Looking for guidance on wet food

DB89014

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Hi all, I had been feeding my cat wellness canned wet food all along which worked out fine, however last year I adopted 3 more cats. Wellness is costly at about 50 dollars per case. I haven't been able to find a dry food they'll really eat to supplement the cans. I plan on continuing to feed them the wellness but try to add something else into their diet to make it a little more cost effective. Does anyone have suggestions on a lower priced but still decent quality canned food? And is this ok to do? I don't want to upset their stomachs. Should I always mix the new food with the old or is it ok to just give them the different food once they're adjusted? Thanks in advance any help is much appreciated.
 

StanAndAlf

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Though its not exactly quality, Fancy Feast is a good cheaper alternative to use in rotation with a better quality brand of wet food, as long as you avoid the fish flavours where you can. Once they are used to this brand you don't have to keep mixing it with your old brand. I use around 4-5 different brands for my cats and rotate through each brand (one day is Brand One, the next day is Brand Two and so on).

Also, I have just recently read that Wellness Core can cause kidney issues due to the high phosphorous, so just be careful.
 

Furballsmom

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Hi!
I rotate foods as well including Fancy Feast, partly for variety and partly for cost effectiveness, for my Big Fella.

The recommendation to introduce new food is by starting out with a small amount along with the regular food, then gradually increasing the new food and reducing the old food. The timing of the transition is dependent on the cat, and stomach upset might possibly occur anyway, but once they've adjusted you should be fine.

This might help CatFoodDB's Best Wet Cat Foods and there's also this Cat Food Deals Forum?
 

StanAndAlf

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you have a link to the article?
Just a common issue that has come up in a feline nutrition group I am in on Facebook, so I don't have any definite evidence unfortunately. It has also been discussed on TCS before I believe. I am just a little bit of a helicopter parent and so I avoid Wellness core and only feed Wellness complete from time to time to be safe. Not saying it's bad, just saying to be careful.
 

game misconduct

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Just a common issue that has come up in a feline nutrition group I am in on Facebook, so I don't have any definite evidence unfortunately. It has also been discussed on TCS before I believe. I am just a little bit of a helicopter parent and so I avoid Wellness core and only feed Wellness complete from time to time to be safe. Not saying it's bad, just saying to be careful.
:lol:no i am grateful for the warning gonna be back to trying to swap grsycie over to tiki food again
 
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DB89014

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Thank you all. Has anyone found a good dry food that a picky cat has liked?
 

lisahe

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I don't know what Wellness Core food(s) people might have been implicating as causing kidney issues -- dry, wet, what flavor, etc. -- but want to point out that there are lots of foods that carry a "Wellness Core" label. S StanAndAlf clearly noted a lack of "definitive evidence" but suggested caution... I agree on both counts (particularly since it would be hard to find definitive evidence) and want to point out that there are resources for checking phosphorus numbers in canned foods:

Tanya's site (dry matter basis, last updated 11/20; includes some raw foods!)
Catinfo.org (mg phosphorus/100 kcals, last updated 2017, so admittedly out of date since recipes often change... but still a possible starting point)
Weruva and Soulstic are two brands that have tons of nutrition data online (a lot of their foods are low in phosphorus)

Tanya's site shows a huge range of phosphorus values for various Core foods. Our cats used to love their kitten food, which has one of the highest values on the list, 4.72! But the "Tiny Taster" duck food we occasionally feed has a relatively low 1.19 dry matter figure.

Even better is to check with manufacturers for current phosphorus figurs. Tanya's site offers clear guidance on how to handle the numbers... well, as clear as anyone could, given how confusing it can be to sort through the data! I learned how to do that -- including how to make calculations based on manufacturer data -- when we had a kidney cat. FWIW, we feed our current cats (eight years old) a varied diet of almost exclusively wet foods (only small amounts of dry food for snacks and toppers) with varying phosphorus contents.
 

ladytimedramon

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While Delilah liked Wellness, I noticed her stools were looser and smellier. When I put her back on Sheba, no problem. For dry I use Crave indoor and she seems to be happy.

Only problem now is that there seems to be a Sheba shortage.
 
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DB89014

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Thanks all and that'll you lisahe for the resources I will definitely take a look at them
 

She's a witch

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If you’re on Facebook, I’d join Feline Nutrition group for they list of recommended canned food- they’re all low carbs and I really agree with it.
 

maggie101

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Hi all, I had been feeding my cat wellness canned wet food all along which worked out fine, however last year I adopted 3 more cats. Wellness is costly at about 50 dollars per case. I haven't been able to find a dry food they'll really eat to supplement the cans. I plan on continuing to feed them the wellness but try to add something else into their diet to make it a little more cost effective. Does anyone have suggestions on a lower priced but still decent quality canned food? And is this ok to do? I don't want to upset their stomachs. Should I always mix the new food with the old or is it ok to just give them the different food once they're adjusted? Thanks in advance any help is much appreciated.
Eventhough your cats do not ckd or lutd, I feed my cats weruva chicken Frick a zee and weruva paw licken chicken. First time my cat with crystals has done a long pee. Very high in moisture plus shredded meat helps their teeth. Wide variety
 

misty8723

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My vet told me it was okay to feed Fancy Feast Classics to Austin since he's not taking to the SO wet food. So I give him some of that, some of the SO morsels, and some SO dry food.

My vet also told me not to feed them Blue Buffalo (which I had done at one time) because she sees more cats some in with UTIs and crystals on that food than any other.
 

Java Lady

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I rotate canned food as well Oreo like Friskies chicken pate
 

Ash's_Devoted_Owner

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i just picked up a case too :shocked:
Yeah, I fed my cat Tiki Cat After Dark for a month or so, and he wasn’t a huge fan. A slow transition MIGHT work, but my cat definitely prefers Feline Natural Raw.

Hi all, I had been feeding my cat wellness canned wet food all along which worked out fine, however last year I adopted 3 more cats. Wellness is costly at about 50 dollars per case. I haven't been able to find a dry food they'll really eat to supplement the cans. I plan on continuing to feed them the wellness but try to add something else into their diet to make it a little more cost effective. Does anyone have suggestions on a lower priced but still decent quality canned food? And is this ok to do? I don't want to upset their stomachs. Should I always mix the new food with the old or is it ok to just give them the different food once they're adjusted? Thanks in advance any help is much appreciated.
For a more cost-friendly (but still high quality) wet food, I recommend Petco’s Wholehearted line. Fancy Feast I know is a popular choice, but I don’t feel comfortable feeding my cat something with ingredients like “liver” or “meat by-products” since unspecified animal meat typically indicates that the meat isn’t good quality—I guess you get what you pay for. As for transitioning the food, it is totally fine to give them the different food once they’ve adjusted. Remember when transitioning the food to not mix it. Try to separate the two different foods as much as possible.
 
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snowkitten

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My vet told me it was okay to feed Fancy Feast Classics to Austin since he's not taking to the SO wet food. So I give him some of that, some of the SO morsels, and some SO dry food.

My vet also told me not to feed them Blue Buffalo (which I had done at one time) because she sees more cats some in with UTIs and crystals on that food than any other.
Interesting.. my cousin feeds blue buffalo wet food to her 9 yr old rescue kitty who has constipation problems and he's been fine with it, however he did have a UTI last year that scared us , I wonder if it had anything to do with his food. I hope not bc it's been helping a ton with his stomach. But I will tell her this. Did your vet say anything about the blue buffalo dry food? I've been feeding my kitten their dry food and he's been doing well on it
 

klunick

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I don't feed Blue Buffalo but their new Tastefuls line says that it is moisture rich. Moisture helps to prevent crystals so maybe BB heard the criticism and is trying to fix it??
 

klunick

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Yeah, I fed my cat Tiki Cat After Dark for a month or so, and he wasn’t a huge fan. A slow transition MIGHT work, but my cat definitely prefers Feline Natural Raw.


For a more cost-friendly (but still high quality) wet food, I recommend Petco’s Wholehearted line. Fancy Feast I know is a popular choice, but I don’t feel comfortable feeding my cat something with ingredients like “liver” or “meat by-products” since unspecified animal meat typically indicates that the meat isn’t good quality—I guess you get what you pay for. As for transitioning the food, it is totally fine to give them the different food once they’ve adjusted. Remember when transitioning the food to not mix it. Try to separate the two different foods as much as possible.
Interesting because catfooddb.com rates that as "below average". A lot of posters on here consider it a pretty reliable source when choosing quality food.

  • The 65 reviewed wet foods scored on average 5.8 / 10 paws, making WholeHearted a below average wet cat food brand when compared against all other wet food manufacturer's products.
I have never tried that brand so I don't have any personal feedback. While I don't consider any website the "holy grail" on cat nutrition, I believe it's better to feed your cat what they will eat rather than spend money on "highly rated" foods and have it get snubbed.
 
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