Looking for guidance on wet food

misty8723

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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
I'm guessing the wet would be better than the dry, because any wet is better than dry. I used to feed Blue Buffalo to my RB kitties for awhile and they didn't have UTIs, but they had a lot of other health problems. Not necessarily related because I didn't fee them that exclusively, and not for that long. I'm guessing a lot of it is with the individual cat and how they respond to the food.

This conversation with my vet happened when we were considering adopting Austin, who had been returned to the rescue because he was peeing outside the box. So rather than take him the vet, they took him back. Their loss. Turned out he had a UTI, and then developed crystals. We were concerned, so before we finalized the adoption we went to talk it over with the vet. She indicated that it's possible he didn't even have crystals because sometimes it's misdiagnosed. I can't remember the reasons she gave for that. She suggested it would be fine if we adopted him (it has been, so far no UTIs) and suggested we feed him SO food. I've never been happy with the ingredients in the prescription food, but we've been feeding him canned in morsels (because he stopped eating the pate) and dry. She also said Fancy Feast classics are good, so he gets those too. She related a story of a cat she was treating and couldn't get the UTI to clear, I guess she was just ready to do surgery, when the owner started feeding Fancy Feast and it cleared up.

This vet does know about food and it's a cat only clinic. She always asks what my cats are getting, and she'll calculate the calories so I know how much they should eat, and she'll explain what is okay and what isn't. Somewhere in the conversation, she mentioned not to feed Blue Buffalo because she has treated more cats with UTIs on that food than any other food. I believe she had some scientific study to back it up. It's been several years, so I don't recall. I didn't bring up Blue Buffalo, by the way, she just volunteered it.

As for stomach issues, Cricket had problems, and the vet recommend the Royal Canin sensitive stomach with fiber and she's been doing really well on it. I have a hard time getting her to eat wet anything, but she will eat a couple flavors of Weruva so she gets that and the dry.

Sometimes we just have to give our kitties what they will eat and what we can afford.
 

misty8723

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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.
My vet told me Fancy Feast Classics are a perfectly good food and okay to give my cat who had a UTI issue once (before we adopted him). We feed him the chicken and liver and chicken pate, rotating with Royal Canin morsels in gravy (because he stopped eating the Pate). He also gets dry Royal Canin SO.

My RB kitties used to get a variety of brands and flavors, but for now I'm sticking to what works.
 

Heart For Cats

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Thank you all. Has anyone found a good dry food that a picky cat has liked?
There is no such thing as a good dry cat food in your budget. You would have to buy freeze-dried raw, which is very expensive. You can order Mike's favorite wet food on Chewy or Amazon using the autoship plan, which reduces your cat food expenses by up to 15% on each order. And I have never seen Wellness cat food cost close to $50 in any flavor.
 

chelsmarie

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Has anyone had luck with Purina One pates? They have pretty above average rankings on Catfooddb, even better than some Wellness and other premium brands… I’ve given my cat a sample to try and she really likes it. She actually hated the Wellness and Weruva brands. A brief perusing of past threads shows that many dislike Purina. Anyone have experience?

CatFoodDB - Purina ONE Cat Food Reviews
 

Heart For Cats

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Has anyone had luck with Purina One pates? They have pretty above average rankings on Catfooddb, even better than some Wellness and other premium brands. I’ve given my cat a sample to try and she really likes it. She actually hated the Wellness and Weruva brands. A brief perusing of past threads shows that many dislike Purina. Anyone have experience?

CatFoodDB - Purina ONE Cat Food Reviews
I would stay away from everything made by Purina if your cat is willing to eat a good quality brand. It is the opposite of premium.

My cats liked Blue Buffalo.
 

chelsmarie

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I would stay away from everything made by Purina if your cat is willing to eat a good quality brand. It is the opposite of premium.

My cats liked Blue Buffalo.
Thanks for replying. Any particular reason? Not being snarky, just curious since Purina One has mostly positive reviews. Upon doing research, there seem to be awful things to say about most brands of cat food, including Blue Buffalo.
 

Heart For Cats

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Thanks for replying. Any particular reason? Not being snarky, just curious since Purina One has mostly positive reviews. Upon doing research, there seem to be awful things to say about most brands of cat food, including Blue Buffalo.
Pet food reviewers often base their ratings on the cat's taste buds. Many people do not understand that the most important thing is the ingredients list, which unfortunately is always written in a size 2 font.

There is something awful about most pet foods, but I have done enough research to figure out Purina is one of the worst pet food companies. Not the worst - there is one company that makes vegan pet food labeled for cats. But if you study feline nutrition, the difference is clear: regardless of their faults, Blue Buffalo and Wellness are much healthier than Purina.
 

chelsmarie

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I’m not sure this forum is for me. There is a lot of useful information, but also a lot of posters spreading worry and false narrative because they have “studied cat nutrition” or they want to blame something for their cat’s illness or demise. My cat is happy and healthy and that’s all that matters to me. I’m not going to worry myself to death that commercial cat food is poison. Thousands of cats eat Fancy Feast and live to ripe old ages. If you want to feed your cat “premium” that’s fine too, but this superior attitude that some have about cat brands with no real backing other than what they’ve read on the internet I feel is dangerous.
 

Heart For Cats

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I’m not sure this forum is for me. There is a lot of useful information, but also a lot of posters spreading worry and false narrative because they have “studied cat nutrition” or they want to blame something for their cat’s illness or demise. My cat is happy and healthy and that’s all that matters to me. I’m not going to worry myself to death that commercial cat food is poison. Thousands of cats eat Fancy Feast and live to ripe old ages. If you want to feed your cat “premium” that’s fine too, but this superior attitude that some have about cat brands with no real backing other than what they’ve read on the internet I feel is dangerous.
I am here to help people. If you do not like my advice, you are free to ignore it. But I am not going to stop telling the truth about what all cats eat and how their diets cause problems. In my feline nutrition research, I learned most veterinary colleges do not teach the subject at all. So we have to learn which cat foods are good and bad in books and online, not by asking them. That is just the reality of it.
 

klunick

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I’m not sure this forum is for me. There is a lot of useful information, but also a lot of posters spreading worry and false narrative because they have “studied cat nutrition” or they want to blame something for their cat’s illness or demise. My cat is happy and healthy and that’s all that matters to me. I’m not going to worry myself to death that commercial cat food is poison. Thousands of cats eat Fancy Feast and live to ripe old ages. If you want to feed your cat “premium” that’s fine too, but this superior attitude that some have about cat brands with no real backing other than what they’ve read on the internet I feel is dangerous.
People give their opinions on here and what works for their cats. Some are more "book" smart and others are "fly by the seat of their pants". You just have to find your people. I tried to be the "perfect" cat parents with Boone and Gracie because I had guilt about some things with prior cats.

I listened to the "research" people and tried to follow because " they knew more than me". It didn't work for Boone and Gracie. They didn't want to eat more than 2 wet meals per day. They didn't like the "better" brands of wet food. They wouldn't eat the food that didn't have "bad stuff" stuff in it.

Listen to what everyone says and take pieces of what works for your cats. Try stuff that is suggested and if it works out, great! If not, try something else. What is most important is that you are trying your best for your cats. Will some people on here fault you if you feed some dry food? Yes. Will some people on here congratulate you that you finally found a dry food that your cats will actually eat? Yes!!

I hope you stick around because we all learn fron each other on here and even if some criticizes what you are doing, it's only because they want the best for your cats. Your only goal is to find food that your cats will eat and won't cause problems. Whether it's premium wet food, cheap wet food, or something in the middle with a little dry food on the side, it doesn't matter to 99.999% of the people on here. We just want to celebrate having happy and healthy cats on here.
 

Heart For Cats

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I listened to the "research" people and tried to follow because "they knew more than me." It didn't work for Boone and Gracie. They didn't want to eat more than 2 wet meals per day. They didn't like the "better" brands of wet food. They wouldn't eat the food that didn't have "bad stuff" in it.
I think most of us have had this problem. Except for newborn kittens, who of course do not eat anything, every cat will reject something a pet parent tries. After my first cat died at age 12, however, I thought if I had known wet food is far superior to kibbles in 1994, maybe she would have liked it and lived longer before her kidneys shut down. My last cat's vet told me feeding her wet food every day from a young age is important to make sure she will be willing to eat it when she medically needs an all-wet diet. That is why I keep pressuring people to stop feeding cats dry food unless they are unwilling to eat anything else - it comes straight out of my own vet's mouth.
 

klunick

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I think most of us have had this problem. Except for newborn kittens, who of course do not eat anything, every cat will reject something a pet parent tries. After my first cat died at age 12, however, I thought if I had known wet food is far superior to kibbles in 1994, maybe she would have liked it and lived longer before her kidneys shut down. My last cat's vet told me feeding her wet food every day from a young age is important to make sure she will be willing to eat it when she medically needs an all-wet diet. That is why I keep pressuring people to stop feeding cats dry food unless they are unwilling to eat anything else - it comes straight out of my own vet's mouth.
That is part of my guilt from my previous cats. I had no idea that wet food was so important and when they rejected the wet food I first gave them, I just quit and fed them dry food only until they passed at 16. Male had reoccurring crystals and such dry stool that he could get severe constipation. Female had kidney issues at the end.

I have fed Boone and Gracie wet food from day 1 and finally found a food brand that they love and have enough variety. I do have a bowl of dry out ( 1/2 cup) that will last a few days before needing refilled but the food I feed is very moisture rich that I am not worried about that little bit of dry causing an issue. I check stools daily to make sure they are wet looking which they are.
 

Heart For Cats

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That is part of my guilt from my previous cats. I had no idea that wet food was so important and when they rejected the wet food I first gave them, I just quit and fed them dry food only until they passed at 16. Male had reoccurring crystals and such dry stool that he could get severe constipation. Female had kidney issues at the end.

I have fed Boone and Gracie wet food from day 1 and finally found a food brand that they love and have enough variety. I do have a bowl of dry out (1/2 cup) that will last a few days before needing refilled but the food I feed is very moisture rich that I am not worried about that little bit of dry causing an issue. I check stools daily to make sure they are wet looking which they are.
I stupidly believed the lie that kibbles have a dental benefit. Now I wonder why.

Which brand is that?
 

Heart For Cats

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I thought Weruva only makes wet food.

My only issue with the company is they make food look appealing to people, not cats. A cat who has only eaten pate or minced meat can look at whole peas, pieces of carrot, etc. and think it is not cat food.
 

klunick

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I thought Weruva only makes wet food.

My only issue with the company is they make food look appealing to people, not cats. A cat who has only eaten pate or minced meat can look at whole peas, pieces of carrot, etc. and think it is not cat food.
Oh, sorry. I thought you were asking what wet food they ate. They eat Tiki Cat turkey for dry.

Weruva does not have vegetables in their foods and my cats wolf it down in minutes.
 

ladytimedramon

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My cats eat pate and -- they really love it -- but it is the OPPOSITE of appealing-looking! So many reviews slam Weruva pates for being gelatinous or slimy -- but that is why my cats like it. Bleck!
I thought of it more as mousse-like. It's one of the few pates I can get Delilah to eat on rare occasion.
 

lisahe

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My cats eat pate and -- they really love it -- but it is the OPPOSITE of appealing-looking! So many reviews slam Weruva pates for being gelatinous or slimy -- but that is why my cats like it. Bleck!
Our cats like some of the Weruva/BFF pates, too. I think of the pouch foods as being more gelatinous and slimy, which is probably why our cats love those more than the pates! (Unfortunately for them, their favorites are the ones with tapioca, that are carbier, so they don't get those as often.)
 

MindyStClairesMom

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I think of the pouch foods as being more gelatinous and slimy, which is probably why our cats love those more than the pates!
I was also thinking this and just tonight I got our first can -- can let you know those are EQUALLY slimy! Re: carbier: I started to create a table of flavors because, while adorable, the names are confusing. There are 5 (I think) Chicken pates. One of the chicken pates CHANGES NAMES when it is in a can or in a pouch. GOOD gracious! But having started to read labels, the newer ones appear to omit the potato starch & sunflower oil, it seems. They might keep the older ones because it may be a bunch of cats are attached to that older formulation (?) The only one we can't get the boy (who is a trashcan) to eat is the lamb & mackerel. I don't eat shrimp, so the shrimp one made me gag -- be he chucked it down his chuck hole.
 
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