My cat's food is looking at me

I have been on a search to get a really good food into my kitties.  I recently began feeding then The Honest Kitchen (which my dogs love) and thought that all was well.  They started getting more energy, their hair was softer and they were getting to healthier weights.  They didn't like it too much and it took quite a while for them to eat it...I mean, they got to where they were starving before they would consume it.  Well, two did...one did not.  We didn't realize that Mali got herself into a little fit and refused to eat.  She started to feel really frail and for a nearly 20 pound cat that is quite scary.  Almost two weeks ago we had to get her to the emergency vet because she was going into liver failure...we could only tell this by the insides of her ears turning yellow (she's a black tortie and yellow is not easily visible).  Needless to say, it was a long night...there has been medication involved, some force feedings and a search for new food because in order to keep her out of danger we had to get a food she would eat.

I made her a homemade food in the beginning just to get her to eat...it consisted of 1 bottle of a children's electrolyte drink (unflavored) with 1000 mg of taurine added and 1 small jar of Beechnut Beef Baby food (this is the only brand that only has beef and broth as ingredients...the others all add at least corn starch which no cat needs).  She liked the baby food straight and since she would eat it I just added a bit of the electrolyte mixture so she would get the much needed taurine in her system. I tried to entice her with some Taste of the Wild wet cat food and she went right for it...so did the other two.  We had to try and feed Mali apart from the other two; but, they can get into every place we tried.  So, we gave up and decided to just get them all the food and give the rest of their Honest Kitchen food to the dogs.

Yesterday morning I went to buy more canned food for the fluff balls and ended up going to a few different places that I knew carried the food I wanted just so that I could compare prices.  Well, that and one of the stores is the only place that sells the chew sticks that my cat Maja loves.  Their cans were more expensive than one other close place I was going to check so I left with only the chew sticks (which, by the way, claim to be long lasting but they are not.  Perhaps they are for a normal cat; but, Maja can get through one in under a minute and they are almost 4 inches long).  On to Polly's Pet Store...

So, I'm at Polly's now and have obtained too many cans of rather expensive kitty food.  But, I figure that this will be much less expensive than further vet bills and a lot less traumatic than the loss of a furry family member.  As I round the corner I see a display of other kitty food.  It is called Tiki Cat and upon looking at the ingredients it is even more of what I am looking for.  It is mostly all sea food with the exception of a couple that have chicken.  And it is all wild caught and has no grains or over abundance of veggies and has all of the essential nutrients that my cats need...and the pictures of the food make me want to eat it.  It looks like real food...real rings of Calamari, real shrimp and flaky bits of fish.  Excited, I put back all the other cans of food (I did keep the small bag of crunchy kibble from Taste of the Wild to satisfy their crunch craze) and replaced them with two sample packs of the Tiki Cat for a total of 24 cans.

Getting home, I am greeted by three very hungry kitties.  I open one small can and divide it three ways because I am a little weary that they won't like it...they have never really cared for any sea food cat foods or even any human foods for that matter.  When I opened the can I was greeted with a pleasant aroma and food that looked like it should be going into a chicken or tuna salad.  It looked yummy and my husband and child even thought so.  The kitties at least loved the flavor; I don't know what they thought of the appearance.  I was concerned that they wouldn't eat it all because they usually just lick the gravy off of food and this food has no gravy.  They tore it up!

So, knowing that I had struck a winner with Tiki Cat I decided to open another additional can per kitty so that they could totally fill up on the wonderful goodness.  The next cans I opened were sardines.  My husband jokingly said that he fully expected to see something like a fish head stew in the can.  Well, he wasn't far off.  As I opened the can, there they were.  Five little fish heads with eyeballs still in the sockets looking up at me.  Wow!  It really is minimally processed!  How awesome?!  Now, I am not saying I want my food looking at me or that this one looked like something I would eat; but, this is much closer to what a cat in the wild would be eating.  But, would the kitties think the same?  Of course they did.  From giving them the Tiki Cat you would never know that I had finicky eaters and you surely would never know that just over a week ago one refused to eat and had almost committed kittycide by not eating and causing her liver to shutdown.

I now have perfectly sated kitties who clean their bowls and I have peace in knowing that my fuzz balls are getting healthy food that will ensure they stick around for quite a while longer.  I haven't gotten through all of the other flavors yet so I don't know how many more will look at me; but, I am certain that they will all be liked.

FYI---Mali is the kittie to the left in my header picture.  That was when she was just a kitten 8 years ago.  Now, she looks almost like Sweetie (seen in previous posts from 2007 when she passed of liver failure).  We love our kitties and couldn't bear to lose another one to liver failure, especially now that my mom is conquering liver cancer.  If Mali took good pictures I would post a current one of her.  She is awesome and we are all so glad that she is feeling better!

I have to say, that I also totally love the black cat that is on the Tiki Cat label...I'm sorta partial to black cats.