Firstly, this is my first post to this site and I know this subject has no doubt been raised before but I would be grateful for your views/help.

We have a 1 year old grey called Millie; he's a boy (we were told he was a girl when we first got him hence the name!). He's a bit of a fussy eater and practically the only thing he will eat is IAMS wet food (the gravy one).

We don't have a problem with this but we recently went to a Petscorner store and we told (in no uncertain terms) that the quality of the IAMS food is reducing and they said that IAMS is not a very good food to feed him.

As you can imagine this made us feel very guilty as we certainly don't want to harm him but on the other hand we are not sure where to start with trying to find a food which is better for him.

So, my questions are:-

1) Is IAMS really that bad?

2) What other wet foods would you recommend?

3) What is the best way to introduce a cat to a new food?

Thanks for your help.

Hi and welcome

First of all: Don't feel guilty . I fed my old now deceased Maine Coon Iams dry almost exclusively and he lived to 15, which isn't bad.

There is lots of advice available on this forum. For instance, I learnt that grain/cereal bulking in cat food both wet and dry isn't conducive to a cat's natural digestion and 'could' cause problems with some cats over the long term.

Since then I have decided to try to feed mainly high meat/fish protein foods without cereal and mix in some raw too. I know that I just haven't got the time and inclination to go wholely raw. So I mix and match

These are the high meat content/no cereal wet foods complete:

Tesco Luxury
Hi-Life
Bozita - adored by most cats and available at zooplus website - delivered in about 3 days
Bozita
Natures Menu - available at Pets at Home

You need to check out the ingredients for cereals such as grain.

(there are others but I can't remember them)

I also feed Orijen Dry - available at zooplus

I supplement with raw: big chunks of lamb/beef/chicken wings. This is human consumption meat which I buy at supermarkets - usually the basic stuff and the discount stuff. Obviously it mustn't have a b-b-q seasoning!

I freeze it in chunks and defrost 3 or 4 pieces at a time. Cats can deal with bacteria so no probs leaving it out for them to eat though I do refigerate on hot days.

coleo has

wiskas
and hills science plan
and some other random ones x

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Hanny, 19, engaged to mark
Mummy to/Owned by:
3x Indoor cats Coleo, Meow, Mona
1x House Rabbit Pipkin
In Loving Memory of Tyzel and baby bunker july/august 09

i think iams do terrible tests on animals, i personally would not feed it to my cats,

have you tried applaws mine love it

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http://cakiesbsh.webs.com/

I give my crew Hi-Life Wet food and they lap it up.....its a good quality food. We tried the Hills wet, but they didnt like it....the Hi-life is the only one! they literally munch it down within minutes licking every tiny morsel off the bowl.

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mine eat Royal Canin dry food and love it. They do have the occasional wet food, and also fish, chicken & mince.
But i get breeder discount from Royal Canin so its not too bad

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Breeders of Burmese & Siamese Cats
www.purrfactor.com

My two have Natures menu, high life , cooked chicken fish sometimes they also have go cat dry as they love it, which is just down all day .

I leave Royal Canin dry down all day for them as well as their Hi Life, I have to keep topping it up during the day as with 6 of them its hard to know who has been piggy when the bowls are all empty!

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there have been some cases of Iams causing kidney and urinary problems. that's all i'm gonna say to be honest as it's touchy subject. i will not feed it to my cats. Eukanuba which is also Iams is a bit better but check on the ingredients regularly if you choose to use it.