Hello friends! If you've followed me for a while you might be aware that my fella Yuan has some allergies (as does his human, we commisserate with each other). In Yuan's case, that means he cannot eat fish. That's a little difficult to avoid in cat food, as prevalent as it is, so I thought I would make a list of some of Yuan's favorite fish-free foods. If you'd like me to recommend more (because he is a variety cat, we've tried a bunch!), please let me know! :)
In no particular order...
Wellness Pate: chicken, turkey, and chicken & beef flavors
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Link to Amazon: chicken and beef flavor
Link to Amazon: turkey flavor
Link to Amazon: chicken flavor
These are probably the #1 wet food I buy for Yuan. He likes them, when you buy the larger cans the price is better than a lot of other foods (plus there's less waste; it's very rare to find cat food in larger soup-sized cans), and there are a few flavors he can eat without issue. The links above are to the larger cans except for the chicken, as Amazon seems to be out of the large size there (that one links to 5.5 oz size cans).
Weruva Press Your Lunch!
Link to Amazon: Press Your Lunch!
This is a different texture than most other cat foods, but Yuan likes it. It's kinda like chicken gelatin? I smoosh it with a fork and he digs in. When Maggie was with us, she liked it too.
Purina Beyond Organic: chicken & carrot and chicken & sweet potato flavors
Link to Amazon: chicken & carrot flavor
Link to Amazon: chicken & sweet potato flavor
A lot of foods we have tried Yuan wasn't into, often because of the veggies included (he does not like peas, for instance). But these two are solidly pate and the veggies are incorporated enough that he likes the flavor. Most of the foods he likes are pate - and also some of the gravy types upset his stomach too, even if they don't have fish. There are some exceptions to that, but most of his foods are pate type. That's also something to be sure to check! If you change textures, sometimes the ingredients change and there might be fish oil in one type and not in the other, even though it's ostensibly the same flavor. So always check labels!
Stella & Chewy's Carnivore Cravings: chicken & chicken liver, and duck & chicken flavors
Link to Amazon: chicken & chicken liver flavor
Link to Amazon: duck & chicken flavor
This is another one that Yuan and Maggie both really liked. Yuan's favorite is I think the chicken & chicken liver flavor. That liver must be really good! :)
Tiki Cat After Dark: chicken & quail egg in broth
Link to Amazon: Tiki Cat After Dark chicken & quail egg
Here is an exception to the pate! Yuan likes it, and it does not upset his tummy. He likes the egg I think, but I have to be sure to flip it this way so that the flat side is up, or cut it into smaller pieces, because if that flat half (there's a half an egg in each can) is face down in the bowl it gets stuck and he can't seem to get it up to eat it.
Dave's Naturally Healthy Food: chicken formula
Link to Amazon: Dave's chicken formula
This is a good priced one that again you can get in larger cans (12.5 ounces), that both Maggie and Yuan liked. This is actually how I found out that Yuan is only allergic to fish, and not poultry (thank the Gods!): originally after seeing the vet, she thought he was allergic to both, so I was feeding this to Maggie and rabbit meat food to him, and he snuck in and ate Maggie's food. I thought he was going to be sick, but he wasn't. So yay for Dave's!
Instinct LID rabbit meat kibble
Link to Amazon: Instinct LID rabbit flavor kibble
This has been Yuan's kibble for years and he still consistently likes it. I don't feed him tons of kibble, but he does get some, and he appreciates his crunchies. It's nice because so many kibbles are like "venison meat!" or whatever flavor, but it also has fish. This one is JUST rabbit meat, and has been his kibble since we thought he was allergic to poultry too all those years ago.
Wellness Tiny Tasters: Duck, Chicken & Turkey, and Chicken & Beef flavors
Link to Amazon: duck flavor
Link to Amazon: chicken & turkey flavor
Link to Amazon: chicken & beef flavor
Yuan generally loves these, but they only come in these tiny pouches that are one serving each. I wish they came in cans, and larger than one serving at a time! But aside from that packaging gripe, he enjoys them so I still buy them for him. :)
Let's Talk Treats: Whole Life Pet freeze dried chicken
AND
The Only Flavor of Churu That Is Fish-Free* (chicken with cheese)
Link to Amazon: Whole Life Pet freeze dried chicken
Link to Amazon: chicken and cheese Churu
*as far as I know
Freeze-dried treats are a hit in that Yuan loves them, but they are also safe for his allergies as they are generally only one ingredient. I buy various brands of these, but Whole Life Pet is what we have at the moment. And I searched through all the flavors of Churu that I could find, and chicken and cheese is the only one I came across without any fish! So now you know, if you were searching too! :)
Wellness CORE indoor chicken & chicken liver
Link to Amazon: Wellness CORE chicken & chicken liver flavor
Wellness CORE is one that you have to check every flavor and texture variation because it might be different, but this one is fish-free and Yuan likes it. I grab some for him on the regular. :)
There you have it,
...some fish-free cat foods that Yuan likes. While pulling up things for this article, did I discover that some of the ones that I've ordered before NOW HAVE FISH OIL and I'm frikkin' upset and wondering was I inobservant before or did they change it???? Yes...
Looking at you, I & Love & You...
But ANYWAY, I hope this list was helpful to those who are also trying to avoid fish for their kitties! And it just goes to show with my discovery with the I&L&Y, always check the labels!