First, a bit of sad news: My friend's cat, a 12-year-old longhaired female, had to be put to sleep last week to end her long suffering. She wasn't eating or eliminating, and she was clearly in a lot of pain.
Despite my protests, my friend gave me a bag filled with her cat's old toys and a substantial amount of cat food. She says she might get another cat eventually, but she's still pretty upset, and she didn't want the food to go to waste.
The food, of course, was canned Friskies.
I've been feeding my kitten, Khal Drogo, a 90% canned diet of Blue Buffalo. (The other 10% is dry kibbles and the occasional special treat, like leftover steak.) He eats every variety of Blue, and I've fed him a few other of the grain free, real meat brands as well. My goal is to expose him to as many different flavors and textures as possible, so he doesn't become a picky eater.
Drogo loves him some turkey. He'll eat salmon, tuna, chicken, whitefish, etc., but he LOVES turkey. With that in mind, I selected a can of "Turkey and Cheese" Friskies:
I figured a single meal of "water sufficient for processing" and and good old-fashioned "meat by-products" won't kill my kitten, so I slapped a generous heap into Drogo's bowl and did the double-tap/name combo that signals it's time to eat. He ran joyously to his feeding spot, skipping and jumping along the way like he always does.
Then I put the Friskies down. In proper light, up close, I could see the soupy mess that's supposed to be "Turkey and Cheese in Gravy." I'm not sure if the cheese is supposed to be melted or saucy, but it looked like someone had taken a can of Velveeta and Z-grade beef and mixed it all up in one pungent, disgusting combination. Still, cats love nasty-smelling stuff, undoubtedly because it smells good to their noses, so I figured it was all good.
Drogo usually dives right in, and this time was no different. He eats with gusto. But then something hilarious happened. He recoiled. He stopped. He sniffed, and sniffed, and sniffed. Then he trilled, bolted off into the living room and attacked his plush mouse.
I kept the bowl of Friskies out for the better part of an hour, and I tried leading Drogo back to it several times, but he wouldn't touch the stuff, thus marking the first time in his short three-and-a-half months of life that he declined to eat something. Hell, he's even eaten a dropped Dorito. But no Friskies.
I'm not writing this as some sort of elitist or cat food snob, because I'm not. All I want to do is feed my cat something decent with actual meat in it, and to be honest I'd be all for paying 50 cents a can if those brands didn't have nasty stuff in them. I just thought it was funny that little Drogo actually turned up his nose at Friskies, and seemed grossed out by it. I must be doing something right if he genuinely prefers the healthy stuff. Now if only I could stop eating Doritos...
Despite my protests, my friend gave me a bag filled with her cat's old toys and a substantial amount of cat food. She says she might get another cat eventually, but she's still pretty upset, and she didn't want the food to go to waste.
The food, of course, was canned Friskies.
I've been feeding my kitten, Khal Drogo, a 90% canned diet of Blue Buffalo. (The other 10% is dry kibbles and the occasional special treat, like leftover steak.) He eats every variety of Blue, and I've fed him a few other of the grain free, real meat brands as well. My goal is to expose him to as many different flavors and textures as possible, so he doesn't become a picky eater.
Drogo loves him some turkey. He'll eat salmon, tuna, chicken, whitefish, etc., but he LOVES turkey. With that in mind, I selected a can of "Turkey and Cheese" Friskies:
I figured a single meal of "water sufficient for processing" and and good old-fashioned "meat by-products" won't kill my kitten, so I slapped a generous heap into Drogo's bowl and did the double-tap/name combo that signals it's time to eat. He ran joyously to his feeding spot, skipping and jumping along the way like he always does.
Then I put the Friskies down. In proper light, up close, I could see the soupy mess that's supposed to be "Turkey and Cheese in Gravy." I'm not sure if the cheese is supposed to be melted or saucy, but it looked like someone had taken a can of Velveeta and Z-grade beef and mixed it all up in one pungent, disgusting combination. Still, cats love nasty-smelling stuff, undoubtedly because it smells good to their noses, so I figured it was all good.
Drogo usually dives right in, and this time was no different. He eats with gusto. But then something hilarious happened. He recoiled. He stopped. He sniffed, and sniffed, and sniffed. Then he trilled, bolted off into the living room and attacked his plush mouse.
I kept the bowl of Friskies out for the better part of an hour, and I tried leading Drogo back to it several times, but he wouldn't touch the stuff, thus marking the first time in his short three-and-a-half months of life that he declined to eat something. Hell, he's even eaten a dropped Dorito. But no Friskies.
I'm not writing this as some sort of elitist or cat food snob, because I'm not. All I want to do is feed my cat something decent with actual meat in it, and to be honest I'd be all for paying 50 cents a can if those brands didn't have nasty stuff in them. I just thought it was funny that little Drogo actually turned up his nose at Friskies, and seemed grossed out by it. I must be doing something right if he genuinely prefers the healthy stuff. Now if only I could stop eating Doritos...
