? Treat recommendations?

Allie & Gen

Allie & Gen

Member Since 2025
I was wondering what peoples' thoughts are on various treats?

Eugenides is not very food-motivated and never has been. He's always been a grazer; I give him a set amount in the morning and he likes to eat it a bit at a time throughout the day. (It occurs to me that perhaps he's maintaining his own version of a many-small-meals schedule, though obviously not one I can accurately measure.) However, I have had very little luck bribing him with food to do anything. Also, while he's always been on a wet/dry combined diet, he usually prefers his dry food, and I'd like to wean him off it.

Since I need to work with him on things like blood tests (currently he's totally intolerant), eating if his BG is dropping but he'd rather keep napping (last night, sigh), letting me get a urine sample for ketone testing, etc, I'm hoping I can find a treat that might help motivate him.

He does really like the Temptations chicken treats I had for him prior to his relapse (though they still don't always work to get him to do something he doesn't want to). Pretty sure those are a bad idea now.

I've been looking at this list, but I'm not sure where to start. I do remember that he was thoroughly unimpressed with freeze-dried salmon treats I tried on him after his initial diagnosis in 2021. I'm curious what other peoples' cats find particularly irresistible!
 
Try any and all brands of freeze dried meat and fish treats. Sometimes cats won't touch a "yucky" brand but will eat treats from another brand. Freeze dried chicken is popular.

Plain cooked chicken or other meat is good, too. Or a little piece of raw meat or even poultry gizzards.

Air dried raw and freeze dried raw are healthier alternatives to dry food.

Some cats prefer a reward of catnip or cat grass or even pet toothpaste. CET pet toothpaste in poultry flavor is popular.
 
I've never tried boiled chicken, but i quite frequently poach chicken breasts for myself to add to pasta dishes and the like, and I could easily do some for him at the same time. Is that suitable, cooked to the safe temperature I use for myself (i.e. 165F)?

I'm leery of raw poultry because of the bird flu - which I followed pretty closely because I'm a birder/wildlife enthusiast and it affected my local waterfowl populations and a local-ish big cat sanctuary, etc. Also a friend of a friend lost a couple of cats because they caught it from their commercial raw food, which was heartbreaking. That said, a healthy alternative to dry food is appealing, since Gen seems to really enjoy crunch. (Not sure how that will work after his extractions, which may wind up being complete.)

Thanks for all the thoughts! This has already been quite helpful. I have to try and be a little strategic, as I'm pretty broke and all of these medical costs are taking a big bite out of me. Wish I could get some kind of sample pack. As it is, I guess I'll do some price comparisons and take them into account with the assumption that the first thing I try might not work out.
 
Poaching, baking, boiling, steaming etc all works. Just use only plain water or bake without any seasonings not even salt or pepper.
 
Two of my cats eat fresh cooked and shredded chicken & pork tenderloin. You can even cook it IN water, too catch all the nutrients and it gives you natural broth.😁
Aside from that, any freeze dried foods can work as a treat. I'd just say stay away from rabbit ones, because they have a lot of bones since it's hard to debone them. That can be bad for seniors
 
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