Ex-Stray won't eat in one sitting

Hi all! Due to some health issues in one of my cats (Loki) I needed to switch them both to a soft food diet. Monty and Loki (Monty was a stray until he was about 11 months) have always been on a dry food diet and eat when they like. Loki needs the high moisture content as he has Urinary Tract Disease and it's easiest to have them both on the same type of diet. The trouble is that Loki, sits and eats his food in one sitting at every meal but Monty will eat about a 1/3 of his and then paw the ground like he's trying to bury it. I'm wondering if there's a way to get Monty to eat all of his food without having to leave it out all day (bad for bacteria IF Loki doesn't swoop in and gobble it all up!) Thanks guys! 

If enough of driniking is a problem, then a water fountain may be the solution.  Many cats drinks a lot more from a water fountain compared with the usual water dishes.

That said, wet canned cat food, or soft food as you say, is a better choice than dry - if the cats eats it.

So, proceed with your tries to learn them eat wet.  

I have to feed my cats in separate spaces at times when one of them needs something special in their food.  I have one cat who will eat everything in sight and the other who is a very slow meticulous eater who always leaves something behind for later.  I just put one of the cats in a spare room with the food and leave them there for 20 minutes or so.  If they don't eat it right away, I put the food away and try again later.  Eventually they get hungry and realize this is where they must eat. 

The water fountain is a great idea.  My cats love water.  It would be a great way to get more water into them too.

It's amazing how many of us cat lovers have similar issues and concerns. I have two guys in my colony that have bouts of stomatitis I feed them wet twice a day. The rest of the colony cats eat kibble. All of the cats want to eat the " special" food. We have to stand with the two boys when they are eating to ensure that they get to eat. Pounce is one of the guys and he knows that I am sweet on him. He likes to take a few bites of wet and then a few crunches of kibble. He is so spoiled that he expects me to hold his crunchies and present them to him on demand. I do it every day.

Oh, we also make sure that the other colony cats get goodies too. We usually give a spoonful of the wet food to any of the cats that approach us. If Pounce or Thai leave anything we try to share it out with the others. We love them all and want them to know that they are special to us.




I accidentally stumbled into something that helps the indoor cats drink more water. I set a tumbler of water on my nightstand a few weeks ago so I could take a pill before I went to sleep.

Ms kitty sleeps with me and before I took my pill she sat on the table and slurped and slurped and slurped. One of our little guys, Sunny, had to get in the act too. Before I could take my pill four of the six inside cats had stuck their faces into the tumbler and had a big drink. Now we make sure to have a tumbler of fresh water on the nightstand all of the time.

I

I've been considering a water fountain for quite some time as they are both obsessed with the bath faucet. Monty is still not eating. He eats a few bites and leaves it. I'm tried mixing in kibble, bringing the food back to him multiple time, nothing has worked. I know he's hungry because he is still eating the kibbles. I've always had a hunch that there may be other people in the neighbourhood feeding him. He's extremely friendly so I wouldn't be surprise but. What! he has a collar on, he has a sleek shiny coat, why would someone take it upon themselves to feed other people's cats. For all they know he could have a food allergy! I'm going to call the vet today and see if they recommend bringing him in. He has always had a wide variety of meows but the past few days he's only had this really high squeaky meow.