help need food suggestions

[msserena]

I have spent countless hours researching & learning about cat nutrition. After my 17 yr old girl died of kidney failure, I knew when I got more kitties, I was going to not feed dry & to feed a low carb food. They have grown up on NV Instinct & when they started getting fat I switched them to Soulistic, Weruva, Fussie Cat & Tiki Cat. They were on those for many years but as they're now getting older, I figured a lower phosphorus diet might be best, so I then switched to Weruva & they have been on that now to current. I only feed fish about once a week.

As Weruva is hitting me in my bank account, I am at a loss as to what to even feed my kitties anymore. I have a picky eater & actually have a spreadsheet of all the foods I've tried. It's too hard for me to feed different foods so I'm trying to find something they can all eat. I have lines I won't cross, I won't feed fish every day & I won't feed with a 3oz can or a pouch. What I find disturbing is Weruva & Tiki have practically the majority of their lines full of fish. I know if my cats eat fish like a whole day's worth, they'll get diarrhea. I would be curious if anyone lets their cat eats fish every meal.

SO please I know there are a lot of people on here that have a good sense of nutrition, what do you feed your kitty?

 

[ladytimedramon]

I have the same issue with fish and diarrhea with mine. I can't even give her once a week because her stools are looser. I tried giving her Wellness but there is fish and her tummy didn't do well. Right now I'm using Fancy Feast. I know it's not the best, but with 2 cats it works better pricewise. It doesn't bother their tummies (unless there is fish), and it's more readily available. Last year when we had the big winter storm in Texas, the only foods on the shelves were Fancy Feast and Friskies and Fancy Feast is better than Friskies. I had to stop Sheba because of supply issues (and Delilah got tired of just Turkey or Chicken - only other flavors available are fish).

 

[msserena]

I have the same issue with fish and diarrhea with mine. I can't even give her once a week because her stools are looser. I tried giving her Wellness but there is fish and her tummy didn't do well. Right now I'm using Fancy Feast. I know it's not the best, but with 2 cats it works better pricewise. It doesn't bother their tummies (unless there is fish), and it's more readily available. Last year when we had the big winter storm in Texas, the only foods on the shelves were Fancy Feast and Friskies and Fancy Feast is better than Friskies. I had to stop Sheba because of supply issues (and Delilah got tired of just Turkey or Chicken - only other flavors available are fish).

Huh nice to hear my kitties aren't the only ones with fish issues! I've looked into FF before, there are definitely worse brands out there. I just wish they'd make a bigger can size, feeding 3 on a tiny little 2.5 or 3oz can is actually more expensive then buying a 10oz or a 5.5

 

[Babypinkweeb]

Huh nice to hear my kitties aren't the only ones with fish issues! I've looked into FF before, there are definitely worse brands out there. I just wish they'd make a bigger can size, feeding 3 on a tiny little 2.5 or 3oz can is actually more expensive then buying a 10oz or a 5.5

Depending on what you compare it to, FF is definitely cheaper by a lot. I keep a small note with foods I can accept for my cat ranking based on dollar/calorie. Their normal food (Rawz, no gums, low carb) is about $0.013/calorie, while the flavor of FF I can accept is about $0.006/calorie. Basically half as expensive even if they only sell the tiny cans. If money is a problem, try to mix up a cheaper food with a good food. The only tiki cat I would consider worth feeding is the pukapuka chicken which is more expensive than the Rawz (after dark is just way too expensive $0.023/cal). I only buy the puka puka when I have big coupon for them. Some freeze dried food can also be cheaper than most assume, such as the Stella and Chewy goose goose duck option which is about the same $/cal as the Rawz I feed. I don't feed fish ever, and now transitioning to no chicken as one of my cats seem to be sensitive to it.

 

[msserena]

Depending on what you compare it to, FF is definitely cheaper by a lot. I keep a small note with foods I can accept for my cat ranking based on dollar/calorie. Their normal food (Rawz, no gums, low carb) is about $0.013/calorie, while the flavor of FF I can accept is about $0.006/calorie. Basically half as expensive even if they only sell the tiny cans. If money is a problem, try to mix up a cheaper food with a good food. The only tiki cat I would consider worth feeding is the pukapuka chicken which is more expensive than the Rawz (after dark is just way too expensive $0.023/cal). I only buy the puka puka when I have big coupon for them. Some freeze dried food can also be cheaper than most assume, such as the Stella and Chewy goose goose duck option which is about the same $/cal as the Rawz I feed. I don't feed fish ever, and now transitioning to no chicken as one of my cats seem to be sensitive to it.

Yeah RAWZ is on my list to see if my picky eater will like it but the pet stores where I am now don't carry it. I will be moving in a couple of months & then will be able to purchase it. How did you know or find out your cat was sensitive to chicken?

 

[Babypinkweeb]

Yeah RAWZ is on my list to see if my picky eater will like it but the pet stores where I am now don't carry it. I will be moving in a couple of months & then will be able to purchase it. How did you know or find out your cat was sensitive to chicken?

If you get Rawz the pate cans with 96% on the labels is what I would suggest, some of their other foods are iffy.

My older cat ate low quality kibble for most of his life until I learned about cat nutrition. I eventually got him on the best kibble imo (Dr. Elsey chicken) but he has occasional digestive issues related to it. He would have frequent hair ball vomits and soft stool that would require me to wipe his butt hair every time. Vet has run many tests and he is very healthy. I read a few posts on here that say some cats might have trouble adjusting to high protein dry food diet if they've only had high carb food for a long time. If they are sensitive to a protein in the food, I'd imagine a higher/purer portion would trigger them more. Even tho his old cheap food had chicken it wasn't high on the list. I've done some trials with a rabbit only dry food that has some carbs and his poop firmed up almost immediately. I don't know if he 100% has chicken issue but kind of just trial and error.

Edit: this is my older cat, my younger one gets the wet foods I mentioned. I'm not sure if feeding wet would be similar to dry since dry can causes bigger reactions in sensitive cats. I've stopped feeding chicken to both as the older one does sneak a few licks of the younger's food.

 

[msserena]

If you get Rawz the pate cans with 96% on the labels is what I would suggest, some of their other foods are iffy.

My older cat ate low quality kibble for most of his life until I learned about cat nutrition. I eventually got him on the best kibble imo (Dr. Elsey chicken) but he has occasional digestive issues related to it. He would have frequent hair ball vomits and soft stool that would require me to wipe his butt hair every time. Vet has run many tests and he is very healthy. I read a few posts on here that say some cats might have trouble adjusting to high protein dry food diet if they've only had high carb food for a long time. If they are sensitive to a protein in the food, I'd imagine a higher/purer portion would trigger them more. Even tho his old cheap food had chicken it wasn't high on the list. I've done some trials with a rabbit only dry food that has some carbs and his poop firmed up almost immediately. I don't know if he 100% has chicken issue but kind of just trial and error.

Edit: this is my older cat, my younger one gets the wet foods I mentioned. I'm not sure if feeding wet would be similar to dry since dry can causes bigger reactions in sensitive cats. I've stopped feeding chicken to both as the older one does sneak a few licks of the younger's food.

Huh if you've researched nutrition before, I'm surprised to hear you're even feeding dry food. Especially to a male! Well that's good that he's healthy now.

Young Again makes a zero carb dry, I bought a bag of that & my cats loved it, I only gave it to them as a treat, I won't feed a steady diet of dry now that I've been through kidney failure. Ziwipeak also has a air dried food that my cats just love but it's just too pricey to feed it to them other then a treat.

 

[Babypinkweeb]

Huh if you've researched nutrition before, I'm surprised to hear you're even feeding dry food. Especially to a male! Well that's good that he's healthy now.

Young Again makes a zero carb dry, I bought a bag of that & my cats loved it, I only gave it to them as a treat, I won't feed a steady diet of dry now that I've been through kidney failure. Ziwipeak also has a air dried food that my cats just love but it's just too pricey to feed it to them other then a treat.

I didn't wanna explain this on every post I make that brings my older boy up but he almost died during a half year long slow transition to wet food. If you really wanna know you can read thru my past posts long story short he made it clear he'd rather starve and drop 2lbs in a month than eat wet anymore. I'd rather have an alive dry eater than a dead cat, and vet agreed after I had to take him in almost weekly due to him just starving himself. Besides he loooooves to drink water that the vet was even impressed he was hydrated well during his vomiting/diarrhea episode. He didn't have any health concerns for 10 years until I started trying to give him better food, ironically... Thankfully my younger cat will eat anything so I got him on a diet of Rawz and freeze dried raw.

My kibble boy won't eat the jerky kinds, and the low carb kibbles usually have chicken or don't agree with his poop. Trust me I've tried so hard to find good options for him and only recently ended up resigning to a chicken free dry food that's as good as I can find.

 

[msserena]

I didn't wanna explain this on every post I make that brings my older boy up but he almost died during a half year long slow transition to wet food. If you really wanna know you can read thru my past posts long story short he made it clear he'd rather starve and drop 2lbs in a month than eat wet anymore. I'd rather have an alive dry eater than a dead cat, and vet agreed after I had to take him in almost weekly due to him just starving himself. Besides he loooooves to drink water that the vet was even impressed he was hydrated well during his vomiting/diarrhea episode. He didn't have any health concerns for 10 years until I started trying to give him better food, ironically... Thankfully my younger cat will eat anything so I got him on a diet of Rawz and freeze dried raw.

My kibble boy won't eat the jerky kinds, and the low carb kibbles usually have chicken or don't agree with his poop. Trust me I've tried so hard to find good options for him and only recently ended up resigning to a chicken free dry food that's as good as I can find.

wow that's crazy, I usually hear the opposite. Well I'm glad he's well & I kind of have that same mentality, whatever it takes to keep weight on em & happy!