Too much angst with pet food!

molanic

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I imagine the crowd here is like me and has spent more time than they probably like trying to pick-out what to feed their cats. Being a newish cat person I realize I am spoiled with my dog. He will eat anything I put in front of him! I still have to figure out what foods are best for him, especially now that he has chronic kidney disease. But, he shows equal enthusiasm and gratitude for pretty much anything I give him.

These stinkin cats are entirely different. I have three cats that are siblings, about 1.5 years old, born to the feral cat Mama Jess that suckered us into caring for her not long before getting knocked up. FYI they all were neutered, vetted, etc., including Mama who is still around but pretty feral yet.

Even feral Mama Jess was picky about her food. I went through all kinds of canned food with her. She would love something one day and refuse it the next. It didn't help any that she was playing the sad homeless kitty act all over the neighborhood getting fed all kinds of stuff. She would come trotting into our garage with hot dogs and lunch meat! I eventually gave up on canned and now she just gets dry food left out.

Her babes were equally fussy with wet food, but always ate dry food well. So I picked a pretty decent dry food and stopped trying the wet. Now I've got Mr. Tubs who is obese, Miss Peanut who has had long term problems with vomiting, and Mr. Red who by some luck is at an ideal weight with no issues so far. Now I'm taking Peanut for vet visits trying to figure out if she has IBD, lymphoma, or something else. I posted about that already over on the cat health board.  So after lots of reading I am trying to get them interested in wet food again, possibly moving on to homecooked or raw one day. It is not going well. I'm spending tons of time scouring ingredient labels and reading about all the "bad" ingredients to avoid that are seemingly in everything.

The cats on the other hand have seemingly no regard for my efforts :) Tubs acts like I am trying to poison him and attempts to cover up the "stench" of the food. Peanut will spend five minutes fussing with a piece of wet food the size of a pea and then walk away. Red is the only one who is a good little eater, but also the only one I wasn't too concerned about.

These cats would not survive in the wild I think. When I gave them some baked chicken thigh it took forever for them to eat the tiniest of pieces, except for Red because he's my good little eater. He looked like a a great white shark going for that chicken.

The cats we had as kids I think got whatever was cheapest at the grocery store and some leftover tuna when we had it. I don't think any more thought was ever put into it. That was pre-Internet though. Now every decision needs Googling first!

This obsession may be a personality thing on my part too though. Years ago I adopted two guinea pigs at a shelter I volunteered at. Being totally new to piggies I went and got the basic supplies at the pet store. Then I started Googling and had to make them a new way larger cage and buy better hay, food, and supplements online. I even bought gourmet dandelion seeds online so they could have fresh greens grown inside in winter. I made them little salads and fruit bowls daily! They ate better than me! They were good little eaters too, not like these cats! Oye, does it all seem like too much sometimes?
 

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Yes, and from too much personal experience, no one can help you with a non-eater. I get'em all, be it from Animal Control or through my usual fostering for an independent rescue. If there's one that won't eat, you bet its got my name on it. Boy, just once I'd like one that eats too much! If they're used to an all-dry diet, than perhaps slowly adding minute amounts of wet to the dry will help? Be prepared to buy a lot of cans and waste a lot of food before you find the right one, and if worst comes to worst, and they won't eat anything at all, be prepared to syringe feed. I wish you the best of luck because I know how rotten it is to have an animal that turns its nose up at everything.
 

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Lol at the guinea pig salads! =D

Yes, it does sometimes feel like too much...and I've only had my furbaby for less than three months. 11/29th will be three months. The food thing seemed a bit overwhelming at first when I was just looking for mid-level quality food to feed her. Then, it got even more overwhelming when I started to care more about what I was going to feed her. She was given a bag of Acana to take home with her that is really pretty good dry food, I think. The label says it is 70% protein (animal) and it seems to have good ingredients compared to the Purina One bags I had bought before I brought her home. Fortunately, before her Acana bag ran out, I decided that since she didn't eat much, I was going to feed her Origen if she liked it and she turned out to love it! That's 80% protein (animal) and grain-free and the smaller kibble in the Cat & Kitten one is perfect for my cat's missing canine that had to be extracted.

As for wet food, I didn't want to feed her Fancy Feast or anything like that until I kept reading here about how the classic pates are grain-free, so I tried all the flavors on her and she refused to eat any, which is bothersome...until I got to the chicken & liver pate and the turkey giblets pate. She really loved the Iams kitten pate I had given her, so I stocked up on it and now she barely eats any. =( I feel like I shouldn't have tried introducing her to Nutro Natural Choice duck pate until she was done with her Iams kitten food...it feels disheartening for me when she doesn't like a new canned food. I tried Sheba pates for the same reason as the Fancy Feast. They are grain-free, which really helps narrow down wet food choices if that is what you decide to look for. The Nutro Natural Choice is not grain-free, I think, but I was looking to give her some tasty wet food that seemed more like "fancy" cat food and also provide her with more variety for her wet food. She now likes the turkey loaf (pate) and used to love the duck pate, but already suddenly seems to not want to eat it anymore. =( I stocked up on those too...

I tried feeding her a Whiskas pouch in an early moment of thinking she only liked cheap food...and she smelled it and then stared at me as if she was bewildered and actually cocked her head to the side while staring at me...like as if she was asking, "Why??? O_O" LOL. =D I still have nine pouches that I will add to a holiday donation bin.

I kinda gave up trying wet foods for a while, then tried again recently. Surprisingly, she devoured the Sheba mixed grill entree! O_O
 

Maybe it's good to give yourself breaks. I've had anxiety while looking at the cans of wet food myself and just give myself a break after multiple, repeated failure attempts. It feels so disappointing when she doesn't like a flavor, like most seafood, or stops eating something suddenly. Fortunately, my cat loves her Origen and does drink some water, so the wet food is just for me to try to give her some wet food and add to her diet.

I've also realized to finish giving her cans of wet food while she is still loving them before going out and buying different flavors of other wet food. I should wait until she seems bored of her food. Lesson learned.
 

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The cats we had as kids I think got whatever was cheapest at the grocery store and some leftover tuna when we had it. I don't think any more thought was ever put into it. That was pre-Internet though. Now every decision needs Googling first!
I have read labels and bought what I think is the best. They do not agree. I rotate between a few that they do like a duck and a venison. I have an older picky cat that prefers Fancy Feast over the other ones I pick. What does a cat mommy do? They all had their annual exam today, blood work good, weight good, and hearts are good.

The quote I took from you if funny because it reminds me of childhood.  I was raised on a farm and if you could not eat the animal it did not get much attention. My dad let me take a little black kitten from our neighbor. She is was not allowed in the house, my dad would only buy her tender vittles packets (semi moist food). The vet only came out for livestock or the horse. She lived to be 19.
 

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I agree completely .. Feeding cats can be a headache .. My cats are very fickle when it comes to wet food ..  They like something one day then hate it the next .  I have tried many brands of wet food from Friskies  to  Zwi Peak  they refused them all ..  They have settled on Fancy Feast Classics in 2 flavors  only .  Turkey & Giblets and Ocean Whitefish & Tuna ... 

Of course I only buy  enough for 1 week at a time in case they change their mind ..

I always have a high quality grain free kibble for those in between times ..  They never refuse that ..
 
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molanic

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When I was just fostering these kittens and did not plan to keep them, the TNR group said to just leave dry food out free fed and give meals of wet food. The thinking was to give them as many calories as possible when growing and get them used to eating both types of food for whatever situation they ended up in. Had I known at the time that I would be keeping three of them and that wet food is better for their health, I would have never given them the dry food I think. Whatever is in it, it is like kitty crack!

I feel like one of those parents with the skinny kid who will only chicken nuggets. It is a battle of the wills! You think you are going to be tough and force the kits to eat it, but then the dreaded "fatty liver" thing you read about online pops into your head and you give in.

My mom was raised on a farm too. No animals inside, no neutering, vet visits, nada. Cats were there to kill mice in the barns and maybe get some of the leftovers from dinner or milking cows. They were basically left to their own devices. When mom grew up she wanted pets inside. Just having them indoors and buying them cat food (cheap as it was)  was seen as pampering. They weren't even neutered or vaccinated. Did not go well with one getting pregnant and sent to live at the farm with her kittens. Another got out and hit by a car (was in heat probably). Another got ovarian cancer and had to be put to sleep. So after that I went 20 years with no cats.

These guys are all neutered, vaccinated, toys galore, and I get to present the cat kings and queen with expensive food for them to turn their noses up at daily! Now we are shopping for a cat fountain too... and my Grandpa is probably rolling in his grave!

On the positive, my old dog is quite thrilled with any little morsel of leftover wet cat food he gets. So it doesn't got to waste. He is at least 14 years old and still literally jumps for joy every morning when I am getting his breakfast ready. At least somebody appreciates me!
 

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I have to say that I do appreciate this whole thread.  Molanic, it is funny that you ended up with 3 kitties from a ferrel mama and so did I.  My 3 had a mama who let me give her a bit of food and water and then went off and had these 3 babies.  When she weaned them, she knew where the food was and brought them here and left.  I did as you did, trapped them, spayed and neutered  them.  I, too, was not keeping them, just getting them to where someone else would want to adopt them, as they would not let me touch them for months.  But in those months, I fell in love.  They sleep with me now.  Sometimes DH even sleeps on the couch because it is too much trouble to disturb all of us.  LOL!

I got lucky, I guess.  Even though I started mine off with Purina Kitten Chow and then Cat Chow at 1 year, when we inherited an older cat when my mother-in-law died, they were happy to eat Friskies when she did.  I actually decided to transition to more wet food when one of the cats started throwing up if he had too much dry with the wet.  I did change the dry to Blue Basic grain free first after doing research on grain free kibble.  Like you say, before the Internet, we we did not spend hours and hours researching cat food and wondering if our choices were going to cause illness later or were the cause of any present issues, behavioral or physical.  It can get obsessive.  For 2 years, I had my three on the same 3 flavors of Fancy Feast Classics and the Blue, and all was fine.  Then, one cat developed soft stools, and the first thing I did was start trying to get rid of dry and experiment with different cans to see if it could be a protein allergy or whatever.  Like you, I brought home tons of cans of food.  I learned to always buy 2 or 3 of everything, since if you landed on a winner, the next flavor in that same brand might be rejected and thrown out.  With 2 other cats who might insist on a taste of the new food (not bad if I ended up feeding it long tern, since I would know if they all would eat it), it would go faster.  Petsmart likely thought my husband and I were nuts after buying so many cans and returning so many.  Like you say, the fatty liver thing makes you not leave them without food, and it makes trying to do any sort of elimination diet really hard.

It is hard not to miss the old days of putting the Cat Chow down and feeling I was doing a good thing.  I almost wished Purina had really made their new Beyond cans like Fancy Feast with just no by products or artificial stuff, but they stuck fish in both of the pate chicken flavors.  I still might try the Chicken and Sweet Potato one, since the ingredient list is short and nothing artificial, but again, after what I have read, I would not feel good about feeding only the Beyond line, even if the cats loved it (if they did it would be due to the fish in there), since I don't want to add carbs to their cans or have them eating daily fish.  If I read enough, I will likely find that Purina sources their chicken or fish from China--something to make me feel guilty about feeding it to them.  Sigh!  

In reality, we can only do what we can do.  My little girl, Junie, does the whole bury the food thing when she does not like it.  I see that as her trying to bury it in case she were ever starving (which she knows I would never permit) and had to dig it up and eat it rather than die.  LOL!  (Again, which would be never as long as I have anything to do with it!)

To all those here, please let us all know when you find the perfect wet food that no cat ever turns down! 
LOL! 
 

bonepicker

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It's called nutro natural choice chunky chicken loaf or prides rockstar rabbit. Merrick duck and chicken pates are winners also.
 
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molanic

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They are on my list bonepicker! I hate Black Friday shopping, but the one place I will probably go is the Pet Supplies Plus. Last year they had some big discounts on your whole purchase on Black Friday, but I went too late :( I haven't gotten an e-mail yet, but if it is a good sale and I can get my a** out of bed early enough I will stock up. I'm trying to make a list of things so I don't stand there like an idiot staring at the seemingly mile long aisle of cat food (which I have been known to do).

 

I would be open to making them some food, probably not raw but home-made. But, all the recipes and needed supplements are daunting and probably quite expensive at least initially. At least with the canned food it has all the extra vitamins and stuff added in. I know I can't just give them meat alone on a regular basis. I do have a chest freezer, tons of canning jars, a pressure cooker, and food processor though which might come in handy. No meat grinder though. The idea of grinding all the raw meat and bone and cleaning it all up afterward kind of nauseates me to be honest. Don't want to go to all that trouble and expense yet if I can't even get them to eat all canned food.

If I do get them to eat entirely canned, that will be a lot of cans every week. Very few varieties come in the large cans I noticed too. Strange, because I think most cat people have more than one cat. Are the small cans perhaps because the fussy buggers won't eat refrigerated leftovers?
 

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@molanic..
My cats will only eat Fancy Feast Classics  which are 3 oz cans .  I have to buy 28 cans per week  ( about $ 14.00 )  for them each to have 2 per day ..   I could not afford to feed them an all wet diet other than Fancy Feast ..  I tried Friskies but they hate it , too bad because it would be a lot cheaper ..
 
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I have never picked up a single bit of food from my cat based on his aversion to it. He eats everything I put in front of him because of this. Canned foods, dry foods, human foods/meat leftovers. As a lifetime dog owner and knowing how spoiled dogs will train their humans to spoil them with junk foods, I made sure to never allow my cat to attempt to manipulate how I feed him. As a result, he scarfs down everything I put in front of him, just like a dog does. Animals are master people trainers; don't allow them to train you to constantly demand different foods.
 

BonitaBaby

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I have never picked up a single bit of food from my cat based on his aversion to it. He eats everything I put in front of him because of this. Canned foods, dry foods, human foods/meat leftovers. As a lifetime dog owner and knowing how spoiled dogs will train their humans to spoil them with junk foods, I made sure to never allow my cat to attempt to manipulate how I feed him. As a result, he scarfs down everything I put in front of him, just like a dog does. Animals are master people trainers; don't allow them to train you to constantly demand different foods.
But if they refuse to eat the food...and would rather starve, then we have to go out to find new flavors or types of foods for our cats. I had forgotten I had tried different Iams wet foods at first with my cat and she refused to eat any of them until I accidentally fed her Iams kitten pate with chicken. I really believe she would rather starve if she doesn't like a food, which I completely understand on a human level. Certain foods make me want to retch if I try eating them, so I wouldn't be able to force them down. This includes most seafood. Life would suck pretty badly if I had an owner who didn't pay attention to what food I liked and kept trying to feed me food I disliked, like most seafood. I would rather starve. I think people who aren't picky eaters might not understand cats who are picky eaters.
 

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They are on my list bonepicker! I hate Black Friday shopping, but the one place I will probably go is the Pet Supplies Plus. Last year they had some big discounts on your whole purchase on Black Friday, but I went too late :( I haven't gotten an e-mail yet, but if it is a good sale and I can get my a** out of bed early enough I will stock up. I'm trying to make a list of things so I don't stand there like an idiot staring at the seemingly mile long aisle of cat food (which I have been known to do).
Pride sold in 5.5 oz cans at petsmart, only 3 oz cans at pet supply plus, merrick sold in 5.5 oz cans at pet supply plus, petco sells both 5.5 and 3 oz of merrick, nutro natural choice chunky chicken sold at all 3 stores but only comes in 3 oz cans.

 



 
I would be open to making them some food, probably not raw but home-made. But, all the recipes and needed supplements are daunting and probably quite expensive at least initially. At least with the canned food it has all the extra vitamins and stuff added in. I know I can't just give them meat alone on a regular basis. I do have a chest freezer, tons of canning jars, a pressure cooker, and food processor though which might come in handy. No meat grinder though. The idea of grinding all the raw meat and bone and cleaning it all up afterward kind of nauseates me to be honest. Don't want to go to all that trouble and expense yet if I can't even get them to eat all canned food.



 
If I do get them to eat entirely canned, that will be a lot of cans every week. Very few varieties come in the large cans I noticed too. Strange, because I think most cat people have more than one cat. Are the small cans perhaps because the fussy buggers won't eat refrigerated leftovers?
 

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Molanic, all the ones listed are grain free, including nutro natural natural choice chunky chicken loaf, their sliced and minced are also. I went to pet supply plus and bought 2 cans of this and that to find out what they liked, now I know I rotate every day several different ones of different protein, textures like pate, shreds, minced and brands to prevent boredom. Even the rockstar rabbit by pride is more popular in large can than small, must be different plant. Now the two cats Miss fussy pants and the feline disposal unit eat the following. By the way she stopped vomiting when we removed dry and went grain free. I also stopped letting her outside and wormed her (she would catch chipmunks). This is the current rotation Pride Rockstar Rabbit 5.5 ounce cans not 3 oz (petsmart or chewy.com),nutro natural choice chunky chicken loaf only comes in 3 oz any pet store or chewy.com, Tiki Cat puka puka luau comes in both size cans at pet supply plus or chewy.com, merrick chicken or duck pate 5.5 oz cans at pet supply plus or petco or chewy. Com, FF classic liver and chicken or chopped grill. the boy eats natural balance ultra(good food but not grain free)she needs totally grain fee due to vomiting, they both like natural balance catatouille stew grain free(pet supply plus or petco or chewy.com) they both like wellness Devine duos chicken/duck combo flavor only. They love Weruva, cats in the kitchen and soulistic by Weruva. Soulistic is only Petco (by Weruva) They love dry but I do not give it. A few kibbles in an exercise ball only of Orijen. I hope this helps. Good luck! Mine like rabbit and duck and chicken. No fish or beef or venison or lamb. They like natural prey type stuff.
 
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BonitaBaby

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Molanic, all the ones listed are grain free, including nutro natural natural choice chunky chicken loaf, their sliced and minced are also. I went to pet supply plus and bought 2 cans of this and that to find out what they liked, now I know I rotate every day several different ones of different protein, textures like pate, shreds, minced and brands to prevent boredom. Even the rockstar rabbit by pride is more popular in large can than small, must be different plant. Now the two cats Miss fussy pants and the feline disposal unit eat the following. By the way she stopped vomiting when we removed dry and went grain free. I also stopped letting her outside and wormed her (she would catch chipmunks). This is the current rotation Pride Rockstar Rabbit 5.5 ounce cans not 3 oz (petsmart or chewy.com),nutro natural choice chunky chicken loaf only comes in 3 oz any pet store or chewy.com, Tiki Cat puka puka luau comes in both size cans at pet supply plus or chewy.com, merrick chicken or duck pate 5.5 oz cans at pet supply plus or petco or chewy. Com, FF classic liver and chicken or chopped grill. the boy eats natural balance ultra(good food but not grain free)she needs totally grain fee due to vomiting, they both like natural balance catatouille stew grain free(pet supply plus or petco or chewy.com) they both like wellness Devine duos chicken/duck combo flavor only. They love Weruva, cats in the kitchen and soulistic by Weruva. Soulistic is only Petco (by Weruva) They love dry but I do not give it. A few kibbles in an exercise ball only of Orijen. I hope this helps. Good luck! Mine like rabbit and duck and chicken. No fish or beef or venison or lamb. They like natural prey type stuff.
Your mostly grain free list helps me so much with providing a list of wet foods to try for my baby! I tried the Nutro Natural Choices, next up is the Rockstar Rabbit when I go to the pet store again. :D
 

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My cat loves beef, and I have discovered Natural Life 95% beef, (wet) and Natural Life 95% Salmon (wet). Altho Natural Life is their own company, and have their own website, we seem to only be able to purchase it locally at Walmart, unless we order it direct.

Their cat food is cheaper I find anyway than at Petsmart.  Also have just discovered Fancy Feast broths in an envelope, which helps me supplement Lucky's liquid, as I always worry about his not drinking much water as a male neutered cat.  

This Natural Life, even to at Walmart, is expensive; 98 cents a can. Oh well.  My husband was spending 79 cents ea at Kroger for Iams, which as I remember i found it was 50 cents at Walmart!  Iams was originally a locally owned company, whose owner, Clay Mathille, sold a few years ago to P & G.  Don't want to overdo the beef so as to turn him against it.
 

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Oh my! I totally relate to this thread. I have been trying to get Chomsky to eat canned food or raw and he will have none of it. He used to gobble up the Hills Science kitten cans when he was younger but then when he hit 12 months I tried giving him the adult stuff and he wouldn't have it. He wants to eat kitten food for the rest of his life...

I also tried Dine cans but he didn't like them either. Then there was the great chicken wing experiment, and the great chicken thigh experiment which both failed. I also got a free sample of BARF from the pet store and he ignored that. Today I tried some steak but it sat there for hours and ended up looking like beef jerky so I chucked it out for the magpies. 

I am going to try Fancy Feast next... wish me luck!
 

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Oh my! I totally relate to this thread. I have been trying to get Chomsky to eat canned food or raw and he will have none of it. He used to gobble up the Hills Science kitten cans when he was younger but then when he hit 12 months I tried giving him the adult stuff and he wouldn't have it. He wants to eat kitten food for the rest of his life...

I also tried Dine cans but he didn't like them either. Then there was the great chicken wing experiment, and the great chicken thigh experiment which both failed. I also got a free sample of BARF from the pet store and he ignored that. Today I tried some steak but it sat there for hours and ended up looking like beef jerky so I chucked it out for the magpies. 

I am going to try Fancy Feast next... wish me luck!
Yes , try the Fancy Feast  .   A lot of cats like it for some reason . My cats are super finicky and will only eat FF . They like all the varieties  . They quickly get sick of the Classics so I have to offer them other varieties as well . Their favorites are  Chicken Primavera and Turkey Tuscany ...
 
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molanic

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Update:

Made my trip to the PSP on Black Friday and alas they had no real specials of any kind, not even participating in the $10 card for $100 spent that it said in the e-mail...bummer. Just a few things on sale that I would never buy. Thankfully I didn't bother to get up early to try and get the best deal. I bought a bunch of the wet foods recommended here to try. I also got a small bag of the Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Turkey dry food. Thought maybe trying a dry food with no potato or fish like their existing grain free food has might help with Nutter's vomiting. Of course they like the new dry but are very un-enthusiastic about any of the wet food so far.

I have been trying to only put out small amounts of food at designated times 3-4 times a day so that get hungry. Then I offer up a small amount of the wet food and leave it out for a while. They seem so exited about it when I am dishing it up but then when they actually get their nose to the plate... they are like "what the hell is this???" Sometimes they walk away and sometimes they eat a little. I am only putting out about a tablespoon per cat. They are using the tactic of spreading it around and dropping little bits of it all over the table making a mess to make it look like they ate more than they actually have. The one cat Red eats the most of it of course, he's the one I'm not really concerned about. After they leave the table I will put out a tablespoon or so of the dry food in each bowl just to make sure they get some calories. When that is gone they stage a sit-in by their bowls for so long that they look like they just might fall asleep and fall off the table. Yesterday Peanut was actually wiping her paw around in the empty dry food bowl and licking her paw off to try and get the last little powdery bits! It was hilarious but maddening too.

The only thing that I got that is a hit is some freeze-dried turkey. I decided to give that to Peanut instead of her Bench & Field treats that they all really love (but have fish meal, brown rice, veggies, etc.). So I ordered some of the freeze-dried 100% chicken treats online too. I also ordered a kitty fountain, the Vet's Best digestive aid, and some Forti-Flora (to entice them to try new foods). You can drop some serious dime on these little buggers! I was also looking at meat grinders too, for if I decide to go that route! Going to see the vet tomorrow for the dog's check-up and will be discussing more options regarding Peanut with her too. Opting not to do the surgical biopsy, but hopefully will do at least some blood tests before starting any medication. I'm hoping some medication will help and then if I can get her on a better diet for a while, I can try taking her off the meds to see if diet alone will help.

Thank you all for the tips and good luck to all those dealing with fussy buggers.
 
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molanic

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With all this cat food sampling, my kitty Mr. Tubbs has come up with his own cat food rating system. Most ratings give gold stars, the more stars... the better it is liked. His system is far more informative for the discerning cat. It is a reverse rating system using paws instead of stars. Each paw equates to how many strokes of the paw it takes to bury the awful stench of the food in question. No paws means it is an acceptable food.  There are no ratings better than just acceptable, because you don't want to make the human servants get too full of themselves!
 
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