So fed up

mysterylover · Nov 26, 2014

I feel your pain. I had a cat with some digestive issues and decided to get better quality canned. I have 3 litter mates, so the goal was to get something they would all eat and could tolerate. I did not order from the internet because I had read enough to know this would be a challenge. They actually love Fancy Feast pates, but I was worried that the one with digestion issues was suddenly reacting to something in them. It got to the point where the Petsmart people were giving me this look like "why does she keep trying different foods and bringing back half of them?" The female cat tried to bury nearly everything I tried. She actually did eat the Nutro soft loaf (but not the chunky loaf), so texture was also an issue. I even have to cut up the shreds of the Weruva flavors she likes up before serving them, so yeah, cats are a pain. In my process, I found that 2 of my cats had daily hairballs on certain foods as well, so that crossed those off the list. At least for now, if you have a rotation your cat likes, I would try to go with that. I now only have a few canned foods I feel I can feed with confidence. Anything else I try, I resign that they may eat a bite and leave me tossing the rest in the trash (and opening up something they will usually eat). I am fairly new to cat ownership, and I used to see my mother-in-law had magnets and such that said "Cats rule!" I always thought that meant that the person loved cats more than dogs or something. Now, I see that it means that cats rule the house in many ways, and this definitely includes what they eat!

kika the cat · Nov 26, 2014

My cat loves the few things I feed her. She woofs it down until it's gone in minutes.

But she doesn't like a wide variety, at least so far I haven't found many things she likes.

She won't eat red meat, shrimp, or crab. She eats certain dry foods but only as an occasional snack.

I give her a rotation of salmon, chicken, turkey, tunas, and sardines. The human grade stuff, not pet food,

Three times a day, six hours apart, full 5 oz cans. She weighs 11.5 pounds. I find the dry food fouls up her diet.

What mystifies me is when I bring her fresh water she gets excited for something more.

When she sees it's water, she's like "Oh, bummer, it's only water."

The question is, what was she hoping for?

bonepicker · Nov 27, 2014

Well Historian my fussy girl cat just refused large can of rockstar rabbit by pride for first time, someone said sourcing changed to French rabbits. So my boy cat will be eating those cans (he is 17 lbs) no fat, he is a monster. He eats everything. I just put it in his dish and gave her tiki puka luau. At least with two cats (one not fussy)you have no waste. One good thing about rotation you always have something else in cupboard. Happy thanksgiving, my senior dogs looking forward to their turkey dinner, I let them splurge at thanksgiving and Xmas.

mysterylover · Nov 29, 2014

Kika--One of my cats does that with the water. I change it before I feed them, so I am guessing she is hoping I am sneaking something to her before I feed her brothers with her. She seems disappointed when she sees it is water. My cats do not drink much water. They are on a mostly wet diet, but it still worries me, though the litter boxes have regular urine. I have considered buying a smaller fountain to see if water might become interesting to them. I don't have the extra funds right now, though.

bonepicker · Nov 29, 2014

Kika The Cat said:
My cat loves the few things I feed her. She woofs it down until it's gone in minutes.

But she doesn't like a wide variety, at least so far I haven't found many things she likes.

She won't eat red meat, shrimp, or crab. She eats certain dry foods but only as an occasional snack.

I give her a rotation of salmon, chicken, turkey, tunas, and sardines. The human grade stuff, not pet food,

Three times a day, six hours apart, full 5 oz cans. She weighs 11.5 pounds. I find the dry food fouls up her diet.

What mystifies me is when I bring her fresh water she gets excited for something more.

When she sees it's water, she's like "Oh, bummer, it's only water."

The question is, what was she hoping for?

Wow she eats 15 oz a day?

Kat0121 · Nov 29, 2014

Thehistorian said:
This just in: she will not touch the rabbit.

So I have an offer for anyone who is interested. I am asking thirty bucks for the remaining case of Venison and the remaining case of rabbit. Thirty even for each. That is six to five bucks cheaper than Chewy. I will pay shipping and handling. If you know your cats will eat these please take them.

The only wet foods I find that she will eat consistently are the Nutro Natural Choice soft loaf versions of the chicken, turkey, and duck. For some variety I am going to cave and do Fancy Feast Ocean White Fish and Tuna in her line up.

I am going to have to relent and keep a high end kibble in the line up. No choice. It's what works for her.

`ITA with @bonepicker about mixing foods. My 2 will only eat NVI if it is mixed with something else. Mixing it with Nutro Natural Choice minced or sliced varieties works every time. Mine are really picky also so I definitely understand how you feel and have given food away too. I need to keep a variety of foods in their rotation (all wet) so I definitely spend more on their food than I do on my own.

Willowy · Nov 29, 2014

Kika The Cat said:
My cat loves the few things I feed her. She woofs it down until it's gone in minutes.

But she doesn't like a wide variety, at least so far I haven't found many things she likes.

She won't eat red meat, shrimp, or crab. She eats certain dry foods but only as an occasional snack.

I give her a rotation of salmon, chicken, turkey, tunas, and sardines. The human grade stuff, not pet food,

Three times a day, six hours apart, full 5 oz cans. She weighs 11.5 pounds. I find the dry food fouls up her diet.

What mystifies me is when I bring her fresh water she gets excited for something more.

When she sees it's water, she's like "Oh, bummer, it's only water."

The question is, what was she hoping for?

If you're only feeding her human-food canned chicken, tuna, etc., she isn't getting a balanced diet

. There is not enough calcium in canned meats, and without a source of organs there won't be enough vitamins either. There's also usually a lot of salt in canned foods. If this has been going on for long, she's probably suffering from a number of nutritional deficiencies, which could explain why she eats so much. If you want to learn how to make a balanced home-prepared diet, check out our raw and homecooked forum

. But please do something to balance her diet before it causes her too much harm.

bonepicker · Nov 29, 2014

I totally agree with Willowy.

Kat0121 · Nov 29, 2014

bonepicker said:
I totally agree with Willowy.

So do I . There are a lot of very good quality canned foods that contain the proteins your cat likes. Homemade diets need to be supplemented to make sure they are balanced if you want to go that route. The raw and homecooked forums are a wealth of information.

thehistorian · Nov 29, 2014

I swear cats are the fussiest eaters ever. Since I have had to get rid of two cases (NVI Rabbit and NVI Venison), I picked up a few cans of a few different varieties to replace the rejected ones. Not a lot of course.

I picked up two Fancy Feast Tender Beef, two Fancy Feast Tender Beef and Chicken, two Fancy Feast Turkey and Giblets, and two L.I.D Natural Balance Duck. I have had success with the few Natural Balance cans I have tried before - NB got her to actually finish a small can of venison! Here is hoping.

Of the three cases I bought that she will eat (all Nutro Natural Choice) she adores and inhales NNC soft loaf chicken like it is ambrosia, she is quite taken with the NNC soft loaf duck (not as much as chicken), and she eats the NNC soft loaf turkey - she is rather lukewarm about it but she eats it.

I sense it is time to start switching out the NNC turkey and duck variety to keep things interesting. I think kitty would approve of another case of NNC soft loaf chicken, though. LOL

Fancy Feast Turkey and Giblets and L.I.D. Natural Balance Duck don't fail me now!

bonepicker · Nov 29, 2014

Good luck cat won't eat those two

thehistorian · Nov 30, 2014

Yeah, but every cat is different. A lot of cats for whatever reason love Fancy Feast. Some don't like it at all.

Same with NB. Cats are the fussiest ever.

bonepicker · Dec 4, 2014

Thehistorian said:
So, my cat liked Nutro Natural Choice and she still eats the majority of it in the morning, but lately she has been leaving a small chunk that I have to urge her to eat. Just ordered 36 cans of natural balance catatouille stew, they turned noses up and walked away, I givenup

A few weeks ago I got two big cans of Nature's Variety Instinct - one rabbit and one venison. She really seemed to like them. So being the idiot I am, I bought a 24 can case of 3 ounce cans of venison and of rabbit.

And of course, when I started te venison case this morning she is being really finicky about it. I fed her at 6am this morning. She still hasn't finished it. She walks over, sniffs nibbles.

I am so annoyed and frustrated. I am not rich and this will not be the first time I have wasted over a hundred dollars on wet food for her. I cannot afford to keep doing this just to get her variety.

I am near tears. I may have to rid of all these cans and I can't afford more to replace the ones she has stubbed. Guys, why do cats do this to us? Do cats ever stop snubbing food and just eat it if you keep introducing it?

I don't know what to do.

bonepicker · Dec 4, 2014

Now I bought 36 cans mine won't eat natural balance catatouille stew.

Kat0121 · Dec 4, 2014

I wish I didn't know how you feel but I do. My 2 do this also. What I do is mix the foods. They will not eat Nature's Variety Instinct (or any pate) by itself. It has to be mixed/topped with something else. So I take 1 3 oz can of NVI chicken and 1 3 oz can of Pride by Instinct Lucky's Duck (for example) and put half of each can in their dishes and mix them. This is definitely a favorite blend. They also love the rockstar's rabbit mixed with the NVI and the Champ's Chicken ( both from PBI)

I also mix in Soulistic Good Karma or Harvest Sunrise. I try to mix textures, sometimes flavors, sometimes not. It might be all chicken one meal. It works. They like this. Sometimes I give them each half of a 5.5 ounce can of NV Prairie Homestyle. Sometimes they gobble it up, sometimes not. Nutro Natural Choice minced and sliced varieties are great toppers/mixers. If they like the soft loaf or chunky loaf, try mixing it with one of the sliced/minced varieties.

I always keep some of the foods that I know each of them cannot resist just in case they flat out refuse to eat what I gave them. For Lilith it's easily the Wellness Divine Duos chicken/duck and chicken/turkey varieties. For Sophie it's hands down the Soulistic Good Karma and Harvest Sunrise.

If you have too much of a particular flavor lying around, see if your local pet store will let you trade it for the same brand and size but different flavor/texture. They may help you out even if you didn't buy it from them. If they sell it, they shouldn't care

Kat0121 · Dec 4, 2014

bonepicker said:
Now I bought 36 cans mine won't eat natural balance catatouille stew.

same here. When I was first going crazy buying one of this and one of that to find things they would eat, I bought a can of NB Catatouille. They ate it right up. I bought more and now they turn their noses up at it.

Have you tried the NB Platefulls pouches? My 2 still like those. It's not big in the rotation but I keep a few for variety every now and then

betsygee · Dec 4, 2014

Fortunately for me, I've got a couple of garbage-guts who will eat ANYTHING. So when I buy food that one of the picky cats like and then don't like, chances are the garbage-guts will suck it up and it won't go to waste. And then there's always the shelter if there's something that none of them will eat.

thehistorian · Dec 4, 2014

I'm so picky about the wet food my girl eats. It cannot have any grains - no corn, rice, soy, wheat, oat etc. and no potatoes or peas. Happily, she agrees - she is not a fan of any wet with peas in it. Nutro Natural Choice meets all of these qualifications. Fancy Feast does too, but I have not yet tried it. Here is hoping!

I have to be picky about her wet food because I have to feed her at least half dry. Every time I try to put her on all wet, she gets constipated. I think she is extremely sensitive to gums in wet food and it is hard to find wet foods that meet the no grain, no carb, AND no gum criteria.

Oh well.

ruaryx · Dec 4, 2014

I agree with mixing the food with food she does like. Also, I would keep the rejected flavors around and try them again at a later time in case she changes her mind. You should use a lot of flavors and brands in rotation so that she doesn't get bored.

bonepicker · Dec 5, 2014

Kat0121 said:
same here. When I was first going crazy buying one of this and one of that to find things they would eat, I bought a can of NB Catatouille. They ate it right up. I bought more and now they turn their noses up at it.

Have you tried the NB Platefulls pouches? My 2 still like those. It's not big in the rotation but I keep a few for variety every now and then. I left it in their bowls overnight and they ate it grudgingly. New recipe or now addicted to nutro natural!

So fed up

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Just what part of meow don't you understand.

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