Kitty hates good food!

Okay. I haven't posted in a long time because Bubba passed away last month, and I just couldn't read threads about kitties for awhile. Shortly before he died, I switched my kitties to wellness canned and dry. (this has nothing to do with his death, it was HCM, immune-mediated skin allergy, megacolon, etc.) I had been feeding Waltham and IVD. My other cat, Gracie, used to be a pretty good eater of all things canned, but mostly was feed fancy feast (I know, horrible!) until I read all sorts of horrible things about cheap canned food on this and other sites. Long story shorter, I've tried wellness, nutro (no by-products/"fillers", I read the can) and max-cat veal. She's leaving most of it untouched! She whines for food, but the only one she actually eats most of is the max-cat veal pate and she just wolfs down the bad stuff. I live in a really small town, and these three are the only ones I can obtain around here. Any suggestions on getting her to eat these?

I suppose it's like humans. French fries taste better than broccoli!

search pages here: www.artemiscompany.com and www.merrickpetcare.com . Sometimes the better foods are sold at health food stores or even pet groomers. Nutro and Max cat aren't really superior to Waltham (plus Nutro is a huge GOP contributor)-so if you can't try anything else, I'd just go back to the Waltham. Have she tried all the different flavors of Wellness? Mine only like the beef and chicken and the salmon and trout.

So sorry to hear about Bubba. It's so hard losing a furkid. :hug:

It was really hard, still is. She can't eat the Waltham's anymore, because it was prescription for Bubba. She does like the Wellness dry, so that's good! The retailer in town only sells the turkey and sometimes the chicken flavors of Wellness, so that might be the issue. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to pay to ship in food, but that might end up being the case. Since she's on dry food as well, I was thinking about getting the ingredients to make up a batch of homemade food. It might end up being cheaper than paying for shipping and handling! :)

I work full time and go to school part-time, which was the only reason I hadn't tried the homemade food before. I know that she really loves it when I cook a chicken or make fish, 'cause I always make extra for her. Looks like that might be the way to go!?! It's kind of scary to think that the nutrition of my pet will rest (at least partially) in my hands though!

Unfortunately I've already tried the health food store. I think it's just plain too small! It's really unfortunate because the town I work in has a vet school, so you'd think that the specialty pet food market would be a big business. I work there, and have asked the vets about natural foods. They look at me funny, and spout the merits of Science Diet. Hills pet food company sponsers a lot of their research, so I guess it's understandable. Sad, but true. Sigh.

It's really hard to not just get the Science Diet food. Employees get a really, really good discount. I think a 12 lb. bag of dry would run me about $4. The canned goes for about 10 cents a piece. Ignorence is bliss sometimes! :)

I'll look through previous posts for some good homemade recipes. I'm sure that you've posted some before! :)

Thanks! As always your advice is good advice!

is getting enough taurine in their diet (which comes from organ meats). You might do a google search for cat food mixes that you just add fresh meat to. I know there's a very economical european brand out there that has the taurine already added.

On edit: it's Sojourner farms. Here's a link: http://cats.about.com/library/reviews/aapr-sojourner.htm

You just add raw meat?!? No salmonella? That's worries me a little. Do you cook your meat first?

just be certain that the meat is fresh and that you clean up everything well after preparation. You can also make a large batch and freeze it (especially good if you have a vacuum sealer-you can freeze it in smaller amounts and thaw as you need it). Visit the manufacturer's site at the link for more info.

I toss their way. And I don't feel guilty letting them chow on it either because it is antibiotic, pesticide-free human grade cuts of beef and chicken. Just treats now and then...not everyday.