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Post by cazypops on Aug 17, 2013 15:05:35 GMT
Sorry if there's already a thread on this but, there has been lots of threads on dog food so I'd like to know about cat foods instead.
I have two cats, Bandit will only eat tureen trays and the new go cat. Flirty will usually only eat sachets and again the new go cat.
I usually buy Asdas tiger range but just recently they've stopped doing the trays in boxes so I've now had to start buying Sheba trays loose. Bandit is ok with these as long as they're tureen, but flirts has gone off his usual food. I tried changing him to the Select variety and still he licks the gravy and leave the meat, I've tried him also on Sheba and it's the same. So can anyone recommend something else I can try? I'm at my whits end, plus fed up with having to keep throwing food away.
By the way Flirty is a proper outdoor cat.
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Post by gladys on Aug 17, 2013 15:16:03 GMT
When you say his 'a proper outdoor cat' do you mean he doesn't come in?? If so this can make feeding them quite difficult as you don't know what else they are eating. I can only talk from experience of my two cats but I've found that you can make them fussy if you keep changing the food and they are also very good at getting you to give them what they want. My two would choose wet food over dry every time but that doesn't work with cats that pick at their food over 24 hours so they get dry, with wet food as a treat. Do you think if you just give a little of the food at a time they will slowly get use to it and then start eating normally again. They will eat if they are hungry so don't worry about them starving and only serving a little will mean less waste. But this will be harder to get results if one is out all the time and can get food else where. Just some thoughts, not sure if that helps at all??
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Post by cazypops on Aug 17, 2013 15:30:53 GMT
Thanks gladys he does come in to feed and if it gets cold he'll come in to sleep but I think he's out for about 80% of the time. His favorite things to eat are roast chicken or fried pork sausages. He only gets these as a treat but he seems to think that if he demands loud enough he can have them all the time. We've tried serving smaller portions and he's just the same. Plus he's quite a sicky cat too. I think just because the vet called him a posh cat he must be royalty and treated as such, lol. He's not starving as you can tell from this photo, Flirts in the one on the right.
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Post by gladys on Aug 17, 2013 15:52:15 GMT
Ah bless. Well coming in to eat makes it easier. Again only my opinion but if it was me I would feed the food of my choice (unless it makes them sick etc) and maybe not let them out for the day and feed small amount over the course of the day. Going on the theory they will eat when they are hungry and stop being fussy. Bailey tries to get wet food more often by meowing loudly when I'm preparing Coopers tea but she soon realises that it doesn't work so after a few days of trying she will stop. It will start again after the next treat of fresh chicken or wet food but she soon remembers the rules again. I guess you have got to just decide what you want to do, keep changing the food until you find one the cats love or stick with one until they realise there are no other choices??
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Post by SarahHound on Aug 17, 2013 16:45:32 GMT
Have you tried HiLife pouches? They have a high meat content and most kitties really like them. Sheba has quite a poor meat content, as will ASDA I imagine. Applaws is also another good one, and Bozita gets a lot of good reviews too. Actually, there's Butcher's Classic tins for cats as well, the meat content in those is probably the highest of all tins found in the supermarket. Pets at Home have it on offer quite often too, at around £10 for 24 tins. It's £11.49 right now - www.petsathome.com/shop/classic-meat-in-jelly-cat-food-tins-400gm-24-pack-14605?DisplayProductList=true&ref1=1%7CBrand-%7CClassicAnd its quite juicy and flavoursome too (well, my cats seem to think so!).
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Post by cazypops on Aug 17, 2013 17:11:47 GMT
Thanks SarahHound but over the years I've tried him on tin food, but he won't touch it. I might see about getting him a few of the HiLife pouches and see if he'll eat that without yacking it up again. Thanks.
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Post by SarahHound on Aug 17, 2013 19:43:04 GMT
Ah yes, some cats simply don't like tinned food. Lucky doesn't either, he gets sick with it. I switch between tins and pouches for the girls though.
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Post by tonib on Aug 19, 2013 1:28:57 GMT
cazypops I can sympathise with trying to find the right food. Osiris is our bugbear, we have gone through so many trying to find the ones that he'll eat and then only for so long! Not sure what you mean by tureen though. If they eat the jelly they are getting moisture from the wet & the main food element from the go-cat dry. What about just giving him go-cat & making sure he gets enough liquid. Although I believe it is possible that an all dry diet can increase the risk of cystitis. Whatever he'seating at the moment certainly seems to suit him - as you say from the pic he's not starving. It's quite possible he is hunting at the moment & hence doesn't need the meat element of the wet food. We have a mix dependent on cat. Felix pouches/trays - mainly the ordinary pouches , they don't like the As Good as it Looks range but we tried the new Sensations & the jelly works for one cat & the sauce for another! These are for Lexie & Roman & occasionally Osiris - although anything left by the others he might finish if he thinks he likes it this time - mainly not. Roman will sometimes only eat the jelly but I'm not worried as he eats dried as well. Gourmet Gold tins in gravy pack - this is for Penny as she's mainly on dry but we have to mix her powders in something with a gravey & she gets 1/3 a tin a day. Applaws/Encore (made by the same company) tins and Hi-Life Indulge Chicken & Ham or Tuna & Mackerel (forget the with Brown Rice version - it isn't touched!!) All these are complimentary & not complete foods so we give some Multi-vitamin paste, which has taurine in, with them just in case as these are for Osiris who WILL not go anywhere near dry food. Penny also has a couple of teaspoons of the Applaws/encore for her other meal with her Metaam & Yumega oil in. Sheba for Osiris - trays - Turkey in a creamy sauce only - although since they changed the packaging they must have changed the recipe as Osiris hears the foil led being pulled back & comes running tries to get in the tray before its served & then hardly touches it, before he used to finish it. - pouches - Fresh choices small pouch pack & Steamed & Fresh pouches forget the beef flavours or the jelly ones. James WellBeloved pouches - Lexie has a sensitive stomach & this is what we had to feed her although the others don't like it. Then she started eating less and less of t so we decided to try the Felix with her and so long as there's no stress she's fine, but she's started no eating the Felix as much so we've giving her JWB one day (she only gets 1 pouch a day in 2 meals) & Felix Sensations Sauce another & it seems to be working. Osiris is our fussy eater & will go off certain foods & will stop eating them however much you don't feed him anything instead. We've tried Hi-Life, Whiskas (that worked for a while) Roman is our Felix boy - nothing else (in cat food) will do (even Applaws) Oh & beef is not the flavour of the day for any of them! Nor is pate texture probably because its often based on liver - which they don't likt. As to dried Penny is on Hills Metabolic - as she finally lost weight & we want to maintain the loss but I'm going to try the Hills Senior as the Metabolic is doing its job but she doesn't seem to enjoy it. Its surprisingly big kibble & she's got the smallest mouth & the least teeth! Roman & Lexie are on JWB. Before we got Lexie he was on Royal Canin which he really likes (a mix of Fit32 & Lively/Vitality) but Lexie is sick on RC so during the day they have JWB & overnight he has a mix of JWB & RC as Lexie sleeps in her own room (another story) I know we spoil them by not giving them all the same but there are reasons, Lexie's stomach, Penny's meds & in the case of Osiris - the fact that he can be quite nasty, attacking the others & spraying etc. if he's hungry & he will go hungry if he doesn't want that particular food. he also thinks that if he brings us a present of food (wildlife style) then he'll get something in return!! We also can't leave his food out as Lexie would eat it which would lead to an upset stomach so we need him to eat it all up initially. Hope you can find the right solution.
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Post by munchkins on Aug 19, 2013 18:35:54 GMT
its hard but I had a fussy cat who would only eat the expensive stuff which is fine, but she enjoyed it so much she would yowl for more, my munchkin now eats the Tesco's finest trays and go cat biscuits and she's thriving
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Post by cazypops on Aug 19, 2013 21:31:26 GMT
Thank you tonib and munchkins your cats sound just as bad as mine. ( I mean that in the nicest possible way ) Our little girl Bandit will only eat trays, the terrine variety not gravy that's a big no no. She likes the Asda Tiger ones but they have stopped selling the boxed and can only get singles, and the it's only two or three flavour if I'm lucky so now getting her sheba. But she's not the one who is fussy, that's Flirty. He comes in yowing feed me, he only likes pouches, Asda or Sheba, doesn't like Felix. At the moment gravy ones. But I've lost count of the amount of times he has a couple of mouthfuls and goes, I don't want that give me something else, which usually means something out of the fridge. ie leftover roast chicken, sausages or ham. But they both have the new Go Cat as well in between. I think he is hunting coz I found a dead mouse at the back of the garage the other day. But I have started feeling guilty as both Tiger and Sheba is only 4% meat.
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Post by SarahHound on Aug 20, 2013 8:48:27 GMT
Do you more dry as well? I don't worry about feeding pouches with 4% meat content as long as I feed a high quality dry. Is there any chance you could switch the GoCat to something like Applaws to boost their meat intake? I'd be quite worried to be honest, but then, I'm just a worrier anyway.
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Post by lotsofcats on Aug 20, 2013 9:28:36 GMT
My 7 cats can be fussy eaters too - when I went shopping on Friday I bought a big box of 48 sachets of Whiskas food and a box of 44 sachets of Felix. The cats are not really enjoying them and I know that it's because over the past 4 weeks there was a discount on Felix Sensations sachets and the cats really love those - they were on offer in Wilkinsons for £2.44 a box of 12 instead of £4.88 - I wish that I had bought a stock of them. I was afraid to buy too many as that's when the cats decide they are fed up with them! I found them in Asda this morning for £3 a box so I have bought 2 more boxes - I certainly wouldn't pay £4.88. I buy between 7 and 8 boxes of 12 sachets a week so try not to pay more that £3 a box. I tried the cats on tinned food but they were having none of that! Like Toni's cats I find that different cats have different favourites. What is it with the beef flavoured cat food that most cats do not like? Luckily for me Toffee and Kiba-Khan like the beef sachets.
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Post by cazypops on Aug 20, 2013 20:22:03 GMT
My 7 cats can be fussy eaters too - when I went shopping on Friday I bought a big box of 48 sachets of Whiskas food and a box of 44 sachets of Felix. The cats are not really enjoying them and I know that it's because over the past 4 weeks there was a discount on Felix Sensations sachets and the cats really love those - they were on offer in Wilkinsons for £2.44 a box of 12 instead of £4.88 - I wish that I had bought a stock of them. I was afraid to buy too many as that's when the cats decide they are fed up with them! I found them in Asda this morning for £3 a box so I have bought 2 more boxes - I certainly wouldn't pay £4.88. I buy between 7 and 8 boxes of 12 sachets a week so try not to pay more that £3 a box. I tried the cats on tinned food but they were having none of that! Like Toni's cats I find that different cats have different favourites. What is it with the beef flavoured cat food that most cats do not like? Luckily for me Toffee and Kiba-Khan like the beef sachets. Thanks for the heads up on the sensations being on offer at Asda. I can't remember if he's had them, I know he's had one of the Felix sachets and he went off them. I might try and get him some sachets in jelly for a change, see if he'll start to eat them again. Flirts likes the beef ones its the chicken ones he always leave so I end up giving them to a girl a work for her cat instead. I gave him some Sheba fresh pouches, the small ones. He had the beef one this morning and he even licked his dish clean, now I've never seen him do that before. I suspect he's getting food elsewhere as he's always been a scavenger. He's so cheeky he'll go in anybody's house who leaves a door or window open. That's how I ended up with him and Bandit too after she started to follow him in. She was almost feral then, that was how she got her name.
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Post by tonib on Aug 20, 2013 23:16:13 GMT
I gave him some Sheba fresh pouches, the small ones. He had the beef one this morning and he even licked his dish clean, now I've never seen him do that before. Oddly Osiris seems to be more consistent in eating those (well the beef can be a bit iffy) but not the poultry packs. Mind you on their recommended feeding quantities (A 4kg cat requires 250 g of this product per day) he would be on a 7 of the small pouches a day, he's 5.6Kg!!!!
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Post by cazypops on Aug 21, 2013 19:40:45 GMT
I gave him some Sheba fresh pouches, the small ones. He had the beef one this morning and he even licked his dish clean, now I've never seen him do that before. Oddly Osiris seems to be more consistent in eating those (well the beef can be a bit iffy) but not the poultry packs. Mind you on their recommended feeding quantities (A 4kg cat requires 250 g of this product per day) he would be on a 7 of the small pouches a day, he's 5.6Kg!!!! And considering that Sheba is allegedly a "crap" food, it's expensive too.
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