In the first 4 months he was with us, Nemo tried the following foods (in the order we gave to him):

Iams dry Adult formula–This is the first food we got for Nemo. We didn’t know anything about cat food. Like all beginners, we went to a “pet supermarket” to buy all the stuff we needed for Nemo, including food.

Fancy Feast–Nemo had a very bad reaction to the immune booster vaccine the second week he came to live with us. He had a fever, stopped eating and started seriously dehydrated. Dr.Liz advised that we had to get him to start eating, even if it’s so-called junk food. As our last resort, we got Fancy Feast Beef. Dr.Liz was right. Even though it wasn’t the best food health-wise, it got him eating.

Purina DM canned–Dr.Liz gave us one can to try but I don’t recall whether Nemo liked it. I’m guessing not.

Hill’s Prescription Diet M/D canned–After hospitalized for a day for his fever and dehydration, Dr.Liz and we decided to have Nemo try a few different kinds of canned food. M/D was one of them. Nemo liked it fine.

Eukanuba Veterinary Diet LB canned–This is another canned food Nemo tried. Among the three, he liked this the most. I assume it was because that it had the highest fat content.

Royal Canin Sensitivity CR–Another canned food we had Nemo tried. He disliked this one the most. We put the above 3 types of food side-by-side for Nemo. He went for Eukanuba first, then this, then M/D but he finished the other two but not this one.

California Natural Dry–I started doing research on cat food on the internet and found that California Natural and Innova Evo are two highly regarded dry cat foods. Dr.Liz recommended a low-calorie diet for Nemo since he was slightly over-weight. I chose California Natural because it contained less calories than Innova Evo.

Cooked chicken–I’m always interested in cooking for my pet. It may sound very funny but I used to make pancakes for my goldfishes (maybe this explains some of their untimely death…). I couldn’t stop the urge to cook for Nemo so I got some skinless, boneless chicken thigh and cooked it in water. Nemo absolutely loved it. Later on the only way to get Nemo to eat diet canned food was to mix with cooked chicken chunks and chicken broth.

Innova Lite Canned– Nemo was put on diet so I started trying several different canned foods that were specially formulated for overweight cat. Nemo didn’t like Innova Lite Canned at all. He did eat it but he turned away from it after a few bite. He also made sure to give me “the look” when he turned away.

Felidae Platinum Diet– Again, it’s specially formulated for seniors and overweight cats. Again, Nemo gave me “the look” when he turned away from it. I take it that these diet foods hurt his feelings.

Beef tripe– I felt very bad about putting Nemo on a diet seeing that he seemed to be hungry all the time. I desperately looked for a kind of food that was low in calories so I could use as a filler for him. I read it somewhere that beef tripe, being almost fat-free, is good food for overweight cats. I cooked it in water and grinded it up. Nemo liked it. At the time when Nemo was on diet I’d prepare beef tripe and chicken chunks/broth, and froze them in ice-cube trays. I mixed them with diet canned foods to add flavours/smells to the food. After a day or two, even these couldn’t get Nemo to eat diet.

Iceburg lettuce, broccoli, carrots—I read that some vegetables are good for cats so I tried these on Nemo. I cut them up into tiny pieces and mixed into his food. Surprisingly he did eat them, especially broccoli. He didn’t seem to mind at all.

Home Made 4 Life– I started to find a lot of information on the internet about raw feeding, which made sense to me. I wasn’t sure if Nemo, being a FIV positive cat, should be put on raw. I wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea at the time but I went ahead and bought the first brand of raw food I found on the internet. I pan-fried the food like hamburger meat before feeding to Nemo. He loved it. I don’t know if it was my imagination but I thought that Nemo was a lot more active the couple of days he was on this cooked raw food. This experience further encouraged my notion of putting Nemo on raw when he was ready.

After a week or so of experimenting, I put Nemo on steady M/D and California Natural Dry. The diet went well. Nemo was slowly losing weight. I noticed, however, that his coat was getting very dry and dull. I switched him to Eukanuba Veterinary Diet LB canned because it was supposed to be good for skin and coat. It did help but only a little.