New Kitty is a Picky Eater

I'm having trouble getting my new kitty to eat. He's a very picky eater, and he's also my first kitty. I want to make sure I'm doing everything right. I guess I'm having new mommy syndrome?

Buddy is 5 years old and a healthy 16 pounds. I adopted him on March 12th and he quickly and easily switched from Science Diet dry food to Friskies Wet. Originally I went with Friskies because I have met a lot of people who's cats won't eat anything else, and it's also cheap so I wouldn't feel guilty about throwing a can out if he didn't eat it.

Well I've discovered he doesn't like turkey, chicken, beef, or anything that doesn't properly stink of fish. He also seems to prefer the shredded and chunky textures to the "hamburger" texture. Also, his gums were white like he's been chronically dehydrated for a long time (he was fed exclusively dry, and he doesn't drink out of the water dish) so I've been sitting with him and adding water to his wet food while he eats to "gravy" it up. He enjoys it and lets me know when he's ready for more "gravy" by staring at me. I hope I didn't start a bad habit lol. Oh well, I'm just glad he's getting enough water and I don't mind cause it's really cute.

How do all of you get picky eaters to be a little more adventurous with food? What are healthy brands of canned food I can get him to try? What brands will your kitties do backflips for, and which do they snub?

Oh, one last thing... Buddy has some violently nuclear flatulence... Any suggestions?

I feel you. I hate throwing out uneaten cans of food =(
I have recently transitioned over to a (nearly) wet-only diet only to discover that a) I think my cat is allergic to fish and b) he is very picky!

It is all a hit or miss, a game of chance. I am buying one can of anything without fish in the ingredients at the moment. He absolutely refused to eat the Nutro Turkey so I thought Turkey was out (not even a bite). But the one can he eats consistently now is Blue Spa Turkey and Chicken, so go figure. I guess my point is, even if it seems like he doesn't like a particularly "flavor" he might enjoy it if its a different brand.

If he likes fish, what about adding some tuna juice (the "juice" from a can of human tuna packed in water) to whatever you're trying to get him to eat?

If he has nuclear flatulence (great phrase!), he may be having a reaction to something in his food. So you may want to test out specific proteins and ingredients to see if it helps settle his tummy.

I bought one of everything I could find in a fishy flavor at the pet store. I know he likes fish, so now I'm trying to find a brand he prefers over another.

I've never heard of this brand "BFF" (Best Feline Friend), but he devoured it. That stuff is lethal. I don't want to even imagine what the factory might smell like.
http://www.bestfriendsfoods.com/aboutfood.html
I bought Tuna & Tilapia. It seems like a pretty good brand, but I think I read something about not feeding cats an exclusively-tuna diet. I'm going to have to brush up on my light reading.

runnerup: I'll try the tuna juice. I think I read something about sardine juice the same way. With my cat, the stinkier the better and I can't think of anything that smells worse than tinned sardines. I'm going to need stronger air fresheners...

It occurred to me that the lethal gas might actually be due to the medication he was on. He had a bout with an upper respiratory infection and tapeworms. I'll keep an eye (or nose, in this case) on it and see if it goes away after his tummy feels better.

With Cindy, my picky eater, its been a trial and error finding stuff she'll eat. I've found she pretty consistently likes the Soulistic from Petco, the kind with the gravy. Also, have you tried getting one of those water fountains for the water? Mine will both drink out of that, but not a regular dish.

Originally Posted by Mewsings

I'm having trouble getting my new kitty to eat. He's a very picky eater, and he's also my first kitty. I want to make sure I'm doing everything right. I guess I'm having new mommy syndrome?

Buddy is 5 years old and a healthy 16 pounds. I adopted him on March 12th and he quickly and easily switched from Science Diet dry food to Friskies Wet. Originally I went with Friskies because I have met a lot of people who's cats won't eat anything else, and it's also cheap so I wouldn't feel guilty about throwing a can out if he didn't eat it.

Well I've discovered he doesn't like turkey, chicken, beef, or anything that doesn't properly stink of fish. He also seems to prefer the shredded and chunky textures to the "hamburger" texture. Also, his gums were white like he's been chronically dehydrated for a long time (he was fed exclusively dry, and he doesn't drink out of the water dish) so I've been sitting with him and adding water to his wet food while he eats to "gravy" it up. He enjoys it and lets me know when he's ready for more "gravy" by staring at me. I hope I didn't start a bad habit lol. Oh well, I'm just glad he's getting enough water and I don't mind cause it's really cute.

How do all of you get picky eaters to be a little more adventurous with food? What are healthy brands of canned food I can get him to try? What brands will your kitties do backflips for, and which do they snub?

Oh, one last thing... Buddy has some violently nuclear flatulence... Any suggestions?

Click to expand...

I'm sorry but had to chuckle at your flatulence line You might want to try one of the natural type canned foods. Nutro makes 2 lines of cat food. Natural Choice Complete Care and Nutro Max. Both are excellent wet foods. The product is guaranteed. If they don't like it; or you are not happy with it for any reason, just return it for a full refund. No questions asked. A more natual product might help with the flatulence and you'll also probably notice less waste in the litter box because kitty is absorbing and utilizing more of the food vs. it coming out the back end

It is not normal for carnivores to fart, so IMO that is a sign of digestive upset. Hopefully it is just the medication, and you could try adding a little bit of probiotic to his food if it doesn't get better on its own in a short time. You can go to the refrigerated health food section of your grocery store and pick up some childrens or weak potency acidophilus, and just crush half a capsule. Other options are checking for Purina Fortiflora which sometimes is available on Amazon for cheap, same thing, but with appetite enhancers (yummy taste).

Some fish is fine, and I feed some fishy flavors to my kitties, but you want to be cautious about too much fish protein in their diet. There are other threads on it, but especially in the case of tuna, there are too many risks for it to be a primary protein source.

Even extreme levels of dehydration such as from binge drinking and the accompanying headache and other symptoms disappear within a day or two at most once rehydrated. So if he was eating wet for a couple days and still showed what you believe are signs of dehydration, IMO there was something else amiss. No vomiting or soft stools right?

How much are you feeding btw? Overfeeding can lead to digestive upset and explain the apparent lack of hunger for all but the tastiest foods.

For food brands, I honestly just go with whatever is on sale and has quality ingredients. So I'd check a website or search here for tips on reading labels. Gives you a lot of flexibility.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

It is not normal for carnivores to fart, so IMO that is a sign of digestive upset. Hopefully it is just the medication, and you could try adding a little bit of probiotic to his food if it doesn't get better on its own in a short time. You can go to the refrigerated health food section of your grocery store and pick up some childrens or weak potency acidophilus, and just crush half a capsule. Other options are checking for Purina Fortiflora which sometimes is available on Amazon for cheap, same thing, but with appetite enhancers (yummy taste).

Click to expand...

^This. I had a super farty kitten with horribly stinky stools and bloating. Turned out to be digestive sensitivities. In her case grain was a big factor, but any sort of overly processed food affected her to some degree and I had to put her on an almost entirely raw diet. Basically the farting probably means there's something that's not being digested properly, and causing gas.

Figuring out what specifically is upsetting your kitty will be a matter of trial and error. It could be the medication, it could be grain, it could be some other specific ingredient. In Athena's case, switching to a grain-free canned food (like Wellness, Merrick Before Grain, or Blue Buffalo Wilderness, for some examples) helped a lot. Putting her on a raw diet helped even more, but if you don't feel ready to try something like that, grain-free is a good starting point and may be enough to resolve the issue.

I can't help you on the fish issue though, other than to say I know cats can end up being fish addicts. From what I've heard from other people with this problem, the solution is something like slowly mixing their fish-flavored foods with other foods and reducing the amounts until they will eat the fish-free foods willingly - and then avoiding anymore fish in the future. Cats seem to looooove fish and will often refuse other foods once they've gotten a taste for it.

Originally Posted by NutroMike

I'm sorry but had to chuckle at your flatulence line

You might want to try one of the natural type canned foods. Nutro makes 2 lines of cat food. Natural Choice Complete Care and Nutro Max. Both are excellent wet foods. The product is guaranteed. If they don't like it; or you are not happy with it for any reason, just return it for a full refund. No questions asked. A more natual product might help with the flatulence and you'll also probably notice less waste in the litter box because kitty is absorbing and utilizing more of the food vs. it coming out the back end

Click to expand...

While the canned foods look...okay, they do have wheat gluten in them which is a very common cause of digestive upset in cats with sensitive stomachs. If grain is this cat's issue, then wheat gluten is a bad idea. And the dry foods contain both wheat and corn, neither of which I'd consider a good measure of a more "natural" food. Those are the same problematic fillers found in most commercial pet foods.

I know you work for Nutro, so I'm not surprised that's the food you're recommending, but I just personally would advise trying something grain-free if a cat is experiencing a lot of flatulence. That worked for my cat and has worked for a lot of others whose owners I've spoken to with this very problem. Cats and grain just sometimes do not mix well.

Sorry, I've been busy and forgot about this thread. ^__^;;

After I read about the possibility of danger in an entirely tuna cat food based diet, I've been working some other flavors into his diet. He still doesn't like turkey, but he's ok with beef and he loves chicken. I'll try other flavors as I find them. I think the store I go to carries "rare" brands of food that use game animals like rabbit, pheasant, etc.

I was right about the medication causing his nuclear stinkbombs. He is now worm free, respiratory infection free, and he's been off medication for a week now. He hasn't laid a nasty fart in over half a week. Well, except last night in my face... but I think I deserved that.

My main concern now is to bulk him up. He weighed approx. 16 pounds (he was weighed in his carrier) but I think he's a little on the thin side. I read that you should be able to feel a cat's ribs up to their spine. I can feel his ribs, his shoulder blades, every bone in his spine, and you can clearly see his hip bones jutting out. He doesn't have much muscle mass, and that's due to being in a cage at the shelter for so long. He's getting plenty of exercise now. I bought him way too many toys, and store them in a paper bag I got for free. He likes the bag better, and will run across the room and dive into it. He also spends an hour every morning running around the house like a wild monkey. When he's done (at exactly 9am) he will sit on top of me and meow for breakfast.

So I guess right now instead of WHAT to feed him, I'm trying to figure out HOW MUCH. I've been feeding him one 5.5 oz can per day (1/2 in the morning, 1/2 at night) and leaving down a handful of dry in case he isn't getting enough to eat. He's eating all of the kibble I leave down so I'm going to up him to 9 oz of food a day (three 3oz cans 3x a day). Eventually I want to get him on an all wet diet because he has absolutely no thirst drive (which, by the way, his gums are no longer white but a nice healthy pink color), but I don't mind leaving down some dry as a midnight snack until he's a healthy weight.

I'll need to buy some more wet food this week. I made a list of what he does like - Friskies being #1 (yuck), Fancy Feast (another yuck), B.F.F, Wellness, Nature's Balance. He doesn't seem to care about the texture like I originally thought. I'll try Merrick Before Grain, and a few others. I'll try that brand that uses game animals too. I hope I can wean him off of Friskies, but at least it's better than the crap they were feeding him at the shelter.

Can you take a pic? 16lbs is quite heavy for a cat as is, and feeling bone structure is different than seeing it.

9-11lbs is the average weight for an adult cat, although obviously there are exceptions for unusually large breeds. Even for a big Maine Coon male though, it wouldn't be common for much over 16lbs to be ideal. Thats BIIIIIG.

Ducman, when Buddy is stretching he can touch my shoulder and my knee - he's over 3 feet long. He is a biiiiiig cat. When I took him to the vet she said that he was a little on the thin side, but no more than a pound or so. I can still see his hips jutting out (I don't think a picture would capture it because he's all black) but they don't feel quite as bony as I probably made it sound - although you can definitely feel every bone.

Originally he was weighed in his carrier so 16 pounds is more of an estimate. My original guess was 15, and Sarah's was 10. I don't have a scale to get a more accurate reading. Although when he jumps onto your chest from the bookshelf you'd think he weighs 50 pounds!

His activity level at night is through the roof (and sometimes I think that term should be taken literally). I'm pretty sure if even I feed him a little more it shouldn't cause any weight problems. And if it does I'll cut back. Right now I'm sort of experimenting to figure out what the right amount of food should be. 5.5 oz a day doesn't seem to be enough.

My German aunt used to insist my brother was too thin and obviously starving since he was always hungry, and constantly stuffed schnitzels and broetchen in him. If anything he was already a chunkybutt... much to my mom's complaint.

So just double-checkin'!

There was a recent thread on kitty scales. If you're not willing or don't feel it best to invest in one of those pet/baby scales, if you get one of those hyper-accurate human scales they work too (just hold the cat and then weigh again without and subtract the difference).

An example: http://www.amazon.com/Soehnle-63530-...961874&sr=1-48

Accurate to within 0.1 pound increments.

I had a friend who's mom was like your aunt. She was convinced my family never fed me and she'd feed me 5 times a day when I went over.

I saw those kitty scales once when I was looking up scales for my granny's baby birds. Is it sad that I care more about my animal's weight than my own? The last time I weighed myself was when I was weighing my duffel bags at a public scale outside of a grocery store lol.

Come to think about it, they might have a scale at the pet store I shop at. I'll check next time I'm there.

Oh, and I'll find my camera tomorrow... I've been meaning to anyways. Moving is a hassle and everything gets lost... you know how that is. Once I find my camera I'll take some pictures of Buddy and post them =).

You know... I forgot my computer had a webcam.

You didn't tell us formal wear was required... I feel so under-dressed in the presence of your handsome kitty.

Oh yes, my handsome little tuxedo man. He even has a gem-studded collar.

Well, I bought Buddy a whole bunch of Merric B.G. wet food and he won't even touch it. He went on a hunger strike for the last 2 days, and there was nothing I could do to coax him to eat. I finally caved and bought a few cans of Friskies. He normally gets 1/2 of a 5.5 oz can twice a day and usually eats a few bites and leaves the rest for later. Since he's been a butthead and hasn't been eating I went ahead and gave him a whole can and guess what? The little snot gobbled it up and just to show me up he licked the bowl clean.

Cat - 1
Human - 0

If he wants Friskies, I guess he'll get Friskies. It's better than letting him starve himself.

I see you tried BFF, does the store also carry Weruva? They have a lot of various fish flavours, as well as incredibly popular chicken ones as well (only the pickiest of the pickies refuse all Weruvas, my kitties inhale the stuff, certain flavours are like crack to them)

The reason a lot of people's cats won't eat anything else is because Friskies is full of artificial flavorings that make it irresistible to cats.

Also, cats become addicted to fish, which is why they won't eat anything else, basically another marketing gimmick.

Haha, my cat won't keep eating unless I 'refresh' his food. I smush it back into a pile and then add some water.

Evo, Merrick/Before Grain, Natural Balance, Wellness, Weruva, and Spot's Stew; basically anything that is by-product and soy free, and preferably corn free.

My cat LOVES Before Grain in chicken flavor, but doesn't like their Turkey flavor at all. He likes the hamburger texture.

If he is having nuclear farts, its more than likely that something in his diet is not agreeing with him.


(And then stuff added on to address your latest post)

Just like with dry addicts, it may take a while to wean him off the Friskies. You gotta start slow and transition over to a new food. Then once you are almost 100% there, you have to take away the Friskies forever. http://www.catinfo.org/ There's a link on the right side about transitioning food addicts.

Isn't he just the handsomest thing! Does he always *dress* for dinner