Picky Eaters...?

Ok, so here's what's up. I adopted my 2 furbabies, Spock and Buffy, going on 2 months ago now (Spock is around 1 year old and Buffy is 3-4 years old). I have been feeding them Wellness foods, both dry and wet. I leave a small bowl of the Wellness Complete Health Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal & Rice food out during the day when I'm at work. In the mornings and the evenings (7:00am and 7:00pm), Spock and Buffy get 1.5 oz of one of the minced dinners (I alternate between the 5 flavors: chicken, salmon, tuna, turkey, and turkey & salmon) - the cans are 3oz, so they basically each get one can a day.

They go gaga over feeding time. They prance, they meow, and boop my legs, they do everything but get inside the can. When I first started giving them this food, they would both eat it up and not leave anything behind. Well, over the past few days, that's changed a bit; it started with Buffy at first with her only licking the juices off of the meat and then eating only a little bit, but now Spock is only eating a bit of his portions, though he does come back later to finish his (and Buffy's). They still act like they want their food when I'm preparing it for them, but then after they start in on the actual food, they wander off. 

Is there something else I should be doing to make sure they finish their food? Have they become picky? Do they no longer like the food I'm giving them? They do eventually eat their wet food (well, Spock does - Buffy looks at me like "that's it?"), and they like the dry food, but I just was worried because they used to adore it when I first started giving it to them...and now they're just like ehhh... 

Hopefully this makes sense! I feel like I rambled a bit...

It makes perfect sense ..  My cats are famous for doing this .   They love their kibble but are very fickle about wet food .

Some days they will not eat it at all .. It has always been a struggle for me to get them to eat wet foods .

If your cats have always liked the wet food that is awesome . Maybe they are just bored with that same brand . I would suggest trying a few different brands . It does not hurt to rotate different brands and flavors ..

Mine do exactly the same thing! It's amazing how hungry they act, and then they sniff and walk off. I have strays that I give my leftovers to, so it doesn't go to waste, thank goodness! It helps to offer different kinds and varieties, but I figured if they get hungry enough they'll eat. A lot of times they will come back later and eat, so I'd just suggest to offer different varieties and leave it down fro a couple of hours. If they don't eat it by then pick it up and make them wait. If you find something that really works, please post!

librariangretch said:

 
Ok, so here's what's up. I adopted my 2 furbabies, Spock and Buffy, going on 2 months ago now (Spock is around 1 year old and Buffy is 3-4 years old). I have been feeding them Wellness foods, both dry and wet. I leave a small bowl of the Wellness Complete Health Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal & Rice food out during the day when I'm at work. In the mornings and the evenings (7:00am and 7:00pm), Spock and Buffy get 1.5 oz of one of the minced dinners (I alternate between the 5 flavors: chicken, salmon, tuna, turkey, and turkey & salmon) - the cans are 3oz, so they basically each get one can a day.

They go gaga over feeding time. They prance, they meow, and boop my legs, they do everything but get inside the can. When I first started giving them this food, they would both eat it up and not leave anything behind. Well, over the past few days, that's changed a bit; it started with Buffy at first with her only licking the juices off of the meat and then eating only a little bit, but now Spock is only eating a bit of his portions, though he does come back later to finish his (and Buffy's). They still act like they want their food when I'm preparing it for them, but then after they start in on the actual food, they wander off. 

Is there something else I should be doing to make sure they finish their food? Have they become picky? Do they no longer like the food I'm giving them? They do eventually eat their wet food (well, Spock does - Buffy looks at me like "that's it?"), and they like the dry food, but I just was worried because they used to adore it when I first started giving it to them...and now they're just like ehhh... 

Hopefully this makes sense! I feel like I rambled a bit...

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You make perfect sense. I have 3 picky eaters myself. What I do (as do a lot of others here) is keep a rotation of canned foods on hand to "mix things up a bit". I keep different brands and flavors in my rotation. My cats don't eat dry food so I have a pretty big assortment on hand at all times. 

It sounds like they only eat Wellness. Is that true? if so, is there a reason? I'd cut back on the fish varieties. it's really not good for them more than every now and then. Mine rarely get fish varieties more than once or twice a month. If you're looking for a higher quality food, there are a number of brands that you can try. Most of these brands are sold where Wellness is so you should be able to find them quite easily:

Nature's Variety Instinct- readily available at Petsmart and Petco. This line is pates only. Mine love the chicken and Limited Ingredient Diet turkey best

Pride by Instinct. Made by the same people as NVI- these are foods available in flaked and minced varieties (mine love the chicken and rabbit). This is available at Petco- no longer at Petsmart 

Nutro Natural Choice (Petco and Petsmart)- This is a good line- they have a lot of flavors and textures like pates, chunky pates, minced and sliced. Mine love them all. I just rarely buy any with seafood in them. 

Merrick (Petco)- They have a large variety of proteins and textures from The chunky/gravy types that a lot of cats adore to a wide variety of pates. Mine like the pates but non of the others

Soulistic (Petco house brand)- These are shredded meats in gravies or gelees. They have a nice variety of proteins. I avoid the ones in gelee and fish varieties though. The brand itself is a touch high in carbs but very good quality. It is made by Weruva which is not available in big box pet stores. Only online and in specialty stores. The foods are almost identical. My cats love the Good Karma (shredded white meat chicken in a gravy like broth) and Harvest Sunrise (Good Karma with bits of pumpkin)

Halo- They also have a wide variety of foods and are available at Petco (unsure about Petsmart). Many people swear by the Spot's line (Spot's Stew, etc). Mine will not touch any of them

What I suggest you do is get a couple of cans of a variety of foods and let them try them out. If they like them and they are in your budget, add them to your rotation. It's much easier to switch out canned foods than it is dry. I often mix canned foods in the same meal. Like half pate, half minced or whatever. It gives them a change of pace which they enjoy. 

I also keep Friskies, Fancy Feast and Sheba pates in my rotation. They like them and they are available pretty much everywhere. These foods have gotten a bad reputation that I don't think they deserve. They are fine but I would definitely stick to the pates of all 3. The other varieties are higher in carbs and have more fillers due to the gravies and such. 

Welcome to TCS!!! 

Please feel free to post pics of your furkids!! 

I agree with rotating foods.

I have a picky eater and I switch things around quite a bit. So far, by trial and error, I've discovered that he likes Wellness chicken, Wellness turkey, Merrick Duck pate, Merrick chicken pate, and Fancy Feast liver and chicken classic. He also likes Tiki cat tuna and crab and Tiki cat sardines, though I don't want to feed those as a daily diet, since they're fish.

Another thing- when dealing with picky eaters, toppers are definitely your friend. I have had the most success with Pure Bites chicken treats. They are freeze dried pieces of chicken breast that are easily crumbled onto the food. They are pricey but worth it. The best place to get them (that I have found) is Amazon. The 11 ounce sized bag for dogs is the one I get as it's the most economical. The treats for dogs and for cats are identical except for the size of the treat. That doesn't really matter because they are usually being crumbled (or can be easily broken) anyway. A 1 ounce bag of these for cats in Petco is $5.49. An 11 ounce bag of the dog ones are around $20 when you get them through the subscribe and save program. 

Kat0121 said:

 
Another thing- when dealing with picky eaters, toppers are definitely your friend. I have had the most success with Pure Bites chicken treats. They are freeze dried pieces of chicken breast that are easily crumbled onto the food. They are pricey but worth it. The best place to get them (that I have found) is Amazon. The 11 ounce sized bag for dogs is the one I get as it's the most economical. The treats for dogs and for cats are identical except for the size of the treat. That doesn't really matter because they are usually being crumbled (or can be easily broken) anyway. A 1 ounce bag of these for cats in Petco is $5.49. An 11 ounce bag of the dog ones are around $20 when you get them through the subscribe and save program. 

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Have you had any luck getting your kitties to try new foods using those toppers?

Thank you for that extensive list of brands to try! I've been feeding them Wellness because of the reviews and ingredients. I used to give them the Temptations cat treats that cats go bonkers over, but after reading reviews about it being horrible for them, I stopped giving them those. I think that's what got me on the kick to find the food with the absolute best ingredients in it...though I suppose the word "best" can mean different things for everyone. I was mostly trying to avoid fillers. 

Oh, and I do mix BLUE Indoor Hairball Control Chicken & Brown Rice Adult Cat Food in with the other dry food I listed; they like both a lot.

I found a 1.09 oz bag of those on Amazon for $2.97. I'm going to add it to my next S & S order.

Crazy4Strays said:

 
Have you had any luck getting your kitties to try new foods using those toppers?

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YES- definitely. One of mine is SUPER picky, her sister is VERY picky and their brother is sorta picky (they are working on helping him upgrade his pickiness though). I always let them try a food as is first. If they don't want it, Lilith ( 6 pound super picky diva queen) will sniff the dish, toss her head and prance out of the room. The others usually follow her lead (she's alpha in our house). Then the treats come out.  As soon as she hears that bag come out, she breaks records speeding back to the table. She MUST get first crack at the dish that gets the topper first. If either of her siblings try for that dish, he/she gets hissed at, slapped or both. Henry usually  gets both despite the fact that he is twice her size. Sophie usually gets just a hiss. If she won't eat it, they generally won't either. 

My picky eaters will refuse to eat anything with chunks. So everything has to be pate. If they are given anything with minced or shredded food, they'll lick the gravy off and walk away. SMH. 

Maybe if they're just eating the gravy now, try a pate flavor? Then it's all kind of soft and mushy. I add water to mine to make it "all gravy."

Paiger8 said:

 
My picky eaters will refuse to eat anything with chunks. So everything has to be pate. If they are given anything with minced or shredded food, they'll lick the gravy off and walk away. SMH. 

Maybe if they're just eating the gravy now, try a pate flavor? Then it's all kind of soft and mushy. I add water to mine to make it "all gravy."

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I sure understand that. Mine go through phases. They want all pates. Then NO pates. Then pates are OK if they are topped with something that is minced/sliced. They are on the pates only phase now. They will occasionally eat the Pride by Instinct chicken or rabbit or something like that from the Nutro Natural Choice line IF there is a topper on it (Pure Bites of course). They like to keep me on my toes. 

I also have a dog. She will eat ANYTHING. I have both sides of the crazy coin going on. 

Kat0121 said:

 
YES- definitely. One of mine is SUPER picky, her sister is VERY picky and their brother is sorta picky (they are working on helping him upgrade his pickiness though). I always let them try a food as is first. If they don't want it, Lilith ( 6 pound super picky diva queen) will sniff the dish, toss her head and prance out of the room. The others usually follow her lead (she's alpha in our house). Then the treats come out.  As soon as she hears that bag come out, she breaks records speeding back to the table. She MUST get first crack at the dish that gets the topper first. If either of her siblings try for that dish, he/she gets hissed at, slapped or both. Henry usually  gets both despite the fact that he is twice her size. Sophie usually gets just a hiss. If she won't eat it, they generally won't either. 

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Good! I really want my kitty to eat 4 Health brand grain free canned food and he won't touch it. I'm going to try this, for sure!

Crazy4Strays said:

 
Good! I really want my kitty to eat 4 Health brand grain free canned food and he won't touch it. I'm going to try this, for sure!

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4 Health is a pretty good brand. They came out with a grain free variety not long ago. 

Yes, it is good. It actually has no vegetable ingredients in it. My other kitties will eat it, but my picky one won't touch it. For the sake of my budget, I need him to eat it. It's only $0.69 per 5.5 oz can. 

I ended up mixing some Tiki cat sardines into the 4 Health turkey canned food. The kitty is eating the combo right now. Maybe it just has to smell a certain way....

And my cat ended up eating the pieces of sardines off and leaving most of the turkey pate.