What are your cat's favorite brands of wet food: food they cannot stay away from?

ghiblithecat

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Welp, it happened. Ghibli no longer is a cat who will "eat anything". He turns down about half of the high quality wet foods I buy for him..... I guess time away from the shelter's crummy kibble chow has given him time refine his palate 
. Luckily, he never gets tired of his raw natures variety Instinct rabbit medallions (which I splurge on because he does love and are good for him), or anything raw for that matter.

Please tell me what food your kitties inhale when you put it in front of them! I want to see if there is any general consensus. I am sick of wasting every other can of food I buy because I am still trying to figure out what he likes. He seems to like some pates, and some chunky. Surprisingly, his favorites seems to be Sheba chicken 
 ,Weruva paw lickin' chicken', and anything tiki cat (of course). What are your cat's favorites?
 
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ellag

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all 5 of my cats and my foster kitten love the meow mix pate toppers. they like fancy feast, weruva cats in the kitchen, tiki and nature's variety instinct raw chicken.
 
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ghiblithecat

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all 5 of my cats and my foster kitten love the meow mix pate toppers. they like fancy feast, weruva cats in the kitchen, tiki and nature's variety instinct raw chicken.
my cat loves natures variety instinct raw too! Only have tried the rabbit medallions, I will try the chicken next!
 

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That's what they do! They eat and eat, then they get pickier and trickier. And it happens fast. Ours were the same way: the arrived underfed and have become little divas about their food. (I didn't see a crown or tiara emoji so here's Danish King Christian IV's crown, a lovely one, I must say.)


It sounds like Ghibli is like Edwina and Ireland: they all love shredded chicken chicken. On the positive side, Tiki, Weruva, and Sheba are all decent foods, though Tiki and Weruva are pricy. Have you tried Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen foods? They're cheaper; our cats love them.

If Ghibli's enjoying the raw food you might find, in the long run, that feeding more of that keeps him happier (both in terms of liking the food and keeping his little stomach filled) and keeps you saner. Depending on where you're buying, it also may end up cheaper than canned food, particularly if there's substantial waste of canned food now. That's how things worked out for us in the first months with our two cats. We feed lots of freeze-dried Primal (the two biggest meals of the day) which is really convenient and which the cats prefer to frozen.

Good luck! In the end it may take some time for him to settle into a food rotation. It did with our two.
 

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Welp, it happened. Ghibli no longer is a cat who will "eat anything". He turns down about half of the high quality wet foods I buy for him..... I guess time away from the shelter's crummy kibble chow has given him time refine his palate 
. Luckily, he never gets tired of his raw natures variety Instinct rabbit medallions (which I splurge on because he does love and are good for him), or anything raw for that matter.

Please tell me what food your kitties inhale when you put it in front of them! I want to see if there is any general consensus. I am sick of wasting every other can of food I buy because I am still trying to figure out what he likes. He seems to like some pates, and some chunky. Surprisingly, his favorites seems to be Sheba chicken 
 ,Weruva paw lickin' chicken', and anything tiki cat (of course). What are your cat's favorites?
Oh do I understand what you're going through. I don't even want to think about how many cans of food have gone down the disposal. Have you tried toppers like Pure Bites chicken? I buy the large bag (for dogs) from Amazon using the subscribe and save and I've found that they have the best price this way. These help when the kids are being fussy

Canned foods they like a lot (right now
) are:

Friskies pates (the poultry flavors)

Fancy Feast classics (pates)- also poultry flavors

Nature's Variety Instinct chicken and LID turkey

Pride by Instinct rabbit, lamb, chicken and duck

Nutro Natural Choice - minced chicken and sliced turkey (these goes over well as a topper to a pate)

Merrick poultry pates and Grammy's Pot Pie

Wellness sliced, minced and cubed chicken and turkey

Soulistic Good Karma and Harvest Sunrise (This is made by Weruva and is Petco's house brand so if yours like Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken, you might want to try this one. The Good Karma is almost identical to the PLC)

Not a canned food but I gave them some Rad Cat turkey (commercial raw) over the weekend and they inhaled it. I gave all 3 of them some of the 8 oz container to see if they would eat it and they all gobbled it up and wanted more. They ended up finishing the container. The girls have had it before but Henry has not and he loved it. I need to order them some more. This is a good food. It isn't as cheap as some canned but IMO it's worth it. They sell it at independent pet stores and online but I would definitely get some from a local pet store before ordering online as the shipping is scary since it's frozen. I priced some over the weekend after they let me know how much they liked it and while the price per container was cheaper than my local store, the shipping would have been $45 and this is shipping from and to Florida. No way. I'll spend a buck or so more per container and support a local small business. You can see if there are any places near you that sell it here. http://www.radfood.com/where_to_buy

They have tried Stella and Chewy's, Primal, NVI Raw and Rad Cat. Rad Cat was the hands down winner. 
 

crazy4strays

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My cats like most things. It wasn't always that way, though. My cat Tiger (pictured in my avatar) was initially picky when transitioning off kibble. He would take a few nibbles or sniff and walk away. I bought stuff that I knew he liked and also kept offering the other stuff, as he gradually developed his palate. 

One economical favorite around here is the Red Barn Naturals tricky chicky. My cats also really like the 4Health turkey and giblets pate. (Tractor Supply store brand) Another favorite is Merrick and Whole Earth Farms duck pate.
 

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Our girls love Nutro Natural Choice Kitten (chicken).

2nd place: Ziwipeak Lamb and Rabbit/Lamb
 

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My Cat is very picky. There are only 3 foods that he will lick the bowl clean. At least for now LOL They are Nutro Max cat ( any flavor), Simply nourish Tuna and potato and Royal Canin ( any wet variety). He does like Nutro natural choice turkey, but he will leave some in his bowl. The others listed above  he will lick it clean
 

missmimz

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The only food that the majority of mine go nuts for is Rad Cat, but because i have 10 right now I can't afford to feed them all RC. They're pretty happy with ZIwipeak, Weruva au jus varieties, and sliced/minced from Nutro. 
 
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ghiblithecat

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That's what they do! They eat and eat, then they get pickier and trickier. And it happens fast. Ours were the same way: the arrived underfed and have become little divas about their food. (I didn't see a crown or tiara emoji so here's Danish King Christian IV's crown, a lovely one, I must say.)

It sounds like Ghibli is like Edwina and Ireland: they all love shredded chicken chicken. On the positive side, Tiki, Weruva, and Sheba are all decent foods, though Tiki and Weruva are pricy. Have you tried Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen foods? They're cheaper; our cats love them.

If Ghibli's enjoying the raw food you might find, in the long run, that feeding more of that keeps him happier (both in terms of liking the food and keeping his little stomach filled) and keeps you saner. Depending on where you're buying, it also may end up cheaper than canned food, particularly if there's substantial waste of canned food now. That's how things worked out for us in the first months with our two cats. We feed lots of freeze-dried Primal (the two biggest meals of the day) which is really convenient and which the cats prefer to frozen.

Good luck! In the end it may take some time for him to settle into a food rotation. It did with our two.
Yes! cats in the kitchen... he does like that one I totally remember giving him the pouches and he loved them. 

As for the raw food..... see yeah that is what I was thinking. I feel he gets more out of the raw than anything. The problem is he is growing in volume so much every day that he is always hungry. Even I can't believe my eyes sometimes when I look at him because some days he is so much bigger that he looks like a DIFFERENT CAT. His weight is totally ideal so I know it is just those dang growth spurts. He eats probably twice as much or more of what an adult cat eats so it is getting really really pricey. He absolutely loves Rad Cat and NVI, but won't touch anything from Primal or that is freeze dried (sigh), He only likes the frozen. I am desperately trying to keep his "young cat feeding" less than $60 a month but it seems like feeding him enough raw and high quality wet to sustain him would be well over that.

I was thinking..... would it be so bad to give him mainly raw and just instead give him decent but cheap wet to fill in those times where he needs a little something extra for his hunger (like fancy feast or something?). Or perhaps maybe I should financially just tough out the kitten year and know that he will be less expensive to feed as an adult? 
 
 
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ghiblithecat

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Oh do I understand what you're going through. I don't even want to think about how many cans of food have gone down the disposal. Have you tried toppers like Pure Bites chicken? I buy the large bag (for dogs) from Amazon using the subscribe and save and I've found that they have the best price this way. These help when the kids are being fussy

Canned foods they like a lot (right now
) are:

Friskies pates (the poultry flavors)

Fancy Feast classics (pates)- also poultry flavors

Nature's Variety Instinct chicken and LID turkey

Pride by Instinct rabbit, lamb, chicken and duck

Nutro Natural Choice - minced chicken and sliced turkey (these goes over well as a topper to a pate)

Merrick poultry pates and Grammy's Pot Pie

Wellness sliced, minced and cubed chicken and turkey

Soulistic Good Karma and Harvest Sunrise (This is made by Weruva and is Petco's house brand so if yours like Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken, you might want to try this one. The Good Karma is almost identical to the PLC)

Not a canned food but I gave them some Rad Cat turkey (commercial raw) over the weekend and they inhaled it. I gave all 3 of them some of the 8 oz container to see if they would eat it and they all gobbled it up and wanted more. They ended up finishing the container. The girls have had it before but Henry has not and he loved it. I need to order them some more. This is a good food. It isn't as cheap as some canned but IMO it's worth it. They sell it at independent pet stores and online but I would definitely get some from a local pet store before ordering online as the shipping is scary since it's frozen. I priced some over the weekend after they let me know how much they liked it and while the price per container was cheaper than my local store, the shipping would have been $45 and this is shipping from and to Florida. No way. I'll spend a buck or so more per container and support a local small business. You can see if there are any places near you that sell it here. http://www.radfood.com/where_to_buy

They have tried Stella and Chewy's, Primal, NVI Raw and Rad Cat. Rad Cat was the hands down winner. 
No I haven't tried any toppers but I have definitely heard about them. May be worth a try! Oh yes Ghibli loved Merrick's grammy's pot pie. I also really need to try nitro natural because it is decently priced and everyones' cats seem to love it. So fancy feast classics.... will you read my response to LisaHE and tell me what you think as well? 
 

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Nutro Natural Choice Chunky Chicken.   My Lokhi LOVES it and never walks away from his dish.       Fancy Feast classic liver & chicken is another one both of mine love 
 

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Yes! cats in the kitchen... he does like that one I totally remember giving him the pouches and he loved them. 

As for the raw food..... see yeah that is what I was thinking. I feel he gets more out of the raw than anything. The problem is he is growing in volume so much every day that he is always hungry. Even I can't believe my eyes sometimes when I look at him because some days he is so much bigger that he looks like a DIFFERENT CAT. His weight is totally ideal so I know it is just those dang growth spurts. He eats probably twice as much or more of what an adult cat eats so it is getting really really pricey. He absolutely loves Rad Cat and NVI, but won't touch anything from Primal or that is freeze dried (sigh), He only likes the frozen. I am desperately trying to keep his "young cat feeding" less than $60 a month but it seems like feeding him enough raw and high quality wet to sustain him would be well over that.

I was thinking..... would it be so bad to give him mainly raw and just instead give him decent but cheap wet to fill in those times where he needs a little something extra for his hunger (like fancy feast or something?). Or perhaps maybe I should financially just tough out the kitten year and know that he will be less expensive to feed as an adult? 
 
I don't see anything wrong with that. Quite a few members feed both raw and canned. Fancy Feast isn't bad if you stick to the pates. Grreat Choice (Petsmart's house brand) is comparable to Fancy Feast and Friskies and is quite affordable too. I'd stick with the pates with that one too. This brand goes on sale a lot. I've seen the 5.5 ounce cans for .35 cents and have gotten the 13 ounce cans of mixed grill for .67 cents. You do need to have a Petsmart card to get the sale prices but it's easy to do and free to sign up. 
 

missmimz

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. We feed lots of freeze-dried Primal (the two biggest meals of the day) which is really convenient and which the cats prefer to frozen.
This might be an odd question you don't have an answer to but you do know how long the bags of Primal FD last once they're opened? I have a bag i bought awhile ago and none of my cats will eat much of it. I meant to feed it to my ferals but i forgot about it and just found the bag hiding in my pantry. It's probably been open for 3-4 months, it's not expired (good til 8-16) safe to feed you think? I can't find the answer to this anywhere online. 
 

Kat0121

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This might be an odd question you don't have an answer to but you do know how long the bags of Primal FD last once they're opened? I have a bag i bought awhile ago and none of my cats will eat much of it. I meant to feed it to my ferals but i forgot about it and just found the bag hiding in my pantry. It's probably been open for 3-4 months, it's not expired (good til 8-16) safe to feed you think? I can't find the answer to this anywhere online. 
That's actually a really good question. I have some frozen Primal in my freezer that has been open a while too. I was debating tossing it.  You can always call Primal and ask them. I called them after I ordered some stuff online to talk about starting to feed them raw and the man I spoke to said that if they absolutely refused to eat it to call him back and he'd refund me the money. He was really nice and very willing to help. 

http://www.primalpetfoods.com/company/service
 

missmimz

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That's actually a really good question. I have some frozen Primal in my freezer that has been open a while too. I was debating tossing it.  You can always call Primal and ask them. I called them after I ordered some stuff online to talk about starting to feed them raw and the man I spoke to said that if they absolutely refused to eat it to call him back and he'd refund me the money. He was really nice and very willing to help. 

http://www.primalpetfoods.com/company/service
Ah thanks! I didn't think about contacting the company directly. I wish my cats would eat FD. I keep trying though, which is why i end up with partially eat bags 
 

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Leroy inhales anything that fits in his mouth, whether edible or not
He doesn't like Rad Cat raw, though. Emma is a little more picky but will eat most anything. There is one variety of Weruva she won't eat. I can't remember which one but it's a purple labeled can.
 

lisahe

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Yes! cats in the kitchen... he does like that one I totally remember giving him the pouches and he loved them. 
Our cats love the pouches, too, though watch out because they have more gravy (hence more carbs) and less meat. That's a key factor when feeding young cats: go for maximum calories for your money! The Cats in the Kitchen cans are more full of meat, at least in my experience, so a better value.
Originally Posted by GhibliTheCat  

As for the raw food..... see yeah that is what I was thinking. I feel he gets more out of the raw than anything. The problem is he is growing in volume so much every day that he is always hungry. Even I can't believe my eyes sometimes when I look at him because some days he is so much bigger that he looks like a DIFFERENT CAT. His weight is totally ideal so I know it is just those dang growth spurts. He eats probably twice as much or more of what an adult cat eats so it is getting really really pricey. He absolutely loves Rad Cat and NVI, but won't touch anything from Primal or that is freeze dried (sigh), He only likes the frozen. I am desperately trying to keep his "young cat feeding" less than $60 a month but it seems like feeding him enough raw and high quality wet to sustain him would be well over that.

I was thinking..... would it be so bad to give him mainly raw and just instead give him decent but cheap wet to fill in those times where he needs a little something extra for his hunger (like fancy feast or something?). Or perhaps maybe I should financially just tough out the kitten year and know that he will be less expensive to feed as an adult? 
 
Yes, they do grow fast, don't they?! I hate to say it but ours haven't slowed down too much on their eating since hitting alleged adulthood. (They're almost three now.) They still eat the raw/canned equivalent of somewhere between 1.25-1.5 large cans of food a day per cat, maybe even a little more, despite not being very big (around eight pounds each). (That's with two Primal meals, one Rad Cat snack, and two canned meals from cans of various sizes.) The calories and varieties of canned food vary every day but the point is that they're still ridiculously active and ridiculously hungry! It amazes me that they still eat so much. And that it hasn't gotten much cheaper to feed them.

And yes, it's absolutely fine to feed him a combination of cheap foods and raw. There's nothing wrong with that at all. You could do a whole lot worse (for a whole lot more money!) than Fancy Feast or Friskies pates. Personally, I'm glad we tried our cats out on lots of foods while they were still pretty small: they've changed their minds about some of them but it was like doing a baseline study to figure out what they tend to like best. It all came down to chicken shreds and raw food in the top two slots.

 
This might be an odd question you don't have an answer to but you do know how long the bags of Primal FD last once they're opened? I have a bag i bought awhile ago and none of my cats will eat much of it. I meant to feed it to my ferals but i forgot about it and just found the bag hiding in my pantry. It's probably been open for 3-4 months, it's not expired (good til 8-16) safe to feed you think? I can't find the answer to this anywhere online. 
I'd say the same thing as @Kat0121, meaning to call the company. I'll also say this: we go through Stella & Chewy's very slowly, just a few pieces per meal, which we use as toppers on Primal. A bag lasts a long, long time and it stays good enough that the cats will eat it. Sometimes it seems like it's a little softer (humidity?) but the cats still eat it happily. Which is to say that I suspect the Primal's just fine -- they don't say to use within x weeks or months of opening -- but I'd call the company, too, to ask.
 

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I'd say the same thing as @Kat0121, meaning to call the company. I'll also say this: we go through Stella & Chewy's very slowly, just a few pieces per meal, which we use as toppers on Primal. A bag lasts a long, long time and it stays good enough that the cats will eat it. Sometimes it seems like it's a little softer (humidity?) but the cats still eat it happily. Which is to say that I suspect the Primal's just fine -- they don't say to use within x weeks or months of opening -- but I'd call the company, too, to ask.
Thanks! I bought it in Oct so it's not that old. I ended up giving some to my outside cats and they gobbled it up in seconds, so it must still be good
 

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In addition to canned, our girls are loving NVI Chicken and Tuna Raw Bites (need to do some research on how much tuna is actually in it, I'm suspecting it's not much), Primal Beef and Salmon, and Primal Pork.
 
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