High Quality Canned Cat Food Recommendations

Amy SF

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I have three cats. One of the cats, a male named Bear, has just gone on a special diet for life. He's now being fed a high fiber canned cat food, 4% crude fiber. Most canned cat foods are anywhere from 1% to 3% fiber.

Problem is, he and my two girl cats prefer Fancy Feast, which is the equivalent of giving them McDonald's crap every day. It's my fault because I exposed them to it a long time ago, but I can't seem to rectify my mistake. I have been trying for years to transition the cats to a higher quality canned cat food, to no avail. They insist on the junky stuff. I think the main reason is because the Fancy Feast I give them is small pieces with lots and lots of gravy. That's what they like. They like the gravy as much as the food itself, because they'll often lick up most of the gravy and not eat all of the food, at least at first. Sometimes they'll let the food dry out and that's why they don't finish it all because they've licked up the gravy.

However, all of the good quality canned food I've looked at comes in the loaf style - which is what they don't like, and which is what the special food I now give to Bear is. Thursday morning I put down a dish of his "good" food, and he refused to eat it. I gave the other two their usual junky food because that's what they eat, and Bear tried to eat that, too. I had to move the food around to get each cat to eat what I wanted them to eat.

If anyone knows of a really good high quality canned cat food that is like the Fancy Feast - small pieces with lots and lots of gravy, please let me know. It might be easier to transition my girls to it if it's the kind they might eat. They just don't go for the loaf style.
 
Do you get the sachets of foods in the US? My cat loves gravy too, and we've just switched her to a vet-recommended brand (Royal Canin, if you can get it). She loves that stuff, as do most cats - it's good for them whilst still being seemingly addictive taste-wise. Anyway, I find that the sachets are more gravy-like than the stuff in tins (and easier to prepare!).
 
Do you mean the foil pouches with the wet food? I've seen those here, but usually the food in those is low grade like the Fancy Feast. We do get Royal Canin here, but I'm not sure about the pouches for that particular brand. Might be worth a try looking for them. Thanks for posting. :)
 
Yes, that's what I meant. Ivy's on the foil pouches of sensitivity control wet food, and the dry food for indoor long-haired cats. I'm surprised she's taken to them so well, she was a junk food cat for her whole life before this. We've even been able to cut down on the wet food because she's eating so much of the dry.

Oh, and we order it online because Amazon sells Royal Canin at a discount :)
 
I have done exactly the same thing as you Aery. I ordered Royal Canin from Zooplus and a 10 kg bag was £40 and if you pay a fiver extra you can get a 5% discount for every order over 3 years.
 
I'll see what's available from Royal Canin here in the US. Thanks. :)

Oh, and even though I put dry food out for the cats, the vet said that when a cat has trouble pooping, wet food is always better. So I have to make sure Bear eats more wet food and less dry food. And to make sure he drinks plenty of water.
 
Amy, Wellness has the morsel type cat food in pouches, as does Weruva...that's what I buy for Bogart...when he decides he's in the mood for it. :)
 
I believe Nutro, Merrick and Beyond Grain have the type you're looking for. My cat won't do loaf food either. She also won't eat the higher quality canned food, period, but does love her high-quality dry food. I just let her have the occasional Fancy Feast (aka kitty crack). I figure junk food in moderation is fine for her, just like humans. :p
 
Most of my cats grew up and lived a healthy 17 years on Fancy Feast. Bogart gets some of the higher quality stuff, mainly because of his health issues. As fluffy as he is, he is a bit underweight but I can't get him to gain. Plus his meds make him nauseous, sometimes. But he's so finicky, whatever he wants, whenever he wants it is how it goes in this house. :)
 
My kitties split a can of Fancy Feast a day. I know it's probably not the highest quality but they seem OK. They eat EVO dry for the rest.
 
*sigh* This morning I had to put some Fancy Feast on top of Bear's high fiber food in order to get him to eat it. He ate the Fancy Feast and left the rest of it. Then he went into the other room where I put the girls' Fancy Feast and started to eat that. However, by then, one of my girls had barfed into BOTH dishes of the FF. Way to go, kitty. :rolleyes: I had to throw out what was left of the FF I put out and scoop out more of the prescription food, since Bear didn't get that much. It's all gone now. I don't know if he ate it all or the other cats ate some of it, too.
 
If you are trying to get Bear to eat the prescription stuff, maybe trying mixing it or with baby food at first. I've yet to meet a cat who will turn baby food down. Just make sure there's no onion powder in it if you do that, but I'm not sure any of the big baby food companies put onion powder in anymore. Gerber doesn't I know.

Good luck. Both of my older cats were on Rx diets in their later years and neither liked it. They never tired of baby food or Fancy Feast though.