Cat Food Suggestions.

[ZealAndArdour]

Hi all,

I posted about my little rescue cat begging for human foot constantly, it was a couple of months ago now and I got lots of advice and suggestions that we were perhaps underfeeding him (thread here; www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_litter_tray/4460392-Cat-begging-for-food-constantly )

Since then he’s had unlimited access to his dry food (Purina One Bifensis Adult), his bowl is replenished whenever it gets low and he seems to have regulated his appetite a bit on that, he’s started drinking loads from his water fountain too, so that’s good. Since then he seems to have gone off wet food, he will eat the jelly or gravy but barely touches the chunks of meat at all. We’ve tried Sheba sachets, Purina One wet food sachets, Iams wet food, Webbox (which is more like a mousse) and some other different bits and bobs.

He loves his dreamies, lick-E-lix, the webbox stick treat things, and of course those fancy Tuna Loin fillet things. He’s also partial to a tiny tin of John West Tuna Fillet in spring water - he will wolf nearly a whole tin down (they are the very small ones - diameter of a satsuma). He used to love the cat soup sachets, and will still lick up all off the gravy but has stopped eating the meat chunks. He’s still obsessed with human food, will jump on the kitchen worktop if he sees someone get the ham out of the fridge, I’ve accepted that now. He can be upstairs and know instinctively that we’ve just plated our dinner up and come strolling into the room meowing like a fire alarm, haha.

The only other thing I can think of that might be relevant is that we did see the vet several months back on a different matter and I happened to mention that he has really stinky fishy breath, especially when he wakes up from a sleep, the vet had a look in his mouth and said he’s got moderate gum disease. I enquired what we could do about it and the vet said to do nothing, essentially. He said it’s not practical to try and brush his teeth twice a day, and I asked about swapping him to a dry diet as I read this can be better for gum disease, but pragmatically, the vet said to just let him enjoy his food and accept this was part and parcel of having a rescue with an unknown past. Totally fine, we’re can tolerate his breath, just want the cat to feel happy and safe with us. Vet said if it progresses he may need all his teeth out in future.

So my question really is, is this all okay? Could there be anything going on thats put him off wet food that I haven’t thought of? Do you have any recommendations for natural cat foods that aren’t reconstituted chunks, but actual pieces of meat? I seem to buy so many to try which on the packaging look to be proper meat, but when you open them they’re formed meat pieces. Thought proper meat/fish chunks might be worth trying if he’s so enthusiastic about his tuna loin/steak. Is it okay to just supplement with the tuna for a bit of wet food, if he’s having a nutritionally complete dry food?

Sorry for the wall of text, I really love my little bebè cat, and want to get things just right for him. Thank you, pics of the lovely furry boy attached. Worktop photo he’d become aware of me getting sushi out of the fridge 🙄

*food. He was begging for human food, not human foot.

My cat is similarly snooty about wet food, and always has been.
He is on Hill’s science plan dry food, so I know he is getting what he ought to from that (although he may get it with a tiny “topping” of whiskers dry food, because that’s what he really goes for 😳).

The only wet food he will eat alongside this (apart from normal tuna) is Encore fish in broth - and even then he won’t eat the chunks of sardine. But that is definitely a “complementary” food, alongside the dry.

Thrive tins are more like human food and are complete.

My last old boy had great teeth to the end (he made it to 18 and a half) which is suspect was from years of crunching rats, and then when he stopped being such a prolific hunter I gave him raw chicken wings, which kept him busy for ages.

^which I suspect

Is it possible that he is filling up on the dry food hence not really hungry when you do offer him the wet food? Our rescue Miss T is especially greedy with dry food and will hoover up everything in front of her then bring it up soon after. So free feeding was very much out of the question from the start!

Sainsbury’s recipes cat food come in shredded fillets and it comes in different fishy flavours - Miss T loves this and will clean up the plate. Blink cat pouches are also quite good quality cat food, you can see and smell the meat and doesn’t seem as ‘processed’. Thrive wet food is also a complete cat food and are shredded meat fillets. I haven’t tried this before but I believe Canagan wet food are also shredded meat. What you could try is to sprinkle some of his dry food on top of the wet food, perhaps this could ease him into trying new things?

I managed to switch Miss T over to different types of cat food with a lot of effort. It took quite a few months of trial and error, but I would mix in some Felix cat pouches (which she has always liked) with the new food and eventually she would accept it on its own. Anything that she rejected outright I donated to the local cat rescue.

Good luck with your cat! :)

Possibly he is full of dry food, so not so interested in the wet, but when he first came to us he would wolf down anything and everything, no sachet was safe. The change very much coincided with us changing to unlimited dry food. I think he would choose his dry food over a sachet of wet food, which is fine if it’s his preference, it’s the change of behaviour that I was more concerned about.

But maybe he’s now more settled, recognises he’s the only cat (instead of the streets or perhaps competing for food in a foster house with lots of cats) and has got to a point where he’s moved past food scarcity and feels safe and comfortable go eat to his preferences now rather than for survival.

I think I will try a small order of a couple of different brands of proper meat food and then if he’s still not that fussed, we’ll just let it lie and keep going as we are; a full bowl of biscuits and additional small quantities of wet food each day for if he fancies eating the jelly/gravy.

We have a whole 50 sachet box of the expensive purina one wet food which we’ll probably donate to the rescue that we got him from because he’s really not fussed about that one at all.

The “upgraded” MN not only muddled me earlier between this thread & another similar one; just now it decided to let me finish writing a long answer with multiple embedded links & then tell me repeatedly I couldn’t access MN before deleting said answer. Ah, progress. <weeps>

Anyway, I wasn’t quite sure if your vet meant it wasn’t worth tooth-brushing in addition to existing oral hygiene routine, but it didn’t sound like that. Plaque Off does very much as the name suggests; Logic Oral Hygiene Gel doesn’t have to be used with a brush (though that’s more effective); & you can get stuff you just put in their water bowl too. There are even a few toys designed to clean cats’ teeth, like this one.

None of it is as good as brushing is, obviously, but any of it is better than doing nothing; & the more of it you do, the better your cat’s oral hygiene will be. It won’t any of it bother your wee dote of a moglet, either. Cats absolutely can be very happy & well-adjusted if they’ve had to have [nearly] all their teeth removed, but doing what you can to prevent it is definitely sensible, so your cat’s vet’s fatalistic approach seems a bit bad. Imagine if you went to the dentist with gingivitis & an inability to brush your teeth (due to a fairy curse, perhaps) & their response was basically “sucks to be you; lucky dentures are a thing, isn’t it?” - no mention of mouthwash, flossing, a waterpik (etc) 🙀🙀🙀

Blink do a fish selection box and my cat inhaled it, also Encore brand. Sainsburys stock both if it helps

1. Is he losing weight or body condition?
2. Is he eating the recommended amount of dry for his weight?

If its no and yes then its fine.

Just remember that wet food stays the same volume in the tummy, dry food swells up so whilst the amount looks small going into the mouth by the time its in the tummy the amount is a lot bigger so less room for other food.

Dried food makes them more thirsty so some cats will drink more water, others prefer cat yoghurts, cat milk, cat soup., which is probably why he is licking the gravy or jelly off the chunks. Wants moisture and not food.

BTW be careful of the amount of treats. Some are the equivalent of McDonald's (fine but not all the time as lacking in taurine/vitamins) and kitty crack. Not sure if its dreamies but one treat is limited to 5 pieces daily by the manufacturer but most people might offer 10 pieces during play etc

Welcome to the expensive world of fussy cats. Dont donate the other food just yet. The day after its donated will be the day he won't eat anything but that one 🙄

Mine are the same, happy with mostly the ad lib dry, but do like their wet - which half the time they just lick the jelly off. Vets advice when I got them was consider the dry as their main food, and the wet as the equivalent of desserts, cakes, sweeties, McDonalds etc.

Sometimes they eat nearly all of the wet, sometimes literally just lick the jelly off. Tend to eat more of the pate or terrine type wet foods. They do adore Dreamies, have one Webbox stick between them a day, and a Tuna loin shored once a week which vanishes in seconds. Both seem very interested in anything I'm eating, but end up turning their noses up at it if I offer them some (apart from the bones from casserolled lamb neck chops, they get "killed").

Girlcat just had her MoT, Boycat due Tuesday. Both in perfect condition, though Girlcat has a very slight tendency to tartar which seems to come & go without us doing anything.

So I wouldn't worry too much. As long as your lovely cat is fit and healthy, the vet is happy, and you know they are mostly on a complete food (the dry), I would be happy too.