Can anyone recommend a good tinned food?

[lilycat]

They're now driving me  . The order of Animonda Carny arrived - Humphrey and Dave [they do enjoy their food] enjoyed the Beef but on-one else liked it. Imogen was obviously hungry but wouldn't even try any so I gave in and let her have some Sheba just so she ate something; I don't mind giving it to her but it's only a complementary food.

I may have to go back onto the 50/50 wet and dry - I'd definately persevere if it was just the other 4 but Imogen's always been a bad eater and I can't just give her complementary food; I may get some dry but I'll make sure it's a very good quality [low sodium] one.

I know I sound like an old mother hen but I want to do what's best for her...you know what it's like, I'm sure.

On the plus side...she's got used to having to have the Fortekor every day, she doesn't like it but she suffers it 

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[Desley (booktigger)]

Am glad they are enjoying their wet - it is obviously filling them up more than the dry food was. I would give them a go with chunks of raw - Ginger had no teeth, but loved raw meat, I just had to cut it up into small chunks for him.

[lilycat]

Thanks HK, oddly enough mine have never taken to the Supermeat but they do like the Jelly, they don't even like the Sheba Terrines  .

Went shopping this morning and got them some Whiskas to tide them over until my order with Zooplus arrives and I also got some Feline Fayre varieties just to see if they like them - 4 sachets for £1 at asda.

My lovelies do actually seem to prefer just wet food  which I'm quite surprised about - I thought they'd moan more. You know what they're like...     

[Hippykitty]

I recommend Whiskas Supermeat, especially the chicken flavour. I have two oldies (18 and 21) who are doing fine (touch wood) on this; they've been eating it for YEARS.
I occasionally give them Asda's Tiger sachets - once in a blue moon.
They have a FEW munchies (Go Cat) sprinkled on top of the Whiskas, but these are strictly limited.

Experiment with the better varieties, not the cheapest; you do get what you pay for.

[lilycat]

Where the's a will there's a way   

[Millys Mum]

Gillian posted a great pic of her 19 year old gumming a chicken wing!   

[lilycat]

I'd have to start as I mean to go on and mince the meat or poultry, 3 of mine only have their canines left I'm afraid  Also, the bone would have to be in the form of human grade bonemeal.

Dave can successfully gum pieces of cooked chicken but I think even he'd struggle with raw 

I was looking around the Zooplus website and I may try them on the Bozita if they don't like the Animondo - if they're just having wet food, I'd like to get them something they really enjoy so I don't mind experimenting with different brands and flavours.

[Millys Mum]

The best way to start off on raw for you as much as the cats is to just cube some chicken or beef, no bones or offal so you get used to touching it. Increase the size as the cats get used to using their jaws and then offer something with bones eg. chicken wings 

Bozita cartons are a good choice as its chunks in jelly compared to the more common pate type foods.

[lilycat]

Two to three days isn't so bad; yep, I got my £3 off thanks.

I hope they like it, I ordered 3 different flavours just in case. Does anyone have any idea why mine seem less hungry since I took away their dry food? I expected them to be having a go at me about it. Humphrey certainly knows the value of pester power but I haven't had a squeek out of him.

I've got the recipe for making making cat food and if the ingredients aren't too expensive I may give it a go. I had a lovely Boxer dog once [called Scrumpy] and she was always a fussy eater until someone reccommended giving her green tripe  which looked and smelled revolting but she couldn't get it down fast enough. Hoovered it up. So although home made cat food may not look particularly appetising, they might think it's heute cuisine 

[fluffycloud123]

i once bought monkey the sheba stuff as a treat.... and he turned his nose up at it, i think it was too posh for him

[Millys Mum]

I've taken the plunge and ordered 3 varieties of Animonda Carny from Zooplus - any idea of how long delivery takes?  

Not long, 2-3 days normally, thats what i like about them. Did you get your new customer £3 off? 5% off orders over £75 too  if you ever forget to use a coupon just email them and they take it off the bill 

[Reynard]

And how do you know they won't eat the good stuff if you dont' try it? 

Because I get sample pouches or tins at shows, either put in the pens as promotional freebies or the trade stands sell them at a good price. 

Mine love the premium dried food (take your pick from the brands) but the premium wet stuff tends to get a firm paws down most of the time. So when it comes to wet food, I'll feed them what they're happy with rather than ending up feeding the neighbour's cat...

[Mark]

Anyone interested in their work can find their website at: http://www.paws.eu.com

Sorry I can't do the direct link thingy  

Thanks for that - I had never heard of a cat hospice but it sounds like the couple are dedicated. It looks like the site hasn't been updated since 2002 - it says Marigold has been with them since 1975. I would be nice but unlikely they have a 32 year old 

[Desley (booktigger)]

i certainly think it is worth trying the 'premium' brands, just dont get too worked up if they wont eat them. You can also get better quality dry foods at good prices - HiLifes online supplier sell 2kg bags (Which aren't produced, so unique to them), and last year their prices were £6.99, it was one of the cheapest I could find. Burns is the same price, but I am a bit fussy with Burns. And if you live near a shop called The Range, they sell JWB for £7.99, which is £2 cheaper than the RRP. I know you weren't asking about dry food, but just wanted to point out there are ways of getting good dry cheaper too.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Trouble starts when what you think is a good food isn't your cat's idea of a good food...  I think when push comes to shove, a good cat food is what your cats will actually eat.

Ah, but not all cats are fussy.  Some of us have cats who will eat anything and scoff the good stuff as happily as the less good stuff    And how do you know they won't eat the good stuff if you dont' try it? 

[lilycat]

Anyone interested in their work can find their website at: http://www.paws.eu.com

Sorry I can't do the direct link thingy  

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Whats the name of this place please and do they have a website? What area is it in?

[lilycat]

Yep, they look after cats that are very ill and/or can't be rehomed for medical reasons. The majority of the cats are terminal though not always "end of life", they do a marvellous job but aren't particularly well known or publicised. Unsung heroes really.

If I didn't have my lot I'd certainly get in touch and enquire about adopting one - they don't seem to adopt the cats out though, which I find odd. I suppose they don't want the cats to go through the [potential] trauma of being bounced back when people realise the work involved in looking after a very poorly pusscat.

[Mark]

There is a cat hospice? 

[lilycat]

I'll see how they get on with it...at the very worst, my local cat hospice will get some extra cat food   

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I agree one hundred percent with Witty

[Reynard]

Trouble starts when what you think is a good food isn't your cat's idea of a good food...  I think when push comes to shove, a good cat food is what your cats will actually eat.

My two like their middle of the road Felix pouches and trays (in jelly, of course). I'd suggest feeding them what they're happy with and supplementing with some fresh meat and fish.

I've found to my expense (and my neighbour's cat's waistline) that the premium stuff gets the turned up nose and shaken back leg reaction as often as the cheap stuff... 

[lilycat]

I've taken the plunge and ordered 3 varieties of Animonda Carny from Zooplus - any idea of how long delivery takes?

In the meantime I may go to Iceland - 12 tins for £3..bloomin good value!   

[fluffycloud123]

i feed tesco own brand of wet (sachets) for jasper and felix tins for monkey both excellent value for money

iceland are doing 12 tins of felix for £3 at the min

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Adding a bit of raw won't mess up the nutritional balance provided it doesn't make up more than 10% of the diet.  I feed mine raw chicken and beef sometimes and they love it.

As to canned food - there are a lot about with different textures, meat contents and prices so you may need to experiment a bit to find something that suits your cats and your purse!  Supermarkets sell the usual whiskas, felix etc plus some gourmet foods containing more meat and with a price tag to match.  As long as it says it's a complete food it will contain all the nutrients a cat needs and will be ok, although I personally like to minimise grains in the food I feed (and fortunately my cats are fine on a high meat diet - no upset stomachs or anything). 

The foods I like to feed are

natures menu - tescos and most pet shops.  PAH do offers on bulk packs regularly which makes it reasonable price wise
hi life - pouches are complementary so need to be fed alongside something that is complete - dry or wet - but I think all the tins are complete?  The tins of hi life fish foods are good value
Applaws/almo nature  - similar foods - contain human grade, organic meat and available from smaller pet shops - pricey and complementary (almo nature say complete but when I emailed to question this given the ingredients they were a bit vague and went on about feeding it alongside a complete food so I class it as complementary)
bozita - available from zooplus at 66p per 380g carton so good price.  high meat content.  chunks in jelly.
animonda carny - available from zooplus at about 40p for a small can (200g) and about 65p for a 400g can so good price.  Mine both love it.
You have to buy in packs of 6 from zooplus, but P&P is free for orders over £29 so it's worth buying in bulk if you can.
I also buy cosma and a few other varieties from zooplus.
Feline Fayre - sold at asda.  chicken in jelly and chicken/ham in jelly (think they do fish ones too).  99p for 3 small tins so not a bad price and it's complete

Supermarkets sell a lot of "gourmet" food now which has a bit more meat in it than the likes of whiskas and felix but they tend to be very expensive.  Worth reading labels and checking for special offers though.  Sometimes you can pick up bargains.

If your budget won't stretch to those foods or your cats dont like them don't feel bad about feeding them felix etc.  Like I said earlier, it is nutritionally balanced so isn't really bad to feed.  And the water content is still beneficial.  If it was the only thing they'd eat I'd happily feed them felix.  Jaffa likes his felix senior so I let him have a pouch of that a few times a week. 

[lilycat]

I've been looking into the feeding of my pusscats since the start of the wet/dry debate and have decided to try feeding them soley on tinned food for a while to see how they get on.

So, can anyone suggest a good tinned food?

At present their wet food is either Whiskas, Felix or [dare I say it?] Asda's own  .

I've looked at the sites that Susanne kindly  suggested and I feel that wet is the way to go. I wouldn't have the confidence to make their food for them but do you think it would be a good idea to add a bit of raw, minced meat or will that mess up the nutritional balance?

Any suggestions on tinned foods gratefully recieved but please remember that I have to eat too!