Need Recommendations For Grain Free Wet Food For A Gravy Lover!

[nalabean]

After a recent trip for an annual check-up at the vet, my 1 y/o+ kitty was found to be "not as lean" as the vet would have liked and recommended switching her from dry food to wet food only. Currently she is eating Merrick limited ingredient chicken dry food which she seems to really enjoy.

I don't think limited ingredient will necessarily be absolutely a requirement in wet food selection, but would at least like to keep it grain-free. The main issue is my princess LOVES the gravy portion of wet food and I have yet to find a wet food she seems enthused about the morsels, even if they are minced/chopped up very small.

The only one I had rotated with in the past once a week was Soulistic pouches, as it was more like a soup consistency but need something that I can give her daily and seem at a total loss. I don't want to experiment too much, as we already seem to have failed the merrick wet food test so far as I imagine she was not thrilled there was so much meat pieces even though they were described to be in gravy.

Any and all feedback would be great! Thanks in advance!

 

[ScarlettGatsby]

Does she just lick the gravy? I don't give my cat the gravy ones cause if I do she just licks them and doesn't eat the chunks. She will eat all of it if it's pate though (and a flavor she likes of course).

A lot of the weruva ones have a lot of gravy. Their website has pictures of some of the flavors so you can see the consistency if that helps. I think Tiki cat does the same thing on their website.

 

[MissMolly08]

I feed my cat 4health grain free from Tractor Supply. Not sure if you have one of those near by but they have a Chicken "dinner" and Salmon dinner that are in gravy. They also have a chicken in broth that I have not tried yet. The chicken and salmon dinners are shreds. There isn't a ton of gravy but I always add a little water to her food and that seems to help spread the gravy a bit farther.

 

[abyeb]

Have you tried a pate? She might like that better because of the smooth texture (no chunks), like ScarlettGatsby mentioned. Wellness makes a high-quality pate: Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Turkey & Duck Pate Canned Cat Food

 

[MeganLLB]

One of my cat's also likes gravy and I found that she likes Dave's chicken in gravy, and chicken and tuna in in gravy. It is more like a "stew" than chunks in gravy. They are like REALLY tiny pieces all mushed together, but it is more saucy than a pate. Also likes Redbarn beef stew or in gravy (whatever the non-pate one was, also she also ate the lamb pate).

I tried Whole Earth Farms gravies, but neither cat liked that one for some reason. I really liked the ingredients in Evangers, but they had a big recall, so I caouldn't try theirs.

 

[MeganLLB]

Also Merrick makes some stews. Like Cowboy stew, and Thanksgiving stew, those are like a gravy. And I think they also have bits in gravy.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Have you had a chance yet to try several different types/brands/flavors of grain-free wet foods?

The problem is that most of the cat's required nutrition would likely be in the pate, or morsels, or chunks, or flakes, etc., and not within the "gravy" itself. So you really need to get them to eat the main food in the cans, not just licking at the gravy.

Have you tried getting a small blender which you could use just with cat food... and putting the pate, or morsels, or chunks, or flakes, etc. in that with a small amount of water, so that you end up with your own version of a gravy (or slurry) meal using the canned food(s)?

 

[bonepicker]

After a recent trip for an annual check-up at the vet, my 1 y/o+ kitty was found to be "not as lean" as the vet would have liked and recommended switching her from dry food to wet food only. Currently she is eating Merrick limited ingredient chicken dry food which she seems to really enjoy.

I don't think limited ingredient will necessarily be absolutely a requirement in wet food selection, but would at least like to keep it grain-free. The main issue is my princess LOVES the gravy portion of wet food and I have yet to find a wet food she seems enthused about the morsels, even if they are minced/chopped up very small.

The only one I had rotated with in the past once a week was Soulistic pouches, as it was more like a soup consistency but need something that I can give her daily and seem at a total loss. I don't want to experiment too much, as we already seem to have failed the merrick wet food test so far as I imagine she was not thrilled there was so much meat pieces even though they were described to be in gravy.

Any and all feedback would be great! Thanks in advance!

I don't feed dry, only wet, I add bottled water to pates, mine like duck and beef pates by whole earth farms by Merrick, they did not like the one in gravy

 

[momto3cats]

In my experience, cats that tend to just lick the gravy will usually eat a soft pate that they can lick up. Nutro makes a very soft pate style food, for example. Or you can add a little water to just about any pate and mash it up with a spoon so it's softer.

 

[MeganLLB]

Maybe this chart will be helpful. There are a lot of different textures that you can try. You can search Chewy by the type of food also.

 

[nalabean]

Wow! Thank you everyone for all of your feedback it is SO greatly appreciated. Picking through various online sources was starting to get a little overwhelming since I just want what is best for my Nala! I do have one or two Merrick pate, I think I'm going to try to add some water and see if that does the trick. I figured the gravy ones will not have as much nutrition elements as she may need, but she was being so picky and turning her nose up at our current attempts to switch to wet food. I will also surely check out the other brands mentioned!

 

[ScarlettGatsby]

I have tried at least 20 types of food with my picky cat and I know it's super frustrating!

The Fromm wet food is pretty soft, it's one of the few my cat likes (The and chicken and salmon flavor, I know a lot of people avoid fish). She also loves the Merrick Duck pate and it's certainly her favorite. I mostly feed her those and once a week try something new to see if she likes it, she normally doesn't.

The merrick LID duck is super super soft, might be worth trying.

 

[MeganLLB]

This is what the Dave's gravy dinners look like. They are softer than a pate, but the pieces are so small that its impossible to just lick the gravy and not eat the meat pieces.

If your cat won't eat a pate, you might try a food like this.

 

[nalabean]

This is what the Dave's gravy dinners look like. They are softer than a pate, but the pieces are so small that its impossible to just lick the gravy and not eat the meat pieces.

If your cat won't eat a pate, you might try a food like this.

Thanks SO much for the pictures, that's super helpful! Definitely looks like something Nala would try!

 

[MeganLLB]

Thanks SO much for the pictures, that's super helpful! Definitely looks like something Nala would try!

You're welcome. From the looks of the package, Im thinking thats kinda how the Evangers gravies might be, and Redbarn gravies are kind of like that, with the thicker sauce, but it has bigger chunks of meat.

That's how I got my gravy lover to eat better food. And now she eats some pates too.

 

[LTS3]

This may be helpful: Canned Cat food Spreadsheets

 

[ScarlettGatsby]

Oh I wonder if my gravy licker would eat that! (The Dave's)

 

[MeganLLB]

This may be helpful: Canned Cat food Spreadsheets

Wow that is really helpful. They didn't have Dave's on there...but I was right about the Evangers it seems. It looks similar.

Thanks for sharing that!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I have tried at least 20 types of food with my picky cat and I know it's super frustrating!

The Fromm wet food is pretty soft, it's one of the few my cat likes (The and chicken and salmon flavor, I know a lot of people avoid fish). She also loves the Merrick Duck pate and it's certainly her favorite. I mostly feed her those and once a week try something new to see if she likes it, she normally doesn't.

The merrick LID duck is super super soft, might be worth trying.

I agree, that Merrick LID duck is a really soft pate that seems to have a lot more moisture than most.

 

[misty8723]

I have a very picky cat when it comes to wet food. She won't even condescend to sniff the pate. I've only found 3 that she will eat, and two of them have the consistency that is similar to the picture of the Dave's food. Mine will only eat Soulistic Midnight Delight (Mackerel and Tuna in Gravy) and Weruva Cat's in the Kitchen Mack, Jack, and Sam (Salmon, Mackerel & Skipjack Tuna in gravy). You could look at those two brands because they might have other flavors that are also that consistency. Weruva Chick Magnet, Chicken and Mackerel, has big chunks of meat in gravy so I would say not all of their flavors are tiny minced meat.