NEED CAT WET FOOD ADVICE

M

M Taha

Member Since 2023
Hi!

I’m owner of Sandy (F, 15) who has been receiving Vetsulin (Caninsulin) - 2 units twice a day each with a big meals for the last 2ish years now.

My cat is an EXTREMELY picky eater. Sometimes she’ll eat directly from her bowl (which doesn’t run her whiskers) and sometimes she won’t but she’ll eat from some pieces laid out on paper towel. Sometimes I will have to hand feed her.

More recently I’ve been feeding her the beef feast pate (in Canada) and she’s been on it for a few months, maybe reaching 10 months now. There’ll be days, especially in recent, where I’ll put the food into a bowl and she’ll gobble it all up. Other days she doesn’t even have a bit of it unless I hand-feed her where she’ll happily gobble it up for my hands. She has some vet recommended kibble as a small snack through the day but it hasn’t played a factor in removing her hunger (even the days she ate all her pate food from the bowl she ate the vet recommended kibble).

As of the past 1-2 weeks, she has been more insistent on being hand-fed but today she did not want anything to do with the beef pate! But she was much more ready to eat her vet recommended kibble!

This happened to me before to with the chicken feast pate a year ago where she completely stopped eating it after I gave it to her for atleast more than 6 months and then she like the beef pate. Now she doesn’t like the beef pate so I don’t know what food to switch to or how to switch!

Her stomach is really sensitive to every time I switch her canned food she ends up getting diarrhea.

Does anyone know why this happens and have a recommendation for what canned food I can switch to, preferably a cheap option like fancy feast pates and how to deal with switching every-so often with a picky eater? I know she really likes eating the beef flavoured feast in gravy (chunks) can when I have it to her like every once every 1-2 months incase her insulin time had passed.
 
Hi M Taha and Sandy! And hi to you too, Squeem!

M, when you mention beef feast pate, do you mean Fancy Feast?

Before we get into food, what your cat is eating from is hugely important to them. If you're using a bowl or something with sloped sides, Sandy might be experiencing whisker fatigue, from having her whiskers overly stimulated. Whiskers are extremely sensitive sensory organs, so a flat saucer would be way better. Try it and see how it goes. I use flat dishes for all my cats.

The Canadian food chart we have linked here is really out of date. I'm not sure that most of the President's Choice foods listed there are still being made. And the chart might convey that these are all we have in Canada, which is far from true. We have a lot of Canadian-made foods, and the range of foods we have are pretty similar to what's available in the US.

Many diabetic cats do well on the Fancy Feast pates, as they're low in carbs and definitely have better ingredients than the veterinary diets sold from vet offices. However, Purina can and does change the ingredients in their foods without notice, and anecdotally I've found that my cats, and my friends' cats, are no longer enthusiatic about Fancy Feast.

There is one exception that I've found, surprisingly, which is the Fancy Feast Petites Braised Chicken. My diabetic cat loves this, as do my other cats, and the diabetic cat is doing really well on it. So this is a good option on the cheaper side, respecting that every cat is different.

At stores in Canada such as Global Pets, Homes Alive Pets, and PetValu, there are a lot of options. Brands I've used and that are often mentioned here are Weruva, RAWZ, Nulo and Koha. There are most costly than Fancy Feast. I also use freeze-dried single-protein patties as toppers. For the brands I mentioned, you have to consult the food charts here to make sure you're getting something that's max. 10% carbs, and ideally less than that.

Weruva lists the carb percentage of their foods here. Smart! 😺

The most recent food that my cats adore is Mouser, which is carried at some branches of Global. Yep, made with mice.

It's great that you're asking about this. Food is such an important part of our pets' health. That saying, that "it's better to pay the grocer than the doctor" is so true.

Best wishes to you and Sandy!
 
Last edited:
I’m sorry you’re dealing with this 😣 So difficult when diabetic kitties are picky eaters and we see that a lot here. I’m lucky that Binx is not, so I don’t have too much advice to give but what Lara has said is great!

All I’d add is Binx liked the Turkey and Giblet from Fancy Feast quite a bit, so I wonder if Sandy just wants something new to taste/eat? It’s also lower in carbs and from the same line as the Chicken and Beef options you’ve already had previous success with.

Maybe you can also try probiotics or psyllium husk while you transition diets to help with the diarrhea? S. Boulardii is a common probiotic others use here (AOR brand is good in Canada, from any health food store for humans) but won’t work if B12 is low (bigger concern with CKD cats) and psyllium husk is basically Metamucil (also for humans, but you’d need the no sugar no flavour version, so I just use one called NOW brand). Alternatively, FortiFlora is an option, while not as powerful as a probiotic and some have issues with the use of animal digest in it, people use it as both a probiotic and a topper to appeal to picky eaters.

Binx has also tried Weruva like Lara mentioned, but on the more expensive side. As is Tiki Cat, another common (more expensive) option but available in Canada.

Good luck with everything 🤗
 
I kept several proteins and flavours in a rotation, so Neko didn't get bored. Not that she would have - she ate everything! Thanks to the secondary endocrine condition she had called acromegaly, which sent out extra growth hormone, so always looking for food.

I had an IBD kitty also super picky, but she would often eat something again if it had been a few months. Maybe try the chicken again.

For brands, I'm pretty sure the PC line is no longer being made. Neko was raw fed. I found making my own was often cheaper per meal than the higher end cans, depending what protein I used.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top