Pate Cat Food

Pate cat food is wet food ground to a smooth, uniform loaf rather than served as chunks in jelly or gravy. The texture is the reason to choose it. A kitten just off milk, a senior cat, or any cat missing teeth or sore in the mouth can eat pate without chewing, and cats recovering from dental work often accept it when they will accept nothing else. It is also far and away the easiest texture to hide a crushed tablet in, which is worth knowing before you need it.

There is a nutritional point too. In a chunks-in-gravy product a real share of the tin is jelly or gravy, so a pate of the same weight generally carries more meat per serve. That makes pate the more concentrated choice for a cat that eats small amounts, and it is why the small single-serve tubs — Wellness Core Tiny Tasters, for instance — suit fussy cats that refuse anything that has been in the fridge.

Two things to check. Texture preference forms early and is stubborn, so if you want a cat to accept both pate and chunks, offer both while it is young. And read whether a product is a complete diet or a complementary food before it becomes every meal, because both sit side by side in this range.

• All wet cat food
• Kitten wet food
• Dry cat food
• Wellness Core, ZEALANDIA, Pure Life, Trilogy, SavourLife