Getting my cat to eat all of her food at once. Is she eating enough food?

berb1993

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I am wondering if it could be possible to “train” my cat to eat all of her wet food at once, and not to just pick and nibble at it until it is too gross to eat.

Background Information:

Her name is Shadow and she is ~3 years old, 10.2lbs. I have had her since November 2016. She was originally eating Friskie's pate and Kirkland brand dry food, 4 small meals a day (2 of each). She never really finished her wet food and seemed to like the dry more.

I recently moved her to Wellness brand grain-free wet (Chicken and Turkey) and will be moving her to a better grain-free dry food soon. I also halved her dry food portion so she would fill up less on 'junk' and eat more of her wet food. In total she gets about 3.5oz of wet a day, and 1/8 cup dry in the afternoon via automatic feeder when I am at work.

The Issue:

I don't think this could possibly be enough food to satisfy her, but I cannot get her to eat any more? When I put down her wet dinner at 6-7pm, I wave it in front of her a bit, put it down, and she just goes "meh" and continues lounging. Sometimes I pick her up from wherever she is laying and set her in front of her plate saying "look! smell it! eat!" and she just nibbles, nibbles, nibbles... NOT a food motivated kitty.

I have heard of people setting the food down for ~30 minutes, and then taking it away, but I don't know if I could/should do this? I don't know if she will learn to eat all at once or if it would just be cruel to try?

Other mitigating circumstances:

She has just lost a little bit of weight in the months that I have had her... maybe a third of a pound? But I think she is still in a good weight range. She also struggles with anal gland issues and constipation, so getting her to eat more wet food is imperative for me.

Thanks for any advice :)
 

thegreystalker

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How much do you know about Shadow's habits prior to the day you adopted her?  Was she always a nibbler or grazer?  Has small meals throughout the day been her habit?  Was/is she an active pet, dashing around your home like a runaway freight train?

It may simply be that most foods just do not excite her enough to consume an entire can of food or cup of kibble at one sitting.  My gal takes her time to finish a meal, unless it's a particular Sardines & Shrimp recipe that she loves.  I open a 3-oz can of the stuff and she gobbles it all, unlike almost every other flavor.  Experiment to find out if she more motivated by one variety versus another.
 
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berb1993

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I don't know much about her life before me. She had been at the shelter a good 6 months before I picked her up. From what I gathered, she was surrendered because she "didn't get along" with her previous owner's young son.

I get the feeling she was maybe free fed dry food in her 'previous life' - she really does like a crunchy food, but I just don't think its good for her :/

I think she is fairly active? (she is my first cat - I don't have much to compare her to) I can get her pretty worked up with a feather wand, and she will have occasional spurts of the 'zoomies'.

It is hard for me to give her a variety. I am trying to balance that line of feeding her what is good for her (low carb, grain free, etc) with what I can afford. I can tell she does like the Wellness more than she liked the Friskies. Maybe I just need to shake things up with food toppers? 
 

thegreystalker

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Purina does offer wet recipes that are no corn, no wheat, no soy and they are affordable:

Poultry Platter

Turkey & Giblets Dinner

There's also Fancy Feast, specifically the pate recipes.  Purina 'Pro Plan Grain Free'  recipes are a decent deal.  Finally, check Chewy.com for reasonable prices on two other 'No Grain' brands; Under the Sun and Triumph.
 

pegleg

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Also Sheba Duet chicken and birds is a meat paté with no nasties that doesn't break the bank. My little girl doesn't have much of an appetite, she'll eat what she needs and will even turn down treats if she's full.

How often do you give her the wet?
 
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berb1993

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Thanks, I will definitely look into those other brands/flavors.

Pegleg- I give her the wet at 6am when I get up to get ready for work, and then again at 6-7pm when I get home from work. About 3.5oz total between the two meals. She gets 1/8 cup dry food at 12noon.

I started experimenting last night with picking the food up after 30 minutes. I have her two chances at dinner (down at 6, picked it up at 6:30, then put it back down at 9:30, picked it up at 10) she seemed to eat enough of it. Then this morning I put it down at 6 when I woke up and picked it up at 7 right before I left the house. She did eat almost all of it, so... maybe this could work?
 

lisahe

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It does sometimes take some effort to figure out how to feed a cat! I agree with the others that Shadow might be looking for more variety in her menu but it does sound like timed feedings are helping. Feeding lots of small meals can help, too.

If things don't turn around, you might want to watch for low-level nausea. Our cat Ireland often seemed hesitant about her food, too: she was a slow eater and often left large amounts of food, which her always-hungry sister would poach. I noticed that Ireland sometimes licked her lips or would walk up to her food, sniff, seem to want to eat, but then walk away; both can be signs of nausea. I should emphasize that Ireland never seemed sick. She just seemed picky!

When I made some changes to the cats' diet a few months ago--this included adding homemade cooked food, cutting back on canned food, and increasing freeze-dried raw foods--Ireland's appetite improved so much that now she not only asks for food but also finishes large portions just as quickly as her sister. She's gained back a couple ounces and the vet was very happy with her when she had her annual checkup last week. I'm pretty certain the difference for Ireland has been EZcomplete, the supplement that I use for the homemade food: I'd thought the key ingredient for her might be the digestive enzymes but the vet said it was likely the pork pancreas. Another possible factor might be that I cut back on canned foods with thickening gums. Who knows what will happen next week but for now, anyway, Ireland's eating very well and though she's always been a slightly nervous and needy cat, she seems more relaxed and happy than ever!
 
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berb1993

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LisaHe - I'm so glad your cat is feeling better and eating nicely! Such a beautiful name too!

I think the only time I've ever noticed her licking her lips is just after she eats, but it just seems like a normal "cleaning my face off" licking, so... perhaps? I will definitely talk to my vet about it. If nothing improves, maybe we can try a short round of anti-nausea medicine just to see if it helps...

I have always wanted to try homemade food. I have read Dr. Pierson's website http://www.catinfo.org/, but the startup cost always put me off (especially if i couldn't be sure she would even eat it!)  But now there seems to be more options of cooked homemade cat food recipes and supplemental powders... maybe I should revisit this idea. I have in the past offered her plain cooked chicken, plain salmon, etc... no interest :/

I do supplement her food with probiotics... is that the same as digestive enzymes?

Your vet thinks the pork pancreas helped with her nausea? Did she say why?
 

lisahe

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LisaHe - I'm so glad your cat is feeling better and eating nicely! Such a beautiful name too!

I think the only time I've ever noticed her licking her lips is just after she eats, but it just seems like a normal "cleaning my face off" licking, so... perhaps? I will definitely talk to my vet about it. If nothing improves, maybe we can try a short round of anti-nausea medicine just to see if it helps...

I have always wanted to try homemade food. I have read Dr. Pierson's website http://www.catinfo.org/, but the startup cost always put me off (especially if i couldn't be sure she would even eat it!)  But now there seems to be more options of cooked homemade cat food recipes and supplemental powders... maybe I should revisit this idea. I have in the past offered her plain cooked chicken, plain salmon, etc... no interest :/

I do supplement her food with probiotics... is that the same as digestive enzymes?

Your vet thinks the pork pancreas helped with her nausea? Did she say why?
Yes, Ireland's doing very well! I wish I could say that we named her and her sister (she's Edwina) but we adopted them with those names, which fit, though they'd apparently been assigned somewhat randomly when they arrived at the shelter, just a few days before we adopted them. The cats didn't even really know their names when we brought them home.

I should emphasize that I'm not sure Ireland was nauseous: she just had very small signs of it, including the pickiness and not consistently finishing her food. I don't know if any of this might be connected with the fat that the cats were skinny and horribly underfed when we adopted them. What I am sure of is that Ireland eats a whole lot better now after the changes in diet. Edwina's appetite, on the other hand, seems to have moderated: she's always been a piglet but has slowed down a little. A welcome change!

I know what you mean about the start-up costs of homemade food -- there are investments of time (figuring out what's best for you and the cat) and money (supplement(s) and scale, maybe a grinder). EZcomplete worked great for me because I only had to buy a bag of the supplement and a scale. I hand-pull the cooked meat because that's what the cats like best so don't need a grinder. If I were in your place, I might try dropping occasional pieces of meat for the cat to get her used to real meat: sometimes cats need some time to get used to the real stuff after eating commercial food for a lifetime!

Probiotics are live things (like good bacteria) that help digestion but enzymes are just enzymes. The vet didn't elaborate on why she thinks it's the pork pancreas that's so good for Ireland but the EZcomplete site has full descriptions (here!) of the ingredients. I think it must help with digestion, too.
It might be worth splitting the wet into three feedings if you can.
Personally, I think this is always a good idea! We feed five times a day and that works very well for our cats... though I also realize it's easier for me than for most people because I work at home!
 
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