Putting cat on wheat/grain free diet

[pixie27]

We've recently put our cat on a wheat/grain free diet, following the recommendation of my OH's mum. Our cat is a very sensitive skinned long hair, and after a reaction to a vaccination, has had a series of horrible looking skin issues. OH's mum put her cat on a better diet (i.e. no felix/whiskas etc.) and it cleared up a cancerous tumour on his face that vets had been unable to heal (cat still sadly got put down, but it was incredible seeing how fast his skin healed).

So he's always had the James Wellbeloved dry food which he really likes. We've now put him on the JW wet food. The first few days he scoffed the lot, but since then he's not been fussed. Licks all the jelly off, and then will spend the day picking at the meat (turkey flavour - not his favourite when he had it in felix pouches).

OH's mum said her cat stopped scoffing, got less greedy and didn't demand food as much when he was on this diet. So, I'm not sure if it's just this, or if we've done something wrong and need to try something else? I've given him half a pouch thing of Lily's Kitchen stuff to see if he'll eat that. Or if he just needs to get used to it?

Other than that, he's looking in really good condition - fur is very thick and shiny and the latest lot of scabs have cleared up. He's completely himself behaviour-wise.

Just to add - he's never been the type of cat to eat a whole meal in one. Prefers to pick at it over the course of a day.

 

[FubsyMog]

I have avoided grain-containing cat food for a long while. My cats have liked some of the foods better than other, same as whiskas/felix. I don't think the cat's fussiness is likely to do with the grain-free element so much as it's just a taste he's not so fond of. Does he prefer dry? There's several no-grain dry foods. One brand made one of my cats incredibly flatulent - and stinky - so it might take a bot of trial and error to find the one that suits you best. Mine only get dry (with the odd bit of tuna etc). They are both good drinkers though, so I'm not concerned about the fluid intake they way I would with a cat who wasn't a good drinker.

 

[pixie27]

Thanks - yeah he's already on grain-free dry food and has no problem with that. He always has access to it and at the mo is eating more of that than the wet food. However he's out and about so much that I can't monitor how much he drinks/wees, so would worry about blockages etc. if he was eating too much dry...

Think I'll be spending my lunch break ordering him a selection of different foods to try!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I feed my cat human grade food ......... he gets best steak mince, best raw chicken [includes wing tips] and a tiny tin of best quality complete tinned food, this is what he scoffs every day, plus a few ad lib kibbles made with rice, not wheat, and approx 18 kibbles of Dreamies for Skin.
All his food has to be in different dishes, as he won't eat it mixed up. He wont eat raw egg, sardines or cod liver oil, rapeseed oil or olive oil, and that is why he gets the Dreamies. His skin is getting better every day.
I would never go back to "pouches".
Buy a small pack of Morisson's own steak mince, no waste!

 

[pixie27]

Great idea, thanks Bonkers. We used to feed him grilled chicken when he was ill and he had no problems eating that (ate better than us for a while...). Will try him with some proper human food.

And forgot to say, he gets about 10/15 Dreamies a day, which he never turns his nose up at. My favourite game is shaking the packet at the field our house borders, and watching a black streak shoot across the grass and through the cat flap

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Introduce gradually, my boy dives in to the best steak mince, but is not quite so keen on the cheaper stuff, I have tried him on turkey mince but he won t eat it. He is mighty fussy for a stray , [an ex stray]
I find drumsticks and chicken wings are good because they have lots of connective tissue and bone scrapings, a bit of a faff, but he gets that about five days a week, plus steak most days, which is easy peasy.. Heart is cheap, and liver and kidney, he should be getting about 15-20% of his diet in this form, but he won't eat it. He munched into small whole plaice when I first got him, but now its a struggle to get any fish in to him. His teeth and gums are super clean and healthy, and he sorts out the bones he can manage from those he can't ........ all uncooked, of course.

 

[Shady]

i give mine Applaws dry or Porta 21 sensitive dry and Carny grainfree wet , they don't like all the flavours but it seems to agree with sensitive tummies and they don't demand food all the time which they did on other cheapy stuff, the meat content is high and has no bi products.
James Wellbeloved have done something to both their cat and dog food, strangely enough when they changed the packaging, the ingredients have been tweaked a bit and none of mine will touch their food now, wet or dry .