plan weight management) to munch on throughout the day. I’m slowly starting to change his feeding schedule and diet based on the recommendations of a behavior specialist but I don’t know what wet food to change to. She said the by products and ingredients in the fancy feast were subpar and could be contributing to the overgrooming which I thought was stress related but may be allergy related instead.
What high quality wet food do I feed my cat? So far she’s said not a good idea to feed royal canin or fancy feast. He prefers pate. Any recommendations??
 

FeebysOwner

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That's a tough one because most of the Fancy Feast pates have less 'junk' in them than many other canned cat foods. Can you tell us what by products and ingredients this person thought were subpar? That would go a long way in members being able to possibly identify other foods for you to try.
 
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hannahe01

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That's a tough one because most of the Fancy Feast pates have less 'junk' in them than many other canned cat foods. Can you tell us what by products and ingredients this person thought were subpar? That would go a long way in members being able to possibly identify other foods for you to try.
Most by products, and then corn, wheat, soy, and gluten according to her. She said the fancy feast has a lot of by-product. HOWEVER, because the overgrooming only happens on his legs and feet, I’m thinking the allergy may be contact and not necessarily food related so I’m going to keep him on this food for now because I just recently switched him, and try the platinum pro plan allergy supplement to mix in and see if that alleviates some of the issues. The overgrooming has been an occasional thing even when he was on different food. So I’m hoping the supplement helps.
 

Maurey

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Byproducts just mean offal and any organ meat — nothing harmful in that, and definitely part of a biologically appropriate diet. It *is* better when the tin specifies what kind of byproduct from what animal, but that’s rare with more budget brands. You do want to avoid grains, soy, sugars, and excessive fruits and veggies which contribute to high carb content. Carageenan/Agar Agar, and ideally guar gum should be avoided, as well.
If you can source it, Rawz is a good option for a limited ingredient diet. A couple others to consider are Cat Person, Koha, and Hounds and Gatos.

A couple other good brands are Ziwi Peak (expensive compared to other foods of similar quality) and Tiki Cat.
 

FeebysOwner

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Look up meat by products - they are not as bad as what is being portrayed to you. FF pates - at least all the ones I feed Feeby do not have corn, wheat, soy, or gluten in them. All of the other items that Maurey Maurey above mentioned are also not typically found in FF pates (except guar gum - the 'best' of gums that there is).
I think you are on the right track that this is some other sort of allergy. The occasional aspect of it suggests seasonal issues possibly - does he go outside at all? Perhaps, it is litter related?
 
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daftcat75

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Guar gum gets lumped in with the other gums because it has "gum" in its name. It's very difficult to find a pate-type food that doesn't use some kind of gum or thickener to keep it together, to hold the pate texture. Guar gum is perhaps the most benign of the gums and may actually be beneficial as a pre-biotic. If you have a food with guar gum and another using agar agar, I would choose the guar gum every time. The only bad rap I have seen about guar gum is a failed diet drug trial with quantities a cat would never consume.

I would look at eliminating the dry food first before switching up the wet. There's a lot more inflammatory ingredients and potential allergens in the dry food. You will have a much harder time figuring out and eliminating allergens with dry food in his diet than a single protein wet food with no grains, starches, fruits, and veggies. Like Fancy Feast pates.
 
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nanniecat

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So I’ve been feeding my 2 yo cat fancy feast pate wet food for awhile now and also dry food (purina pro plan weight management) to munch on throughout the day. I’m slowly starting to change his feeding schedule and diet based on the recommendations of a behavior specialist but I don’t know what wet food to change to. She said the by products and ingredients in the fancy feast were subpar and could be contributing to the overgrooming which I thought was stress related but may be allergy related instead.
What high quality wet food do I feed my cat? So far she’s said not a good idea to feed royal canin or fancy feast. He prefers pate. Any recommendations??
i am surprised about royal canin! it is considered a high quality food. my cat is on a hypoallergenic diet for 5 years now, and she has to have the "novel proteins" i found several but she enjoys purina pro plan focus duck entree. chicken,turkey,tuna,beef are not allowed! but nowadays u have lots of options! including kangaroo. did he see a vet?
 
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hannahe01

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i am surprised about royal canin! it is considered a high quality food. my cat is on a hypoallergenic diet for 5 years now, and she has to have the "novel proteins" i found several but she enjoys purina pro plan focus duck entree. chicken,turkey,tuna,beef are not allowed! but nowadays u have lots of options! including kangaroo. did he see a vet?
He’s not seen a vet regarding the allergies just because it’s a whole event to get him to the vet. He has to be “kitty drugged” and I don’t have the funds right now.
 
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hannahe01

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Look up meat by products - they are not as bad as what is being portrayed to you. FF pates - at least all the ones I feed Feeby do not have corn, wheat, soy, or gluten in them. All of the other items that Maurey Maurey above mentioned are also not typically found in FF pates (except guar gum - the 'best' of gums that there is).
I think you are on the right track that this is some other sort of allergy. The occasional aspect of it suggests seasonal issues possibly - does he go outside at all? Perhaps, it is litter related?
He doesn’t go outside although we do leave screen windows opened for him often. He’s on a hypo allergenic litter so I don’t think it’s that. It could be seasonal but the fact that it’s only on the legs makes me wonder if it’s contact. Maybe detergent related or even the litter box deoderizer. I’ll try the supplement and hopefully it helps. My friend is a vet tech and says usually stress related overgrooming isn’t specific to one spot and kinda happens all Over/on the stomach and back. She said she thinks it’s a contact allergy because it’s only on legs and occasionally paws
 
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hannahe01

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Guar gum gets lumped in with the other gums because it has "gum" in its name. It's very difficult to find a pate-type food that doesn't use some kind of gum or thickener to keep it together, to hold the pate texture. Guar gum is perhaps the most benign of the gums and may actually be beneficial as a pre-biotic. If you have a food with guar gum and another using agar agar, I would choose the guar gum every time. The only bad rap I have seen about guar gum is a failed diet drug trial with quantities a cat would never consume.

I would look at eliminating the dry food first before switching up the wet. There's a lot more inflammatory ingredients and potential allergens in the dry food. You will have a much harder time figuring out and eliminating allergens with dry food in his diet than a single protein wet food with no grains, starches, fruits, and veggies. Like Fancy Feast pates.
Gotcha! He definitely eats less dry food now that he’s on the wet. However to keep boredom at bay I like to use food puzzles with his dry since he’s not super toy motivated! He was on blue wilderness before. But the vet said he was a bit chunky (14 lbs) so I switched to hopefully get his weight down a bit.
 

daftcat75

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Gotcha! He definitely eats less dry food now that he’s on the wet. However to keep boredom at bay I like to use food puzzles with his dry since he’s not super toy motivated! He was on blue wilderness before. But the vet said he was a bit chunky (14 lbs) so I switched to hopefully get his weight down a bit.
Wet food is better for weight control. You can get timed feeders to feed daytime or overnight meals.
 

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Maybe detergent related or even the litter box deoderizer. I’ll try the supplement and hopefully it helps. My friend is a vet tech and says usually stress related overgrooming isn’t specific to one spot and kinda happens all Over/on the stomach and back. She said she thinks it’s a contact allergy because it’s only on legs and occasionally paws.
Totally agree - the contact angle is in, IMO, what to look into!
 

nanniecat

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Gotcha! He definitely eats less dry food now that he’s on the wet. However to keep boredom at bay I like to use food puzzles with his dry since he’s not super toy motivated! He was on blue wilderness before. But the vet said he was a bit chunky (14 lbs) so I switched to hopefully get his weight down a bit.
food puzzles r great. i would get unscented litter. some cats r sensitive. i have finally settled on boxiecat pro unscented. and we both like it. even in humans the experts say scent is a big prblem for allergies. if u worry abt the smell maybe some plain baking soda in the bottom of the litter box?
 

nanniecat

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He doesn’t go outside although we do leave screen windows opened for him often. He’s on a hypo allergenic litter so I don’t think it’s that. It could be seasonal but the fact that it’s only on the legs makes me wonder if it’s contact. Maybe detergent related or even the litter box deoderizer. I’ll try the supplement and hopefully it helps. My friend is a vet tech and says usually stress related overgrooming isn’t specific to one spot and kinda happens all Over/on the stomach and back. She said she thinks it’s a contact allergy because it’s only on legs and occasionally paws
supplement?
 

nanniecat

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wondering how your cat is doing? did u solve the problem?
 
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