Suggestions on replacing Wellness Core with other poultry-based wet food

[tsprengel]

Hi all!

I've been using this site for research purposes for quite a while and am hoping you can help me find a decent poultry-based wet food for my two cats. Here's some info on them:

- Isaac is five years old and at the last vet visit I was told he was overweight. He is completely blind, so doesn't get around as much on his own so I'm working on a healthier diet for him and trying to get him to exercise more using playtime, more perches and cat trees around the house, etc.
- Karin is four years old and the vet is happy with her weight, but she seems to be allergic/sensitive to chicken. I never had this confirmed by a vet, but she used to have a sort of wheezing fit every few weeks which has almost disappeared since I removed chicken from her diet (I've seen it happen maybe 2-3 times in the two years since I stopped feeding them chicken).

I do a wet food rotation with poultry (turkey and duck as approximately 66.67% of their weekly meals), seafood (salmon currently as approximately 19.05% of their weekly meals), and what I call "boutique protein" which I switch out every month or two (currently lamb as approximately 14.29% of their weekly meals but rabbit will be my next protein worked into the rotation).

Currently I'm using Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Turkey & Duck Pate Canned Cat Food, but I'm not particularly happy with it. Nothing against the food and my cats enjoy it, but I'm not a fan of the calories (215 kcal/5.5-oz can, 107 kcal/serving since I split the can in half throughout the day) or the calorie breakout (38% protein, 57% fat, 5% carbs). With that in mind, I'm hoping you all can suggest some foods that meet all/most of the following:

• No chicken, chicken meal, meat by-products (absolute must have)
• Protein at or above 50%, fat between 20-40%, and carbs at 0% as possible
• Relatively low calories or at least lower than the above calorie breakout
• No or as few vegetables/fillers as possible
• No or as few "gums" as possible
• Within roughly the same price range ($0.40-$0.50/oz)

If it matters, I currently am feeding Tiki Cat Hanalei Luau Wild Salmon in Salmon Consomme as the seafood portion of their diet (recently replaced the Miko salmon recipe since I haven't been able to find it lately) and Feline Natural Lamb Feast as the "boutique protein" portion of their diet. While not my main question here, please feel free to comment on these foods or the proportion they are in my cat's diets if you have some knowledge on them - I'm still learning.

Thanks so much in advance!
Tia

 

[LTS3]

You might want to check out this chart for foods that meet your various ingredient criteria:

Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

Over the past couple of weeks, @cheeser and I have been working on a cat food ingredient chart that anyone can use to find suitable foods a food sensitive cat can eat or if a particular ingredient is to be avoided for preference reasons, such as no gums. Cheeser already had a personal...

thecatsite.com

For nutritional info, check out this chart: https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

I wouldn't limit carbs to a strict 0%. Very few canned foods have 0% carbs. Give yourself a bigger range of carbs to work with so there are more food choices. Under 10% carbs is ideal for cats. Stick with foods closer to 0% if you wish but the occasional higher carb food will not harm a cat at all.

Currently I'm using Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Turkey & Duck Pate Canned Cat Food, but I'm not particularly happy with it. Nothing against the food and my cats enjoy it, but I'm not a fan of the calories (215 kcal/5.5-oz can, 107 kcal/serving since I split the can in half throughout the day) or the calorie breakout (38% protein, 57% fat, 5% carbs).

Is that one 5.5 oz can per cat daily or one 5.5 oz can split between the two cats daily?

Cats should be fed roughly 20 to 25 calories per pound of ideal body weight daily. A can of food with 215 calories is generally one day's worth of calories for a single average 10 lb cat.

 

[tsprengel]

Thanks so much for the reply LTS3 !

For wet food, my cats currently split one 5.5 oz can of the Wellness CORE and then either 3 oz of the Tiki Cat or 3 oz of the Feline Natural, depending on the day. They get around 2 oz of dry food per day as well. All said, it works out to about 220-230 calories per day per cat which I feed over five small meals from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. It seems to be working for these two - Isaac is steadily losing weight and Karin is maintaining her weight.

I'm definitely considering swapping that dry food out with wet food in the coming months (though Karin loves her crunchies haha) and going to a full wet diet because the dry diet is what drives their overall carb intake up. I mix a freeze-dried raw food with regular kibble but the average carb content is about 14%, so I use low carb wet food to off-set it.

And while 0% carbs might be the "ideal" with my current set-up, I'm definitely fine with there being a small percentage of carbs. However, it seems like most poultry-based foods I've found tend to have lower protein and higher fat than I'd necessarily want since Dr. Pierson suggests 50%+ protein in a cat's diet, but I'm not sure if that's everyone's experience or if I've just been looking in the wrong places.

Would it make more sense to just mix in more high protein food like salmon or tuna? It seems that I can find plenty of seafood foods with 50%+ protein, but I know feeding too much fish isn't ideal either.

 

[She's a witch]

recently replaced the Miko salmon recipe since I haven't been able to find it lately

It seems that Miko has been rebranded to American Journey Landmark, the other Chewy’s brand. I think the price went up though.

 

[tsprengel]

It seems that Miko has been rebranded to American Journey Landmark, the other Chewy’s brand. I think the price went up though.

I've seen a few people mention that and am slightly peeved because that was a relatively decently priced food with ingredients I was mostly okay with. The price is still okay for my budget, but it's just a bit irritating to see them raise the price on the food just because the name/label changed.

 

[maggie101]

Dr elseys could be a replacement for wc

 

[maggie101]

Miko does not replace wellness core,though.

Fancy Feast Purely White Meat Chicken & Shredded Beef Wet Cat Food, 2-oz tray, case of 10 - Chewy.com

Big sale so I bought a lot. Ingredients are good compared to other ff cans

 

[She's a witch]

I've seen a few people mention that and am slightly peeved because that was a relatively decently priced food with ingredients I was mostly okay with. The price is still okay for my budget, but it's just a bit irritating to see them raise the price on the food just because the name/label changed.

I know! I feel exactly the same. Unfortunately not many other brands do shredded without gums.

 

[maggie101]

I know! I feel exactly the same. Unfortunately not many other brands do shredded without gums.

Ya,dont like the gums but sometimes dont have a choice. I am hoping adding this will help fill her tummy . I might even put some in separate containers for her to eat through out the night.

 

[maggie101]