Worlds pickiest cats. Please help!

Hi everyone. I have 2 cats and they are very picky! One is a 2 year old male and the other is a 1.5 year old female. My male is a big boy. Not overweight at all, he's just big! My female used to be really petite but she has really started to gain weight...

Anyway! They are super picky. Currently they free-feed on Wellness Complete but I'm going to switch their dry over to Orijen. I think the higher protein will work for them since they're very active. As for wet food, all they will eat is Fancy Feast. They each get one can in the morning and it's NOT the classic type that I've been told isn't so bad, because it's not available in Canada. They eat very limited kinds because they don't like ANY pate's or fish flavoured foods. They eat primarily the beef, turkey and chicken varieties (marinated, grilled, slices etc.) and my boy sometimes gets sick on those. He seems to have a pretty sensitive tummy.

If it was the classic kind, which I'm told is grain-free or almost grain-free, I wouldn't mind but I know just the regular old FF isn't great for them.

I've tried EVERY type of wet food available at Petsmart and Pet Valu here, and some only available at the specialty shops. I can't get them to eat anything but FF! I've tried preparing it different ways. Adding water or a little bit of broth, warming it up, mixing it with dry food, mixing pate and something that isn't pate, mixing FF with another brand. Nothing works! I've also tried raw diets but I found it to be really expensive and time consuming. My male would eat the raw food but my female wouldn't and she would only eat... you guessed it, FF! They won't even take dry food that's been moistened.

I've tried these cat foods:
 

Authority

Blue Buffalo

Organix

Friskies

Grreat Choice

Halo

Ideal Balance

Science Diet

Walmart brands - special kitty, actr1um

PC cat food

Whiskas

Iams

Meow Mix

Nutro

Natural Balance

Instinct

Nutrience

Nutro Max

Purina Pro Plan

Royal Canin

Simply Nourish

Wellness

Go!

BFF

Chicken Soup

Feline Cuisine

Health Diet

Merrick

Performatrin

Taste of the Wild

Weruva

Different grocery store brands

And they won't eat any of it!! Is that crazy or is this normal??? The cats I had years before these guys ate everything and anything.

If you guys have any tips or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I'm going crazy here. I want to provide my babies with the best food but they're making that hard

Here are the little devils themselves:

My baby girl, Ailee.

My boy, Pippin.

I have an older picky male cat that wont eat any wet food. He eats raw and some kibble as a snack, but it was hard process to get him to eat his raw. You need to use hunger to entice your cats to eat, and if you're free feeding dry they're not going to be hungry enough to eat any canned food that isn't fishy. My suggestion would be to stop free feeding dry. Orijen is great dry food, but it's really high in calories so if you give them unlimited access to it they're never going to want to eat their wet food. You should aim to feed wet in the AM, maybe a small amount of kibble as a snack, and wet in the PM.  Or maybe just wet in the AM, whatever you need to do. But again, if they aren't hungry, they won't be enticed enough try anything new

Also look into using toppers. I use freeze dried fish/dog treats/freeze dried liver crushed up on top of food to entice my picky cat to eat. 

I'll try that. I'll give them wet food in the morning along with a little bit of kibble. I'll stick with FF in the morning for now (I have a huge supply of it now lol) and maybe try introducing a new wet food at night time. Hopefully I can get him to eat some other food and he won't get sick on it.

I have trouble knowing how much to feed them. If I stick with them each getting a 3oz can in the morning along with a little bit of kibble, how many oz should I give them at night? I'm not 100% sure of their weights. They both freak out if I try and weight them. I'd say Ailee is 8-10 pounds and Pippin is definitely more. Maybe 12-15? It's hard to estimate and I don't really believe the feeding guidelines on cans.

Would 6oz each per day be enough? 3 oz FF in the morning and 3oz of a higher quality kind at night like Wellness?

My cats eat fancy feast too. Wet food is important for cats. My cats are picky too.
I agree with Alpha cat to stop free feeding. Dry food has too many carbs and no moisture.
The cheapest wet food is better then the most expensive dry food is what I was told. I am not
A vet but I have had many cats.

Such cute babies!!

I'm going to stop free-feeding. I'm hoping I can get them on a meal schedule, feeding them twice a day. I read the sticky on timed feedings and fingers crossed for my guys. I'm really hoping that if I feed them FF in the morning, if they don't eat again until night time, they'll be hungry enough to try the new food lol.

Thank you! Your cats are adorable too. You sound like a wonderful cat owner.

AyaBlack said:

I'm going to stop free-feeding. I'm hoping I can get them on a meal schedule, feeding them twice a day. I read the sticky on timed feedings and fingers crossed for my guys. I'm really hoping that if I feed them FF in the morning, if they don't eat again until night time, they'll be hungry enough to try the new food lol.

Click to expand...

I also think it's great that you're going to stop feeding dry food. And yes, managed hunger like that can work wonders! We feed our two cats many times a day (usually about five small meals: one cat vomits bile if she doesn't eat often enough. it's a good thing I work at home!) but on a somewhat set schedule.

As for how much to feed, I'm not big on counting calories or regular weigh-ins because I go by cat appearance (do they look skinny or chunky?) and how hungry the cats seem. But: our cats are three years old, around eight pounds each, and pretty active, and they eat the equivalent of an average of around 1.25 large cans of food per day, probably a little more on most days. They have a large rotation of foods with varying calories and eat raw and canned so it's hard to say exactly how much they get but the eat quite a bit for such small cats! They're indoor kitties but very active.

Your cats are very sweet (they, especially Ailee, remind me of our previous cat!) and, @Susan O, your cats are so fluffy!

My fussy cats love this as well. They love the juice of Purina pro plan

I wonder if in Canada the Fancy Feast Classics are called Fancy Feast Gourmets?  I believe that's what they are called in Europe. 

Here's an article that might help you transition them, for what it's worth:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/transit...-to-a-new-type-of-food-canned-raw-or-homemade

Thanks that's a very good article. I usually feed my cats every 6 hours or so.

I don't think I've ever seen FF gourmet? This is all the FF that's available here:

http://www.petsmart.ca/search?SearchTerm=fancy+feast

I fed my kitties their FF this morning and actually sat down to watch them. My girl only nibbled a tiny bit and my boy just licked the gravy out of the two plates and didn't eat anything >.> What a brat.

AyaBlack said:

 
I don't think I've ever seen FF gourmet? This is all the FF that's available here:

http://www.petsmart.ca/search?SearchTerm=fancy+feast

Click to expand...

The Poultry Pleaser Variety Pack is Gourmet, and  the Pate cat food right below it is what we in the U.S. call CLASSIC. 

AyaBlack said:

Hi everyone. I have 2 cats and they are very picky! One is a 2 year old male and the other is a 1.5 year old female. My male is a big boy. Not overweight at all, he's just big! My female used to be really petite but she has really started to gain weight...

Anyway! They are super picky. Currently they free-feed on Wellness Complete but I'm going to switch their dry over to Orijen. I think the higher protein will work for them since they're very active. As for wet food, all they will eat is Fancy Feast. They each get one can in the morning and it's NOT the classic type that I've been told isn't so bad, because it's not available in Canada. They eat very limited kinds because they don't like ANY pate's or fish flavoured foods. They eat primarily the beef, turkey and chicken varieties (marinated, grilled, slices etc.) and my boy sometimes gets sick on those. He seems to have a pretty sensitive tummy.

If it was the classic kind, which I'm told is grain-free or almost grain-free, I wouldn't mind but I know just the regular old FF isn't great for them.

I've tried EVERY type of wet food available at Petsmart and Pet Valu here, and some only available at the specialty shops. I can't get them to eat anything but FF! I've tried preparing it different ways. Adding water or a little bit of broth, warming it up, mixing it with dry food, mixing pate and something that isn't pate, mixing FF with another brand. Nothing works! I've also tried raw diets but I found it to be really expensive and time consuming. My male would eat the raw food but my female wouldn't and she would only eat... you guessed it, FF! They won't even take dry food that's been moistened.

I've tried these cat foods:

 
Authority
Blue Buffalo
Organix
Friskies
Grreat Choice
Halo
Ideal Balance
Science Diet
Walmart brands - special kitty, actr1um
PC cat food
Whiskas
Iams
Meow Mix
Nutro
Natural Balance
Instinct
Nutrience
Nutro Max
Purina Pro Plan
Royal Canin
Simply Nourish
Wellness
Go!
BFF
Chicken Soup
Feline Cuisine
Health Diet
Merrick
Performatrin
Taste of the Wild
Weruva
Different grocery store brands

And they won't eat any of it!! Is that crazy or is this normal??? The cats I had years before these guys ate everything and anything.

If you guys have any tips or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I'm going crazy here. I want to provide my babies with the best food but they're making that hard

Here are the little devils themselves:


My baby girl, Ailee.

12438990_10207805149662988_5398313807066380179_n_z

• ayablack
• Jan 19, 2016

My boy, Pippin.

10557249_10206438819905598_2817303330727773281_n_z

• ayablack
• Jan 19, 2016

Click to expand...

Fancy feast classics (pates) is available in Cansda, it is not labeled classic it is just missing the word chunks, shreds, morsels, gravy lovers,marinated, grilled or slices etc. it is sold at Pet Valu, Food Basics,Shoppers drug Mart. It is the wheat gluten in the non pate (classics) that make him throw up! You have to do timed feedings no dry free feedings or you will never transition them over. Like kids all cats would eat just dry if given the chance

Good advice. Leaving dry food is like leaving a bowl of Doritos out.