Nobody will eat anything healthy, help!

I am at my whits ends with both Lily & Zoe. If anyone knows about Lily, she has always been extremely picky. Its gotten even worse. Ever since Callie passed away, two months ago, she only eats tempatation treats. I've tried every brand available around here. Tiki Cats, Fussy cat, soulstic,blue, you name it, I've wasted it. Only breakthrough I've had, is I found Primal Freeze dried, chicken & Salmon. She'll only eat it dry,and not rehydrated, if I give it as a treat. I know its supposed to be rehydrated, but at this point,I'm happy about anything besides damned treats. She does get water though, this girl takes a shower several times a day. (Shower is her going to utility sink and us turning on the water). She can't continue like this. But ever since Callie's been gone, she's gotten so much pickier.
Now, onto Zoe. Zoe is my 10 week old kitten. She has picked up on Lily's stubborness. She steals Lily's treats, and doesn't like really any kitten foods. I've got hard food out for both of them, and I've seen Zoe nibble on Lily's adult food, but not the kitten food. At night, I can finally get her to eat about a quarter of a can of Blue Wilderness for kittens. But its not enough for her tiny little body. I thought about putting her back on kitten formula, and mixing it with the wilderness, but she won't eat it like that. How do I get this litty bitty girl to start eating better? Is she really so picky because she see's Lily being picky and wants to be like her?
Any advice is greatly appreciated,I want my girls to somehow eat healthy.

If you want her to eat whatever you put in front of her, buy a box of Fortiflora. My cats will eat whatever I put down for them. I'm actually trying to get them off that stuff. It's like kitty crack! It is a probiotic so it's not all that bad. There are lots of reviews about it too, that say the same thing, it's an excellent "get kitty to eat" enticer.

Since you mention they'll eat the S&C dry, take a cube & break it up into powder, sprinkle over a can of wet & see where that goes. I've tried that too with NV mixers & my cats will eat the canned.

Thanks! I will give both of these a try. Where do you get this fortiflora? I've heard of this,but I've never seen it anywhere. Is it prescription only or something I can order online?

I bought mine off amazon. Purina makes it.

One thing that my cats will always eat, even the really sick rescues I take in, is Hill's Prescription.

http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/pd-canine-feline-ad-canned

It's kind of expensive, but it's very nutritious. I've tried the dry before as well, you can actually crumble some of the dry over their regular wet food to encourage them to eat more.

What does your vet say about Lilly's fussiness? 

I've had good luck getting all six of my cats to consistently eat Nature's Logic Chicken Feast formula.  You can go to Nature's Logic website and request a free sample.  The ingredients are good and just fyi, the dog and cat food versions are the same, so you can buy the bigger dog food cans for cheaper than the smaller cat food cans.  I buy most of my food from Chewy because they have the best prices usually.  I also feed them sardines sometimes, which all of them happily eat.  Have you tried giving them pieces of chicken raw or cooked?  Maybe just getting their appetites stimulated will help get them eating the food you put out better?

Stacydc83 said:

 
Thanks! I will give both of these a try. Where do you get this fortiflora? I've heard of this,but I've never seen it anywhere. Is it prescription only or something I can order online?

Click to expand...

Your vet likely sells it or you can buy online like at Amazon. Here's the Purina web site for Fortilora with more info about the product and a rebate you can print out: https://www.proplanveterinarydiets.com/products/fortiflora-cat/

Crushed up freeze dried treats or freeze dried raw sprinkled on top of most foods works to get many cats to eat.

Norachan said:

 
One thing that my cats will always eat, even the really sick rescues I take in, is Hill's Prescription.

http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/pd-canine-feline-ad-canned

It's kind of expensive, but it's very nutritious. I've tried the dry before as well, you can actually crumble some of the dry over their regular wet food to encourage them to eat more.

What does your vet say about Lilly's fussiness? 

Click to expand...

Wow I can't believe they actually make a semi decent food! If they would just get rid of the corn, I would buy it!

WhatsOneMore said:

 
I've had good luck getting all six of my cats to consistently eat Nature's Logic Chicken Feast formula.  You can go to Nature's Logic website and request a free sample.  The ingredients are good and just fyi, the dog and cat food versions are the same, so you can buy the bigger dog food cans for cheaper than the smaller cat food cans.  I buy most of my food from Chewy because they have the best prices usually.  I also feed them sardines sometimes, which all of them happily eat.  Have you tried giving them pieces of chicken raw or cooked?  Maybe just getting their appetites stimulated will help get them eating the food you put out better?

Click to expand...

huh, last time I looked this brand up it was chock full of cottage cheese. I don't see anything like that in the chicken feast. I guess they re-formulated their products. I'll have to try it!

Norachan said:

One thing that my cats will always eat, even the really sick rescues I take in, is Hill's Prescription.

http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/pd-canine-feline-ad-canned

It's kind of expensive, but it's very nutritious. I've tried the dry before as well, you can actually crumble some of the dry over their regular wet food to encourage them to eat more.

What does your vet say about Lilly's fussiness? 

Click to expand...

I took Lily in to the Vet in the beginning of September. The Vet didn't say much about her fussiness just to really try harder to get her off the treats as a meal. He had told me to try baby chicken food. She didn't like that either. She's in good health though, slightly overweight. I think I will try the freeze dried food over her wet food. And if all this fails too I'll look into the fortiflora and the hills prescription diet.

How old is Lilly? Has she had any blood work done? A "finicky" cat is usually a cat that doesn't feel well. Don't feed Primal dry, even as a treat. It's high in phos. Try to get your hands on some good quality freeze dried treats. Whole life makes good ones. 

missmimz said:

 
Don't feed Primal dry, even as a treat. It's high in phos. Try to get your hands on some good quality freeze dried treats. Whole life makes good ones. 

Click to expand...

I thought meat itself was the source of Phosphorus, what causes Primal freeze dried to be high?

msserena said:

 
I thought meat itself was the source of Phosphorus, what causes Primal freeze dried to be high?

Click to expand...

Bone. Freeze dried foods are always pretty high in bone, however, when you dilute with water everything come down to a more acceptable level. Primal does claim their bone content is only 10%, but they're not meant to be fed dry. I was giving it to my cat dry for awhile before I could get him to eat it rehydrated (I was using Stella and Chewy too) and his urine pH went way up and he started forming crystals. While I can't say for sure it was the dry freeze dried food, it's the only thing that changed in his diet and he's never had a high pH or crystals, ever, even when he ate kibble. 

oh bone. I thought it was meat. ok.

msserena said:

 
oh bone. I thought it was meat. ok.

Click to expand...

Meat contains phos too, of course, but but bone is the primary culprit of high phos; which is why for CKD cats, for example, it's recommended to use eggshell calcium rather than bone, to keep the phos lower. 

Lily is 4 years old. She's always been finicky ever since she was Zoe's age. And now Zoe is following in her picky footsteps. lily used to eat some wet food and a little bit of dry, she would lick the gravy. Ever since Callie has been gone she's become more picky. I'm assuming the extreme pickiness is from all the life changes. She would eat gravy just like Callie. And now Callie is gone. But I did pick up some of the chicken freeze dried treats today and she and Zoe both like these! Also some blue buffulo wilderness treats. So is it better if it's still treats just healthier ones? It's too bad the primal can't be a dried treat because she likes it. I tried it with water, Lily says no way but Zoe gobbled it right up

My cats all like whole earth farms and Merrick duck, beef or rabbit pate

Hello!

So I've had a little bit of progress with Lily (4 years) and Zoe (now 13 weeks). Lily is still mainly eating treats, but at least I've gotten her on healthier treats. She only gets a few temptations now, She really likes freeze dried chicken, and Blue Wilderness turkey & duck treats. She's also starting to eat some hard food again. She'll either eat Simply Nourish Adult grain free, or Simply Nourish Kitten with rice. (yeah I know, she shouldn't eat kitten food but at this point I'm happy she eats something) And she'll lick the gravy of friskies Sauce Sensations, and Purina Turkey & pasta. I know its not a great diet, but its a lot better than it was. She's always been extremely picky, and it got really bad after Callie passed away.

Now Zoe,she's a tough little cookie too. Its tough to get her to eat Kitten specific food. This morning I got her to eat a quarter of a can of Blue wilderness kitten,after work she got Simply nourish stew for kittens((barely ate that) , then she ate a good amount of Friskies Saucesations. She does not like any of the kitten hard food I've tried. I thought maybe Simply nourish would be a hit, because she loves Lily's adult hard food, and the ingredients are nearly identical  with the kitten version. I don't know why she just has to have the adult food. I am just worried she's not getting enough fat in her diet,she is on the scrawny side. Any ideas on how to get her to eat better? I've got the Tomlyn kitten high calorie supplement, but that's even a fight. I can get maybe a pea sized amount in her mouth. 

I've got a feeling she's heading down the same road as Lily with being extremely picky. Am I giving too many options? Where did I go wrong with Lily? She will not eat wet food, only lick the gravy, she's always been like this, since she was a little older than Zoe. Now Zoe sees Lily being picky and that's what she has to do too. I worry a lot with Zoe because she has a heart murmur, and want to make sure she gets all the nutrition she needs. Hopefully by her next vet visit, he will tell me she's grown out of it.