Need help with choosing best wet cat food!

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I have tried Friskies Pate, Sheba Pate, FF classics, soulistic, wellness and blue buffalo wet cat foods and I just have unfortunately picky cats. I need something that will draw a picky eater of a cat to chow down on the wet food. I want to drive myself away from feeding them dry cat food especially with one of my cats who just seems addicted to dry cat food and doesn't want to eat much of wet at all. I need him to eat wet food since he isn't drinking much water either and while he seems okay I just don't feel comfortable. So with that said, do any of you have very picky cats and if so what are you feeding them that is working? Stinks to have picky cats!
 
If not for your diabetic cat have you tried the fancy feast sliced or flaked? Until diabetic my Max only liked food in pieces and wouldn't touch pate style. He also liked Science Diet Ideal Balance. I sprinkled a little freeze dried Stella & Chewy's on top of the pates to get him eating. You could try that with the dry. Good luck.
 
Thanks! My diabetic cat and the others eat the Pate FF kind, but my one inside cat that about a month ago got hit on the road and has been on meds to get him on the road to recovery isn't really touching that stuff. He prefers to eat the dry food I have but unfortunately he doesn't drink much water from what I can see. So I want to find him a wet food that he'll gobble up so wondering if trying a different version besides Pate that he might eat?
 
I just added some Weruva into our rotation for some variety with the Fancy Feast for my diabetic boy. My non-diabetic girl is the picky one and she seems to like it OK too (she won't touch any Fancy Feast or most Blue Buffalo canned either, though she loves BB kibble). Unfortunately, it's not cheap but Amazon's prices are the best I've seen. Some <5% carb options are the Paw Lickin' Chicken, Chicken Frickazee, Fowl Ball, and Goldie Lox. The Weruva website has all the nutritional info right there, which is super helpful.
 
For the nondiabetic one that needs meds, try FF Elegant Medleys or Mornings. Those are crowd pleasers with my civvies! They also like the marinated morsels FF as well. None of my cats like Blue Buffalo. We just bought a few Weruva choices and those are a hit. Best prices I've seen are on chewy.com. They are usually a few dollars cheaper than amazon & free shipping with a $49 order-my order came in 2 days!
 
lak99 said:
For the nondiabetic one that needs meds, try FF Elegant Medleys or Mornings. Those are crowd pleasers with my civvies! They also like the marinated morsels FF as well. None of my cats like Blue Buffalo. We just bought a few Weruva choices and those are a hit. Best prices I've seen are on chewy.com. They are usually a few dollars cheaper than amazon & free shipping with a $49 order-my order came in 2 days!
Click to expand...

Did not know about chewy.com--thank you for posting that!
 
Yea I go on Chewy to see reviews and such! Its just so darn hard to go away from dry cat food when all my cats have eaten it all their lives. I had a woman tell me that she has fed only friskies seafood medley dry cat food to her babies and they have lived a long life so far and no health problems. She must be blind to see or something because I can't see how anyone can feed something like that and not see their cats have health problems. I hate to go away from dry food and I wouldn't think if you found a dry cat food that was relatively low carb and high protein that it won't hurt them as long as they can drink water or a mixture of wet cat food and dry.
 
I have 1 cat that refuses wet food, human food, treats, etc. Her preference is Fancy Feast dry food but I've been slowly transitioning her to grain free holistic dry food. I've tried all the tricks for conversion--but not all cats can be converted. You feed the best of what you can afford & your cats will eat. I like to visit my local pet stores and buy a few cans of each flavor of food before ordering a case from Chewy.
 
I am currently feeding my cats Holistic Select and they all love it. Every cat is different but I think an important key is finding out if its the consistency they dont like. If that is the case I would try the Weruva or another HUGE hit in my house was Tiki (all 3 can be found on chewy) The only reason I stopped the 2 was because Hidey had 5 teeth total remove over 2 years and has a had time eating it, and sadly im too lazy to through it into the food processor lol
 
When I first started fostering Wink from the local cat shelter, he was a dry food addict. These Transitioning Dry Food Addict Tips from Dr. Pierson's website helped immensely. You have to try many different approaches and try them multiple times sometimes. Patience is key. Persistence is key.

One of the key tricks that helped me, was finding a flavor that Wink would eat consistently. I found out he absolutely hated fishy flavors, but loved the Turkey & Giblet flavor.

Heating up the wet food helped.
The "chip and dip" method helped.
Adding water to the wet food to make a gravy helped.
Having a "smorgasbord" of choices down for him to try helped.
Cutting back on the amount of dry food each day and offering the wet food first helped.
Feeding him meal feeding only, not free feeding helped.

I think the best wet food for you cat is the one he will eat consistently. After you have him eating wet food exclusively, then try to switch him to a better wet food, by switching out a tiny bit of one food for the new food you want him to try.

I forgot. Crumbling Halo Liv-a-little Freeze Dried Chicken treats on top of the wet food got Wink to eat a few bites. Then, I'd sprinkle on a bit more. I might have to do this crush and sprinkle routine 3-4 times to get him to eat 1.5 ounces of wet food.
 
So how many more carbs is in the gravy kind versus just like pate? My picky boy cat that won't touch the pate kind is eating the cut kind with gravy. I know that isn't the lowest in carbs but he could put on a few pounds from losing it when he was sick but is that kind of food still fine to feed him or any of my other non-diabetic cats? I wish I could find other wet cat foods that isn't gravy kind but also not in pate form.
 
What is a better wet food option then? Thought of going to Petco today.
 
Weruva and Tiki are shredded with consomme. I THINK you can find Weruva at Petco, dont remember for certain. If not you may want to try a small local pet shop. If you go to Tiki's website or Weruva's website they have a store locator you may want to try. Most of Tiki's are 0% carbs, besides the varieties with rice, Weruva varies. Low carb ones off the top of my head are chicken frick a zee, steak & frites, fowl ball & splash dance. I stayed with LOW carb though (5% or less) because Hidey is carb sensitive. If he gets something over 5% his numbers show it.
 
And don't let it worry you that some Weruva cans say "gravy" (like the Paw Lickin' Chicken and BFF Tuna & Chicken); it's not high carb in these cases.
 
Thanks guys! I don't want to order anything right now because I need to try foods on the spot. I know my local petco doesn't have Weruva or Tiki. So are there any non-Pate versions that are low carb cat foods? All I have right now is Sheba and Fancy Feast. I bought the cuts with gravy kind in Sheba but I know its higher in carbs and I don't want him eating that. I"m sure its better than dry as far as moisture goes but still don't want them to eat that because my diabetic cat could end up eating it if I'm not watching. I just thought they would have other wet canned cat foods that aren't Pate and do not have gravy.
 
Not that I found sadly. I live in a smaller area and didnt have many options. Even with Petsmart & Petco I have to drive 30 minutes. I had the same problem at first because Hidey would NEVER eat pates before he had some of his teeth removed thats why I finally gave chewy a try, if your cats wont eat it they take it back and will give you a full refund.....and honestly I have never even had to return the food they always tell me to donate it.

The best I would say is print out the list from catinfo.org and take it with you. You could also print the list from Tanyas CKF site just look at the list closely with that one because its aimed towards CKF but has the carbs listed, I know she recently updated all of the info and some that arent on catinfo may be on that one.
 
I am just feeding them Sheba! That seems to be a cat food under the radar but seems to have ingredients closely related to Fancy Feast. I know with the gravy kind it doesn't contain any wheat gluten but instead uses starch as the thickening agent so I imagine carbs can't be very high.
 
I feel better feeding canned food that contains muscle meat first.
 
yea true but better than wheat gluten and plus my picky cat won't touch pate as I have tried many forms of them. He is eating the cuts from Sheba in gravy but no wheat gluten in them
 
You work with what you can.
Did you make food changes gradually when you tried them? That can work better.
 
Actually the FF sliced are a (surprisingly) high carb, but there are several Chunky and Flaked varieties that are low carb that will give some alternative texture options. The Merrick Grammy Pot Pie, T-day Dinner, Turducken, are chunkier. Natural Balance stews are on the list (have tried only catatoulie)
and Instinct has a different texture than many pates, and with lots of juices....
few more options to consider
 
I suggest consulting Dr. Lisa's food chart for protein and carb Friskes is the cheapest best food (low carb but high fat and meat by products). BFF with whole protein is the next best price online.

I found the best price at Chewy and other sites using invisiblehand add-on to Google Chrome. I ordered the best price via www.pets360.com found with invisible hand tool and ordered through Ebates program and got $51 back in rebate for a 250 order of BFF wet food. Both Chewy and Pets360 gave me free shipping and 20% discount with first order.

So 1) getinvisiblehand.com to compare web prices;
2) trackif browser add in to track prices and notify if change
3) fatwallet or ebates for rebates on many sites
4) shoprunner - free 2 day shipping - free with AMEX cards

Amazon is often the cheapest for wet cat food but not always. Have a student in your household? Get 2 day free shipping FREE for six months with Student Prime.
 
I disagree with this general opinion that the best one is whichever she will eat, I'm afraid. If a child refuses to eat anything but McDonald's, that doesn't make it the best food option for the child, and it's the same thing with animals.

I strongly recommend reading this Guide includes what should consider before buying quality cat food. My current favorite (and my cat's) are Wellness Natural and tiki pets cat food in the Kitchen Fowl Ball. The wet foods are extremely high in meat (supermarket brands, practically without exception, contain no more than 4% meat. Cats are carnivores - the more meat, the better) and Tiki pets and meo mix are grain free. Cats should not have grains as part of their diet. It isn't something they would ever eat or have eaten in the wild. 9lives is also the only cat food I've come across that contains green lipped muscle, which aids joints.
 
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