My cats would rather be hungry--not eating their usual food

My cats have only adapted to the purina indoor formula and I told my husband - something was wrong. The last few months they won't touch it and they cont to whine like they are hungry. I got the purina naturals and they weren't too happy with that. It was all I would ever buy and I fig they must have changed the formula. My dogs aren't scarfing it down as they loved it when they use to get pieces here and there. It's frustrating. I have recently went through several bags of different foods and then my husband comes home tonight' with a huge bag of the indoor- again ... They rather be hungry . So now they have had lots of milk at this point .

Yes, Purina is in the process of changing their formulas...they have changed the ProPlan line as well (for better or worse?...I don't know.)

We have had success feeding the kitties in the rescue Blue Wilderness and Nature's Variety Instinct (mostly the LID Turkey formula.) Most are on the latter. For our pickies eater, I sprinkle freeze-dried Chicken onto his food.

I personally feed Instinct and NOW Fresh, along with wet food twice a day.

My cats are very variable about what they eat.    Sometimes they gobble down their canned food, other times they just ignore it.   So my advice would be, don't worry .. when they're really hungry, they'll eat again.   Now, I do have dry food out for my cats all the time, so that may color my thinking.

shanna baack said:

My cats have only adapted to the purina indoor formula and I told my husband - something was wrong. The last few months they won't touch it and they cont to whine like they are hungry. I got the purina naturals and they weren't too happy with that. It was all I would ever buy and I fig they must have changed the formula. My dogs aren't scarfing it down as they loved it when they use to get pieces here and there. It's frustrating. I have recently went through several bags of different foods and then my husband comes home tonight' with a huge bag of the indoor- again ... They rather be hungry . So now they have had lots of milk at this point .

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Feeding them just milk is not a good idea. It's not nutritionally complete. And, as a matter of fact, once cats reach adulthood, many of them cannot well tolerate cow's milk.

What I would suggest is to just keep trying (in small bags) different foods until you find something they will eat.  Complete nutrition is essential. 

Have you thought about trying canned food, since they aren't too keen on kibble?  And as Catpack suggested, you can use  freeze dried meats as toppers.  They sell them in the dog department for much cheaper, and you can crumble them over their food as an enticement.  You could also use parmesan cheese (the green shaker can).  Most cats really like Fancy Feast Classics, and, honestly, that aren't too bad for them, and they're fairly inexpensive, especially if you can shop at Target or Walmart.  Or even Friskies Pates, although I think the Fancy Feast Classics are more like kitty krack than Friskies.

Just FYI...
Petco and PSP offer food swaps. If you get a bag of food that your kitties don't like, take the bag (and receipt) back to the store and exchange for something else. This way you don't end up with multiple bags of food or throwing them away.

or you can donate the food bags that you have the cats wont eat

by the smallest bags of food and try it on the cats get different brands maybe the cats are felling ill on the purina any type and wont eat my cat knows when i put purina down he wont eat it i think its because it made him vary sick before anyway try different brands in small bags like 5lbs or less

have you tried wet food?