I have a picky eater.

Moscato wasn't picky when I first brought her home a little over a month ago. She's the complete opposite now.    

I started off feeding her Merrick's pates, then switched her to other brands and types because she had recurring diarrhea and I suspected Merrick was the culprit. Now, she won't touch pates, no matter what the brand is. She also doesn't really like chunks of anything, especially if they aren't coated in some kind of sauce.

She's had just about every flavor and variety of Tiki Cat and at first she would gobble the whole serving up. Now, she licks the gravy and leaves most of the meat, no matter if its chicken, beef, etc.

She's had some Weruva but mainly only seafood varieties. She definitely prefers anything with seafood in it, which I was giving her until I read some posts on here about seafood being bad for cats.

So I'm having a tough time figuring out what to give her. I don't want to keep buying her the expensive high-end brands if all she does is lick the gravy. I can't refrigerate left overs because she won't eat anything that's been chilled. I can't leave the food out when she walks away from the plate because my roommate's cat will come behind her and finish it.  

My roommate and I do leave dry food out, but Moscato only occasionally eats it. When she does she usually only takes a bite or two. She's not even four months old and I'm afraid that she's not getting the nutrition she needs because she'll either only lick up gravy or sauce or eat small portions before trying to "bury" the rest.

Have you had her checked out by a vet? How old is she? Is she vomiting at all? "Picky" in cats is most of the time nausea, or some issue deeper than just not wanting the food you're offering. Especially because this behavior is new it sounds like something else is going on. When cats don't feel well their appetite will change. If she hasn't been to a vet you need to have her worked up to rule out a medical issue.

I agree with missmimz about a vet visit: Moscato's pretty small, isn't she, kgropp16, not even four months old? Kittens are usually voracious eaters and I remember she's had some digestive issues, too. I'm sure you and she are both tired of going to the vet but I'd be concerned, too, that she's not getting enough nutrients when she needs lots of food to grow.

She's been to the vet a couple of times recently for her shots and things like that and she has another appointment tomorrow for her last set of shots so I'll talk with the vet about it.

My roommate let her try a can of the Fancy Feast Medley's turkey last night and she loved it, surprisingly! She actually ate it, all of it and didn't just lick the gravy.   I gave her another can just now and she finished almost the entire thing which I've NEVER seen her do.

kgropp16 said:

My roommate let her try a can of the Fancy Feast Medley's turkey last night and she loved it, surprisingly! She actually ate it, all of it and didn't just lick the gravy.

  I gave her another can just now and she finished almost the entire thing which I've NEVER seen her do.

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Maybe she's looking for more variety? I have a ridiculously huge rotation of foods (raw, homemade cooked, canned) for our two cats: they just get bored otherwise and don't eat very well. There are various brands, textures, and meats. (We actually have a food cart with their canned food, it's a little crazy...)

I'm glad she ate the Fancy Feast medley--it shows she's definitely capable of eating something up!--though, IMHO, I'd be a little careful not to feed too many of those because of all the wheat gluten. A somewhat comparable food in terms of gravy and chunks might be something like Nutro Natural Choice sliced turkey. Our cats love Nutro Natural Choice's minced chicken and chunky chicken, too. I used to rotate those as their night food because the cats were always certain to finish them and not get hungry during the night but I had to stop because one cat liked them so much she was eating them too fast and barfing! (How's that for an endorsement?!) That's the only canned food I could feed so frequently, they just love them. (I've restored them to the rotation, but in smaller amounts so Edwina won't barf them...)

It's great that you already had that vet visit planned for her shots! I hope it goes well!

There are Fancy Feast formulas with no corn gluten and no wheat gluten.  Same is true of several Friskies formulas.  Check the labels.  If she liked the FF Turkey, then try Friskies Turkey & Giblets pate.  The 13oz can costs $1.00 in my area and is sold for the same price online at least at a couple of retailers.

Regarding affordable dry food, my gal really liked Purina One Healthy Kitten, which can be hard to find in stores.  There is corn gluten in Purina HK, but Chicken is the first ingredient.  She also tore into a bag of Purina One Indoor Advantage Turkey that I inadvertently left on the kitchen table.  I rotate different brands but she loved those two Purina One products and they met my priority for nutritious food.

Other economical options for grain free nutrition are Grreat Choice  and Authority, both available at Petsmart.  Also, if there's a 'Stop & Shop' Supermarket in your area (the northeast U.S.) try the Companion label, which is their house brand.  Finally, I notice that these two higher-end canned foods have been discounted lately at online retailers;  DVP Natural Balance and Canidae.