Help! Cats will not eat hardly anything.

I have two cats, a male (Butch) and a female (Coda). They are 2 1/2 years old. 



I started them out on Iams (both the dry and wet), but then I found out how bad the ingredients in Iams was and I started them out on some higher end food. Originally it was Wellness Core, which they scarfed, but then I found out some bad things about that brand and switched again (this time to Orijen). After a while the Orijen was just too expensive and I switched again, this time to Fancy Feast (a dry version). They liked this one and so I kept buying it, but then recently one of them started throwing it up so I was back to square one again. I have spent well over $200 trying all the higher end wet canned foods and even some dry ones, but now they don't seem to want to eat any of it. I keep putting the dry Fancy Feast down, because it's the only one they WILL eat (even though it's not as much as they did before).

I'm at my wits end with all this and I know they need to see the vets to find out what's really going on with them. Right now I haven't had the spare cash to take them, but it's on the top of the list. I am writing about this here to see if anyone has any advice or suggestions. Like I have said, they will NOT eat any of the fancy canned foods or the dry ones now, and I know because I have tried them all. 

desktop said:

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• desktop
• Jul 13, 2015

I started them out on Iams (both the dry and wet), but then I found out how bad the ingredients in Iams was and I started them out on some higher end food. Originally it was Wellness Core, which they scarfed, but then I found out some bad things about that brand and switched again (this time to Orijen). After a while the Orijen was just too expensive and I switched again, this time to Fancy Feast (a dry version). They liked this one and so I kept buying it, but then recently one of them started throwing it up so I was back to square one again. I have spent well over $200 trying all the higher end wet canned foods and even some dry ones, but now they don't seem to want to eat any of it. I keep putting the dry Fancy Feast down, because it's the only one they WILL eat (even though it's not as much as they did before).

I'm at my wits end with all this and I know they need to see the vets to find out what's really going on with them. Right now I haven't had the spare cash to take them, but it's on the top of the list. I am writing about this here to see if anyone has any advice or suggestions. Like I have said, they will NOT eat any of the fancy canned foods or the dry ones now, and I know because I have tried them all. 

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I don't where you live in Michigan, however, there are several veterinary centers within the Humane Society in the Michigan area; HS typically offers low cost veterinary services and possibly can adjust on a sliding scale based on your ability to pay - here is the list of locations:

http://www.michiganhumane.org/about/locations/

Possibly the ASPCA might have something affordable, not sure - here in NYC ASPCA is ridiculously expensive - they used to also offer sliding scale fees, you might inquire also in your area.

You could try some freeze dried meat toppers, Pure Bites is a bit more reasonably priced than some of the others, just FD chicken breast or turkey breast, crumble on top.

Do your best to get them to keep eating, whatever they will eat without vomiting. If you aren't within access to a HS facility, try to research low costs vets in your areas. Are you near any Petco's by any chance? Petco stores usually host / provide space for cat adoption /rescue groups. If you can get the names and phone numbers of these groups, more often than not they may know of low cost vets - vets that they will use for the foster cats they are trying to adopt out.

Finally, I do believe there is a TCS link posted by the site owner Anne re: low cost vet services, unfortunately I couldn't find it doing a quick search, maybe another member will have time to do so.

Good luck.

Here's the link to the piece about finding help for vet payments: link here.

As for the vomiting issues, hmm. Is the cat who's vomiting barfing up undigested food or (partially) digested food. If it's undigested and shortly after eating, it could be an issue with the cat eating too fast (a.k.a. "scarf and barf"). If it's not immediate, it's possible it's some sort of food sensitivity. A lot of us have had issues with that: one of our cats vomits if she eats foods with potato. Lots of ingredients--including fish, chicken, and grains--can cause digestive issues.

I'm not sure what foods you've tried, how long this has been going on, or how little the cats are eating so it's hard to know what, exactly, to suggest. It sounds like it's probably the Fancy Feast dry food that's causing the problem, right? Is there anything you know they'll eat and feel comfortable feeding them? (That's probably a stupid question because you probably would have done that already but still...) And what are the ingredients you're looking to avoid? If the cats have been way off their feed, I'd be concerned about them getting enough nutrition--they're young and probably pretty active--so might consider going back to the last foods they were able to eat without vomiting and then, once they're back to eating a fairly normal amount, slowly switching them to something else that you feel more comfortable with.

For what it's worth, I'd probably suggest feeding something canned with as simple a recipe as possible, something without grains, potato, peas, and the like. I know you said the cats don't like "fancy" canned foods but I'm not sure if you mean Fancy Feast or other canned foods! Foods like Sheba, Fancy Feast Classics (the pates) or Friskies pates are pretty decent and might be worth trying: Friskies has a little rice but that's not a common irritant like the corn or wheat that's in lots of other foods.

Good luck! It's not always easy to feed cats.

Well I bought some chicken PureBites, but they won't touch that, either.

How about something home made? You can control the ingredients and it could even save you money. For helpful resources, see the upper sub-section of the current section.

But if this continues, you should see a vet.

It might help for you to slightly warm up canned food when you try it.  Sometimes the increased aroma makes it more tempting.  There are other toppers you can use as well since the PureBites didn't work.  I've seen a lot of people recommend bonito flakes     Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top is supposed to be another real pleaser.  Another trick is to put the slightly warmed up food near them while they sleep - cats sometimes start eating automatically at that point.  

There is a saying about food for picky eaters:  "The best cat food is the one your cat will eat."    Sometimes you have to make compromises just because it's the only way to get some food into the little rascals!    

Butch and Coda are beautiful, btw!  

All good advice here!

As for brands, have you tried Whole Earth Farms? It's made by Merrick and you can find it at the big pet stores like Petco and online at Chewy.

I'd be wary of switching out foods too fast. Me, once I found something my cat likes, I stayed with it. Lost tons of money trying to switch, at least on the dry stuff. But I sure have been happy to find Whole Earth Farms. In the store, it's $1.29 a 5 oz can; online about a dollar. All grain free. And flavors are quite good--including duck. My cat really likes it.

If your cats have always thrown up I do think a vet visit is in order, but if it's just started on fancy feast, you might want to backtrack, maybe even try the wellness core again.

Going from Orijen to Fancy Feast is probably like going from feeding your cats great cat food to junk food since you're talking about Fancy Feast dry kibble instead of the wet food. Can you go back to the Orijen dry food? They may not be eating much because after eating the Orijen, they're not interested in the others. It sounds like you could have bought some Orijen instead of the other foods. If your cats won't eat the wet foods, add water to some dry kibble before serving it. Toss out any leftover wet kibble after about 20 mins because of bacteria growth according to other posters.

You can get Orijen at 20% off on chewy.com for your 1st order with free shipping and then with coupons they'll email you. I'd get the huge bag and store it in an airtight container for best savings.

They're telling you pretty clearly they do not like the low quality food you are feeding them. Orijen is excellent kibble and worth the price. You could switch to Acana, which is their sister company and slightly cheaper. IMO more expensive higher quality food is worth the price. The ideal situation if you're going to feed kibble is high quality kibble and lower quality wet food. If i were you, i would do whatever it takes to afford the Orijen or possibly the Acana. For two cats also eating wet food a 5lbs bag of Orijen should last you at least a month, so it's not really that pricey. 

I would try feeding Fancy Feast Classics, the pates that have the first five or so ingredients as meat. It's the cheapest most decent cat food I've felt okay feeding my cats. Dry food isn't the best to feed cats, as they are supposed to get a lot of their water from their food. They don't have a high thirst drive. And if you're having trouble getting a cat to eat, try some canned tuna cat food! I once had a kitten who wasn't eating and he was getting really skinny. I didn't know what to do. Finally called the vet and he told me to get some tuna. I went out and bought a can of Sheba tuna, and he went NUTS when I put it near his nose. He loved it! I learned later that tuna and other seafood isn't the best to feed your cat daily, but you could always see if your cats like tuna and gradually mix it with some other types of food.

Otherwise, never really had experience with puking cats. Except the fact that my kitty Leo will sometimes puke after playing too hard right after eating. Gross. Also could have been because I didn't switch over their food as slowly as I should have. Anyway! Hope you figure out something without having to go to the vet.