Wet foods the boys have rejected.

[nekokaasan]

I want the boys to get more moisture in their diet, so I'm trying to introduce premium wet food. (I'll also be investing in a Drinkwell fountain in the future, but that's a separate topic.)

Before I list these, I'll note that I've tried every method I can think of to get them to try these wet foods. I've mixed a little wet food in with the dry, tried presenting wet food by itself, tried adding treats to it, tried leaving it out for a short period of time, tried feeding it at different times of day...I'm at my wit's end. I really want to have them eating wet food regularly, at least several times a week, to contribute to their overall health and prevent crystals.

Here's a list of the rejects so far:

Dr. Foster & Smith Chicken
Dr. Foster & Smith Chicken & Fish
Dr. Foster & Smith Turkey

Nutro NATURAL CHOICEÂ[emoji]174[/emoji]
COMPLETE CARE
INDOOR ADULT
Chicken & Giblets Formula
Chunks in Gravy (pouch)
Turkey & Liver Formula
Chunks in Gravy (pouch)
Oceanfish & Shrimp Formula
Chunks in Sauce (pouch)
Whitefish & Tuna Formula
Chunks in Sauce (pouch)

BLUE Spa Select
Tender Turkey & Chicken EntrÃ[emoji]169[/emoji]e with Garden Vegetables
Savory Salmon EntrÃ[emoji]169[/emoji]e with Lentils and Ginger
Tempting Tuna Grill with Broccoli, Wild Rice and Dill



I don't want them eating Fancy Feast or any of the other "McDonalds For Cats" foods (no offense to anyone who feeds their cat Fancy Feast, but I guess I'm an overprotective catfood snob when it comes to my boys,

).

Ideas?

 

[snowleop]

You could try

California Natural Ocean Fish Blend
Solid Gold Tuna Blend

Those are the only two my girls will eat. Actually, they aren't so fond of the California Natural now that they've tried the Solid Gold.

 

[sharky]

Solid gold tuna and the one with the blue label... try meow mix( decent quality and very easy to get ... try authority ... try merrick

 

[yosemite]

I tried a number of foods with no additives and the only one our babies would eat was the Merrick and then only two kinds - Granny's Pot Pie and Thanksgiving Dinner. They wouldn't touch any of the seafood or fish ones. So now they jump up on the counter and try to get into the food before I even have it open for the Merrick food.

I tried Wellness, Nutro, Natural Balance, Paul Newmans and every other brand on the pet store shelf with no additives and Merrick was the ONLY one they would eat.

 

[gingersmom]

Ginger was brought up on Nutro pouches but she started rejecting that at about 9 months old. Now the only wet I can get her to eat at 12 months old is the tuna & shrimp meow mix, with an occasional fancy feast (one of three flavors she'll eat, all those with Aspic, which she mostly licks off and leaves the meat bits.)

Makes me crazy - she went off the Nutro right after I bought about 40 pouches to stock up!

I did buy a drinkwell early on to break her of drinking from the faucet (she refused water from a bowl) and she drinks at least 6-8 ounces a day, more on hot days when I add ice cubes, so at least I know she's getting enough water.

I'm giving her a blend of dry, right now it's mostly nutro and royal canin indoor, but still has a lot of the nutro and iams kitten mixed in.

I pretty much give up trying to find her a high quality wet - I'll give her what she'll eat, and I know she's hydrating and getting a good mix of dry.

 

[jlphilli]

Do you think your cat prefers "chunks" over the patte kind or vise versa? My kitten seems to like the patte better...doesn't really finish the chunks if I give him that. Mine isn't too picky, but he really likes the Innova EVO canned over most others (also likes the Wellness canned, but he eats the EVO faster, so I'm not sure if that means he likes it more or not, lol)

 

[cloud_shade]

Natural Balance has some good foods. My fish-lover Willow likes the Salmon flavor. Odo isn't picky. Even Spot liked the Salmon, and he usually refused to eat anything that wasn't junk.

 

[shengmei]

Wellness chicken and herring.

 

[zak&rocky]

Veery expensive but you could try pro plan wet food or eukanuba wet food... As I recall that mine were at least willing to try that and they are junk wet food eaters.. they will try a premium brand but usually just leave most of it after the third time getting it or so. I'm surprised yours won't eat nutro pouchs- most kitties at least lick the gravy.
Also maybe the authority petsmart brand (their premium brand).

One of my kitties will only usually eat friskies turkey and cheese.

I'm not giving them that all the time..

 

[shengmei]

PetGuard is excellent also.

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by shengmei

PetGuard is excellent also.

I have used what few Petguard wets are avail here and the girls like it... be careful as many of these have alot of grain

 

[liberty's buddy]

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I tried a number of foods with no additives and the only one our babies would eat was the Merrick and then only two kinds - Granny's Pot Pie and Thanksgiving Dinner. They wouldn't touch any of the seafood or fish ones. So now they jump up on the counter and try to get into the food before I even have it open for the Merrick food.

I tried Wellness, Nutro, Natural Balance, Paul Newmans and every other brand on the pet store shelf with no additives and Merrick was the ONLY one they would eat.

Liberty's the same way. Merrick's or nothing. She is a Thanksgiving day junkie. I wish they would hurry up and come out with dry food. -kd

 

[shadowbaby]

Grammy's pot pie and thanksgiving day dinner are the only two my cat baby will eat also. I haven't tried her with the solid gold tuna yet, although I have some. I'm almost afraid she'll like it TOO much and stop eating everything else.. she's a tuna junky (I've only fed her small amounts of tuna when she had an illness, never as a full meal).

 

[cynni]

I wish I could find half the food you all mention here... i think out of all of them, the only one I can find here is Iams < 2 flavors > never even heard of the other high ends til coming here...

 

[moggiegirl]

Originally Posted by zak&rocky

Veery expensive but you could try pro plan wet food or eukanuba wet food... As I recall that mine were at least willing to try that and they are junk wet food eaters.. they will try a premium brand but usually just leave most of it after the third time getting it or so. I'm surprised yours won't eat nutro pouchs- most kitties at least lick the gravy.
Also maybe the authority petsmart brand (their premium brand).

One of my kitties will only usually eat friskies turkey and cheese.

I'm not giving them that all the time..

Someone at a cat show once told me that even the best cat food is useless if the cat won't eat it. And I think sometimes you just have to give in and feed what the cat will eat. You can start with brands like Friskies and Pro-Plan or Fancy Feast and then gradually build up to the better quality brands, maybe even mix them together.

Purina Pro-plan if you were to do a comparison is like an upscale Fancy Feast, very similar, just a little more premium. My cats love Purina Pro-Plan but I have stopped buying it because I feel that Purina does not play fair. They use artificial flavorings and additives which can make your cat only want to eat Purina and reject other brands. Fortunately my cats will eat other brands so I don't have to feed Purina wet foods but if my cats were to eat only Pro-plan or Friskies then I would rather feed that than no wet food at all. It is worth introducing other brands, rotating them and trying new stuff to see what your cat will like. I don't know if anyone has noticed but Iams has changed their line of wet foods and while the old ones are still on the shelf because they have a shelf life of two years, they are phasing them out. The new pate style canned foods don't have any by-products in them and are moister and more palatable than the old ones. These are the new chicken, lamb and rice, ocean fish, beef and turkey and giblets. Some people buy the Eukanuba or the 3 ounce(Try this instead of the pouches) canned Nutro Gourmet classics meat in gravy ones and mash up the chunks until it becomes a soft pate in gravy. The canned foods my cats like are Foster and Smith (Sorry your cats haven't had any luck with that, at least you can save money on the shipping fees), Iams, Pet Gold. Rosie likes Merrick. Spotty likes Natural Balance. It's all trial and error. Good luck.

 

[tilly tiger]

i am quite lucky because both of mine arnt fussy what type os wet food they have as long as its not in gravy

 

[nekokaasan]

Originally Posted by moggiegirl

Someone at a cat show once told me that even the best cat food is useless if the cat won't eat it. And I think sometimes you just have to give in and feed what the cat will eat. You can start with brands like Friskies and Pro-Plan or Fancy Feast and then gradually build up to the better quality brands, maybe even mix them together.

...

Hope you don't mind, I snipped your quote for space saving purposes.

That's a good point, I can buy the most expensive, best formulated food in the world and it's totally useless if they won't eat it. I'll keep trying, and if I run through all the premium stuff and they just won't have it (finicky little fellows!) then I'll start working my way through the less than ideal stuff. If I can just find ONE that they'll eat, I'm sure I can find a creative way to blend stuff together to work other things into their diet.

 

[skizzorhand]

Solid Gold Chicken, Turkey, White Fish & Liver Canned and the Blended Tuna canned is what my boys eat. They actually like the turkey, white fish & liver a little more than the blended tuna.