Margo's new Phobia of Cat Food!

OK - this cat is weird. She's afraid of cat food now.

It's been almost 3 hours - she won't eat anything out of a bowl, flat plate, paper plate, or the floor. She keeps doing this to it. I took all the food out of the room to calm her down. Now water? We're OK on that, she'll drink from the sink (and yes I even tried putting cat food in the sink to get her to eat - she freaked at it).

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a103/twtich1/Weird Margo/?action=view&current=NuttyMargo.flv

I've opened over half dozen different kinds of canned food, & 6 different kinds of dry food - she's having none of it. I've been saying she's a bit "nutty", but this takes the cake! She ate earlier, so I'm not too worried about her starving, or risking her health, but if she won't eat in the AM, I'm calling the vet. Funny thing is - she lived at the vet clinic for about 4 months....so they are all too familiar with her neurotic tendencies!

Haha, wow, she's really afraid of that food! Smacking it like that....you go kill it, Margo! What a funny girl!

What about people food? You'd think it was a snake the way she smacks at it... poor girl I wonder what the food ever did to her?

silly girl!! She really is afraid of cat food

weird....Was the food still alive when you put it there

Too funny, but I hope she gets over her fear soon. What about treats? Will she eat those?

Oh, poor thing! Natalie - I had a thought about this. I saw a story on Animal Planet about a cat with dementia... if she went from one room to another - she didn't know where she was and would sit there and cry, etc. Her owners had to confine her to one room and make a little "world" for her. That isn't what Margo is doing, but I am wondering if she has a touch of something like that -or some kind of brain damage. One minute she's fine with her food, the next she sees it as the enemy!

As with humans, you can't fix it, so I don't know what you could do.

Bless her heart! Maybe you could try feeding her from a spoon? I've seen one of my cats act like that after a wasper landed on her plate and stung her, but that was during the summer. Could she have a bad tooth that might have "bit" her while she was eating?

Thats what I was thinking, that something happened to her when she was eating. Poor thing. You should stick your fingers in the food, then up to her nose to show her its ok. Poor Sweetie.

Awwwwww Jack does the smacking thing, but it's when i bring something new into the house?.

She wanted nothing of food - this morning I crammed some in her mouth & got the tar ripped out of my arm. She will eat dry food (off the floor, no plates/bowls), but not wet food. At least, for now, she's eating!

Thats so odd. Ducky wont touch wet cat food. He will eat boiled chicken with broth mixed in, but he will not touch wet cat food. Once I put a little on his lip, he just sat there frozen, drooling, with it dripping off his lip and would not eat it or remove it. I felt so bad I had to wash it off his mouth, but he doesnt bat it like its prey.

Maybe try boiling her some chicken everyday

That's wierd. I wonder what set her off like that! She has eaten canned food fine before? Did she even start eating the food today before she started going nuts? Maybe she bit her tongue (or a sore tooth?) or something and the pain made her think the food hurt her?

I checked her mouth & can't see anything. She didn't even start eating it last night - I set it down, she starting her whole routine right away. Margo's always been a bit batty/nutty - I have to call the vet about 3 other things, so I haven't called him yet. I imagine the office gals & vet tech can give me some insight - they know Margo fairly well.

Poor, Margo. She looks like she fully believes the food's going to get her. I think CruiserMaiden has a good point - how are her teeth? If she bit down wrong on a bad tooth that might account for her reaction.

Edit. Just saw your reply. Has something scary happened while she was eating? A loud noise that might have startled her?

That's so funny, that's what Lily does with new things

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...32109043&hl=en

Lily does it with smells she doesn't like or that are new - even a catnip plant, even though she likes catnip.

My girls absolutely will refuse to eat the pate type of food. They only like the shredded type. And only certain flavors.. They are such picky eaters.

Oh my goodness, that video is funny!! Margo is gorgeous.

Tried a bunch of other canned foods tonight - nope. To my knowledge, nothing happened. I set down the food, nothing happened as I did last night, and she immediately went after it. Same food she's been eating awhile too. When I called the vet, they just laughed - said eventually she'll be "unafraid" of it again - she goes bonkers on weird things once in awhile (she apparently was terrified for her LB for awhile when they had her - oh & her kittens! )

I wonder if you can mix something with a different scent in there? Like catnip? Or maybe vanilla essence?