Wasting food... just part of being a cat slave?

Sigh, ever since I got the second kitten (as a sister playmate for my Ragdoll), they have "learned" from each other a variety of behaviors. She will now flop onto her back for belly rubs, he will now speak out much more often....

Until I got her, he would eat ANYTHING, but she is finicky. If she won't eat it, neither will he - even stuff he always loved. Another sigh. And because they are both still kittens (9 months and 7 months), I'm concerned that they eat enough.

The result of this is that I have a bunch of canned food bought previously I keep on trying to use, with them both turning their noses up at it.

My feeding philosophy is wet in the morning and night, with a good quality (Idea Balance) dry food left out for free feeding. Well, this morning I only had a very little bit left of the stuff she loves, some of what she likes (sometimes), and questionable. So I put the questionable out and after one or two bites, they both walked away.

I threw it out... then I put out the stuff she likes sometimes... SAME. Well, by then I'm out of time, and I had to leave. I won't leave out the wet stuff because, even when they don't like it, sometimes they will nibble an hour or two later and I decided that isn't safe.

Bottom line - 1) tell me I'm not the only one here who THROWS OUT perfectly good cat food, and 2) how bad is it really for them to eat mostly dry food a couple of days a week? She is a good drinker, him, not so much.

I have 2 cats that practically knock me over to get to the canned food, then eat a few nibbles before walking away. I find that within a few hours, the plate empties. Food poisoning germs take hours to kick in- especially when you think of how many cats eat a raw diet. You should be fine leaving it for a while.

ChristineMoon said:

I have 2 cats that practically knock me over to get to the canned food, then eat a few nibbles before walking away. I find that within a few hours, the plate empties. Food poisoning germs take hours to kick in- especially when you think of how many cats eat a raw diet. You should be fine leaving it for a while.

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Ah, well... I see. They both do "nibble" in that MOST of the time they eat about half at a setting and then come back and finish it over the next hour. I'm just responding today to my Ragdoll flat out walking away after sniffing, and the Ginger walking away after two bites.

I saw my choices as clean it up or leave it out (potentially all day) and see if they would eventually eat it or not. I look forward to hearing more opinions or direct experience with this issue.

I just gave extra dry today, and I'll put down her favorite tonight.

FWIW - Right now the favorite is MaxCat (chunk duck, chunk chicken), Soulistic is also well liked - somewhat liked is Sheba, hated is Science Diet (which is what she was raised on, so I bought a lot soon after I got her... nope, they both won't touch it). Wellness, he still loves, so does she, but it makes her sick. Another sigh.

Not sure of options in your area, but some of the pricier, independent pet food stores will give you cans to try as samples, OR they will take back the rest of the can if the cat doesn't like it.  Of course, not all stores will do this but its at least worth a few minutes of phone calls. 

YMMV - maybe its just a thing popular in my area of the US...

aprilprey said:

 
Not sure of options in your area, but some of the pricier, independent pet food stores will give you cans to try as samples, OR they will take back the rest of the can if the cat doesn't like it.  Of course, not all stores will do this but its at least worth a few minutes of phone calls. 

YMMV - maybe its just a thing popular in my area of the US...

Click to expand...

My favorite store does this too. I rarely go there now since I feed raw, but when I did, they would take back anything. If I opened a can and kitty doesn't like it, I can return the can. I've returned a few opened dry food bags - I started off with dry food because that was what he had at the shelter, and that was before I knew he'd eat anything, so transitioning him to wet food took two days.

As long as that store is open, I'll trek all the way over to west side of the city for kitty supplies.

I threw out a lot of food being paranoid, getting the cat on a schedule and figuring out what she does and does not like.

I feed wet in the morning and at night and kibble is out for free feeding, but I limit the dry and fill that bowl only after she eats the wet. It allows her to graze during the day and it curbs the midnight pokes and "feed me" meows.

I have probably thrown more food away trying to figure out what the cat likes. It's somewhat frustrating because this is the only finicky cat that I've ever had. She won't touch pate or mush... it has to be diced or shredded. It can't be too dry and it can't be beef flavored (Except for Merrick's Beef Wellington, which she loves...) We also don't like most moderately priced foods. It has to be junk food or top quality. So top quality it is, and the cost of that is another reason why she gets some dry.

It took probably two months and what felt like 1,000 brand, texture and flavor combinations to figure out the likes. In the attempt to figure all that out, I wasted a lot of food being paranoid. I was giving her about an hour to finish before I picked up the plate and tossed the food away. Like ChristineMoon, I discovered that if I left it out longer, the cat would eventually eat it.

The thing is, cats have very strong stomach acid and very short digestive tracts which allow them to digest raw flesh and bone quickly. Unless your kitties have digestive issues, leave food out for several hours isn't going to hurt them. If our cat doesn't scarf the food down right away, I'll leave the plate out for three or four hours and then toss it after that. Even then, because it's gets dry and crusty... not really because I'm worried about the bacteria.

Ha, ha... not alone (as I suspected).

The thing about trying samples is... what they like one day, they may not like another (or other issues). Artie (Ragdoll) was fed Wellness kitten food for months before I got Jessie. She liked it, but there must be something in it that upsets her tummy. When I worked it up to 100% she always threw it up. So much for that (unless I separate them when feeding).

Okay, back on topic... I've tried a lot of different "samples," buy one can - what I'm looking for is something they both like nearly all the time. As you can see from my questions.... #1 is being answered even as I write (LOL), but #2 hasn't been. A #3 implied question, of is it okay to leave it out for hours and hours for grazing.... is being addressed. I wondered about that myself. Since I am gone 10 hours a day during the week, this means just weekend testing.

So far they both seem to love MaxCat (savory duck flavor and some kind of chicken with tomato flavor) as long as it is chunks, sometimes cleaning their plate at one setting. So I'm going to risk it and pick up a 24 pack. I just didn't like feeding them only dry this morning - but, on the plus side, they both really do love that Ideal Balance Kitten kibble. Great, because it is the only kitten food they both still like!

Aside from the carbohydrate content, the problem with dry food is that it's..... dry.

Many cats have a low thirst drive because their bodies are designed more for pulling moisture from whatever they eat. (i.e. juicy dead things) Dry cat food is typically 10-12% water... wet food is typically 75% or more. If you exclusively feed dry cat food to a cat that is a reluctant drinker, you could wind up with a dehydrated and sick cat. That said, every cat is different. Back in the ignorant pet consumer days, we fed our boy Tender Vittles cat food every day of his 18 years. Worst cat food ever made, but he never had health problems. 

So... is it unsafe to feed your cat nothing but dry for a couple of days a week? I'd say no, but keep an eye on their litterbox habits and maybe put out an extra bowl or two of water in different places to encourage drinking.

Have you tried just feeding the wet food with no dry at all? Try all different kinds of brands. Go to a pet store and buy one of each, try to get the 3 oz cans.

I looked this question up as I have the same problem here!   I'm disabled so money isn't like it used to be. I'm also at home more often so I can feed her smaller amounts, but I think I should space it out a bit farther, like feed her wet in the am, then later dry and then wet again. I have been giving her mostly dry at night for "dessert" but even then that doesn't always work. She usually doesn't eat her food if I'm gone for more than a couple hours(either stress or sleeps). I feel like I have to be home sooner than I could be so she eats. If I ever get a full time job, I hope I'd have some time to adjust us both, so she'd be less stress and I'd not have to obsessively worry about here lol! The only time I was gone all the time was when I had a dog too...and they would eat each others food..anyways long story short, I think you have a good question, hope you find the answers, and I look forward to finding the answers as well!