Picky Eaters?

Hi,

I've transitioned(actually my second attempt) my 2 cats(2yrs and 16yrs) from dry to canned food and they have been eating it for the first 2 1/2 weeks, but now they won't eat.  At first they nibble, but then later on they beg for food(we have to put it up so the dog won't eat it) and we put it down, they sniff it and walk away or beg for dry food.  Is this just them being picky or should I be looking into a different reason for them not eating.  They did the same thing the first time I tried to transition them to can food, but I gave in and switch back to dry food.  I origionally changed to can food because the vet said it would help the 2yr old to lose weight because it has more protien instead of carbs.  Is there a good protein rich DRY food that I could feed them?

Dry food is not a good idea, except for a few bits on top of their wet food, or embedded in it, to give them a little crunch to satisfy their desire for crunch.  It's hard to transition dry food addicts, but they will get over it and live longer and better lives with less illness because of it.  You should read www.catinfo.org about the importance of food type and also there is a section there on how to transition your dry food addicts to wet food.  You can also learn how to read labels so you can choose the bet kind of wet food, preferably grain and potato free, mostly meat, low carb food.

Sniffing and walking away can be a sign that they don't feel good, aka nausea. You def need to have blood work on your 16 year old every 6 months for kidney/thyroid issues, which can cause nausea and/or appetite issues. Try lots of different canned foods to entice them. Don't just stick to one brand/flavor. There are tons of foods out there, so try as many as necessary. 

here's a good list of both wet and dry foods to try. If you are going to keep a little kibble in their diet feed good quality kibble. My top choice is Orijen. 

http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2010/12/the-7-best-natural-commercial-cat-foods-so-far/

http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2011/08/best-dry-cat-foods-so-far/

Red Top Rescue said:

 
Dry food is not a good idea, except for a few bits on top of their wet food, or embedded in it, to give them a little crunch to satisfy their desire for crunch.  It's hard to transition dry food addicts, but they will get over it and live longer and better lives with less illness because of it.  You should read www.catinfo.org about the importance of food type and also there is a section there on how to transition your dry food addicts to wet food.  You can also learn how to read labels so you can choose the bet kind of wet food, preferably grain and potato free, mostly meat, low carb food.

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How do you get them to "get over it" and eat the wet food. I have one (Cricket) who won't even sniff it. If I put any kind of wet food in front of her, she just looks as if to say "You're trying to poison me!" and walks away.  I've tried various recommended things, many different brands of wet food, pate, gravy, expensive stuff, cheap yucky stuff. Doesn't matter.  Also doesn't matter if I leave the dry food up, she'll just wait me out.  Very frustrating because I would prefer they both eat wet.

Hi Misty, I went through the same thing. You could try just feeding canned food once a day and the rest dry and slowly get rid of the dry meals in time.
My cat never volunteers to taste anything on her own. I usually offer it first and then if she sniffs and walks away, I smear some on her paw to force her to lick it off. That is often the only way I can get my cat to taste at the least. Then I offer the wet food directly from my hand. It usually works out that she is interested. You may have to do this a few days.

Misty8723 said:

 
How do you get them to "get over it" and eat the wet food. I have one (Cricket) who won't even sniff it. If I put any kind of wet food in front of her, she just looks as if to say "You're trying to poison me!" and walks away.  I've tried various recommended things, many different brands of wet food, pate, gravy, expensive stuff, cheap yucky stuff. Doesn't matter.  Also doesn't matter if I leave the dry food up, she'll just wait me out.  Very frustrating because I would prefer they both eat wet.

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I have an older cat that never accepted wet food. I tried every trick, every single food out there, the most success i had was he'd lick the juice from Tiki cat chicken and salmon, that's it. Oddly, he took right to eating raw food. However, I still have to add toppers to raw food to get him to eat it and he still gets a small amount of kibble. If you haven't try some freeze dried raw like Stella and Chewy or Primal. My cats all love the Stella and Chewy turkey. Feed it dry as a snack or treat first, and then slowly add water and see if you can get him to realize its yummy wet food. 

There is a section in that web site I gave you on Nutrition called Transitioning Dry Food Addicts to wet food.  It's a PDF and you can save it and print it out.  Yes, some of them can be very stubborn.  It requires patience with those, because you don't want to starve them and cause other problems!