Running out of ways of tricking my cat into eating her food

So I've fed my cat a raw diet since I got her, and before that her breeder fed her raw as well. She would go through periods of refusing to eat, but then eventually she'd start up again. 

I recently switched up her recipe. I went from Hare-Today ground + Alnutrin, to Hare-Today ground + Dr. Pierson's recipe from CatInfrg. I can tell she doesn't like the change very much. In the month or so since I've made our newest batch of food, she's probably eaten as much as half of her bowl of food maybe twice. Normally she's eating less an ounce per meal, and I feed her twice a day.

The first thing I did was discovered that if I heated her food up in the microwave for less than 10 seconds, she would eat it. Then she stopped after a few weeks.

Then I microwaved it for less than 10 seconds, and added liquid aminos that smell like bacon that are supposed to stimulate appetite. It worked for about a week.

Then I started using FortiFlora, and the first day it worked VERY well, and then progressively less well each day until now she basically ignores that too.

So now basically I have to put her food down, give her a small piece of a treat, and then throw the rest of the crumbled up treats into her bowl. That's basically the only way she'll eat. Occasionally she will meow for food, I'll give her some, and then she'll eat about an ounce of it and then walk away. 

I gave her some RadCat last week just to break up the monotony and she ate most of it. 

Should I just toss this batch (or give it away, it's a lot of food) and start over since she clearly doesn't like it? Any other methods that I could use to get her to start eating?

She's seeing her vet this week for a check up. She's NEVER been a big eater, ever. She never really begs for food. She's like the opposite of any other cat I've ever had.

She's not overweight, and she's only a little over a year old, so I'm not sure how real of a threat hepatic lipidosis is, but it's always in the back of my head. 

Since you mentioned "monotony," I have to ask if you're feeding your cat the same thing all the time, @HarryLime... It sounds to me like your cat wants more variety! Our cats get bored with their food very easily so we have to feed them several types of food a day. They eat canned and raw foods; I portion out foods like Rad Cat into small containers that I can defrost in a day. Dr. Pierson's food freezes well so it might be worth freezing it in small batches -- even plastic bags and twisty ties work if you don't have little containers.

If the cats like them, freeze-dried raw foods (Primal and Stella & Chewy's) are very convenient for feeding cats that want variety: not only do you not need to plan ahead and thaw but it's easy to concoct various mixes.

Good luck!

I agree with LisaHE. I feed my cats raw, and they really have their preferences! I have one cat that loves basically all types of protein, and another kitty that is much more picky about his food.

For some reason, they both don't like ground chicken or turkey in raw form. Instead, their favorites tend to be venison, duck, and rabbit. Sometimes it's texture, too. My two love about 1-2 inch chunks of raw chicken thighs or raw chunks of beef when I occasionally feed it to them. I don't think feeding them one or even two types of protein is enough, and would be concerned they'll develop a food allergy one day, so I rotate their selection of proteins. Rotation in protein not only keeps your cat interested, but will provide a more rounded form of nutrition. Chicken is a good source of niacin and fat, for example, but rabbit is very lean meat and low in cholesterol. Venison is in high saturated fat, but a good source of thiamin and is low in sodium. Beef is also low sodium but is a good source of vitamin B12, zinc and selenium. My female kitty also loves to chew on raw chicken necks, or wing tips. I find it's great for their dental health, as well as a more natural way to add calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus.

Hope this information helps you in some way.

So right now I have chicken and turkey. In the past, I've served pork, quail, venison, duck, and rabbit. I'll phase a protein out after I'm realizing she doesn't like it anymore, however she usually always likes turkey and chicken. 

I think it's the raw egg in my current recipe that she doesn't like. Next batch I'm going to use egg yolk powder instead. 

Normally she loves RadCat, so I served it last night and she ate it all. Today, I took her to the vet, where the vet declared her perfectly healthy, and since she's a small cat in general, then I don't need to worry about her only eating maybe one ounce of food per meal (thought in the past she's eaten as much as t 6oz per day). She also got another vaccination that she needed, and when she came home I served her her first meal (since it was still early), and she didn't touch it. She never ignores RadCat usual. Then I served her dinner tonight, and she didn't touch that either. It's midnight now and I'm hoping she'll eat SOMETHING before bed. I don't know if maybe the vaccination got rid of her appetite, or what, but if she gives up on RadCat then I'm really in trouble.

Harry,
I do think the vaccines have something to do with it. If by tomorrow, (24hours later), your kitty still doesn't eat, call the vet. I've heard that lack of appetite and a bit of lethargy is a common side effect after vaccination shot(s). Just keep an eagle eye out on her. She should return to normal soon.

Best regards to you and your kitty. :-)

I second what @EmandJee says about post-vaccine appetites! Our two cats -- who are very active and love to eat -- hardly ate a thing after their last shots. All they did was nap. I would have been worried if the vet hadn't reminded me they might be especially lazy.

I told my vet the last time I was in that Casper did nothing but sleep for a day after his vaccination, and felt warm to the touch. This time he gave him a dose of Benadryl, saying he might be having a reaction to the shots. He was MUCH more alert. You might ask your vet about it.

Thanks for the input.

So I took her to the vet and the vet thought she was a totally healthy weight, was NOT dehydrated, and thought a blood test was unnecessary and a waste of money. 

BUT (and I was going to make a new thread about this but I guess I can just post my concerns here)

She got two vaccinations, FVRCP and three-year Rabies. Since her appointment was in the morning, I didn't give her breakfast before the vet. Now, 24 hours after the vet appointment, she is extremely lethargic and hasn't eaten a THING in 36 hours (since she didn't eat the morning of the appointment, the last time she ate was the night before the appointment). She's not even reacting to treats which is something I've NEVER seen her do. Normally treats stop her in her track. When I woke up this morning, she was next to me in bed, and I had to shake her for about 10 seconds to wake her up! She scared the hell out of me.

So I called the vet and talked to another doctor since my normal vet isn't in today. I'm going to go in there in 3 hours so she can look at her and I guess now do some bloodwork.

Does this sound normal for a cat who was vaccinated 24 hours ago, or is this more abnormal? 

I don't remember how long it took for our cats to get back to normal... a day maybe? But I hope your vet appointment goes/went smoothly and all is well. Let us know!

That sounds like a worse than usual reaction to vaccines. I've only had something like that happen once in 25 years of cat ownership.Good luck at the vet, I hope she's back to normal soon!

Oh, and regarding the original post - if she's just about a year old, her appetite may be a bit smaller than it used to be just because she isn't growing as fast. That's normal around her age.

Ok so I had made another appointment to see the vet today, in the afternoon. Maybe about an hour before, the kitty started acting a little more normally. Finally she started accepting treats, so I cancelled the vet appointment. She still wasn't eating any of the RadCat I gave her and wasn't really active at all, but at least she was exposing her belly to me and purring. Finally I just bought some damned Fancy Feast at the deli and of course she's eating that garbage. All of this work with my raw recipe going to waste! 

Aww Harry,

Well at least she's eating and not in danger of HL (hepatic lipidosis)! And wet food is still miles better than kibble IMO. Hope she'll eat her regular food tomorrow!