Grain free wet food??

[Krienze]

I'm not sure if this would go here or in Cat SOS so I'm sorry if I posted it in the wrong place!

My 15 year old female (Isabel) has no teeth. She started losing them when she was about 4. The vet checked her and said most likely it was just her genes. She 'gums' hard food, but slowly. So she has to eat the wet food if I'm ever going to get her to eat as much as she should be. The other issue with her is that she has food allergies. If her food is not grain free, she seems to lose fur in patches. Right now, because of the lockdown, she's been eating a mixture of 4health (what she's been eating for years and does well on) and fancy feast which is not grain free, but I bought because I had read people talking about how it wasn't awful (it was also easy to buy at the store with everything sold out)
Our tractor supply is sold out of her wet food and to order it online is like almost a 20 dollar mark up on Amazon.
So I'm here, asking you guys, is there any safe wet food you'd recommend that I could find at a supermarket? I see Sheba wet food, but I'm unfamiliar with the brand.
I could wet her dry food down if I have to, but I'd really like to use that as a last resort as she HATES that.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Furballsmom]

Would this chart be of help?
Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

Oh by the way, check online; petco, petsmart and Only Natural Pet, as well as The Big Bad Woof and even ebay have online ordering capability.

 

[Krienze]

I don't know, honestly. I'm not sure -what- she's allergic to. The vet didn't want to poke and prod her because of her age (this allergy thing started when she was about 11ish) I'm going to look at it though!

Mostly I'm curious about sheba I think because that seems to be the only grain free wet food other than rachael ray's and i've heard poor things about that cat food (recalls I think?)

I'm so skittish when it comes to what food my cats eat because I'm paranoid >.<

EDIT: May I ask how I view the other tabs on that chart? =( I don't see an option

 

[Furballsmom]

May I ask how I view the other tabs on that chart?

I think they built in a sheet/tab on the lefthand side that explains how to move around.

 

[Krienze]

I think they built in a sheet/tab on the lefthand side that explains how to move around.

Oop! It's at the bottom. I found it. =) Thank you. Gonna peak at it now ^^

 

[Furballsmom]

I've been looking around TCS for you and saw a brand called Petite Cuisine - Target may have this one, or here
petite cuisine cat food | eBay

Anyway, about Sheba, it's not necessarily a bad food if you're ok with the synthetic vitamin K, and although I don't feed it because of that I do use their meaty sticks for treats

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Probably a dumb question, or something you have already tried, but have you tried soaking her dry food in water or maybe even some water from canned tuna or chicken?

 

[kittenmittens84]

Iams perfect portions are grain free, they sell them at my local supermarket and definitely at Target

 

[Krienze]

Hi. Probably a dumb question, or something you have already tried, but have you tried soaking her dry food in water or maybe even some water from canned tuna or chicken?

Yeah, I did try that =( I think for some reason maybe it's a texture thing for her.

Update: I DID manage to find the dry food brand of grain free in wet can form, so we got that since we know when we've had to buy it, she's always done well on the dry. So phew, crisis averted. Our stores seem to be serious about limiting things so I think it is calming people down, I didn't have problems buying anything, food or litter.

 

[Krienze]

Okay, so... crisis not averted.

She will not eat the wet food. Nor will my other cat, Sammy.

I'm afraid to sprinkle chicken broth on it to make it smell enticing, because I'm paranoid and I'm afraid maybe the -reason- they aren't eating it is because they sense something wrong with it?

So my question to you guys is: Should I put chicken broth on it... and see if she'll eat it, or should I just not push it?

I've always been hesitant with wet food because a friends cat had died from one of those recalls, I think with iams. So i'm trying to separate rationality and paranoia here x.x

 

[Furballsmom]

Maybe try adding some of that fancy feast to it? Or chicken broth or both... You could double check online, type in the name of the food recalls and it will give you the info.

 

[Krienze]

Maybe try adding some of that fancy feast to it? Or chicken broth or both... You could double check online, type in the name of the food recalls and it will give you the info.

Oof, in my paranoia, I didn't even think to do that. I just looked and it says they have never had any recalls and that it seems like the company takes it seriously, so >.< Maybe I will try and spice it up with some broth. I bought TWENTY cans, would hate to see them go to waste.

 

[IndyJones]

If your cat has food sensitivity I would not recommend anything with unspecified ingredients in it like fancy feast. Meat byproduct could literally be anything. Unlike chicken or beef byproduct which must come from a chicken or cow respectively.

 

[Krienze]

If your cat has food sensitivity I would not recommend anything with unspecified ingredients in it like fancy feast. Meat byproduct could literally be anything. Unlike chicken or beef byproduct which must come from a chicken or cow respectively.

Yeah, I learned that the hard way =( Fed her fancy feast and her tail started losing fur. It's why I tried to find grain free again. Seems to be the only thing that doesn't make her itch up

 

[SlightlyIvy]

If it helps, from what I've read, sometimes cats just don't like to try new things, until THEY want to try new things. It's a new smelling kind of food, and most conventional wet foods for cats have odds and extras to make them smell extra enticing. The healthier it is, the less odds and extras so they may be missing the nice smelling things found in the unhealthier foods. Try the chicken broth, and just leave it out-maybe sprinkle a few of her usual dry food bits on top to get her going.

Good luck! I know the paranoia can be hard to deal with, but companies have been getting a bit better about checking food quality.

 

[Bookworm Cat Mum]

I'm not sure if this would go here or in Cat SOS so I'm sorry if I posted it in the wrong place!

My 15 year old female (Isabel) has no teeth. She started losing them when she was about 4. The vet checked her and said most likely it was just her genes. She 'gums' hard food, but slowly. So she has to eat the wet food if I'm ever going to get her to eat as much as she should be. The other issue with her is that she has food allergies. If her food is not grain free, she seems to lose fur in patches. Right now, because of the lockdown, she's been eating a mixture of 4health (what she's been eating for years and does well on) and fancy feast which is not grain free, but I bought because I had read people talking about how it wasn't awful (it was also easy to buy at the store with everything sold out)
Our tractor supply is sold out of her wet food and to order it online is like almost a 20 dollar mark up on Amazon.
So I'm here, asking you guys, is there any safe wet food you'd recommend that I could find at a supermarket? I see Sheba wet food, but I'm unfamiliar with the brand.
I could wet her dry food down if I have to, but I'd really like to use that as a last resort as she HATES that.

Thanks in advance!

Where do you live? Purina has a series of grain free tinned cat food, which my cats love, and which I've picked up as emergency supplies from the supermarket when we've run low on catfood.

 

[Krienze]

Where do you live? Purina has a series of grain free tinned cat food, which my cats love, and which I've picked up as emergency supplies from the supermarket when we've run low on catfood.

I live in Louisiana. I didn't see any grain free Purina food at the store =( I looked, really all I saw was some dry food (which she can't have cause no teethies) and sheba/open nature for grain free. We bought open nature, since the other cats have always done okay on the dry food with it when we've had to buy it in a pinch but she seems to HATE the wet food. The only cat who will eat it is Jasper and I'm fairly sure he'd eat anything, so that's absolutely nothing to go off of.

So far I've had luck getting her to eat by either dressing it up with some chicken broth, or putting some actual chicken and rice in it and mixing it up. I wish I hadn't bought 20 cans of it, but I was thinking we'd be hunkering down for some time.

It's okay, though. I get paid on friday so I can just order her actual foods online, or order for pick up maybe -- and just save these cans for Jasper since he seems to like them (weird cat x.x)

 

[Willowy]

Fancy Feast pate flavors are grain-free.

You can order canned 4Health online and they'll ship it to the store for free.

 

[IndyJones]

Fancy Feast pate flavors are grain-free.

You can order canned 4Health online and they'll ship it to the store for free.

However fancy feast uses unspecified meat. This is not good for cats with food sensitivity.

 

[jen]

Many of the fancy feast and friskies classic pates are low to no carb. So essentially low to no grains. Also it is ok for cats with no teeth to eat dry. Many many do, most don't chew their kibble anyway and if that is all she can handle due to food sensitivities I wouldn't risk changing it. That being said, a fully dry diet is never ideal for cats so maybe try a limited ingredient canned food and start there. Problem is when you change foods they can get stomach upset, you won't really know for sure until the cat has been on a new food for a little awhile if it is working or not.