Finicky Teenager (7-8 month old kitten)

I have posted other threads about my male kittens raucous appetite. He's trained me to feed him at every whim, and I do:sly:
He is usually like a garbage disposal and will eat pretty much anything. However, as of late he has started to get really finicky. I feed both of my cats Friskies. This is by necessity rather than choice, as I am currently unemployed and have been for over a year. Please no one give me grief for this, as this is truly the best I can afford.

So, the only change i've made as of late with the Friskies is I started serving them Pate' style only. The reason for this is, the sliced stuff has all that added wheat gluten in it. I made the change slowly buying fewer and fewer cans of the sliced stuff.

Leo loved the Pate' style the best when I was serving them both kinds though so it doesn't make sense. I'm not sure that's what the issue is. I think he may be through his growth spurt and not need to eat as much and he's decided to play the "Morris the Cat" card. I don't know...

Anyone have a similar experience?

Hmm, at his age I don't think I'd cater. Eat it or don't! That's my rule for young healthy cats, LOL. But you're probably right that he's not in a growth spurt right now so he needs less.

They do have a pretty good variety of the paté flavors (Petsmart seems to have them all). Maybe if you rotate all the flavors in turn he won't get bored. I only rotate between 5 different flavors of Friskies (the ones that come in the 13.2-ounce cans) and one flavor of EVO and that seems to be OK. Sometimes I mix in a small can of Friskies Tasty Treasures for a treat, but. . .well, eat it or don't! :lol3:.

I heard that on the "eat it or don't"... His older sister Oksana is supposed to be the Diva of the family

With all the caniptions he's thrown in the past couple of days, she may have to pass the crown...

The only 3 Pate' they will eat are Poultry Platter, Country Style, and Tasty Treasures: Turkey & cheese. They might eat the seafood ones, but according to most people on here they aren't healthy so I haven't tried them.

Is there an Asian market near you? If so you might be able to get some bonito flakes. They are the same thing as Kitty Kaviar for a fraction of the price. It is dried, smoked fish and has a very strong flavor. You can add a little to food to give it a whole new flavor. Since the flavor is so strong you don't have to use much so no worries about feeding too much fish. Or you can sprinkle even less on top of food they won't eat to entice them to start eating again. Even though it's already flakes I crush it into smaller bits to make it go further. Actually I grind it in a coffee grinder.

Bonito Flakes

Thx for the tip in the Bonito flakes. It's funny that it's a Japanese product but the name sounds Spanish.

I'll pick some up and give them a try.

bigperm20 said:

It's funny that it's a Japanese product but the name sounds Spanish.

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Well, it's not called Bonito in Japanese. . .the fish is called katsuo, the flakes are called katsuobushi. In English it's also called skipjack tuna, even though it's a mackerel! Maybe it is a Spanish name, maybe because it's a pretty fish

Have you tried spoon feeding? :lol3: Cookie always used to turn down her wet food, and then I would get a spoon and put some on her chin and she'd lick it and say hmm.....THAT'S GOOD! :lol3:

kittylover23 said:

Have you tried spoon feeding? :lol3: Cookie always used to turn down her wet food, and then I would get a spoon and put some on her chin and she'd lick it and say hmm.....THAT'S GOOD! :lol3:

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The thing is, he's eaten this food dozens of times. He knows what it tastes like. He's just being a pain in my backside. This is the same cat who acts out and tears stuff up to get attention... BUT Doesn't want any attention--He wants to be left alone???

He's just really odd to say the least but I love him to death and I worry about him not eating. However I am wise enough to know that giving in to his tantrums and giving him a different brand temporarily will condition him to do this from now on. I need others experience with similar "stand offs" between man and cat.

If he doesn't eat the food immediately should I take it away?

When he starts his bad behavior about not liking his food is putting him in time out ok? (I usually don't punish either cat at all.) I don't want to use T.O., and I haven't yet but he keeps doing naughty things he knows he's not supposed to do like scratching furniture, Scratching and eating the carpet, and trying to chew on cords. My house is kitten proofed, but there are some things that cannot be hidden.

Should I choose one flavor of canned food and stick with that? I've read that cat's are so finicky b/c we feed them way more tastes than they would experience in the wild. This causes them to quickly fall in and out of love with certain flavors.

Feeding one kind of food is more likely to make a cat finicky. What would you do if they stopped making that food or it got recalled? Big trouble. I think I read somewhere that cats who eat a natural diet usually eat about 7 different kinds of animals. So some variety is needed.

No, don't punish or fuss or do anything if he doesn't eat. Just leave it, or, if you don't want his sister to eat it, take it away after a few minutes. That's what "eat it or don't" means :dk:. It means you don't bother yourself about it, and definitely don't feed him something else. Let him wait until the next meal. Sometimes if the owners gets too anxious about the pet not eating, it makes the pet more anxious and it starts this whole "eating = anxiety" cycle and it's just not pretty. I see that a lot with dogs, but it can happen with cats too.

I'm a total sucker, so I would try to find a food the cat would eat. Also, one of my cats, on occasion, will not eat unless I pick her up and bring her to the plate and stick around and pet her while she eats. I don't know why. I do it because (see 1st sentence).

In response to "[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]I've read that cat's are so finicky b/c we feed them way more tastes than they would experience in the wild. This causes them to quickly fall in and out of love with certain flavors."[/color]

The number of species of animals eaten by domestic cats is of the order of 1000 - the number of species eaten by the large cats is of the order 10.

Willowy said:

Feeding one kind of food is more likely to make a cat finicky. What would you do if they stopped making that food or it got recalled? Big trouble. I think I read somewhere that cats who eat a natural diet usually eat about 7 different kinds of animals. So some variety is needed.

No, don't punish or fuss or do anything if he doesn't eat. Just leave it, or, if you don't want his sister to eat it, take it away after a few minutes. That's what "eat it or don't" means :dk:. It means you don't bother yourself about it, and definitely don't feed him something else. Let him wait until the next meal. Sometimes if the owners gets too anxious about the pet not eating, it makes the pet more anxious and it starts this whole "eating = anxiety" cycle and it's just not pretty. I see that a lot with dogs, but it can happen with cats too.

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Why is it that cats are so willing to eat a dry food of the same brand every day for eternity, but not canned? I think it's b/c the pet food industry makes so many flavors and we owners spoil them into thinking they should have something different every day.

As far as putting him in time out, I haven't done anything as of yet. Like I said. I don't believe in punishment to animals. However his behavior is just awful! He tries to steal food, he tears up my things like a mad puppy would. I literally have to watch him like a hawk.

I got him from a friend of mine's daughter about a month and a half ago. The kitten was already about 6 months and unfortunately she had not been any sort of good influence on him. I'm pretty sure she just let him do as he pleased. He just seems to get a kick out of being bad. He can be really sweet and I love that side of him, but he has a really ferrel side too. I'm assuming the earliest interactions he had with people (my friend's daughter) besides his breeder were not healthy.

I do have an anxiety disorder btw, but It doesn't bother me with regards to my cats. They are a de-stresser to me. I will say however this little guy can make me practice my breathing exercises occasionally.

aeevr said:

I'm a total sucker, so I would try to find a food the cat would eat. Also, one of my cats, on occasion, will not eat unless I pick her up and bring her to the plate and stick around and pet her while she eats. I don't know why. I do it because (see 1st sentence).

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I've tried sitt with him and he's not having it. He just sticks his nose up to what's in the bowl and walks off.

bigperm20 said:

Why is it that cats are so willing to eat a dry food of the same brand every day for eternity, but not canned?

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Because the kibble is sprayed with fat and flavoring to "increase palatability." Ever notice the inside of the bag is always a little greasy?

and---this is the biggest reason, IMO---most people put a bowl of kibble down and don't worry about whether/when the cat eats it, but when they put canned food down, they expect the cat to eat it all up immediately. Cats hate to be pressured. The more fussing, the less eating, from what I've seen.

Willowy said:

and---this is the biggest reason, IMO---most people put a bowl of kibble down and don't worry about whether/when the cat eats it, but when they put canned food down, they expect the cat to eat it all up immediately. Cats hate to be pressured. The more fussing, the less eating, from what I've seen.

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It's either the pressure or the fact that I've spoiled him too much. You see I was feeding him a premium dry kitten food with absolutely zero issues. He got wet food twice a day as well, but he always had dry available as he is a kitten.

I was talked out of that plan by another forum member so now I'm feeding him about 3 5.5oz cans of wet a day. No big deal except for the fact that he can only consume a half a can at a time. So, here I am feeding him double the amount of time I was feeding him. I'm pretty sure he thinks my sole purpose is to serve him.

3 5.5oz cans of wet a day

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That's a ton of food.  I know he is a kitten, but my cats started approaching more adult levels of eating after 6 months (actually I adopted 2 of them at 6 months, one at 4 months.)  From what I have read here and experienced most adult cats eat about 5-6 oz of canned food per day.  Maybe just offer him half of what you are offering now.  It would still be more than most adult cats eat.  Then so much wouldn't go to waste.  My cats are fine with leftover canned food.  Hopefully Leo would be too.  (I know I've read that reheating could destroy the taurine in the food but we do it very briefly and gently on 50

% power in the microwave...just enough to take the chill off, then stir.)  But only a small portion of their diet is leftovers anyways.

Hmm, yeah, I think 3 cans is probably too much at his age. Maybe he's just full :dk:. 2 cans would most likely be more than enough; Friskies isn't low-calorie. And 4 meals a day should keep him full and happy .

Willowy said:

Hmm, yeah, I think 3 cans is probably too much at his age. Maybe he's just full :dk:. 2 cans would most likely be more than enough; Friskies isn't low-calorie. And 4 meals a day should keep him full and happy .

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I thought it was too much too. I arrived at that number b/c of constant "hunger tantrums". Look at my profile and check out the post regarding how much to feed him.

I and some others on here think he most likely requires that much as;

1. He's huge for his age with very big paws, ears, and a super long tail

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Continued...
2. He never stops... He's a very high energy oriental breed.

3. He hasn't gained any weight eating that much. He's only gotten larger. His belly is not skinny, but it's far from chubby.

Oh BTW... I've called ever local Oriental Market & nonevof them have even heard of Bonito Flakes. I guess I'll have to order it online.