Addicted to Felix

[Hovverry]

My cat was fed on supermarket food for his first few years. Now I have a dog too I feed them both on cooked fresh meat.
My cat refuses this real meat until he’s very hungry and yearns for the brown slush junk food which is Felix and Whiskas. What the heck do they put into it to make it so addictive to cats?
I keep a few pouches of better quality Miaowing Heads for emergencies but that is slush too. Will my cat ever enjoy good food instead of junk?

[Heybeendyingtomeetyou]

Maybe it feels it is lacking something essential and that’s what makes it crave the cat food?

Cooked meat alone— besides being very expensive— will not give your cats all the nutrients they need. Instead, choose a good quality of cat food, which should have balanced nutrition

Dogs need more than cooked meats too.

[Hovverry]

They both get lots of other stuff, just no brown slush in pouches. Their diet costs no more than feeding the more expensive commercial foods.

[raspberrysundaes]

Mine live off Felix as it's the only food all three of them will eat consistently.

I buy good quality dry but I can't afford to waste money on food that will just end up in the bin or in the dog

All the expensive brands get ignored or
spat out!

[dementedpixie]

@raspberrysundaes mine are very similar in that they eat grain free high meat dry food and then eat lower quality wet food. They change their minds about which wet food they will eat though so we still get waste. They like chopped cooked chicken

[BringMeThatHorizon]

I've tried my cats on every brand of high end, high meat content wet food and they refuse to eat anything other than Felix or Gourmet. I try and compromise by giving them high quality, grain free dry food.

[dementedpixie]

And mine especially hate pate style food
They look at me as if I've crapped in their bowl if I put 'decent' wet food down

[raspberrysundaes]

@dementedpixie ours love chicken and tuna too - they get that sometimes instead of Felix.

They get a good quality dry so I can't really get too worked up about them getting a pouch of Felix a day tbh.

[1starwars2]

Felix is the only cat food my rescue cat will eat. She was a stray for a while when her previous owner moved house without her. I imagine her turning her nose up at Whiskers and supermarket cat food on people's doorsteps. If that is what they prefer that is what you should feed them.....

[TenThousandSpoons]

Is Felix junk food? I know Whiskas isn’t great but thought Felis was ok. My cats love it.

[dementedpixie]

Felix and whiskas are pretty similar and may have grains or added sugar. They are similarly priced too. Sheba is another similar food.

[HaroldMeeker]

I don't know that Felix or others like it is bad. I'm sitting on the sofa with my 20 year old boy snoring on my lap, and he's eaten Felix his whole life. No health problems beyond a little arthritis. He enjoys a lot of variety, so we throw supermarket sachets, whiskas, webbox and various vet recommended stuff like Hills. He also enjoys roast chicken, tuna in spring water and snatches the odd piece of ham or grated cheese from husband's rolls. I don't think his longevity is down to his diet, but its clearly not harming him!