Picky eater

[CUGal]

Hello. I desperately need some help. I have a six month old kitten who has become a very picky eater. The vet told me to feed her something that does not have chicken in it. As you may know, those options in kitten food are very limited. (We think she has some gastrointestinal discomfort and so we are trying a diet switch to see if it eliminates the issue).
we are looking for wet and dry options. At this time, we are not interested in raw diet. Please don’t judge. Also, we have three cats and a limited income, so we need something budget friendly as one of our other cats is on an expensive diet and the third will only eat applaws for her wet food. We are going broke trying to find something!

here are the things we have tried:
Wellness kitten (she will eat a little bit of this but it has chicken in it; and it’s not a guarantee that she will eat it).
Applaws tuna (she will eat some if it is a freshly opened can)
Solid gold blended tuna (thought she really liked this, but after a day wouldn’t touch it)
Tiki cat (wouldn’t touch it and the dry made her stools softer)
Merrick (wouldn’t touch it)
Nulo (wouldn’t touch it)
Royal Canin (wouldn’t touch it)
Purina one (don’t want to feed it any more and it is chicken)

dry food
Tiki (but softened her stools too much)
Royal Canin (wouldn’t touch it)
Wellness (has chicken)
Applaws (wouldn’t touch it)
Nulo (wouldn’t touch it)

Any help would be appreciated...how to get a kitten to eat...what brand...and we really need something we can get from a pet store.

thanks for your help!

 

[LTS3]

FYI, none of the Applaws canned / pouch / tray foods sold in the US are complete diets. They are treat only foods meant to be a tasty addition to dry food. If you live in the US, you really shouldn't feed those as the main food. An occasional treat or meal is fine but not for every meal.

You can expand the food choices a bit by feeding food labeled as "for all life stages". It's fine for a 6 month old to eat these foods.

Have you tried canned Fancy Feast or store generic brand?

Try this chart to find non-chicken canned foods: Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

 

[CUGal]

Thank you. I am aware that Applaws isn’t a complete diet. My kitten who eats it does eat dry food with it. It is the only wet food she will eat so gets a couple snacks a day. But thank you for that.

I have not tried Fancy Feast. I guess in my mind it was like feeding a cat McDonald’s...but I guess it is better than nothing! Lol!
thanks for the link to the list. And again, thanks for your reply.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Fancy Feast - especially the pates - are no where near 'McDonalds'; they are actually pretty decent foods. There is also Sheba and Nutro.

 

[CUGal]

Oh wow! Thanks! I had no idea they were descent foods. Thanks. I’ll try some out and see if she will eat them.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Oh wow! Thanks! I had no idea they were descent foods. Thanks. I’ll try some out and see if she will eat them.

Keep in mind, it's the Fancy Feast PATE (also called CLASSICS) that are descent. The others contain wheat gluten, etc. which is not so good. But, if she is extremely picky and you want to feed her wet food, you may have to feed her some if the "lesser brands". Do check out some all stages foods though. She might like them. My very picky cat loved Nutro pate until he just got tired of it (after years of heating the same exact food!)

 

[ladytimedramon]

Fancy feast also has a "naturals" line with better ingredients. Crave is a brand I've used as well (dry and wet) that rates pretty well.