what to do about Autumn's eating habits

She has been to the vet, and is on the skinny side as always, but has lost some weight since she was last at the vet - not enough to worry about but something to watch.

Feeding her separately is not an option, she will not eat unless one of the boys eat with her - which is part of her issue, she whines for them to come eat with her and then they push her out of the way (they do have 5 food bowls but share them) and tend to each nibble out of all bowls and once she is pushed away she will just sit and watch them eat.

There is always a little dry left in their bowls at the end of the day (measured free feeding) so its not that anyone is being a piggy and not leaving food, but its almost like she has to watch them eat before she can. Even last night when I gave them some treats, she waited until everyone got two before she would touch hers.

The only thing she will be greedy about is chicken (and not the cat food kind) so do I make her chicken just to get her to eat? It has taken me so long to get her to stop stealing food from plates that I don't want to encourage it again by giving her people food again - but I also don't want to be dealing with the issues of an underweight cat.

She gets Orijen for dry (which she does like, she goes crazy when the bowls are filled each day) and usually Fromm wet (its her fave) but Bumper and Magnum prefer Fancy Feast and she will usually eat a little from their bowls if they are playing musical bowls with their wet

Any ideas on how to get her to eat more - I wish she could be a normal ex-feral and eat like she doesn't know where her next meal is coming from

Zoey has the same issue... except she will eat without another cat..Remember just like humans some cats are on the thin side.... Z lost about half a lb since last check and I freaked vet said she is fine ... Z is also a former feral and both her and Dahlia stopped the eat like no tomarrow within a year of coming in

Yeah, Autumn is actually fairly big framed, her ribs and spine are becoming more pronounced (hard to tell in photos since she is medium-haired) - the vet would like her to put on 1-2lbs to be 'perfect' but we will settle for not losing any more weight (some of her weight loss can definitely be attributed to the amount of time she spends with Quincy chasing her)

She never did the eat like no tomorrow thing, even at the shelter, it was one of the reasons I fostered her to begin with, she barely ate and we assumed it was cage related as it got worse over time. She is in perfect health, especially for a cat we know was on the streets that long, other than her eating habits - but the vet is worried about possible liver disease etc in the future if she doesn't start eating more despite good bloodwork now

IMHO I would run the liver panel as soon as able...Zoey has some issues as do Pj and Punky ... only found by the test... To keep wt on Zoey I used kitten food for the first three ish years ...Now she gets one meal of freeze dried raw every other day with dry and whatever wet shell eat... Z could according to two vets be fine at up to 10 lbs ( she is about 7.5 right now and 8.5-9 is ideal)...

Will Autumn eat a food coated in broth( chicken and beef are faves here)... this is one way I got Z to eat more non dry food..

She had one, came back normal (and superchem is normal compared to her baseline test I had when I adopted her). She was slightly dehydrated but we were waiting over an hour as an emergency came in, and I hadn't seen her eat of drink before we went - she drank from the tap in the interview room so was thirsty.

Maybe I will try giving her some kitten food, she prefers pate to broth wets (she will just lick the juice and leave the meat)

If it comes to it, I will give her chicken along side catfood - if that is what she wants to eat so badly

Nabu has a form of IBD that caused him to lose a lot of weight last year. He's finally back to normal for him. It really scared me, because he's never been fat- always the "ideal" and he went to skin and bones quickly. He's managed with B-vitamin shots, prednisone, and we're in the process with his food. He's doing "ok" on California Natural chicken dry and Fancy Feast wet, but as we run out we're switching the wet to Natural Balance Duck & Pea and going to see if he likes the dry.

I pretty much free feed the dry (I do use a measuring cup though) and they get wet 2-3 times a day. 3 if Nabu is especially hungry. He's our wet food fanatic.

Also, his bloodwork didn't show much when he lost all the weight. His white cell count was up, but at the time he also had regrowth from a declaw in 1 of his toes. His bloodwork last month was excellent. He had 1 item on the "high side of normal" but the vet said that item to be high is common for IBD cats.

Maybe you could ask your vet about IBD? Nabu's isn't diarrhea/vomiting but more of a malabsorbtion of nutrients. He is doing better on dry food for cats with food intolerances even though we haven't been told he "needs" prescription or special food.

Originally Posted by littleraven7726

Maybe you could ask your vet about IBD? Nabu's isn't diarrhea/vomiting but more of a malabsorbtion of nutrients. He is doing better on dry food for cats with food intolerances even though we haven't been told he "needs" prescription or special food.

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Thanks, I will ask her - we deal with IBD with Bumper so I hope she would have thought of it (his is the vomiting kind though)