My girls only eat cheap wet food :(

[MercyMain]

Chloe and Evie are both 1.5 years old and since adoption at 3 months were already refusing to eat Hills and Royal Canin wet pouches. Since I was primarly intending on feeding them a wet diet, I was hesitant about the cost of raising them on 100% Ziwi Peak/Natural Balance (I'm in Australia, not sure if these are available everywhere). I've always read any wet is better than the most premium dry, so they've basically been raised on Fancy Feast and now won't touch anything else except some Whiskas options.

I have a bunch of highly regarded dry options like Black Hawk and Vetalogica which seem to have great ingredients and they do enjoy these foods, but I don't know how to get them onto a full wet diet on a better quality food, even in rotation. They just outright refuse to eat them and will literally starve instead.

And yes, I've tried raw from a great local raw pet food supplier here in Sydney which has the meals already portioned with everything they need included (fresh raw, not store packaged) and all i ended up with was turned up noses and diarrhoea from the parts they did initally try eating. Mixing with their fave food and slightly cooking it didn't help, I just gave up and went back the Fancy Feast.

Is it even worth trying, or is the Fancy Feast fine to be their primary diet? In case it matters, I give them 1 85g (3oz) can morning, 1 at 5PM and then at around 9PM give them a small amount of the dry food. My other problem is that they're both 5.5kg, which seems fine on Evie (black cutie) but Chloe has lots of sagging belly fat and struggles to jump up the cat trees.

 

[BNE]

Hi! As I am also from Australia, have had a similar problem happen, and also happen to have a cat named Chloe! I might be able to help you out here!

Chloe originally started out on Blackhawk dry food (breeder recommended) and she was fine with that, however vet said that stuff was low quality so we have moved her onto the much better Ivory coat stuff.

Ivory Coat Kitten: Ivory Coat Chicken Specialty 3Kg Petbarn
Ivory Coat Cat: Ivory Coat Chicken & Kangaroo Specialty 6Kg Petbarn

We started her out one whiskas wet food which was really bad for her and causing her to have runny poops. So upon recommendation, we changed her to roo and chicken mince for dinner (the good stuff) and fancy feast fish for breakfast (which we're planning on changing). We source the mince from our local pet produce store (Mooey's if you're wondering, I think they're only in Brisbane)

In the change over process, we mixed the two foods together lowering the consistency every two days. She is now happily eating her new food. We leave her access to dry food all the time which she grazes upon and as mentioned feed her wet stuff twice a day.

If you work on the mixing changing the consistency to slightly more of the new food every day/second day and slightly less of the old food. This works for Wet and Dry food.

I hope this helps!

 

[DreamerRose]

My vet said any of the pates are good. I feed mine Fancy Feast (no fish; Mingo is allergic to fish) and occasionally Friskies, as well as some dry. They both seem to be doing well on it.

 

[MercyMain]

Hi! As I am also from Australia, have had a similar problem happen, and also happen to have a cat named Chloe! I might be able to help you out here!

Chloe originally started out on Blackhawk dry food (breeder recommended) and she was fine with that, however vet said that stuff was low quality so we have moved her onto the much better Ivory coat stuff.

Ivory Coat Kitten: Ivory Coat Chicken Specialty 3Kg Petbarn
Ivory Coat Cat: Ivory Coat Chicken & Kangaroo Specialty 6Kg Petbarn

We started her out one whiskas wet food which was really bad for her and causing her to have runny poops. So upon recommendation, we changed her to roo and chicken mince for dinner (the good stuff) and fancy feast fish for breakfast (which we're planning on changing). We source the mince from our local pet produce store (Mooey's if you're wondering, I think they're only in Brisbane)

In the change over process, we mixed the two foods together lowering the consistency every two days. She is now happily eating her new food. We leave her access to dry food all the time which she grazes upon and as mentioned feed her wet stuff twice a day.

If you work on the mixing changing the consistency to slightly more of the new food every day/second day and slightly less of the old food. This works for Wet and Dry food.

I hope this helps!

Thanks! I still have some of the raw portions sealed in the freezer, might give it another go! I was just put off when 1 of them seemed really sick after eating such a small portion for 2 days.

My vet said any of the pates are good. I feed mine Fancy Feast (no fish; Mingo is allergic to fish) and occasionally Friskies, as well as some dry. They both seem to be doing well on it.

That's the other problem, they refuse to eat the pate ones and will only eat gravy ones. I wish I never gave them a taste for it now! And now Fancy Feast have started making this new 'gravy lovers' version which drops the energy count from 70/kcal to around 60/kcal and inside the can is nearly all gravy, it's this revolting slime with hardly any meat. Luckily they still sell the original 'X in gravy' versions

 

[Silver Crazy]

Hi MercyMain B BNE good to see some fellow Aussies here.
I normally feed my cat raw but if I run out or get stuck i use Felix As Good as it Looks but not the fish ones.Best of a bad bunch.
If you going down the raw path best to buy your ingredients of a butcher near you that will have liver and hearts and all the other ingredients to make up a good recipe. TCS has some good recipes to follow.
Inside story is that the raw coming into pet shops at the moment is rubbish and full of preservatives (sulphur dioxide) and wont probably improve for the next few months.
Also Organic Raw Paws is quite good and I use it sometimes.

 

[Norachan]

Is it even worth trying, or is the Fancy Feast fine to be their primary diet? In case it matters, I give them 1 85g (3oz) can morning, 1 at 5PM and then at around 9PM give them a small amount of the dry food. My other problem is that they're both 5.5kg, which seems fine on Evie (black cutie) but Chloe has lots of sagging belly fat and struggles to jump up the cat trees.

Fancy Feast isn't a bad food at all. If they are happy on it I wouldn't worry too much, but you could try adding other brands/flavours into your rotation in case their favourite is ever out of stock for any reason. If they really love the gravy ones you could try adding some of that to another brand of wet to increase the meat content but still give them the flavour they like.

5.5kg is fine. Having a saggy belly is normal even in very slender cats. It's called a primordial pouch and it's there to protect their stomach if ever they get attacked by another animal.

The Primordial Pouch - Catwatch Newsletter

Struggling to jump is another matter though, especially if Chloe is only a year old. Is she otherwise quite active?

 

[di and bob]

Yes, I have raised many cats to old age on Fancy Feast and even cheaper brands, and they did very well. I wouldn't worry about changing foods, just cause it is a better brand and more expensive doesn't mean your cat will eat it. Broccoli is healthy for you, but after 42 years I still can't get my husband to eat it!

 

[ladytimedramon]

Fancy Feast has a naturals line, if it's available in your area. Less junk.

 

[MercyMain]

Hi MercyMain B BNE good to see some fellow Aussies here.
I normally feed my cat raw but if I run out or get stuck i use Felix As Good as it Looks but not the fish ones.Best of a bad bunch.
If you going down the raw path best to buy your ingredients of a butcher near you that will have liver and hearts and all the other ingredients to make up a good recipe. TCS has some good recipes to follow.
Inside story is that the raw coming into pet shops at the moment is rubbish and full of preservatives (sulphur dioxide) and wont probably improve for the next few months.
Also Organic Raw Paws is quite good and I use it sometimes.

Apparently Raw and Fresh don’t have any preservatives at all. Their FAQ says ‘Our food is all 100% preservative and additive free (including ’natural’ preservatives). No sulphur dioxide in the meats either.’

I actually had some success last night though! Mixed some small shreds of the raw beef into their fancy feast. Chloe, the fussier of the two refused to touch her 5PM meal even though I carefully put the tiniest bits of raw mixed into the gravy. At 9PM she devoured all of her meal though so hopefully now she realised it’s not going to kill her, I’ll very gradually add more raw to it.

Fancy Feast isn't a bad food at all. If they are happy on it I wouldn't worry too much, but you could try adding other brands/flavours into your rotation in case their favourite is ever out of stock for any reason. If they really love the gravy ones you could try adding some of that to another brand of wet to increase the meat content but still give them the flavour they like.

5.5kg is fine. Having a saggy belly is normal even in very slender cats. It's called a primordial pouch and it's there to protect their stomach if ever they get attacked by another animal.

The Primordial Pouch - Catwatch Newsletter

Struggling to jump is another matter though, especially if Chloe is only a year old. Is she otherwise quite active?

Chloe definitely has more than a primordial pouch, it’s a very solid and rotund belly. I weigh them every month and notice they’re still gaining weight slowly so I don’t want to get to a point where she has diabetes. She’s quite active for an indoor cat though and will often initiate play sessions with Evie

Yes, I have raised many cats to old age on Fancy Feast and even cheaper brands, and they did very well. I wouldn't worry about changing foods, just cause it is a better brand and more expensive doesn't mean your cat will eat it. Broccoli is healthy for you, but after 42 years I still can't get my husband to eat it!

That’s true. I keep thinking how my previous baby girl Zoe lived to just over 20. Had her since 1999 and back then as a kid never knew anything about pet nutrition. She lived for her Whiskas food and it seemed to do her well until 15 when she started to get renal failure, though I wonder if we had fed her only the wet instead of mixing dry into her diet if her kidneys would have lasted longer.

 

[mizzely]

Even the "crappy" Fancy Feast is better than 99% of dry foods.

 

[Silver Crazy]

Apparently Raw and Fresh don’t have any preservatives at all. Their FAQ says ‘Our food is all 100% preservative and additive free (including ’natural’ preservatives). No sulphur dioxide in the meats either.’

I didnt know that about Raw and Fresh..will have to chase it up.

 

[MercyMain]

I didnt know that about Raw and Fresh..will have to chase it up.

They are super helpful with their online chat, I had lots of questions for my first purchase and they came back to me within minutes. Only take orders up to Sunday and then deliver on Thursdays, so you have to freeze it as soon as you get it since it's just raw meat without any preservatives like the diets in the pet stores.

Too bad I kind of gave up on it when I ordered my first batch a few months ago but I'll try to stick it out for another week. This morning wasn't as good, they refused to eat most of their Fancy Feast with just a bit of raw mixed into the gravy. Let's see how they go tonight! if it doesn't pan out I might just end up going back to my old routine of 2 x Fancy feast cans morning and afternoon and 1 x 30g dry portion at late night since they seem most active and healthy with that routine. I guess I just want them to get food from a variety of sources, but this fancy feast is like crack for them now

 

[PuffandPercy]

Hi Fellow Aussie!

I feed Ziwi Peak to mine, and I do particularly like their food. I'm sure I'm a broken record by now, if you look at my post history, but I really love their food.

One large can feeds my boy 4 meals, supplemented with one small scoop of dry food as well overnight. It smells like real food, and their customer support ahs been nothing but wonderful. He particularly likes their Otago, Hauraki and East Cape blends versus their single flavour ones, and I order online from Petbarn with 15% discount for frequent feeders literally one purchase of food a month gives you 15% off the next month, which just keeps rolling over every month, if that makes sense).

 

[MercyMain]

Hi Fellow Aussie!

I feed Ziwi Peak to mine, and I do particularly like their food. I'm sure I'm a broken record by now, if you look at my post history, but I really love their food.

One large can feeds my boy 4 meals, supplemented with one small scoop of dry food as well overnight. It smells like real food, and their customer support ahs been nothing but wonderful. He particularly likes their Otago, Hauraki and East Cape blends versus their single flavour ones, and I order online from Petbarn with 15% discount for frequent feeders literally one purchase of food a month gives you 15% off the next month, which just keeps rolling over every month, if that makes sense).

I love everything about ZiwiPeak and have trays of it just sitting there. The ingredients seem amazing. Problem is, I find they despise it even more than the raw! I really wanted them to switch to it because I felt nervous about raw and this seems like the next best choice, but they won’t touch it. Maybe I tried mixing too much of it with their usual food initially. I might have to give it another go, still have about 20 cans left..

 

[PuffandPercy]

That's the problem, I have to buy in bulk too!!

You could try mashing it a bit, I've found scooping out a chunk isn't as appetising for my little dude versus when he a few smaller chunks to pick at. you might also want to add some water or broth to help the consistency. Even mixing it with those little tubes of paste treats worked for a flavour mine didn't like (wouldn't do it everyday, for chonkers escpecially )

If that fails, I used to feed wellness. Grainfree, and more gravy style than Ziwi.

 

[MercyMain]

That's the problem, I have to buy in bulk too!!

You could try mashing it a bit, I've found scooping out a chunk isn't as appetising for my little dude versus when he a few smaller chunks to pick at. you might also want to add some water or broth to help the consistency. Even mixing it with those little tubes of paste treats worked for a flavour mine didn't like (wouldn't do it everyday, for chonkers escpecially )

If that fails, I used to feed wellness. Grainfree, and more gravy style than Ziwi.

It's been going well! So about a week now, and I'm feeding them half Ziwi or Feline Natural and half Fancy Feast. They're not inhaling the food like they would with just Fancy Feast but they end up eating almost all of it within the hour before I wash their plates.

Chloe is unfortunately waking me up at 4AM instead of their usual 6AM meal time. She isn't getting the same amount of calories at night that she was getting before when I would give them some dry.

Both of them seem more active and playful now! I think getting lots of real, high quality meat into their diet and less gravy is doing them good. Plus the removal of the dry of course.

I'll start trying the raw again soon but I think that will be more challenging

 

[tuffsmom]

Tuff is 5 years old and has always been on Fancy Feast Classic Pate. He is so healthy--only goes to vet for annual checkup. Coat is so shiny. I add a few teaspoons of water to the FF because he doesn't drink water.

 

[MercyMain]

Tuff is 5 years old and has always been on Fancy Feast Classic Pate. He is so healthy--only goes to vet for annual checkup. Coat is so shiny. I add a few teaspoons of water to the FF because he doesn't drink water.

That's awesome! I think I'll try to introduce the pate options as part of a rotation, and remove the gravy ones which is my ultimate goal! They've both gained over 1kg since turning 1 year old, eating primarily the gravy FF.

 

[tuffsmom]

Tuff stays at 10 lbs. He gets 2 cans of FF a day and a few teaspoons of Fromms dry at bedtime.

 

[tuffsmom]

I was wrong about that. He only gets 1 and a half cans per day.plus the little bit of dry.