Question about treats

Hey, I have a quick question about starting my cat on treats.  Melody, a 2 yr old calico, only eats one type of food--Pet Pride Indoor formula (I think)  Anyway, Mel won't touch anything else!!  Even if I mix it in slowly, she will eat around the new stuff.  She won't touch milk, fresh salmon or chicken or any wet food.  Due to this, I'm worried about wasting money on treats.  Any suggestions?  I'd like to reward her for good behavior.  Thanks!!

Get a small packet and act really excited about it.  If you can, opt for a healthy version (they are very hard to find - I use dehydrated human grade chicken to bypass all the carbs that cats shouldn't have).

Given she sounds like she is a kibble addict, perhaps fortiflora would act like treats?  It's not healthy, so perhaps its a transition thing, but it should work because it is basically the animal digest that they use to spray-coat the kibble to make it taste so good to pets.

Also, sometimes it is an exposure thing.  Offer it enough times, they slowly begin to register it as 'food'.

It's good she doesnt like milk (most cats can't digest it, so will lead to bad tummy issues).  You also mention fresh salmon and chicken - are you talking raw, or cooked? You could try raw or cooked - whatever you didn't try - and just do it when you eat this so nothing is really wasted.  (Don't give too much salmon though, both because it is fish, and because of the heavy metal load. As a small treat every now and again it's fine).

Things you can try without buying anything special: raw cuts of the meat you prepare for your dinner (providing it is not marinated etc - remember onion and garlic are toxic to cats), butter (licked off your finger of course, because the hand feeding is very special and part of the treat!), some canned tuna or the tuna water (springwater - and the caveat on the salmon also applies), cream, hard cheese like parmesan (hard cheese, butter and cream are all lactose free, so ok, unlike milk), baby food I hear is good - just check the ingredients so it is only meat, 

Otherwise, if she isnt really food motivated, think of other things she loves that you can use as rewards: talking exclusively to her in a lovely voice, playtime, cat kisses etc...

Some cats just aren't into food treats Try other rewards for good behavior - cat nip, brushing, a toy, etc.

LTS3 said:

 
Some cats just aren't into food treats

Try other rewards for good behavior - cat nip, brushing, a toy, etc.

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And toothbrushing if they like the toothpaste! (Seriously, our cats love it, it's a real treat for them.)

We stopped giving our cats treats fairly soon after we adopted them: they didn't like some treats, others had ingredients that we don't feed, and they also quickly caught on to the sound of the treat bags... and then came running at any bag in the kitchen that sounded similar. They got fixated on treats very quickly so we got rid of the treats very quickly. Instead of treats, they get attention, which they seem to crave more anyway. If something unfortunate happens -- like someone gets underfoot and a tail gets stepped on -- we might give the offended cat a bit of favorite food. Or a belly rub.

Our two get a nightly round of treats in the bedroom and oh boy do they look forward to that!  They are a little picky though, or at least one of them is.  What we've found over the year and a half is that they mainly like crunchy treats, don't really like the softer chewier ones, and they don't seem to care for nice freeze dried meat treats.  Ah well.

Current fav is Halo Healthsome chicken variety.  Nothing too too awful in there, crunchy, and available readily at one local store.  Another thing we did one time was just buy a small starter bag of Orijen dry food and use that as treats.  We don't feed dry food as regular meals so it's kind of a treat.  But these Halo treats have gone over even better than that.

Early on when we first had them home the only treat they would readily eat is Temptations.  I don't really like what is in those, so this is an improvement.  But I did waste a bit of money buying various treats before getting to some of the ones that worked well for both of them.

I'm another one with the tooth brushing experience!  Not necessarily the brushing bit but the enzyme tooth paste.  Mouse loves it and has done from day one (now over 3 years in and still a fan).  He comes running and licks it off my finger when I call 'tooth time' - it's the funniest thing to see.  I got some first from our vet surgery as a free sample so I could try it with Mouse before buying which is a great option.  Cost wise it's way cheeper than commercial cat treats as you use so little of it, and it's good for the cat.  Few things could be better.

All for non-food treats like strokes where your cat wants them like head or ears or belly.  Mouse is very food driven but once you know him you realize the one thing he craves more than food is physical contact and what he wants most when he wakes in the morning or when someone comes in the door isn't for his empty food bowl to be filled, it's a belly rub.  Think what your cat likes the most and that is going to be their favourite treat.  

MServant said:

 
I'm another one with the tooth brushing experience!  Not necessarily the brushing bit but the enzyme tooth paste.  Mouse loves it and has done from day one (now over 3 years in and still a fan).  He comes running and licks it off my finger when I call 'tooth time' - it's the funniest thing to see.  I got some first from our vet surgery as a free sample so I could try it with Mouse before buying which is a great option.  Cost wise it's way cheeper than commercial cat treats as you use so little of it, and it's good for the cat.  Few things could be better.

All for non-food treats like strokes where your cat wants them like head or ears or belly.  Mouse is very food driven but once you know him you realize the one thing he craves more than food is physical contact and what he wants most when he wakes in the morning or when someone comes in the door isn't for his empty food bowl to be filled, it's a belly rub.  Think what your cat likes the most and that is going to be their favourite treat.  

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This is so like our cats on all counts! They, too, are food driven but they like to chest bump our knees or hop on a lap even more. (Of course I do think the chest bumping is to ask for food but still!)

Melody is totally a kibble kitty--won't touch people food AT ALL!!!  My new roommate didn't believe me--he gave her a bit of bacon.  She sniffed at it and walked away.  So, he put it in her bowl.  I put a bit of chicken in there as well.  Both are still in there!! I don't think I'll waste money on treats.  what are some rewards that other cats love?  I want to reward her for playing and also indicate that play time is over.  Any ideas?

Playtime with you is a big wonderful thing!  it is a treat in itself.  

To signal it is over, I often give strokes and lovely talk ('what a good hunter...blah blah blah').  If they arent ready for strokes at that time, which is quite possible being revved up, try some sort of soft toy that they can indulge the 'kill' aspect.  They have hunted (played) with whatever you are weilding, so at the end, toss them that special toy for them to mug and kill and praise and admire them!  Keep the toy put away out of sight and only bring it out as part of the play session, as the final part.  

For my guys, I know that they are nearing play-end when they are no longer flying around after the toy, and want me to dangle it near their upside-down form, so they can lie on their backs and easily get it!  Allowing the easy catch and this type of 'routine' is also a good way of us both being satisfied that play time is finished.