Canned Cat Food Heaven!

[Time Bandit]

With finances back in order, I've decided to get the girls off of Friskies and Fancy Feast, and on to something better finally! I just got them off of dry completely (Samantha sometimes won't eat unless there is some dry involved, but I think we've gotten past that now). I'd love to do the all raw diet, but I just don't have a real reliable organ source yet (I just found chicken livers the other day after searching for months), so raw is just a treat still. So instead they are going to be trying grain-free, good-brands of canned.

I was doing some research and I found an amazing local pet store, that specializes in premium pet foods and treats, so I decided to give them a shot over my normal Petco or PetSmart run. I was amazed at how many brands they have to try, and since Rochelle is picky, picky, picky about her wet food, I decided to try all sorts of brands.

I picked up Blue Buffalo Spa Selects, Wellness pouches and cans, Pro Plan Selects, Homestyle Selects from the Prairie, EVO, and Felidae. I did stop off at Petco and PetSmart and I picked up some Soulistic and Avoderm as well. All are grain-free, natural, or holistic. I can't wait to give these a try and see what everybody likes! Once I figure out what the winners are, I'll do a rotation so they don't get bored. Wish me luck!

[Susan]

Good Luck! I don't know if your girls will be like mine, but when I give Muffs or Abby a new type of food, they often turn their noses up. It's not that they don't like it...how would they know, they haven't even tried it?! I think it just smells different, and they harbor suspicions that I'm trying to poison them.

Anyway, when I first give them a new brand, I often sprinkle something on top...usually I just crumble up a freeze-dried treat or put a bit of the food they're used to on top, so they recognize the smell. I find that helps to convince them to try out new brands/flavors. Then again, perhaps your girls won't be as picky as my Ms. Finicky and Ms. Persnickety!

[Time Bandit]

Originally Posted by Susan

It's not that they don't like it...how would they know, they haven't even tried it?! I think it just smells different, and they harbor suspicions that I'm trying to poison them.

HAHA! Thats pretty funny. XD

Alice, and most of the time Samantha (unless she's on her if-its-not-dry-I-won't-eat-it kick), are garbage disposals, so I know they'll eat just about anything I put in front of them. I may have to break out the tuna flakes for Sammy, but we'll see.

Rochelle is my super picky eater. It took months to break her of her fish obsession, so she might give me some trouble. But thats why I bought like 8 different brands...she's gotta like at least one of them right!?

[Alpaca]

Hey good luck! Glad you're in a better financial situation now.

Got a bit of a suggestion. You said you had a interest in a raw diet but haven't found a reliable organ source? Well I'm currently not really feeding a lot of organs to my cats either, but until I can get an organ source, I've been feeding them a half raw/half wet diet. So what they're not getting from the raw (the organs), they're getting from the wet. Also I feed whole quail that's chopped up and distributed amongst them. So they do get a bit of organ here and there.

[Time Bandit]

Alpaca, thats a really great suggestion. I guess I never really considered a half and half diet, because I was worried about the organ mess. So canned can take the place of organ then? I could get a little real organ in them, as my grocery store just started carrying whole chicken livers.

If I were to try a half raw/half canned diet, would I need to mess with bone too much (it scares me!), or would the canned take care of most of that too? I won't have access to things like whole quail, duck, or rabbit most of the time. I would be mainly feeding chicken, turkey, lamb, and beef, probably already de-boned.

[Alpaca]

Well I was figuring that a can of high quality cat food is supposed to contain all the nutrients a cat requires for a meal. Since you could just feed a can solely without anything else, then it should be nutritionally complete. If I feed half a meal of that, and they're getting a bit of organ from the whole quail, then I should more or less be on the ball.

I also figure if I feed a variety of stuff, I can't go wrong. So I add variety whenever I can. Specifically, I rotate the cans so they get beef, chicken, lamb, venison, duck. They get raw chicken, beef, quail, sometimes some water packed canned sardines for omega-3. and at night they get a small handful of Orijen dry food as a snack.

Oh yeah, I totally understand you about the bone. It used to terrify me to no end. That was the very reason why I hesitated so long before jumping in. Then I closed my eyes and took the plunge. My Miu is about 7-8 pounds. A small cat. She does have some difficulty if it's too large. However, she can handle a quail drumstick and a quail wing no prob. Some ppl think it's definitely okay with chicken bones, but I draw the line there. Cap'n Jack is about 9 pounds and he's a beast. Mainly cuz he's a former feral/stray. You can hear the sound of him crunching away on the bone like it was nothing. He has real strong jaws.

If you're doing half canned, then bone won't be that much of a prob. Thing with bone is, you can control their poop with it. So if they get too soft, you add bone, too hard, you reduce bone. It's not a good thing to have soft serve all the time. It'll affect their anal gland from emptying properly.

Going half is a good way to introduce them and also get yourself comfortable with it.

[October]

Time Bandit, do you have a Trader Joe's near you? They have their own brand of canned cat food and it's only 59 cents for a 5.5-ounce can. It was also the only canned food Murphy would eat, after giving him a smorgasbord of other brands. I posted the ingredients here on the Forum and our experts gave it a good, but maybe not the best, rating. So I'll take that, especially considering it's the only one he'll eat, and it's only 59 cents a can!

[Time Bandit]

Alpaca - Thanks so much for the insight on a half and half diet. I think I might give it a shot, once we figure out which of these nice canned foods they'll eat. So far the Avoderm, Soulistic, and Blue Buffalo got paws down from two of the three (Samantha and Rochelle are being picky picky, lol). But the Pro Plan Selects are being gobbled down, so thats one to keep around, haha! I may even make the push for bone, but it seriously terrifies me. XD But knowing that even little Miu can crunch her way through them, makes me want to try.

October - Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, we do have a Trader Joe's, and I tried out their food for about two weeks. Rochelle wanted nothing to do with it, and Samantha got bored real quick (I had to start adding dry to it because otherwise she would have snubbed it completely...I don't want to have to be forced to feed my girls dry, if I can help it ). For the price and quality though, you really can't do much better, and I'll endorse it to anyone, even if my girls don't really care for it.

[catnapped]

Originally Posted by Time Bandit

HAHA! Thats pretty funny. XD

Alice, and most of the time Samantha (unless she's on her if-its-not-dry-I-won't-eat-it kick), are garbage disposals, so I know they'll eat just about anything I put in front of them. I may have to break out the tuna flakes for Sammy, but we'll see.

Rochelle is my super picky eater. It took months to break her of her fish obsession, so she might give me some trouble. But thats why I bought like 8 different brands...she's gotta like at least one of them right!?

Time Bandit, sorry to slightly hijack your post, but how did you manage to break down Rochelle's fish fetish? I have the same problem and feel a bit like giving up (even before recent appetite loss problem)...

[Time Bandit]

Originally Posted by catnapped

Time Bandit, sorry to slightly hijack your post, but how did you manage to break down Rochelle's fish fetish? I have the same problem and feel a bit like giving up (even before recent appetite loss problem)...

Hi catnapped! Once a cat is hooked on fish, its a nightmare getting them back off, isn't it. I tried for weeks mixing fish canned with non-fish canned, and that wasn't yielding great results...once I'd get her to an almost all non-fish diet, she'd snub it completely...then it was back to more fish just to get her to eat. Finally, I actually had to transition her from fish, to dry food. I fed her Wellness Indoor, while we did the switch, and once she was ok with eating the dry only, then we worked on getting some non-fish canned in there, until she was eating all wet again. It definitely takes a lot of patience and time, and I can't guarantee that this will work for your kitty. I wish you the best of luck!