Marty is driving me nuts he is picky help

micknsnicks2mom · Feb 10, 2015

2Cats4Me said:
I have this issue with my cats . They are super picky and very fickle .. I thought I finally had two brands they liked .. I was down to one can of each and they completely refused both of them no matter how I fixed it ..

is it possible that what your cats are wanting is a lot of variety? my snick is a very picky eater -- i've mentioned that before. what i've found that really helps her eat well is to offer variety in her canned foods -- a lot of variety. i have a canned food rotation, currently 6 brands and 15 different flavors. some of those canned foods are snick's favorites, but if she ate them every day she'd soon not like them any more. so every 3-5 months i'll start looking at other brands/flavors of canned foods, and select several for snick to try. i'm pretty good at knowing what my girl would like, we've been together for 14+ years now. usually snick likes the new canned foods, though sometimes she only likes them for a short while. but that gives her more variety, which she seems to really need in order to continue wanting to eat her canned foods/continue eating well.

i'm also lucky that our foster, jasper, likes pretty much any canned cat food. so he'll happily finish off any that snick doesn't want (any more of).

2cats4me · Feb 10, 2015

mickNsnicks2mom said:
is it possible that what your cats are wanting is a lot of variety? my snick is a very picky eater -- i've mentioned that before. what i've found that really helps her eat well is to offer variety in her canned foods -- a lot of variety. i have a canned food rotation, currently 6 brands and 15 different flavors. some of those canned foods are snick's favorites, but if she ate them every day she'd soon not like them any more. so every 3-5 months i'll start looking at other brands/flavors of canned foods, and select several for snick to try. i'm pretty good at knowing what my girl would like, we've been together for 14+ years now. usually snick likes the new canned foods, though sometimes she only likes them for a short while. but that gives her more variety, which she seems to really need in order to continue wanting to eat her canned foods/continue eating well.

i'm also lucky that our foster, jasper, likes pretty much any canned cat food. so he'll happily finish off any that snick doesn't want (any more of).

Thank you for the advice , unfortunately for me variety is not the issue with my cats . I have tried every brand available to me . Either they flat out refuse it or they eat for a couple days and refuse it .. I even stopped feeding them Fancy Feast to try and get them to eat something else and they are not having it ..

micknsnicks2mom · Feb 11, 2015

2Cats4Me said:
Thank you for the advice , unfortunately for me variety is not the issue with my cats . I have tried every brand available to me . Either they flat out refuse it or they eat for a couple days and refuse it .. I even stopped feeding them Fancy Feast to try and get them to eat something else and they are not having it ..

oh, dear. but they'll consistently eat the fancy feast? it truly seems that your two babies have made a final decision...only fancy feast. and you've tried so hard and for so long too.

i made the decision after losing my mickey to serve all my future cats a home cooked and/or raw diet. i would love to transition my snick over to a home cooked diet, but made the decision not to. snick is 14 years old and has serious medical issues, so i felt it was more important to avoid the stress of attempting to transition her. what i'm trying to say is that sometimes it can be more important to avoid the stress of changing foods, especially when a cat(s) are picky eaters and are eating (the foods they prefer) well. i think you're wise to not have a "battle" over food with your cats.

bonepicker · Feb 11, 2015

I know my cats would be the same if I did not have a huge rotation of wet. I don't repeat anything 2 days in a row. By the time one comes around again ( 6 to 8 days) it is like new again. Yum yum yum!

2cats4me · Feb 11, 2015

mickNsnicks2mom said:
oh, dear. but they'll consistently eat the fancy feast? it truly seems that your two babies have made a final decision...only fancy feast. and you've tried so hard and for so long too.

i made the decision after losing my mickey to serve all my future cats a home cooked and/or raw diet. i would love to transition my snick over to a home cooked diet, but made the decision not to. snick is 14 years old and has serious medical issues, so i felt it was more important to avoid the stress of attempting to transition her. what i'm trying to say is that sometimes it can be more important to avoid the stress of changing foods, especially when a cat(s) are picky eaters and are eating (the foods they prefer) well. i think you're wise to not have a "battle" over food with your cats.

Thank you , it is not worth it trying to force them to eat something they do not want .

2cats4me · Feb 11, 2015

bonepicker said:
I know my cats would be the same if I did not have a huge rotation of wet. I don't repeat anything 2 days in a row. By the time one comes around again ( 6 to 8 days) it is like new again. Yum yum yum!

Yeah , it would not be an issue for me either IF my cats liked wet food but they just have no interest in it ..

texasgal416 · Feb 11, 2015

Is it possible that Marty has a sinus problem to where he can't smell very well - or not at all? I have this problem with my cat - Shadow - he has bouts of sinus congestion and when he can't smell the food he won't eat. I have to feed him with a syringe at times. I have seen the suggestions of getting food with a strong smell or adding something to the food - for instance one suggestion was to sprinkle fish food flakes on the food to increase the smell. I have pureed together sardines and a can of shrimp/salmon cat food - but the smell still isn't strong enough for Shadow - so I am feeding him with a syringe to keep him from having further issues. He has been sick with sinus and a respiratory infection. Maybe give the stronger smelling food idea a try. Hope Marty does well.

cat pal · Feb 11, 2015

I don't have much in the way of a food suggestion, but your picture of your himalayan cat reminds me so much of my cat Nina, also pictured here. She was injured and starving when I found her on a rural back road and couldn't find her owners. So I had her for going on 9 years, though she was diagnosed with severe kidney disease early on. I loved that cat, what a kooky sweet girl she was.

mewlittle · Feb 11, 2015

I read half of your replies I will finish reading later man 20 some replies lol

Anyway I found a few cans of fancy feast kitten wet i bought 3 weeks ago he ate most of it and walked off and begged me for food I'm like there is still some left cat XD and still unable to get him to finish it and if I add more we will look at the plate and will walk off I also tried the microwave trick didn't work I tried giving it room tempeture didn't work I tried cold wet still didn't work :/ then I tried different locations in this small house he acts the same I tried vary little parmason cheese in the wet no luck I tried cat nip no luck I tried hard meatloaf wet no luck I tried most wet no luck I tried watering it down no luck but he wants Pringles chips no he didn't get none he is driving me nuts I'm about to put him on a chip diet

stewball · Feb 11, 2015

2Cats4Me said:
Thank you , it is not worth it trying to force them to eat something they do not want .

I don't think you can force a cat to do anything they don't want to do.

stewball · Feb 11, 2015

I must be very lucky. They eat the same dry food all the time with no problem and their wet food. They get a different flavour each time and they clean the plate with most of the foods. They're not mad about trout so i won't give it any more.
I don't know if I should give them any fish though. Advice please.

myrnafaye · Feb 12, 2015

Mewlittle: I am going to be tough on you for a minute. You are part of the problem with picky Marty.

So suppose you had a young child and you gave him his dinner. He takes a couple of bites and decides he does not like it or want it, and then magically, another food appears. He takes a bite or two out ot that food, decides he doesnt like it - and then magically, another food appears. Do you get my drift?

I realize cats are picky eaters. I realize we dont want to see our cats not eat. However, you are negatively reinforcing his behavior by offering him something new each time he declines his food. Pick a high quality food. Give it to him. If he doesnt want it, pick it up. Offer it to him later. If he doesnt want it, offer it again later. I think he will get the message, don't you? if he was a sick kitty, I would not advocate this approach but I dont think owners should be at the mercy of a cat who for some reason declines perfectly good food.

My first cat had kidney disease and the vet put him on KD. He HATED it. Would NOT eat it. We had a battle of the wills for weeks. I would call the vet practically in tears, "He won't eat it! cant I give him something else?" my vet was adamant; he told me any thing else was poison for my cat. (this was a long time ago...I suspect now there are alternatives to KD). So, I did not want to poison my cat. He got the KD. Eventually he ate it.

You dont have a sick cat. Buy him a good quality food - several great suggestions were made here - and stick with it. That's my two cents.

Kat0121 · Feb 12, 2015

Replace Marty with Lilith and Sophie and the above post would be for me. I am guilty of the same thing. They do this every now and then. I really think they do it on purpose. They play me like a fiddle. They love to have me cater to their whims. They know I instantly go into panic mode and become convinced that they are going to get sick from not eating and die.There is nothing wrong with them. I think they get together when I'm at work and decide that Mom's going to be our puppet for the next few days. Won't that be fun? No ladies, it won't be. not for me.

I'm like the first time mom that gets a panic attack when the pacifier falls on the floor and now it must be taken outside and burned so germs don't get near the baby. L&S are my first kitties. I do the same thing. If they don't eat, I dump it and get something else. Then something else. I add toppers and ask them to please eat something for mommy. Then the baby food or kitten food comes out of the panic section of the pantry. I always keep some in the house in case of an emergency.

lcws · Feb 12, 2015

I so wish I could help you but unfortunately I share this problem. In fact I just started a new thread on my picky eater Binx. I don't know what to do. Good luck with your baby and let us know if you find a solution.

2cats4me · Feb 12, 2015

Lcws said:
I so wish I could help you but unfortunately I share this problem. In fact I just started a new thread on my picky eater Binx. I don't know what to do. Good luck with your baby and let us know if you find a solution.

I have two picky cats as well .. I cannot find a wet food they will stick with .. There does not seem to be anything they like .

mewlittle · Feb 12, 2015

If I stick to just one cat food he won't eat at all and loose weight

I did find one food he likes luv some but can't remember the flavor he ate the whole 3 once can

mewlittle · Feb 12, 2015

And mamafaye he is sick he has intestinal issues you didn't help at all I tried that for one month he barely ate at all he was loosing weight I noticed every time I give him something new he eats a little more and yes he is getting heavier and his fur is looking better I just going to keep doing the rotation on the wet

myrnafaye · Feb 12, 2015

I understand its a dilemma; however, if he has intestinal issues, isnt it even more important that he eat one diet instead of changing them all the time? I guess if you are concerned about weight loss...how much does he weigh? trust me, though, if cat gets hungry enough, he will eat what is in front of him - unless he thinks something different might be happening along...do you see what I mean? maybe one of the experts here will chime in....@StephenQ, perhaps?

stewball · Feb 13, 2015

Mewlittle said:
And mamafaye he is sick he has intestinal issues you didn't help at all I tried that for one month he barely ate at all he was loosing weight I noticed every time I give him something new he eats a little more and yes he is getting heavier and his fur is looking
better I just going to keep doing the rotation on the wet[/quote
If he has intestinal problems shouldn't he be on a special diet?

misty8723 · Feb 13, 2015

myrnafaye said:
I understand its a dilemma; however, if he has intestinal issues, isnt it even more important that he eat one diet instead of changing them all the time? I guess if you are concerned about weight loss...how much does he weigh? trust me, though, if cat gets hungry enough, he will eat what is in front of him - unless he thinks something different might be happening along...do you see what I mean? maybe one of the experts here will chime in....@StephenQ, perhaps?

I guess maybe some cats will eat what you put in front of them, but that hasn't been my experience. It's not like you can wait it out and hope they don't get fatty liver disease.

Marty is driving me nuts he is picky help

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