Food Battle

furrypurry

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Apr 30, 2010
Messages
227
Purraise
173
A while back I was trying everything to get my two kibble addicts to eat wet food. I made the unfortunate mistake of giving them FISH because I wanted to tempt them into eating the canned food. They ate it, allright, and now they refuse to eat anything else. I have tried it all, believe me. Is there any magical thing I can do to get them off this fishy food? Has anyone ever tried putting fish oil into a different type of food? I'm running out of ideas and I don't feel good feeding them this fish all the time.
 

verna davies

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
23,619
Purraise
17,456
Location
Wales uk
Do they like cheese? If so you could grate a little cheese on top of the cat food you want them to eat.
 

maggiedemi

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
17,104
Purraise
44,385
Is it fish flavored canned cat food or people food? My cats don't like fish oil, so I doubt that would work, it doesn't really taste like fish.
 

cosmic cats

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Mar 23, 2017
Messages
24
Purraise
16
Hi Furrypurry,

I think its a good thing you are trying to introduce non dry food into your cat kid's diet as I feel dry is not great for kidneys, generally. I think its also good you are trying to find alternatives to all fish wet food given the mercury etc that can be in fish (I understand).

Have you considered / tried a bit of raw chicken breast from a reputable supplier (maybe lighting steamed if you are concerned abt possible bacteria/germs.) Of course its not a balanced meal as many (not all) tinned foods are but it might be "the missing link" to break their desire for fish.

ie as you wean off the fish, gradually introduce chicken and give it with balanced dry food (to ensure your cat kids still get all their required daily nutrients) - hopefully they will start eating the chicken and end up happy to have it, not the fish, with the dry food (still given for its daily nutrients.) Then you could perhaps gradually introduce different wet foods (maybe get some online if you have exhausted what's available locally ! and haven't tried online already?) and see how they go with the new recipes (though, and to be a broken record, you might need to continue with the dry food as you continue to experiment, to ensure you cat kids are getting all their daily nutrients - and in saying that, I'm assuming the dry food they get is balanced!)
And of course you might want to continue with some raw/steamed boneless chicken once you have found a new wet food(s).....I think, from memory (pls don't quote me on it!) raw chicken is good - in part, at least - due to the enzymes it provides.

Also... the fish tins/recipes might have hidden flavour enhancers in them which could make your cats crave it perhaps (flavour enhancers can be listed under various names which aren't always easy to recognisee as being a flavour enhancer in my experience.) But then these additives could be in non fish recipes too, unfortunately.

I recently went through a big learning curve re cat diets and was quite shocked at what I learnt...eg many cans are lined with BPA (some may be lined with BPS instead, for all I know) - and some people are questioning if BPA is linked to cat hyperthyroidism. I asked several companies re BPA and ended up on finding only one of those asked doesn't use BPA lined tins. I also learnt that at least one manufacturer I know of cooks their food in the tins, pouches (I had always assumed they would be cooked in pans and then added to the tins/pouches)- knowing that now, I don't buy their plastic pouch recipes anymore and only still buy the tins because they are one of best sounding (ie re additives) recipes around, (as far as I can tell anyhow.) I don't know if any other companies do this also, though.

In the end, I found a handful of products and combined they give my cat kid a balanced diet. Its a bit boring for her but after my research, I prefer she has this diet now.

Best of luck with establishing a new diet incorporating wet food, I think its wonderful you are going to the trouble to do so

Cosmic Cats
 

vyger

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jun 24, 2017
Messages
810
Purraise
1,434
Location
Northeast Montana
We had a discussion about making wet food affordable a short time ago. The discussion is here:
How Can I Make Wet Food Affordable?

In that discussion I mention making your own "wet" food by running dry food through a food processor and chopping it into fine pieces and then adding water and other flavor enhancers. You could do the same process here and add in fish so its roughly blended into the mix. If the pieces are too big the cats will pick it out and leave the rest. But blended in they might just be ok with it and using this method you can gradually change the mix with out them objecting.
 

tarasgirl06

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
Messages
24,708
Purraise
64,891
Location
Glendale, CATifornia
A while back I was trying everything to get my two kibble addicts to eat wet food. I made the unfortunate mistake of giving them FISH because I wanted to tempt them into eating the canned food. They ate it, allright, and now they refuse to eat anything else. I have tried it all, believe me. Is there any magical thing I can do to get them off this fishy food? Has anyone ever tried putting fish oil into a different type of food? I'm running out of ideas and I don't feel good feeding them this fish all the time.
Cats being domestic and in a controlled environment have to eat what you provide them. Never let them go hungry, because that can cause health issues; but provide a varied diet for them and be firm about it. My three get poultry or meat twice a day and a seafood blend once a day -- all high-quality wet food -- and have chicken formula high-quality dry free-choice for a snack. There are a lot of toppings available to put on foods to encourage cats to eat -- bonito flakes or powder are quite popular and are available widely. There are also freeze-dried shrimp, chicken, salmon, etc., bites you can put on the food, and gravies as well. I buy all of my cat supplies through DrsFosterSmith.com -- you might want to see their varied offerings, which can be delivered to your door free of shipping charges if you order over a certain small amount. There are other such services as well, and the "big box" 'pet' supply places all have these types of toppings.
 

Mama to the crew

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Oct 5, 2017
Messages
139
Purraise
82
Location
Ohio
I'd try rotating the fish food with another type ever other day or meals how ever you feed. In the beginning I had free feeding hard food with wet morning and night but it's one flavor one day and another the next.
 

maggie101

3 cats
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 20, 2014
Messages
7,883
Purraise
9,880
Location
Houston,TX
A while back I was trying everything to get my two kibble addicts to eat wet food. I made the unfortunate mistake of giving them FISH because I wanted to tempt them into eating the canned food. They ate it, allright, and now they refuse to eat anything else. I have tried it all, believe me. Is there any magical thing I can do to get them off this fishy food? Has anyone ever tried putting fish oil into a different type of food? I'm running out of ideas and I don't feel good feeding them this fish all the time.
My cat used to only eat Wellness Core canned chicken. She would not switch to Wellness Patte til I started mixing it in her food. Now she loves it. Saving me money
 

laura mae

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
494
Purraise
267
You could try getting a small bag of bonito flakes and sprinkling a bit on top of non-fish food as a way to transition them from fish, to fish-topper and then maybe they'll eat the non-fish food.
 

kommunity kats

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Sep 22, 2016
Messages
172
Purraise
114
I assume you've tried slowly introducing the new food into the old food & mixing them together . . . very gradually raising the amount of new & lessening the amount of the old food, as the cat gets used to the new . . . ? You might need to start with just a teaspoon of the new in the food, until she has accepted it well.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
10,061
Purraise
10,250
F furrypurry how is your struggle with the cat food going?

Have you tried making the fishy food less appealing while making any new canned food(s) more appealing?

I would do this by surrounding the fishy food in a dish with another food (or product) that they cannot stand. Do this while setting out a second dish of your preferred canned food which you'd like them to eat about 2-3 feet away from that. Put just a teensy bit of their dry kibble pieces near the new canned food, to entice them there. In other words, you are making the FISH food a confusion of smells, mixing up the fish smells with weird smells that they might be averse to, while also presenting the new canned food alongside just a smidgeon of their yummy dry food. After they gobble the small bit of dry food, there's a good chance they might at least try the new canned food, since their other option smells super strange.
 
Top