Cat Nutrition And eating habits

Hello all, new to this forum. My cat, Grand, is 1 year old, and I am concerned about his eating habits. He barely eats his dry food. Me sometimes eats Purina dry food, and sometimes royal canin. But he mainly eats cooked salad shrimp from Kroger. I feel that this salad shrimp may not have the nutrients he needs. I also think that he is a bit under-weight for his age. He does eat dry cat treats from time to time. He doesn't like to eat any canned food, and is usually reluctant to try new foods. What are your opinions on Purina Friskies seafood sensations?  Could someone please give me some tips to get him do try and eat different varieties of foods? I am also thinking about bringing him to a Vet or a nutrition specialist. Thank you.

You are right to be concerned about him.

Have you tried a seafood based canned cat food?

My cats love Tiki Cat as a treat. They have a sardines flavor and a tuna and crab flavor that my kitties love. It's best not to use seafood cat food as a full time diet, but it can be a starting point to encourage him to start canned food. Then you could gradually introduce other types of canned food.

The biggest worry is that your boy is getting a really unbalanced diet. If he's living mainly on plain shrimp then he'll be lacking all kinds of vitamins and minerals.

At this point, the most important thing is to get him eating a balanced and complete cat food. It pretty much doesn't matter which food at this point, so long as he'll eat it.

There are many, many different sorts of foods out there to try. I'd suggest some kind of wet food is more likely to appeal than the kibble - shrimp are very smelly, and the stinkiest food is often the yummiest as far as cats are concerned.

It might be worth considering offering a little commercially made complete raw food to him to see if he likes that any better. Freeze dried raw (which you rehydrate before feeding) is the strongest smelling, but either might go down well. It's got to be worth a try!

Contact as many manufacturers as you can (all types of food - wet, dry, raw) and ask for samples. They won't always send them, but many will and it's a great way to get a sense for what your boy likes. With literally hundreds of foods out there I'm sure something will appeal to him - it just may take a little perseverance to find it! Keep an eye out for coupons too, as these will help manage costs during the (at times frustrating) food trials process.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll find some foods that get him going soon

Columbine said:

The biggest worry is that your boy is getting a really unbalanced diet. If he's living mainly on plain shrimp then he'll be lacking all kinds of vitamins and minerals.

At this point, the most important thing is to get him eating a balanced and complete cat food. It pretty much doesn't matter which food at this point, so long as he'll eat it.
 

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Eating nothing but shrimp will eventually result in nutritiional deficiences so pelase feed yorur cat a complete balanced cat food.

No, don't feed that Purina dry junk (or any other Purina dry food). The ingredients are horrible: Ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, soybean meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols, meat and bone meal, animal liver flavor, ocean fish meal,.... Just a bunch of fillers. Many people compare junky ingredients like these to fast food. It tastes great and is cheap but horrible for the health long term.

If your cat won't eat dry food, then don't feed it. Dry foods aren't great for a cat's health anyways. Feed canned food instead. Since your cat likes shrimp, try seafood based foods for now. Tiki Cat and Weruva are high quality brands with seafood varieties. You'll find these two brands at independent pet stores. Weruva also has meat based varieties. Most people don't like to feed seafood too often because cats tend to get addicted to eat it and will refuse to eat anything else, saefood tends to be low in protein, and some cas may develop urinary issues. Weruva also makes Soulistic which is sold at Petco.

You may also want to consider a raw or home cooked diet. Neither of these have to be complicated. There's a raw and home cooked forum here on TCS with more info: http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-amp-home-cooked-cat-food

A trip to the vet is always a good idea if you are concerned about your cat. The vet can rule out any possible health issue that may be causing your cat to not eat, such as dental problems. Don't expect much advice from the vet about food. Vet school doesn't teach much about nutrition so many vets don't know what to properly feed a pet. A vet nutritionist would have better knowledge and education on the subject but some may still push the big name companies like Hills.