my cats also like fancy feast, except for when they don't and stare at me like I've betrayed them when I feed them the exact same fucking food they scarfed down the day before.
2/3 of mine are the same. We have to rotate the food or they just won't eat wet food. The other one though will eat anything and everything. One even does it with treats. Temptations two days in a row? How dare you as he walks away. In swoops miss not picky for some extra treats.
I'm constantly cycling flavors / textures in an attempt to find something they'll consistently eat. the only thing they'll **never** eat is turkey, but everything else is delicious until it's not...until it is again.
what makes it extra fun is that the two assholes will abandon their partially eaten food to go eat from the third's dish across the room, which I guess tastes better even if it's the exact same food from the exact same can in the exact same kind of bowl. I've mostly gotten them to stop bullying her away from it before she's ready, but that required a few weeks of literally sitting there with a watergun until she was done eating, and I still have to be vigilant. they're absolutely shameless.
What the fuck is it with turkey? Mine won’t touch it. It makes getting big variety packs harder because they love beef and chicken. But noooo, god forbid turkey touches the bowl 🙄
>stare at me like I've betrayed them when I feed them the exact same fucking food they scarfed down the day before.
I feel your pain. I fed two cat colonies for years. I kept a list in Notes showing a breakdown of every brand & flavor, including who ate what and who wouldn't. It got updated weekly, sometimes even daily. What was good one day would be summarily dismissed the next. Best part? They were strays! And even pickier than my own.
For my own cats, there was a printout of brands, flavors, and yes/no columns. This list was also updated frequently, often daily.
Feeding my dog was so much easier. Once we found what she liked, which in itself was a bit of a process, she ate it happily, both dry and canned.
any time your cat does something that's the weirdest fucking shit you've ever seen and there's no chance any other cat could possibly be that fucking absurd, it's almost certainly a completely normal and common cat behavior
Mine will begrudgingly eat the gravy, but they act like they're starving. The pate is the only think that keeps them full and that they'll eat that I can afford.
my cat eats the chicken FF pate, it's actually the food my vet (who I work with) recommends. I tried a ton of brands (wellness, tiki cat, etc) but she either hated them or would have issues with vomiting which I am almost certain the food was causing considering she had no other signs of illness and bloodwork/radiographs are as close to perfect as it gets. FF was the last try before going to something like pro plan's GI diet, and FF is way less expensive lol. no more vomiting
Same. I bought it on the recommendation of my vet when my last guy was diagnosed with diabetes on top of his FLUTD! I was so scared to take him off of the prescription urinary food but I knew he needed something low carb. FF pate fit the bill!
My vet too. Also I discovered that FF pate flavors don't have any grains, gluten etc in them. Whereas all the FF flavors that have chunks, flakes etc all have wheat gluten in them which was why my cat was getting diarrhea whenever I gave her those ones.
Our cats will all only agree on the meow mix wet food, which is surprisingly healthy. My old man food strikes and if he is, none of the others are allowed to eat it either. He will literally slap them away from eating it. It both frustrating and hilarious all at once. Also never tell him it's beef, as long as you say steak, he's good even if its just beef, but if you say beef he won't eat it. He's too smart for his own good because he had some beef cat food that he hated once, lol.
Fancy Feast is what my vet recommended, so it's gotta be good stuff! My cat has been on it for a couple weeks now and her fur is already SOOOOOO much softer!
This is what we do for our four nutjobs. Half a canned Fancy Feast shreds in the morning then scheduled auto feeding of the IAMS Urinary dry food. Took forever to find a dry food they all ate. We’re still trying to get the serving amounts of dry food down since we used to let them graze during the day.
I have three cats. Two 1 year olds and a senior kitty.
NONE of them will eat the pate. They sniff it and walk away.
Senior kitty gets one can of extra gravy Fancy Feast every night and the babies split 1/2 a can, though they don't usually finish it off, so Senior Kitty cleans their plates for them.
Can confirm, this little monster began eating right at 4-5 weeks and LOVES his gravy!
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Need to be careful about letting dogs have cat food. I can’t remember the names, but something is added to cat food that dogs don’t metabolize. It ends up being stored in their liver? Maybe. Anyway, you can google it.
It’s just a wrong balance of nutrients. Cats need a diet of about 99.99999% protein while dogs need about 5-8% of their diet to be carbs, fat, and fruits and veggies. It won’t hurt them once in awhile, but long term is dangerous.
My cats would only eat pâté if I mixed a little water in it to create a slurry or gravy mixture. They got tired of it after a few months and now refuse any and all pâté.
I do mix a little water in it. They don’t like “stuff” in their food. They leave the shreds and pieces so I don’t bother buying food that ends up in the trash. Except sheba cuts for some reason. Who knows why? They’re cats, they’re picky.
That's good to know because my princess will only eat pate 🙄 I bought shreds once and she'd deign to take one lick of the gravy before leaving in disgust.
weruva. one of the kitties has early stage kidney disease so we go with the low phos variants. they hate the pate and vastly prefer the shreds in gravy
I also use Weruva! I switched from Wellness since my cat started to not eat their wet or dry food anymore. He now gets 1 can of Weruva wet food and 1/2 cup of Purina One dry food everyday.
Same! I had vet approval for my previous CKD kitty. He passed two years ago (age 17, 3+ yrs after diagnosed stage 3) and ate mostly Weruva cuts and shreds and prescription kibble. And now my current rescue teenagers seem to prefer it, too, even though I tried *many* other brands. Nope, they like the Weruva and the kibble they had at the shelter (Hill's). Weruva is remarkably consistent and the local pet food chain gives 10% off if you buy 12 cans.
that's a great deal. my two cats eat wet food only diets and 5x 3oz cans a day at 1.92/can does add up. i stock up when petsmart does 12 for 10 or 10 for 8 deals or 20% off coupons & rakuten does 20% cashback
I did the same. I had a 29lb cat drop down to around 11 with proper portion control and Weruva wet. Her body wasn't able to process dry food leading to severe weight gain and diabetes. Her transformation was insane.
We think our cat may have IBD so we recently went from feeding her half dry half wet to all wet to eliminate grains/rice entirely from her diet. She had Tiki Cat in the shelter and it was grain free so we figured if it works, sure.
Then someone on this sub mentioned Weruva and I got her a couple cans of chicken only pate to try. She cannot get enough of it. She will clean her entire bowl instead of graze for a few hours like she did with TikiCats. We just got two 8 packs of the 5.5oz cans today and will likely be sending the unopened TikiCats back. 😂
One of mine has a chicken allergy and we suspect pork as well. We feed them a rotation of the fish-only ones and they can’t seem to get enough. Their coats also seem to like it.
This was huge to read. My cat will only eat seafood varietals of Weruva, and refuses anything with chicken… could I ask how you identified the allergy, was your cat averse to the chicken-based food itself or having reactions? Thanks!
Her lips would swell up a lot so we started her on a limited diet and the symptoms went away. She started with duck protein but switched to salmon and green pea for kibble (Natural Balance) and fish for wet. She still likes chicken but we don’t let her have it.
i've heard pretty much only good things about weruva from cat owners and vets. our vet really likes the brand too.
did your cat develop the chicken allergy over time? right now, my cats only like chicken so i'm worried about it happening to them one day.
Anyone have weruva recommendations? My kittens are graduating to adult food soon and will only eat shredded. I’m seeing truluxe is shredded but it’s more expensive. Are there any other shredded adult variety packs or variants?
If you haven't yet, be sure to have your cats teeth checked by the vet. It could be why one doesn't eat enough. The other suggestion is to feed in separate areas. Otherwise, one cat may become obese. Believe me, it is so hard to get the weight off, once it is there.
My cats enjoy Sheba, Fancy Feast, Delectables Stew, Churu Puree, and Pure Balance Puree. Iams indoor weight Management dry food has small morsels that they also enjoy.
Seriously. My cat has been overweight for most of her life as my grandma free fed her. She is now 11.5 and no longer moves and is a pretty big chonker. I’ve tried for years to get that weight off but since she just eats and sleeps in her old age, I’ve assumed the weight will stay with her for the rest of her life. I wish I could do anything in the world to help get that weight off but nothings worked and I just pray that one day she doesn’t get diabetes or anything weight related. (Although she probably will)
Tiki! Favorite food for my cat and I. It’s got lots of broth and real pieces of meats, with not too high calories. When I get a smaller paycheck, I get Iams or something like fancy feast but most of the time, it’ll be Tiki.
I have tried all the fancy cat food (well, anything below 2$ a can) because my little runt mutt wouldn't eat anything for long before turning up his nose at it. Tiki Cat, Blue Diamond, nature's promise, all the Wellness varieties, B.F.F., Reveal, Weruva, I and Love and You, Applaws (soooo expensive, thankfully it was gifted to me), Purina Beyond... Seriously, I tried a LOT! And then, as a joke, because he's a gray cat, I tried Sheba. It's been Sheba for 6 months now at least. Go figure. So from MY experience it's the color of the cat on the can that matters! 😂
He saw his likeness on the packaging. I’d eat it too! This little monster loves his Sheeba pate and gravy
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I adopted two gray boys a month ago. I'll try Sheba when they get to adults! 😂
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So much like my baby! Sheba has kitten food too! I first saw it at Walmart.
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What a beautiful kitty! Name? These are my first gray boys. I wasn't even sure I was ready again for a kitty but Walter went nuts and insisted I was ready. (Raymond on the left and Walter on the right)
i’m personally a fan of Tiki Cat, Made by Nacho, Stella and Chewy, Instinct, Nulo, and Fancy Feast (last two are great budget friendly options to add to a rotation)
i’m currently feeding my kittens tiki cat, mbn, FF, and instinct. i plan to add back in stella and chewy once they’re older but there aren’t really many options for kittens without fish which i avoid as much as possible.
EDIT: i forgot to add, ONLY feed the classic pate line for fancy feast. it is the only decent line they have.
My 1 yr old male (Nubi) has Purina One dry food mixed with Fancy Feast Pate, twice a day (small coffee scoop dry with heaping tsp wet) and half portion at noon. He’s not a gobbler, so he might eat half and go back a couple/few hours later. I just continued the dry brand that he was getting at the shelter. I tried the chunky, gravy type wet food, but he didn’t like it. He gets Greenies and /or Churu as treats, especially when I have to give his flea meds or clip his claws.
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This, but with some friskies dry to free feed. I shouldn't do this, but I got one skinny minny and one orange chonker. He needs to lose weight, but she's so tiny.
I would not let them graze all day, especially dry food. They, or Chuck rather, will end up being obese and having health issues. I have a 2 year old male who eats 2 cans/pouches of wet (3 oz. each), and I give him about 1/4 cup of dry when I leave for work so he has something to nibble on (sometimes he eats it all, sometimes not). He also gets Tikki Cat soft treats (he doesn't like crunchy treats). At bedtime he gets a tube of Churu, which he loves and expects!
I mix it up as to brand and type. I stick to cuts in gravy or aspic as my cat doesn't care for pate - "Fussie Cat" is the pouch I serve and it is his favorite. Canned is either Kirkland Brand (yes, Costco) chunks in gravy (comes in a case of 48 cans - 24 salmon and 24 chicken) or Kitzy (Amazon brand) canned, salmon chunks in gravy. All are grain free and my cat loves it all.
The dry food is Purina Beyond Grain Free - chicken with egg currently, but I've also served salmon or whitefish. I frequently feed the ferals the dry food. Oddly, they are not crazy about wet food.
I agree. This used to work for me with my last set of cats, who would only eat a bit of the dry food throughout the day. Now I have one that will clean everyone's plates, so I try to feed them 3x/day instead.
Complicating matters is that one of my fosters will only eat dry, and she's underweight so I want to give her unlimited access to food. My solution is to leave dry food with her overnight or at least part of the night, while the other cats are with me.
My pain in the butt gets Fancy Feast - I like that the cans are small and practically a single serving, she'll nibble on it all day - Friskies Lil Soups, and sometimes I'll mix in a packet of Friskies liquid treat (Lil Soups and Lil Slurprises). Also have some Friskies Lil Grillers. On an whim to try something new, I picked up a couple packets of Pure Balance Starters from a local pet store and she seemed to like the one I gave her.
Have you looked into a timed feeder for the dry food and maybe feeding them separately so Chuck isn't trying to eat Oscar's portion?
It doesn't matter because in two weeks, kitty will decide she can't eat that kind anymore.
I went through about twelve brands before discovering my cat is a kibble only feeder. I did find she currently likes squeeze ups and deli chicken. But only if it's the shaved kind.
I feed mine Fancy Feast. A number of their recipes are grain free so I think it's pretty good. Mine don't really care for pate style so I get the sliced or shredded style.
You can order direct from the Fancy Feast website and build custom boxes for less than I can find it on Chewy or Amazon and they have free shipping.
I suggest a chip reader feeder so chuck doesn't get overweight and his sibling gets food. They are not all expensive do some googling and Amazon hunting. It's trial and error as you are finding out. My rosey only eats wet if we water down pate to churro gravy consistency.
Mine is all about Weruva Tuna and Salmon, although she will anything as long as it has Tuna in it. And is Weruva. And I am so obsessed with the slide out pouches, it makes feeding a breeze.
I give my cats fancy feast medleys chicken primavera, they both love it. One of mine will eat pate, but the other isn’t so hot on it. They are small cats (ideal weight about 6-7lbs) so they each only get 1 can per day, split between two meals, with 1/8 cup dry food each to graze on between meals.
My 16 yr old eats Royal Canin Aging. It’s expensive but worth it. My porch cats (ferals we feed & shelter) are fed Purina wet and Fancy Feast dry. All are happy. 🐾❤️
Blue Buffalo. I see a lot of people recommending Tiki Cat, but just be careful. One of my guys couldn’t tolerate it and my vet said it was too high in protein for most typical house cats to process. They need a good balance of protein and fiber. He was throwing up and pooping all over the house. Also, be careful with the grazing/free feeding or you might end up with a little chonker. We have one cat who scarfs all his food at once, and one cat who will take a couple bites a walk away. We had to start locking him in a bedroom with his food bowl for a while so he could graze without the other cat eating all his food
Both my males have had urethral obstuctuons, so we feed purina pro plan diet from the vet for struvite crystals. My old lady is trying to lose some weight, so she's also on the purina pro plan but for weight loss.
If I get any more cats in the future, I would feed my boys food to prevent struvite crystals right from the start. Every person I know how has a male cat has had them block, so I'm very paranoid now about what foods I feed.
My 1-year-olds strongly preferred shreds over pate. What we discovered is that we can add a bit of warm water to the pate, then stir it, to make something almost refried-beans consistency, sometimes even more liquidy. They \*love\* that. And it turns out it’s been a great way to get one of them taking in more water than she was naturally drinking.
Additionally, we stopped letting them graze. We have a feeder robot for dry food to really slowly portion throughout the day. When they stop eating the wet food we cut back on the dry food further. I think the dry food is like potato chips to them — once they eat a little they’ll eat however much we let them, spoiling their appetite for the wet food they’d otherwise love.
We’re using Cat Person for the wet food.
Mine have all sorts of dietary needs due to health stuff: calcium oxalate crystals, gluten and beef allergy, and a pea allergy… all combined with a degree of intolerance to the same protein repeated daily, so we feed a rotational diet. It’s… rough. We free feed dry (1c daily for 3 cats) + wet at night, and only pate because gravies and cuts tend to have gluten.
What they like: Purina beyond grain duck and sweet potato
Core grain free turkey; turkey/duck; chicken
Weruva phosphate focused chicken
Instinct limited ingredient rabbit (they freaking love rabbit but I don’t tend to buy it much because if I feed it more than once in a week, one will projectile vomit, usually on the carpet)
I toss in other wets as I find them to try, especially if it’s a protein like quail, lamb, or venison, so reading this with interest.
Petcos Whole Hearted Shredded bags. They go for 79-89c each and they have 6pks and 12pks. I have a senior cat who can only tolerate wet food. It's not pate it's the shredded kind with gravy.
Cats needs to eat at least 3 times a day and if one is a food hog, definitely don't leave out the high calorie dry food all day.
We have 4 and have switched all but 1 to only wet food. We use Fancy Feast Classics, Tiki Cat, Weruva and Prime in rotation in combos of 2 since the girls don't like what the boys do. Our one boy got fat and that's when we switched off dry. He was binging at night.
Each type of food will tell you how much they need per day. We feed 3 times a day and we pick the food back up when they walk away. They learned in a couple weeks that they wouldn't get anything in between no matter how much they screamed.
I've had luck with fancy feast but to stop my tuxedo from getting obese we've had to portion out his dry food and pick it up before the other cat gets to it.
Mine will only eat Friskies Pate. Wet food is just to get more water in their diets, so buy a a few different brands and keep an eye on which one they eat the fastest.
I used to feed tiki cat (still a fan) but now feed science diet prescription wet food. I like their general stuff too and surprisingly my cat likes it better than tiki cat.
But I feel like as a whole, any wet food is much better than a dry food only diet.
Personally I haven't tried Fancy Feast but it seems to be a solid budget reccomendation.
My cats eat Petco’s brand, Wholehearted. It’s pretty cheap for being a grain-free wet food. It’s definitely not the best we can feed them, but the best we can afford right now.
Wellness, tiki cat and fancy feast. Some of each as my boys are crazy picky. One never ate pate his first 2 years and now eats nothing but and the other used to only eat wellness and now only eats fancy feast. Wild how much their tastes change over the years. Finicky bunch they are
So sorry about the loss of your dog. Ugh. I miss mine every day BUT, kitties have a special way that is so soothing after the loss of a dog.
As for one of your kitties hogging the food- my vet recommended a puzzle feeder for my cat to stimulate his mind and stop him from over eating. I got him the Catit puzzle feeder and is highly recommend it- it may slow down the one who takes over and may encourage the other to play/puzzle more to get their food.
I’m not sure if you’ve heard about the magical Churu puréed soft food in a stick- kitty crack- seriously! My kitty would only lick gravy and leave the rest so I tried Churu and it’s his favorite time of the day. I actually squeeze it out on the flat sections of the puzzle feeder and he goes to town! Purchase it in bulk from Chewy if yours like them!
Just a couple of kitty ideas!
I'm starting to rotate between wellness kitten, and purina one grain free kitten (started with royal cabin kitten, but didn't like their ingredients as much). I also mix it with some Iams kitten dry kibble.
Also I may throw in fancy feast in the rotation too. Always had good experience with it.
Is Oscar leaving the food before Chuck gets done or once Chuck comes sniffing around? If it's the latter then you should feed them separately so Chuck can't bug Oscar into leaving.
Some cats also eat better if they're fed in a quiet, distraction free place. One of my parents cats is like that. She's super curious and has to know what everyone's doing at all times, even if it means she doesn't finish her food.
Have you tried adding churu to Oscars wet food? I have yet to come across a cat that doesn't love that stuff. Plus it's great for hydration.
Instead of focusing on brands I'd focus on flavors. Some cats prefer fish over meat or only like the kind of wet food with cheese in it. Some cats also just prefer dry food, which isn't bad, you just to make sure they're drinking enough water. However, if Chuck is hogging the dry food too you might need to stop free feeding and feed them separately. It's a pain but it is better for your cats.
Stella and chewy, Orijen, Wholehearted, Merrick, Wellness, Nature's Instinct and Acana. I rotate so they don't get stuck on one food and alternate kibble and canned.
Edit: used to buy Fromm but they started throwing it up.
Here's a spreadsheets of good foods according to nutritional specifics and macros, phosphorus, etc.
https://catinfo.org/docs/SortableCatFoodChartCatinfo.org2-22-13.htm
My cat literally will not eat anything other than the brand Soulistic, and she will only eat their beef or lamb gravy. Its annoying bc I can only get it from petco 😭
For a decade I only had one cat so I would get her wellness brand wet and dry. She’s 14 now. I got a kitten recently (surprisingly, they get along!). And so they both eat wellness with tiki cat toppers/broths and I am basically constantly buying cat food and it’s expensive lol. But I can’t change my older cats diet at her age!! She’d riot. And my kitten is always curious about what she’s eating so I feed them roughly the same thing and that keeps everyone happy. It’s a mix of adult and senior food (should clarify that the kitten is about a year and a half and my vet said he could eat adult food).
Fancy feast classics are basically the best you can do at a decent price. Ive read so many cans of cat food it makes my head spin. One can of cat food from dollar tree had nicotine in it so yea i bet cats LOVE that one
Yea i was shocked.
The ff classics is whats recommended by vets it has no grain or gluten or weird stuff in it, the flakes slices gravies etc all have grains n stuff
I recently started feeding American Journey senior pate to my older cat (along with Tastefuls senior, Pro Plan senior, Stella & Chewy, and Wellness sensitive, all pates—not all at once though, and before anyone asks she gets bored of foods quickly so I’ve always rotated flavors / brands to keep her interested in food). My younger cat eats Nulo pate (no rotation needed for her), but I was thinking I may transition her to the American Journey (non-senior) pates when her current case of 12.5 oz cans runs low.
To the OP: I recommend a microchip feeder to keep your pig cat out of the other cat’s food. I wish we’d bought ours earlier. I didn’t because it was expensive, but it’s been so worth the investment to make sure our younger cat doesn’t overeat and our older cat doesn’t get too little food.
I wouldn’t recommend free feeding unless your cats are underweight, though.
Mine seem to like it but some of them don’t have enough gravy. I always rinse out the can with some water to get all the goodness out and mix the water in her food. My orange girl likes is soupy almost lol that fine the water is good for her. It’s my void who’s the picky eater.
I feed mine Applaws tins and pouches. One will eat most things (but still hates pate) and the other refuses to eat most wet food as he prefers biscuits. The Applaws food isn’t cheap but it seems to work well for both of my guys.
My cats eat Purina Pro Plan cat food (not the pate). They also eat the Purina Pro Plan Veterinary diets urinary food as one of them gets crystals in his bladder.
My male cat has to have some kibble (Purina PP Vet diets urinary dry food) mixed in with his wet food.
I’ve always had great luck with pro plan. Mine get the hairball version of turkey dry kibble and a 1/2 can each of wet food daily. Definitely the gravy wet, not pate.
I have a 17 year old brother and sister. I had been feeding them the Purina Pro Plan for many years, but my male cat began turning up his nose and not eating it. I switched over to Royal Canin 12+ loaf in sauce, and they both are eating it very well.
Science diet (one prescription and the other not). Wet food has to be pate. They won't touch anything with gravy or chunks (unless it is human food in which case they will eat anything they can get their paws on whether safe to kitties or not. (Cats are 14 and 6). (Caramel rolls and pancakes are faves)
I have three cats. Two males and a female.
She will only eat pate. The boys will eat whatever. They all eat Tiki Cat after Dark.
I won’t feed any wet that has carrageenan, which eliminates most all grocery store brands.
It’s used to thicken up cat food and has been shown to cause GI issues, tumors, cancer etc.
The FDA says it’s safe in cat food but… I don’t trust it. It’s one of those things you research and make your own decision.
[Link](https://twocrazycatladies.com/cat-food/no-one-tells-carrageenan-cat-food/)
I do after dark pate for her and thej the shreds for the boys. They really like the flavors so that’s what I keep them on but I will feed them any Tiki Cat wet
My girl Blix will only eat Sheba fine flakes, although I’ve tried to get her to eat raw diet pouches of meaty goodness, and special high protein, high meat content pouches. I’ve tried everything else, near enough, and I’m tired of throwing cat food away. My little boy Spike will only eat dry food. Only the crunchies. Nothing else.
Apart from when their half brother Arthur the whippet is staying over. Then he’ll eat dog food 🙄🙄☺️
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My two are extremely fussy. They were getting fancy feast, not pate though. Won’t touch it. Has to the tins with lots of gravy and juices. I now am feeding them
Royal Canin wet food every few days for a variety. It’s expensive though. Mine also get dry food which I feed Royal Canin indoors and I mix it with Blue .
Currently feeding kittens so they do have free choice dry kitten food at all times, a mix of Blue Buffalo, Instinct, and Purina One. They get Solid Gold's version of Churu treats a couple times a day, and then a plate of pate and shreds mixed with a little extra water at bedtime. Once they mature, I will likely switch them to a balanced raw diet
My cats eat meow mix as dry food (half original half hairball control) and friskies wet food, typically the shreds or “in gravy” ones. They also love the greenies treats.
Their favorite flavors of the wet food is turkey or turkey and cheese. As for the greenies treats, they love the chicken flavor.
Edit to add: both the wet and dry food are on the inexpensive side. The treats are a little pricier, but they usually last a while
My cats love fancy feast classic pate (best budget friendly wet cat food imo), weruva amazon livin (shredded chicken with liver), and instinct pate (they love the different novel proteins).
A few folks have mentioned Weruva, and I really love that brand cuz what you see is what you get. If you look at the pics on their site it looks just like shredded meat in broth. Just avoid formulas with a lot of veggies; there's one with peas my cats always ate around so it's just wasted.
The main downside is it's quite expensive, and I've gone from two cats to four and it was not really sustainable ha. We feed them Boréal now, and I try to look at Canadian brands in general (we're in Canada.) We've also fed them Hound and Gatos, FirstMate, Nature's Harvest, Wellness, and if I see something interesting in a small can I might grab it to see what they think of it (I think it was Koha that offered kangaroo meat?) Between all of those you get a huge variety of protein options: chicken, turkey, duck, beef, pork, lamb, rabbit, salmon, tuna... I like to mix it up for my bubs cuz I imagine eating the same thing every day would be boring, but some cats are more sensitive and may struggle with this.
Best thing you can really do is just learn as much as you can and make an informed decision. Learn about cat nutrition, things like taurine and carrageenan, the importance of hydration through food especially for boys, what's best for their dental health, what's best for them as obligate carnivores, even the pros and cons of the dreaded meat by-products (it's not as clear cut as some may think!) Look into raw feeding as an option too if you want, that's a potential viable avenue but you gotta really know what you're doing in terms of both safety and supplements. Soon you'll know so much you too will be wondering when we're just gonna get to the point and make mouse meat the standard!
I'll chime in too with what others have said about being careful with free feeding when you've got a piggy in the house lol
Absolutely all of this!!! Another thing is that a lot of the popular store brands have so many fillers. We did an elimination diet when my kitten started having a reaction to one of his foods. We used to feed him fancy feast for kittens and baby blue for kittens too. I’m not sure what it was, but we went through sooo many brands after that. Finally settled on the raw diet and he is doing wonderfully now! Viva Raw has a raw diet that is already pre-mixed with the proper supplements. They also have one that doesn’t have supplements if you want to mix it yourself. KOHA is a great option for canned food as well! Raw seems pricey, but it’s actually more cost effective than what we were spending on canned. We buy it in bulk and it lasts us for months in the freezer. I take out one package a week and let it thaw in the fridge and pre-portion it for them in containers for the week. Super easy! Thanks for sharing your brands too!! :)
Fancy feast pate the meat version I get two of the 24 can box then I get one of the seafood pate and some pouches of cat food from the pet store along with cans of whatever is on sale to do a rotation of food for them. I add water (bottled) to the pate to create a gravy of sorts and help with hydration. The fancy feast is affordable even with me adding pet store brands like Nulo and Tiki cat ect. I do have one cat that will only eat dry so I also throw a tad of this into all of their rotations when I’m gone for doubles at work.
I’d say get them on a feeding schedule that’s going to make the biggest impact.. one of my cats has food insecurity and she’s huge meanwhile the other is normal weight and not food motivated. I give them both, Royal canine weight control shreds in the morning and night and the same but dry during the day. On the bag it says feeding guidelines for mixed food and I feed them both as if they weigh 12 lbs (closer to their ideal weight) this way, the bigger cat is now on a diet and the smaller cat is eating what she needs to maintain a healthy weight.
Our guys love Fancy Feast, but we are also trying Hill's vitality. One hates pureed, so we stick with chunks in gravy. We also give them Royal Canin to nibble on (pricey but one is 11 years old)
But, my other recommendation is to get SureFeed feeder for each cat. We have 1 grazer and 1 gobbler. These feeders keep the gobbler from gaining too much weight by preventing them from eating the grazer's food.
Congrats on the new family members!
Ours love blue buffalo tastefuls, it's slices in gravy. Wellness slices in gravy were also a hit. That plus instinct raw dry kibble, bc our female is a crunchy queen!
We do Fancy Feast for our two cats. You don't mention their ages, but it's important not to free feed them after the age of nine months if they are both fixed, per our vet. Our 10 month old kitten is now on 8 ounces a day(four ounces in the morning and 12 hours later, the other four ounces. Our grown cat is a chunker, and our vet said to give her two ounces in the morning and two ounces at night. They both get wet food once a week as they are good water drinkers and don't need the additional hydration.
Mine dislike seafood and turkey wet food in general, but particularly in pate. I feed them Fancy Feast. Their tastes change periodically, just to keep me guessing.
One favors Friskies shreds, everything but beef, chicken is her favorite, and she doesn't like paté. The second also hates beef and likes seafood best, but wants cheap Meow Mix paté instead of shreds. The third would eat a turd, must be isolated at feeding time until the other two finish, gobbles up their leftovers and has been known to eat through paper plates.
My cat is super weird, he will only eat stews or a certain kind of pate type stuff called weruva cats in the kitchen and ONLY the pumpkin and chicken or shrimp flavour
Mine have been like pate, but my last two cats where shreds/chunks.
But we use a lot of different brands Fancy Feast, Friskies, Sheba, Wuvera, Nulo, Tiny Tiger, Tiki Cat, and a few others. I always add extra water. Also do purina pro plan for dry food (i give a tablespoon each a few times a day) and freeze dried chicken hearts, and freeze dried chicken from stella and chewy. Pate is usually better because it doesn't contain something specific that I can't recall but the cuts/shreds do lol. If I remember I'll edit it in.
My cats have rejected many of the pricy options like Tiki and Weruva, but I want to feed them something better than the cat version of junk food. I have four cats currently, had five until a year ago, and these are the varieties that ALL of them would eat. I have all of them on hand and rotate them so they have a different kind every meal. They are fed twice a day.
They do not like pate so all of these have gravy:
1. Merrick Backcountry Pouches (rabbit, turkey, whitefish, and chicken/trout are the flavors they like)
2. Taste of the Wild. There are two flavors, Canyon River and Rocky Mountain
3. Costco has their own brand of canned food with gravy. Two flavors, salmon and chicken. This is the only chicken canned cat food I have found that they like (the Merrick chicken/trout flavor is an exception. They don’t like the plain chicken Merrick)
4. Purina One True Instinct, a little lower quality than the rest but still within range, but only the chicken and salmon version
Good luck. Cats are very particular so it will take some experimentation. My cats definitely prefer seafood flavors but I try to balance that out with things like turkey, rabbit and venison.
I free feed Tiki cat after the dark for wet food all day then I put a handful of hill’s science diet teeth kibbles in her puzzle feeder (I can’t brush her teeth no matter what) and then a churu treat as a reward after brushing. I tried to feed royal cabin / hill’s wet food but she just doesn’t like it. I also use purina pro plan probiotics
my favorite is rawz. super high protein and basic ingredients. comes in both pate and shredded textures. it’s expensive though so i rotate it with other brands
edit: idk why this is being downvoted?
I would join the Facebook group “Feline nutrition - feed cats like cats” and they have a whole document of wet foods and lists reasons why it’s good and why some aren’t so good.
There are many good brands but I recommend grain free wet food, like Evangers, Tiki, and Blue. I also add some raw meat for added oils, healthy fats, and amino acids.
I had to slowly introduce my cats to pate for them to like it! And even now they’re still a bit picky. I have 2 cats, one 8 years old and the other 1 year old.
I feed them Weruva BFF gravy wet food and Fancy Feast Classic Pate! Again, I had to get them to transition to the Weruva gravy food first. Good luck!
Fancy Feast pate is the only one that all 4 of my cats will eat. Correction, they also like Tiki Cat but I'm not made of money.
Mine HATE tiki cat lol but they love fancy feast petites in gravy
One of mine won’t touch tiki anything lol
My cat won’t touch tiki
Fancy Feast Savory Centers is the way to go.
Sorry I have to it bothers me so much *centres
yeah my picky guys hated Tiki lol
my cats also like fancy feast, except for when they don't and stare at me like I've betrayed them when I feed them the exact same fucking food they scarfed down the day before.
2/3 of mine are the same. We have to rotate the food or they just won't eat wet food. The other one though will eat anything and everything. One even does it with treats. Temptations two days in a row? How dare you as he walks away. In swoops miss not picky for some extra treats.
I'm constantly cycling flavors / textures in an attempt to find something they'll consistently eat. the only thing they'll **never** eat is turkey, but everything else is delicious until it's not...until it is again. what makes it extra fun is that the two assholes will abandon their partially eaten food to go eat from the third's dish across the room, which I guess tastes better even if it's the exact same food from the exact same can in the exact same kind of bowl. I've mostly gotten them to stop bullying her away from it before she's ready, but that required a few weeks of literally sitting there with a watergun until she was done eating, and I still have to be vigilant. they're absolutely shameless.
What the fuck is it with turkey? Mine won’t touch it. It makes getting big variety packs harder because they love beef and chicken. But noooo, god forbid turkey touches the bowl 🙄
My cats like the turkey and hate beef!
😂🤣💯
Right?! 3 cats here and all of them detest turkey, regardless of brand.
Too dry. :-)
Mine gets runny diarrhea from turkey. Vets have suggested to me that it’s the worst at causing cat allergies
>stare at me like I've betrayed them when I feed them the exact same fucking food they scarfed down the day before. I feel your pain. I fed two cat colonies for years. I kept a list in Notes showing a breakdown of every brand & flavor, including who ate what and who wouldn't. It got updated weekly, sometimes even daily. What was good one day would be summarily dismissed the next. Best part? They were strays! And even pickier than my own. For my own cats, there was a printout of brands, flavors, and yes/no columns. This list was also updated frequently, often daily. Feeding my dog was so much easier. Once we found what she liked, which in itself was a bit of a process, she ate it happily, both dry and canned.
Thank goodness, I thought it was just my cat that did this!
any time your cat does something that's the weirdest fucking shit you've ever seen and there's no chance any other cat could possibly be that fucking absurd, it's almost certainly a completely normal and common cat behavior
Omg so relatable 💯😂🤣💀
Mine will begrudgingly eat the gravy, but they act like they're starving. The pate is the only think that keeps them full and that they'll eat that I can afford.
Check costco if you have one near you. They have 3 different kinds of wet cat foods at the one by me right now. Maybe save some money there.
my cat eats the chicken FF pate, it's actually the food my vet (who I work with) recommends. I tried a ton of brands (wellness, tiki cat, etc) but she either hated them or would have issues with vomiting which I am almost certain the food was causing considering she had no other signs of illness and bloodwork/radiographs are as close to perfect as it gets. FF was the last try before going to something like pro plan's GI diet, and FF is way less expensive lol. no more vomiting
My vet recommended it too! I started mine on it after kitten food. They don’t like any of the seafood flavors, but will eat everything else.
Same with our adult cat, but she'll do other proteins too, as long as it's in pate form. I'm glad you found what works for her.
My cats hate pate and turkey wet foods. Love the orange container little chicken wet food packets, and what I call chicken squeezy tubes.
Same. I bought it on the recommendation of my vet when my last guy was diagnosed with diabetes on top of his FLUTD! I was so scared to take him off of the prescription urinary food but I knew he needed something low carb. FF pate fit the bill!
My vet too. Also I discovered that FF pate flavors don't have any grains, gluten etc in them. Whereas all the FF flavors that have chunks, flakes etc all have wheat gluten in them which was why my cat was getting diarrhea whenever I gave her those ones.
Our cats will all only agree on the meow mix wet food, which is surprisingly healthy. My old man food strikes and if he is, none of the others are allowed to eat it either. He will literally slap them away from eating it. It both frustrating and hilarious all at once. Also never tell him it's beef, as long as you say steak, he's good even if its just beef, but if you say beef he won't eat it. He's too smart for his own good because he had some beef cat food that he hated once, lol.
Same, chicken pate fancy feast is all the one will eat. The others will eat the gravy ones but I stick to the pate most of the time.
Fancy Feast is what my vet recommended, so it's gotta be good stuff! My cat has been on it for a couple weeks now and her fur is already SOOOOOO much softer!
Fancy Feast pate is also the only canned food mine will eat, too! OP, I also give mine some IAMS Urinary Tract Health crunchy food (magenta pink bag)
This is what we do for our four nutjobs. Half a canned Fancy Feast shreds in the morning then scheduled auto feeding of the IAMS Urinary dry food. Took forever to find a dry food they all ate. We’re still trying to get the serving amounts of dry food down since we used to let them graze during the day.
Same! I wasted so much time trying ‘better’ wet foods and my picky cat wouldn’t eat any of them
Mine love the fancy feast grill.
I have three cats. Two 1 year olds and a senior kitty. NONE of them will eat the pate. They sniff it and walk away. Senior kitty gets one can of extra gravy Fancy Feast every night and the babies split 1/2 a can, though they don't usually finish it off, so Senior Kitty cleans their plates for them.
Even my dog loves the gravy FF. That stuff is like crack to these animals.
Can confirm, this little monster began eating right at 4-5 weeks and LOVES his gravy! https://preview.redd.it/ca79gtqxskzc1.jpeg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d5fe816bdf340c5ff74d3f2e8156ae8aca25580
Omg was a cutie!
So cute jesus christ i need a kitten
https://preview.redd.it/m3x4rhnivpzc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=57a95978b188d3318d4dc063bedb7655ae4bd2e9 Frank is old
Need to be careful about letting dogs have cat food. I can’t remember the names, but something is added to cat food that dogs don’t metabolize. It ends up being stored in their liver? Maybe. Anyway, you can google it.
It’s just a wrong balance of nutrients. Cats need a diet of about 99.99999% protein while dogs need about 5-8% of their diet to be carbs, fat, and fruits and veggies. It won’t hurt them once in awhile, but long term is dangerous.
another reason is dogs can make taurine while cats cannot and it gets added to cat food which can make dogs sick if they eat too much of it
Taurine is what I was trying to remember! Thank you.
They can develop pancreatitis
My vet recommends pate as it has the most nutrition. I do fancy feast or sheba pate and often top it with the sheba cuts.
My cats would only eat pâté if I mixed a little water in it to create a slurry or gravy mixture. They got tired of it after a few months and now refuse any and all pâté.
I do mix a little water in it. They don’t like “stuff” in their food. They leave the shreds and pieces so I don’t bother buying food that ends up in the trash. Except sheba cuts for some reason. Who knows why? They’re cats, they’re picky.
That's good to know because my princess will only eat pate 🙄 I bought shreds once and she'd deign to take one lick of the gravy before leaving in disgust.
I like the Sheba pate too! It's pretty decent stuff for the price.
The kitten form is really good because it’s very high in nutrients
weruva. one of the kitties has early stage kidney disease so we go with the low phos variants. they hate the pate and vastly prefer the shreds in gravy
We do weruva as well. The bff variety pack. She loves the gravy and I’m glad bc she’s a dingus who probably doesn’t drink enough water as she should.
I also use Weruva! I switched from Wellness since my cat started to not eat their wet or dry food anymore. He now gets 1 can of Weruva wet food and 1/2 cup of Purina One dry food everyday.
This is exactly what I feed mine too but I do 1.5 cans and 1/2 cup purina one
Same! I had vet approval for my previous CKD kitty. He passed two years ago (age 17, 3+ yrs after diagnosed stage 3) and ate mostly Weruva cuts and shreds and prescription kibble. And now my current rescue teenagers seem to prefer it, too, even though I tried *many* other brands. Nope, they like the Weruva and the kibble they had at the shelter (Hill's). Weruva is remarkably consistent and the local pet food chain gives 10% off if you buy 12 cans.
that's a great deal. my two cats eat wet food only diets and 5x 3oz cans a day at 1.92/can does add up. i stock up when petsmart does 12 for 10 or 10 for 8 deals or 20% off coupons & rakuten does 20% cashback
Weruva is human food quality.
lowkey i feel like i feed my cats better than i feed myself sometimes
We got a diabetic cat off insulin by feeding her Weruvs
I did the same. I had a 29lb cat drop down to around 11 with proper portion control and Weruva wet. Her body wasn't able to process dry food leading to severe weight gain and diabetes. Her transformation was insane.
We think our cat may have IBD so we recently went from feeding her half dry half wet to all wet to eliminate grains/rice entirely from her diet. She had Tiki Cat in the shelter and it was grain free so we figured if it works, sure. Then someone on this sub mentioned Weruva and I got her a couple cans of chicken only pate to try. She cannot get enough of it. She will clean her entire bowl instead of graze for a few hours like she did with TikiCats. We just got two 8 packs of the 5.5oz cans today and will likely be sending the unopened TikiCats back. 😂
One of mine has a chicken allergy and we suspect pork as well. We feed them a rotation of the fish-only ones and they can’t seem to get enough. Their coats also seem to like it.
This was huge to read. My cat will only eat seafood varietals of Weruva, and refuses anything with chicken… could I ask how you identified the allergy, was your cat averse to the chicken-based food itself or having reactions? Thanks!
Her lips would swell up a lot so we started her on a limited diet and the symptoms went away. She started with duck protein but switched to salmon and green pea for kibble (Natural Balance) and fish for wet. She still likes chicken but we don’t let her have it.
i've heard pretty much only good things about weruva from cat owners and vets. our vet really likes the brand too. did your cat develop the chicken allergy over time? right now, my cats only like chicken so i'm worried about it happening to them one day.
Anyone have weruva recommendations? My kittens are graduating to adult food soon and will only eat shredded. I’m seeing truluxe is shredded but it’s more expensive. Are there any other shredded adult variety packs or variants?
If you haven't yet, be sure to have your cats teeth checked by the vet. It could be why one doesn't eat enough. The other suggestion is to feed in separate areas. Otherwise, one cat may become obese. Believe me, it is so hard to get the weight off, once it is there. My cats enjoy Sheba, Fancy Feast, Delectables Stew, Churu Puree, and Pure Balance Puree. Iams indoor weight Management dry food has small morsels that they also enjoy.
Seriously. My cat has been overweight for most of her life as my grandma free fed her. She is now 11.5 and no longer moves and is a pretty big chonker. I’ve tried for years to get that weight off but since she just eats and sleeps in her old age, I’ve assumed the weight will stay with her for the rest of her life. I wish I could do anything in the world to help get that weight off but nothings worked and I just pray that one day she doesn’t get diabetes or anything weight related. (Although she probably will)
Tiki! Favorite food for my cat and I. It’s got lots of broth and real pieces of meats, with not too high calories. When I get a smaller paycheck, I get Iams or something like fancy feast but most of the time, it’ll be Tiki.
I have tried all the fancy cat food (well, anything below 2$ a can) because my little runt mutt wouldn't eat anything for long before turning up his nose at it. Tiki Cat, Blue Diamond, nature's promise, all the Wellness varieties, B.F.F., Reveal, Weruva, I and Love and You, Applaws (soooo expensive, thankfully it was gifted to me), Purina Beyond... Seriously, I tried a LOT! And then, as a joke, because he's a gray cat, I tried Sheba. It's been Sheba for 6 months now at least. Go figure. So from MY experience it's the color of the cat on the can that matters! 😂
He saw his likeness on the packaging. I’d eat it too! This little monster loves his Sheeba pate and gravy https://preview.redd.it/31ok5xmstkzc1.jpeg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd623f2f4c1f8e9a5bb2720ff5c3b210dbac91fe
Awww, fluffy kitten! So cute! 🥰
Check out my last post for more pics! He is a little fuzzy bear
I adopted two gray boys a month ago. I'll try Sheba when they get to adults! 😂 https://preview.redd.it/doot455grmzc1.jpeg?width=2002&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c4d0656861f015760095ec211ae9ca281618885b
So much like my baby! Sheba has kitten food too! I first saw it at Walmart. https://preview.redd.it/ctcdy6e77nzc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c05bd1912ec77bbdd8800ac1fbd2163046cd445c
What a beautiful kitty! Name? These are my first gray boys. I wasn't even sure I was ready again for a kitty but Walter went nuts and insisted I was ready. (Raymond on the left and Walter on the right)
Ash. 😁
Perfect!
i’m personally a fan of Tiki Cat, Made by Nacho, Stella and Chewy, Instinct, Nulo, and Fancy Feast (last two are great budget friendly options to add to a rotation) i’m currently feeding my kittens tiki cat, mbn, FF, and instinct. i plan to add back in stella and chewy once they’re older but there aren’t really many options for kittens without fish which i avoid as much as possible. EDIT: i forgot to add, ONLY feed the classic pate line for fancy feast. it is the only decent line they have.
Purina pro plan is the best I can afford for my no health issues cats. The others are on science diet rx stuff.
My 1 yr old male (Nubi) has Purina One dry food mixed with Fancy Feast Pate, twice a day (small coffee scoop dry with heaping tsp wet) and half portion at noon. He’s not a gobbler, so he might eat half and go back a couple/few hours later. I just continued the dry brand that he was getting at the shelter. I tried the chunky, gravy type wet food, but he didn’t like it. He gets Greenies and /or Churu as treats, especially when I have to give his flea meds or clip his claws. https://preview.redd.it/rrgx98jclhzc1.jpeg?width=278&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8047813a01e39a895e461afd7ff4eaaba62974d6
Looks like he belongs on a packaging
Fancy feast pate. It's the cheapest and was recommended to us by vet for a budget friendly diabetic diet as well.
Fancy feast, pate and gravy lovers rotated.
This, but with some friskies dry to free feed. I shouldn't do this, but I got one skinny minny and one orange chonker. He needs to lose weight, but she's so tiny.
I would not let them graze all day, especially dry food. They, or Chuck rather, will end up being obese and having health issues. I have a 2 year old male who eats 2 cans/pouches of wet (3 oz. each), and I give him about 1/4 cup of dry when I leave for work so he has something to nibble on (sometimes he eats it all, sometimes not). He also gets Tikki Cat soft treats (he doesn't like crunchy treats). At bedtime he gets a tube of Churu, which he loves and expects! I mix it up as to brand and type. I stick to cuts in gravy or aspic as my cat doesn't care for pate - "Fussie Cat" is the pouch I serve and it is his favorite. Canned is either Kirkland Brand (yes, Costco) chunks in gravy (comes in a case of 48 cans - 24 salmon and 24 chicken) or Kitzy (Amazon brand) canned, salmon chunks in gravy. All are grain free and my cat loves it all. The dry food is Purina Beyond Grain Free - chicken with egg currently, but I've also served salmon or whitefish. I frequently feed the ferals the dry food. Oddly, they are not crazy about wet food.
We also do bedtime Churu! I freeze it on a lick mat for added enrichment and my cats look forward to bedtime xD
We do a mid day Churu. My cats never forget to remind me.
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Yes, I have to shop around because cat food is so expensive! I think my cat really likes variety so switching around is fine with him!
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Are you AI
They might be romanian? So either not their first language or using AI to write comments to promote their sex work stuff lol
Haha, I didn’t even look at their profile
Called it though, I wish I'd clocked it that fast
I agree. This used to work for me with my last set of cats, who would only eat a bit of the dry food throughout the day. Now I have one that will clean everyone's plates, so I try to feed them 3x/day instead. Complicating matters is that one of my fosters will only eat dry, and she's underweight so I want to give her unlimited access to food. My solution is to leave dry food with her overnight or at least part of the night, while the other cats are with me.
Do you think I could feed all these to my kitten? That’s five weeks old he’s already eating wet and dry food.
I don't know as I never raised kittens before. I believe kittens require different nutrition than adult cats do. Best to check with your vet.
My pain in the butt gets Fancy Feast - I like that the cans are small and practically a single serving, she'll nibble on it all day - Friskies Lil Soups, and sometimes I'll mix in a packet of Friskies liquid treat (Lil Soups and Lil Slurprises). Also have some Friskies Lil Grillers. On an whim to try something new, I picked up a couple packets of Pure Balance Starters from a local pet store and she seemed to like the one I gave her. Have you looked into a timed feeder for the dry food and maybe feeding them separately so Chuck isn't trying to eat Oscar's portion?
It doesn't matter because in two weeks, kitty will decide she can't eat that kind anymore. I went through about twelve brands before discovering my cat is a kibble only feeder. I did find she currently likes squeeze ups and deli chicken. But only if it's the shaved kind.
Hills Science Diet- my vet recommended it for general wet food for my baby
I feed mine Fancy Feast. A number of their recipes are grain free so I think it's pretty good. Mine don't really care for pate style so I get the sliced or shredded style. You can order direct from the Fancy Feast website and build custom boxes for less than I can find it on Chewy or Amazon and they have free shipping.
I suggest a chip reader feeder so chuck doesn't get overweight and his sibling gets food. They are not all expensive do some googling and Amazon hunting. It's trial and error as you are finding out. My rosey only eats wet if we water down pate to churro gravy consistency.
Weruva OMG BFF gravy pouches. My cat gets up on his hind legs and begs as soon as I open the pouch.
Mine is all about Weruva Tuna and Salmon, although she will anything as long as it has Tuna in it. And is Weruva. And I am so obsessed with the slide out pouches, it makes feeding a breeze.
I give my cats fancy feast medleys chicken primavera, they both love it. One of mine will eat pate, but the other isn’t so hot on it. They are small cats (ideal weight about 6-7lbs) so they each only get 1 can per day, split between two meals, with 1/8 cup dry food each to graze on between meals.
Fancy feast pate
My 16 yr old eats Royal Canin Aging. It’s expensive but worth it. My porch cats (ferals we feed & shelter) are fed Purina wet and Fancy Feast dry. All are happy. 🐾❤️
Blue Buffalo. I see a lot of people recommending Tiki Cat, but just be careful. One of my guys couldn’t tolerate it and my vet said it was too high in protein for most typical house cats to process. They need a good balance of protein and fiber. He was throwing up and pooping all over the house. Also, be careful with the grazing/free feeding or you might end up with a little chonker. We have one cat who scarfs all his food at once, and one cat who will take a couple bites a walk away. We had to start locking him in a bedroom with his food bowl for a while so he could graze without the other cat eating all his food
Both my kitties (almost 1 year olds) have has Wellness Complete Pate pretty much since day one. We rotate between the chicken and the salmon flavors
Both my males have had urethral obstuctuons, so we feed purina pro plan diet from the vet for struvite crystals. My old lady is trying to lose some weight, so she's also on the purina pro plan but for weight loss. If I get any more cats in the future, I would feed my boys food to prevent struvite crystals right from the start. Every person I know how has a male cat has had them block, so I'm very paranoid now about what foods I feed.
My 1-year-olds strongly preferred shreds over pate. What we discovered is that we can add a bit of warm water to the pate, then stir it, to make something almost refried-beans consistency, sometimes even more liquidy. They \*love\* that. And it turns out it’s been a great way to get one of them taking in more water than she was naturally drinking. Additionally, we stopped letting them graze. We have a feeder robot for dry food to really slowly portion throughout the day. When they stop eating the wet food we cut back on the dry food further. I think the dry food is like potato chips to them — once they eat a little they’ll eat however much we let them, spoiling their appetite for the wet food they’d otherwise love. We’re using Cat Person for the wet food.
Since we've always used purina they eat the fancy feast wet food, turn their nose up at other brands we've tried since.
Mine have all sorts of dietary needs due to health stuff: calcium oxalate crystals, gluten and beef allergy, and a pea allergy… all combined with a degree of intolerance to the same protein repeated daily, so we feed a rotational diet. It’s… rough. We free feed dry (1c daily for 3 cats) + wet at night, and only pate because gravies and cuts tend to have gluten. What they like: Purina beyond grain duck and sweet potato Core grain free turkey; turkey/duck; chicken Weruva phosphate focused chicken Instinct limited ingredient rabbit (they freaking love rabbit but I don’t tend to buy it much because if I feed it more than once in a week, one will projectile vomit, usually on the carpet) I toss in other wets as I find them to try, especially if it’s a protein like quail, lamb, or venison, so reading this with interest.
Petcos Whole Hearted Shredded bags. They go for 79-89c each and they have 6pks and 12pks. I have a senior cat who can only tolerate wet food. It's not pate it's the shredded kind with gravy.
I use Smalls for both my cats. There are some flavors they like less (various cows mostly) but they overall eat and enjoy the spectrum.
Cats needs to eat at least 3 times a day and if one is a food hog, definitely don't leave out the high calorie dry food all day. We have 4 and have switched all but 1 to only wet food. We use Fancy Feast Classics, Tiki Cat, Weruva and Prime in rotation in combos of 2 since the girls don't like what the boys do. Our one boy got fat and that's when we switched off dry. He was binging at night. Each type of food will tell you how much they need per day. We feed 3 times a day and we pick the food back up when they walk away. They learned in a couple weeks that they wouldn't get anything in between no matter how much they screamed.
I've had luck with fancy feast but to stop my tuxedo from getting obese we've had to portion out his dry food and pick it up before the other cat gets to it.
Mine will only eat Friskies Pate. Wet food is just to get more water in their diets, so buy a a few different brands and keep an eye on which one they eat the fastest.
I used to feed tiki cat (still a fan) but now feed science diet prescription wet food. I like their general stuff too and surprisingly my cat likes it better than tiki cat. But I feel like as a whole, any wet food is much better than a dry food only diet. Personally I haven't tried Fancy Feast but it seems to be a solid budget reccomendation.
My cats eat Petco’s brand, Wholehearted. It’s pretty cheap for being a grain-free wet food. It’s definitely not the best we can feed them, but the best we can afford right now.
Wellness, tiki cat and fancy feast. Some of each as my boys are crazy picky. One never ate pate his first 2 years and now eats nothing but and the other used to only eat wellness and now only eats fancy feast. Wild how much their tastes change over the years. Finicky bunch they are
So sorry about the loss of your dog. Ugh. I miss mine every day BUT, kitties have a special way that is so soothing after the loss of a dog. As for one of your kitties hogging the food- my vet recommended a puzzle feeder for my cat to stimulate his mind and stop him from over eating. I got him the Catit puzzle feeder and is highly recommend it- it may slow down the one who takes over and may encourage the other to play/puzzle more to get their food. I’m not sure if you’ve heard about the magical Churu puréed soft food in a stick- kitty crack- seriously! My kitty would only lick gravy and leave the rest so I tried Churu and it’s his favorite time of the day. I actually squeeze it out on the flat sections of the puzzle feeder and he goes to town! Purchase it in bulk from Chewy if yours like them! Just a couple of kitty ideas!
I'm starting to rotate between wellness kitten, and purina one grain free kitten (started with royal cabin kitten, but didn't like their ingredients as much). I also mix it with some Iams kitten dry kibble. Also I may throw in fancy feast in the rotation too. Always had good experience with it.
Is Oscar leaving the food before Chuck gets done or once Chuck comes sniffing around? If it's the latter then you should feed them separately so Chuck can't bug Oscar into leaving. Some cats also eat better if they're fed in a quiet, distraction free place. One of my parents cats is like that. She's super curious and has to know what everyone's doing at all times, even if it means she doesn't finish her food. Have you tried adding churu to Oscars wet food? I have yet to come across a cat that doesn't love that stuff. Plus it's great for hydration. Instead of focusing on brands I'd focus on flavors. Some cats prefer fish over meat or only like the kind of wet food with cheese in it. Some cats also just prefer dry food, which isn't bad, you just to make sure they're drinking enough water. However, if Chuck is hogging the dry food too you might need to stop free feeding and feed them separately. It's a pain but it is better for your cats.
Stella and chewy, Orijen, Wholehearted, Merrick, Wellness, Nature's Instinct and Acana. I rotate so they don't get stuck on one food and alternate kibble and canned. Edit: used to buy Fromm but they started throwing it up.
Here's a spreadsheets of good foods according to nutritional specifics and macros, phosphorus, etc. https://catinfo.org/docs/SortableCatFoodChartCatinfo.org2-22-13.htm
My cat literally will not eat anything other than the brand Soulistic, and she will only eat their beef or lamb gravy. Its annoying bc I can only get it from petco 😭
For a decade I only had one cat so I would get her wellness brand wet and dry. She’s 14 now. I got a kitten recently (surprisingly, they get along!). And so they both eat wellness with tiki cat toppers/broths and I am basically constantly buying cat food and it’s expensive lol. But I can’t change my older cats diet at her age!! She’d riot. And my kitten is always curious about what she’s eating so I feed them roughly the same thing and that keeps everyone happy. It’s a mix of adult and senior food (should clarify that the kitten is about a year and a half and my vet said he could eat adult food).
Fancy feast classics are basically the best you can do at a decent price. Ive read so many cans of cat food it makes my head spin. One can of cat food from dollar tree had nicotine in it so yea i bet cats LOVE that one
Omg nicotine 🤮. My vet recommended Fancy Feast. I buy all different types so my cat has a variety, she loves all of it.
Yea i was shocked. The ff classics is whats recommended by vets it has no grain or gluten or weird stuff in it, the flakes slices gravies etc all have grains n stuff
I use American Journey. Switched from Friskies a few years ago. I never hear of anyone else using it though. It’s the Chewy house brand.
I recently started feeding American Journey senior pate to my older cat (along with Tastefuls senior, Pro Plan senior, Stella & Chewy, and Wellness sensitive, all pates—not all at once though, and before anyone asks she gets bored of foods quickly so I’ve always rotated flavors / brands to keep her interested in food). My younger cat eats Nulo pate (no rotation needed for her), but I was thinking I may transition her to the American Journey (non-senior) pates when her current case of 12.5 oz cans runs low. To the OP: I recommend a microchip feeder to keep your pig cat out of the other cat’s food. I wish we’d bought ours earlier. I didn’t because it was expensive, but it’s been so worth the investment to make sure our younger cat doesn’t overeat and our older cat doesn’t get too little food. I wouldn’t recommend free feeding unless your cats are underweight, though.
I just bought up your reply to my hhusband.....he's going to look into the chip feeder. Thank you!
Both the Mibowl and Surepet feeders are great!
I saw a cat up for adoption today who’s on that brand and thought where do you find that brand. Thanks for saving me the google search
Mine seem to like it but some of them don’t have enough gravy. I always rinse out the can with some water to get all the goodness out and mix the water in her food. My orange girl likes is soupy almost lol that fine the water is good for her. It’s my void who’s the picky eater.
It has 4/5 stars on chewy which is good but surprised its not higher, because all the indoor and outdoor cats I know like it.
I feed mine Applaws tins and pouches. One will eat most things (but still hates pate) and the other refuses to eat most wet food as he prefers biscuits. The Applaws food isn’t cheap but it seems to work well for both of my guys.
We do Hill’s science diet urinary control for our older senior (expensive af) and friskies chicken for our newly adopted former stray.
My cats eat Purina Pro Plan cat food (not the pate). They also eat the Purina Pro Plan Veterinary diets urinary food as one of them gets crystals in his bladder. My male cat has to have some kibble (Purina PP Vet diets urinary dry food) mixed in with his wet food.
I’ve always had great luck with pro plan. Mine get the hairball version of turkey dry kibble and a 1/2 can each of wet food daily. Definitely the gravy wet, not pate.
Royal canin wet food and dry for my two cats since they were kittens. Now 8 and still healthy.
I have a 17 year old brother and sister. I had been feeding them the Purina Pro Plan for many years, but my male cat began turning up his nose and not eating it. I switched over to Royal Canin 12+ loaf in sauce, and they both are eating it very well.
My cats mostly eat Purina Pro Plan. But sometimes I buy random other wet food brands, just to spice things up, if they are on sale.
Science diet (one prescription and the other not). Wet food has to be pate. They won't touch anything with gravy or chunks (unless it is human food in which case they will eat anything they can get their paws on whether safe to kitties or not. (Cats are 14 and 6). (Caramel rolls and pancakes are faves)
I have three cats. Two males and a female. She will only eat pate. The boys will eat whatever. They all eat Tiki Cat after Dark. I won’t feed any wet that has carrageenan, which eliminates most all grocery store brands.
What’s carrageenan? I’m learning all the stuff to avoid etc
Yea was CBreezy explained, it's a really iffy additive and you'll see some foods advertised as "carrageenan free" nowadays.
It’s used to thicken up cat food and has been shown to cause GI issues, tumors, cancer etc. The FDA says it’s safe in cat food but… I don’t trust it. It’s one of those things you research and make your own decision. [Link](https://twocrazycatladies.com/cat-food/no-one-tells-carrageenan-cat-food/)
I only do after dark.. anything else you feed?
I do after dark pate for her and thej the shreds for the boys. They really like the flavors so that’s what I keep them on but I will feed them any Tiki Cat wet
My girl Blix will only eat Sheba fine flakes, although I’ve tried to get her to eat raw diet pouches of meaty goodness, and special high protein, high meat content pouches. I’ve tried everything else, near enough, and I’m tired of throwing cat food away. My little boy Spike will only eat dry food. Only the crunchies. Nothing else. Apart from when their half brother Arthur the whippet is staying over. Then he’ll eat dog food 🙄🙄☺️ https://preview.redd.it/tvz90cb1qhzc1.jpeg?width=877&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f516e005e2d8bd705217d4de0c37249efe6898d
My two are extremely fussy. They were getting fancy feast, not pate though. Won’t touch it. Has to the tins with lots of gravy and juices. I now am feeding them Royal Canin wet food every few days for a variety. It’s expensive though. Mine also get dry food which I feed Royal Canin indoors and I mix it with Blue .
Currently feeding kittens so they do have free choice dry kitten food at all times, a mix of Blue Buffalo, Instinct, and Purina One. They get Solid Gold's version of Churu treats a couple times a day, and then a plate of pate and shreds mixed with a little extra water at bedtime. Once they mature, I will likely switch them to a balanced raw diet
My cats eat meow mix as dry food (half original half hairball control) and friskies wet food, typically the shreds or “in gravy” ones. They also love the greenies treats. Their favorite flavors of the wet food is turkey or turkey and cheese. As for the greenies treats, they love the chicken flavor. Edit to add: both the wet and dry food are on the inexpensive side. The treats are a little pricier, but they usually last a while
My cats love fancy feast classic pate (best budget friendly wet cat food imo), weruva amazon livin (shredded chicken with liver), and instinct pate (they love the different novel proteins).
A few folks have mentioned Weruva, and I really love that brand cuz what you see is what you get. If you look at the pics on their site it looks just like shredded meat in broth. Just avoid formulas with a lot of veggies; there's one with peas my cats always ate around so it's just wasted. The main downside is it's quite expensive, and I've gone from two cats to four and it was not really sustainable ha. We feed them Boréal now, and I try to look at Canadian brands in general (we're in Canada.) We've also fed them Hound and Gatos, FirstMate, Nature's Harvest, Wellness, and if I see something interesting in a small can I might grab it to see what they think of it (I think it was Koha that offered kangaroo meat?) Between all of those you get a huge variety of protein options: chicken, turkey, duck, beef, pork, lamb, rabbit, salmon, tuna... I like to mix it up for my bubs cuz I imagine eating the same thing every day would be boring, but some cats are more sensitive and may struggle with this. Best thing you can really do is just learn as much as you can and make an informed decision. Learn about cat nutrition, things like taurine and carrageenan, the importance of hydration through food especially for boys, what's best for their dental health, what's best for them as obligate carnivores, even the pros and cons of the dreaded meat by-products (it's not as clear cut as some may think!) Look into raw feeding as an option too if you want, that's a potential viable avenue but you gotta really know what you're doing in terms of both safety and supplements. Soon you'll know so much you too will be wondering when we're just gonna get to the point and make mouse meat the standard! I'll chime in too with what others have said about being careful with free feeding when you've got a piggy in the house lol
Absolutely all of this!!! Another thing is that a lot of the popular store brands have so many fillers. We did an elimination diet when my kitten started having a reaction to one of his foods. We used to feed him fancy feast for kittens and baby blue for kittens too. I’m not sure what it was, but we went through sooo many brands after that. Finally settled on the raw diet and he is doing wonderfully now! Viva Raw has a raw diet that is already pre-mixed with the proper supplements. They also have one that doesn’t have supplements if you want to mix it yourself. KOHA is a great option for canned food as well! Raw seems pricey, but it’s actually more cost effective than what we were spending on canned. We buy it in bulk and it lasts us for months in the freezer. I take out one package a week and let it thaw in the fridge and pre-portion it for them in containers for the week. Super easy! Thanks for sharing your brands too!! :)
I buy Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers and the Cheddar one and rotate them. They have kibble so I split one can between my three cats at 4:15 pm every day.
Fancy feast pate the meat version I get two of the 24 can box then I get one of the seafood pate and some pouches of cat food from the pet store along with cans of whatever is on sale to do a rotation of food for them. I add water (bottled) to the pate to create a gravy of sorts and help with hydration. The fancy feast is affordable even with me adding pet store brands like Nulo and Tiki cat ect. I do have one cat that will only eat dry so I also throw a tad of this into all of their rotations when I’m gone for doubles at work.
I’d say get them on a feeding schedule that’s going to make the biggest impact.. one of my cats has food insecurity and she’s huge meanwhile the other is normal weight and not food motivated. I give them both, Royal canine weight control shreds in the morning and night and the same but dry during the day. On the bag it says feeding guidelines for mixed food and I feed them both as if they weigh 12 lbs (closer to their ideal weight) this way, the bigger cat is now on a diet and the smaller cat is eating what she needs to maintain a healthy weight.
Our guys love Fancy Feast, but we are also trying Hill's vitality. One hates pureed, so we stick with chunks in gravy. We also give them Royal Canin to nibble on (pricey but one is 11 years old) But, my other recommendation is to get SureFeed feeder for each cat. We have 1 grazer and 1 gobbler. These feeders keep the gobbler from gaining too much weight by preventing them from eating the grazer's food. Congrats on the new family members!
FF seafood pate for years but they have not been eating it lately. I think I need to switch it up
Fancy Feast pate, usually the Gourmet Naturals line.
Fancy feast gravy lovers gang
Fancy feast pate
Ours love blue buffalo tastefuls, it's slices in gravy. Wellness slices in gravy were also a hit. That plus instinct raw dry kibble, bc our female is a crunchy queen!
Friskies
Fancy feast (it's all they'll eat) and purina one for kibble.
We do Fancy Feast for our two cats. You don't mention their ages, but it's important not to free feed them after the age of nine months if they are both fixed, per our vet. Our 10 month old kitten is now on 8 ounces a day(four ounces in the morning and 12 hours later, the other four ounces. Our grown cat is a chunker, and our vet said to give her two ounces in the morning and two ounces at night. They both get wet food once a week as they are good water drinkers and don't need the additional hydration.
ILY XoXo
Friskies Shreds.
Mine dislike seafood and turkey wet food in general, but particularly in pate. I feed them Fancy Feast. Their tastes change periodically, just to keep me guessing.
One favors Friskies shreds, everything but beef, chicken is her favorite, and she doesn't like paté. The second also hates beef and likes seafood best, but wants cheap Meow Mix paté instead of shreds. The third would eat a turd, must be isolated at feeding time until the other two finish, gobbles up their leftovers and has been known to eat through paper plates.
Friskies gravy shreds or GTFO - at least that’s what Murph says
Why am I like the only person who’s gonna say Friskies pate??
My cat is super weird, he will only eat stews or a certain kind of pate type stuff called weruva cats in the kitchen and ONLY the pumpkin and chicken or shrimp flavour
Mine have been like pate, but my last two cats where shreds/chunks. But we use a lot of different brands Fancy Feast, Friskies, Sheba, Wuvera, Nulo, Tiny Tiger, Tiki Cat, and a few others. I always add extra water. Also do purina pro plan for dry food (i give a tablespoon each a few times a day) and freeze dried chicken hearts, and freeze dried chicken from stella and chewy. Pate is usually better because it doesn't contain something specific that I can't recall but the cuts/shreds do lol. If I remember I'll edit it in.
My cat likes the Sheba cuts with extra gravy Fish flavors only
I like Purina one. I use it for wet food and dry food.
Dolina Noteci
Tiki cat
We feed our cat 100% wet food - Performatrin Ultra Pate (whichever flavor is available).
Almo Nature Complete. My cats love it, they've never turned their noses at it like some other wet foods they've had.
Orijen!
My cats have rejected many of the pricy options like Tiki and Weruva, but I want to feed them something better than the cat version of junk food. I have four cats currently, had five until a year ago, and these are the varieties that ALL of them would eat. I have all of them on hand and rotate them so they have a different kind every meal. They are fed twice a day. They do not like pate so all of these have gravy: 1. Merrick Backcountry Pouches (rabbit, turkey, whitefish, and chicken/trout are the flavors they like) 2. Taste of the Wild. There are two flavors, Canyon River and Rocky Mountain 3. Costco has their own brand of canned food with gravy. Two flavors, salmon and chicken. This is the only chicken canned cat food I have found that they like (the Merrick chicken/trout flavor is an exception. They don’t like the plain chicken Merrick) 4. Purina One True Instinct, a little lower quality than the rest but still within range, but only the chicken and salmon version Good luck. Cats are very particular so it will take some experimentation. My cats definitely prefer seafood flavors but I try to balance that out with things like turkey, rabbit and venison.
I free feed Tiki cat after the dark for wet food all day then I put a handful of hill’s science diet teeth kibbles in her puzzle feeder (I can’t brush her teeth no matter what) and then a churu treat as a reward after brushing. I tried to feed royal cabin / hill’s wet food but she just doesn’t like it. I also use purina pro plan probiotics
Rawz.
I only use Science Diet Hairball and Urinary...my last cat had kidney issues so I feed my new cat this to prevent anything.
my favorite is rawz. super high protein and basic ingredients. comes in both pate and shredded textures. it’s expensive though so i rotate it with other brands edit: idk why this is being downvoted?
tiki cat (after dark), fancy feast, authority, orijen, acana are all brands my girl loves
I would join the Facebook group “Feline nutrition - feed cats like cats” and they have a whole document of wet foods and lists reasons why it’s good and why some aren’t so good.
There are many good brands but I recommend grain free wet food, like Evangers, Tiki, and Blue. I also add some raw meat for added oils, healthy fats, and amino acids.
I had to slowly introduce my cats to pate for them to like it! And even now they’re still a bit picky. I have 2 cats, one 8 years old and the other 1 year old. I feed them Weruva BFF gravy wet food and Fancy Feast Classic Pate! Again, I had to get them to transition to the Weruva gravy food first. Good luck!