Pate Or Pieces In Gravy?

Which does your cat prefer?

Our kitty tried pieces in gravy for the first time this morning (Nulo) and was not a fan. She ate maybe 1/3 of what she'd normally eat. So far she seems to prefer pate.

mine prefer shreds, such as Tiki cat, Fussie cat and Almo Nature. They also like small minced pieces, but if they are big bits they like them mashed up just a little with a fork. They are picky about their texture.

Mine will occasionally eat a bit of pate, but they are not fans of the texture. i have found if liver is in the top 4 ingredients they will eat a little pate.

My take on this, whatever your cat likes, try both, he/she will let you know. It's all personal preference in my opinion. To me it's like asking, "what kind of steak do you like"?

When I fed canned, mine preferred pâté. I tried them on shreds, but they licked up the gravy and picked away at the shreds before leaving them. So I find it kind of strange that now that I feed raw—a mixture of ground and chunks—they love the little pieces of chunked chicken!

Some shreds can be pureed in a mini-processor, though there's often no upside to that, particularly if you're looking to feed a cat a decent amount of low-carb calories. Lots (but certainly not all!) shred foods have thickeners for their "gravies" and "sauces" but those thickeners -- like tapioca, potato starch, and various gums -- can add empty carb calories to the cat's diet. That said, I continue to feed our cats an occasional can of Nutro Natural Choice minced chicken -- which turns out to have pretty high carbs because of the gums -- because it's such a favorite. *sigh*

My cats prefer pate and one also likes rehydrated raw. They like some shreds particularly if they're not too shredded and of an almost pate like consistency.

He eats both, I try to stick to the pate for his "three square meals" because it's healthier with less carbs.

He gets in gravy chunks or cuts as a once a day treat.

We found out the hard way that Starr hates pâté. Unfortunately, we ordered a big box of that from Ch*wy since it was the same brand as the cat food she usually eats. She's eating it, but afterwards she begs for crunchies before resigning herself to the pâté. She's a manx breed so she's real little and is suppose to be no more than 10lbs (I think..)

I feel bad for her but she really needs to not eat the crunchy stuff. On the other type of wet food, (the shreds) she also does that one "licking the gravy but leaving the chunks/shreds" thing that Tobermory said their cats do. Sigh.

Has anyone had any luck finding a grain free food that does not come in the pate?

As lisahe already said, most non-pate food has a bunch of stuff added that I would rather avoid.

Rini said:

Has anyone had any luck finding a grain free food that does not come in the pate?

As lisahe already said, most non-pate food has a bunch of stuff added that I would rather avoid.

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I'll try to remember that. I think we won't be buying that style of food anymore.
I'm also looking for grain free food. I doubt they sell any brand like that on Ch*wy though, which is where we buy our food in bulk.

Erin80 said:

Which does your cat prefer?

Our kitty tried pieces in gravy for the first time this morning (Nulo) and was not a fan. She ate maybe 1/3 of what she'd normally eat. So far she seems to prefer pate.

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My cats love the Pate. They eat the gravy around the "pieces", but leave all the pieces. They don't like shreds, either. Maybe, it's a matter of conditioning -- they only knew Pate until the Pieces & Shreds came out.

Textured food in gravy, sauce, etc tend to be mostly the liquid part with very little actual food. Pate food gives you more food for the money. It's fine if a cat prefers pate over texture

Rini said:

Has anyone had any luck finding a grain free food that does not come in the pate?
.

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There are plenty of textured food that are grain-free but may still contain some for of starch or something that thickens the gravy. Weruva, Tiki Cat, and Soulistic are three.

I guess she was just tentative since she'd never had it before, because she ended up eating the whole plate after a few min. I will try it again with her, Nulo is a good food.

LTS3 said:

There are plenty of textured food that are grain-free but may still contain some for of starch or something that thickens the gravy. Weruva, Tiki Cat, and Soulistic are three.

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Exactly! Nutro Natural Choice has a bunch, too, and lots of cats love them, though some (like our cats' beloved minced chicken) are fairly high in carbs. Merrick also has a lot, but I think many (most?) of those have peas.

Koha's duck stew is one of the best: it's thickened with fenugreek seeds and has no grains, starchy vegetables, or gums. I wish our cats liked it more consistently!

Thanks for the info!

My boy is addicted to the Fancy Feast Gravy Lover's Poultry Pack. He demands one can every night as a midnight snack. I will see if I can get him to eat Nutro Cuts in Gravy instead. They are more expensive but I will feel better about the lack of grain.

After 4 years of eating the gravy foods, I switched my cats over to pate. They are doing so well on it that I'm going to stick with it from now on. They seem heathier and have so much more energy.

Mine didn't care for shreds but loved the filets and bits versions of the SAME FLAVOR So, I took a paring knife and sliced and diced the shreds before I dumped it out of the can and, voila', problem solved, they ate it just fine.

Both of them do like the pate, in fact Leo (the 3 month old) seems to prefer pate or teeny tiny pieces over anything with big chunks. I try to do one pate meal and one bits per day for both kittens--balancing the calories per day. That's a little challenging with a 10 pound almost 11 month old and a 5 pound 3 and a half month old.

I try to feed the ferals mostly pates, especially in the winter where they need the extra calories (I only have four showing up for meals consistently, so I put a 13 oz can of wet food down in the morning and three 5.5 oz cans out for them at night with dry food available during the day--yes, they're spoiled).

Rini said:

Thanks for the info!

My boy is addicted to the Fancy Feast Gravy Lover's Poultry Pack. He demands one can every night as a midnight snack. I will see if I can get him to eat Nutro Cuts in Gravy instead. They are more expensive but I will feel better about the lack of grain.

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Yes, give Nutro a try: the gums do add carbs, but there's no potato or grains, plus many of their flavors are carrgeenan-free, too. They also tend to be caloric, which can be a nice plus.

Good luck!

Our cats love pate. We have tried several brands over the years because I want to have something healthy for them that does not make our cat Estella vomit. She seems to only be able to tolerate Frisky's. Crazy, I know, but it is what she can eat. They only get a spoon in the morning and another at night of wet food.

The preference is not universal. They will always eat their Nature's Variety Instinct pate, but not routinely pates in other brands. For those they like shreds in broth, chunks in gravy, or traditional chicken wings and fried chicken without the crust. *hangs head*
I gave them Nutro pate and they hated it. I gave them THE EXACT SAME NUTRO in chunks with gravy, and it was all raves.