Fed up. :( really upset.

Ugh I feel so upset and fed up!!

I love my cats so much, an i feel like i'm ding something very wrong right now.


I live in the UK, and premium food here is limited to, Hills, Hilife and IAMS, I ordered some Nutro from the net, wet and dry.

my cats ate it for 2 days and stuffed there noses up, i bought a ton of brands from a website which cost me so much, I thought the tins were alot bigger, but my cats just didnt like it.

They were orginally on Hills, Science plan wet and dry, they seemed to like it, I switched as they got so bored,and I wanted an alternative, to switch between, but my cats seem so fussy, they get really bored after hving a certain type of food, also doesn't help that Hills is only one flavour for kittens, and 2 for adults.

My cats get chronic diahrea on Hilife, its just to rich.

they stick there noses up at dry most of the time, but they'll eat it cunningly placed on some wet hehe.

I want to try some royal canin again, the one for extremely fussy cats, but since they wont just eat this, what other foods can i mix with, for varity, Hills wet, hills dry, but what other wet?

I was thinking of mixing of some felix occasionaly for varity, they seem to eat this pretty well, i know it's not great, but it may stop them getting bored of the better foods?

i've wasted so much money on food, and i've been set back as all there vaccinations were due this month, so thats set me back abit, but its all so worth it.

any ideas? thanks very much.

Hi,
Mine like James Wellbeloved dry food. If you go to their web site
http://www.wellbeloved.co.uk/
Click where it says cat and you can get a free sample to try and see if they like it. It is probably worth looking at some of the other makers web sites for free samples as well.

Good Luck Anne

Ah yea. I have some bags of this, they will only eat it on top of food, shame they dont do a wet varity. as thats what i'm looking for.

thanks alot though, i'll look for some samples about.

Have you thought about just leaving the food out and forcing them to eat it? It sounds mean, but perhaps they are playing a game with you. Maybe they hope they will keep getting something tastier and tastier if they keep acting bored with the food and stop eating it.

Maybe leave the food down for 30 minutes and then pick it up. Wait a few hours and put it down for another 30 minutes. After a day if they still refuse to touch the food, I say they don't like it and to try another brand. But in my experience if a kitty can get away with sticking her nose up at food, she will. Mine ate Meow Mix crap for so long and would stick up their noses when I put down Felidae or Wellness. They knew if they skipped a meal or two I'd become worried and put down Meow Mix again to make sure they were eating. After awhile I learned the trick, tossed out all the Meow Mix, and put down the Wellness. It took them a day or two of being hungry but they broke down and ate it and now they come running when I get it out and love the food.

Sounds like a good idea.
Missy I think does play games with me, shesa sensitive cat, and I worry, because she was abandoned at a very young age and passed onto a shelter At about 4 weeks of age, When I adopted her at 12 she was so tiny. and is a very small adult cat now, I worry when she doesn't eat.

I never believed in constant switching of foods. Seems to make them pickier in the end. A few different flavors works well. My cats were "Iams" cats their entire life - dry and canned.

I would add in some Friskies canned or Nutro Max dry sometimes for variety. When using canned, I only used beef, chicken (mainly), lamb. They RARELY got any fish flavors.

I think I would stick to Nutro Max or Iams - canned or dry. Sooner or later when they get hungry enough, they will eat it. They have you trained that if they don't eat it, YOU will give them something else

Originally Posted by td128

Have you thought about just leaving the food out and forcing them to eat it? It sounds mean, but perhaps they are playing a game with you. Maybe they hope they will keep getting something tastier and tastier if they keep acting bored with the food and stop eating it.

Maybe leave the food down for 30 minutes and then pick it up. Wait a few hours and put it down for another 30 minutes. After a day if they still refuse to touch the food, I say they don't like it and to try another brand. But in my experience if a kitty can get away with sticking her nose up at food, she will. Mine ate Meow Mix crap for so long and would stick up their noses when I put down Felidae or Wellness. They knew if they skipped a meal or two I'd become worried and put down Meow Mix again to make sure they were eating. After awhile I learned the trick, tossed out all the Meow Mix, and put down the Wellness. It took them a day or two of being hungry but they broke down and ate it and now they come running when I get it out and love the food.

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You have to be extremely careful with this method. Cats can and will starve themselves if they don't find food to their liking (or if they are ill) and it can have very serious results. I would not allow a cat to go more than 36 hours without eating, as it can result in hepatic lipidosis, a dangerous liver condition.

I have to agree that changing their food often can make them fussy and can also cause diarrhea.

I would say that if you find a wet food that works - they eat it with cat biscuits on the top - then I would stick to it!

Mittens ate Felix and Whiskas wet food from kittenhood right up to the day she died from cancer of the lungs when she was 15. It might not have been the world's best cat food but she was very happy eating it and certainly didn't seem to take any harm from it. I did try her on Hills and Iams but she really wasn't fussed on it.

You have nothing to lose by trying them on Felix or Whiskas - if they like it and are happy, stick with it. It's far more important to have them eating and happy than not eating at all

My girls are both fed Felix and Whiskas kitten pouches - there isn't much choice of wet kitten food and the only other brand seems to be Hi-Life but they only do one flavour and the girls would get very bored very quickly if all they could eat was Ocean fish! I will probably stick with Whiskas and Felix wet food but will always leave quality dry food down as well for them to graze on.

I would see if you can get Natural Balance there in the UK. I have done my OWN experimentation about cat food and I tell you ALL my cats LOVE the NB. I HIGHLY recommend it.

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

I have both my cats and my dogs on Eagle Pack and have found it to be the best with everyone's health problems (from sensitive stomachs to picky eaters to anal gland problems... sheesh you'd think I'm running a hospice here ) This food keeps everyone happy and healthy. Tryon is one of the pickiest eaters I've ever seen and once I switched over to this food, I couldn't keep her face out of the bowl. That sold me.

The main website is http://www.eaglepack.com

And it looks like they do sell it in the UK here:

United Kingdom
Postal Pets Products Ltd.
Tel: 44/1531-633-985
Fax: 44/1531-635-356
e-mail: [email protected]
www.postalpetsproducts.co.uk

I don't know if that's anywhere near you, but you might be able to order it online (I didn't go to the postalpets site so you might want to check )

Originally Posted by Pui Hang

Mittens ate Felix and Whiskas wet food from kittenhood right up to the day she died from cancer of the lungs when she was 15. It might not have been the world's best cat food but she was very happy eating it and certainly didn't seem to take any harm from it. I did try her on Hills and Iams but she really wasn't fussed on it.

You have nothing to lose by trying them on Felix or Whiskas - if they like it and are happy, stick with it. It's far more important to have them eating and happy than not eating at all

My girls are both fed Felix and Whiskas kitten pouches - there isn't much choice of wet kitten food and the only other brand seems to be Hi-Life but they only do one flavour and the girls would get very bored very quickly if all they could eat was Ocean fish! I will probably stick with Whiskas and Felix wet food but will always leave quality dry food down as well for them to graze on.

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I have to agree with you on this. Although I've recently changed Bijou and Mika to more of a wet food diet and one with no by-products, I also believe that if they like and will eat a lower quality food it is better than them not enjoying or eating the better quality food. As you say, before I joined this site and became more educated, our cats got Purina, Whiskas and other not so high quality products and managed to avoid being ill and lived to be respectable old ages.

Sometimes you can persuade them to eat something they think they don't like by sprinkling either strong grated cheese or organic catnip on the wet food. Once they are started they will often finish the bowl.

Have caught up with this a bit late - Pui Hang, HiLife don't just do one flavour of food. They do 8 varieties of complimentary food (although some are hard to find), and about 7 varieties of complete (again, some are hard to find), plus kitten and senior food. Plus 2 flavours of dry food, but only one is widely available in the shops. Pet shops should be able to order it for you, my semi local one does, and delivers it for free.

Originally Posted by booktigger

Have caught up with this a bit late - Pui Hang, HiLife don't just do one flavour of food. They do 8 varieties of complimentary food (although some are hard to find), and about 7 varieties of complete (again, some are hard to find), plus kitten and senior food. Plus 2 flavours of dry food, but only one is widely available in the shops. Pet shops should be able to order it for you, my semi local one does, and delivers it for free.

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Booktigger, I meant they only seem to do one flavour of wet kitten food I've even checked their website and that only shows one flavour too I've not bought any of it yet because the tin says that it is for kittens from 9-12 months and my girls are only 6 months old....

My local pet shop are now stocking Iams pouches for kittens so I've bought a box to see how my girls get on with it. Thanks for the tip about asking the pet shop to special order food I might give that a go

We have such a big variety of wet food, honestly ive lost track because they just stick their nose up at most of them.
I just sprinkle fish food over their wet food.
My mother is too soft with them, if they dont like the food she will give them something else during the day and then it gets me angry.
They are spoilt, but if i dont give them their favourite cat food, teufel will end up ripping all the pasta bags anything that is packaged in plastic that resembles cat treats or cat dry food bags.

Originally Posted by Pui Hang

Booktigger, I meant they only seem to do one flavour of wet kitten food

I've even checked their website and that only shows one flavour too

I've not bought any of it yet because the tin says that it is for kittens from 9-12 months

and my girls are only 6 months old....

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Pui Hang - the kitten food is for weaning to maturity (which is between 9-12months). I agree the wording threw me at first too! I'va had my kittens on a mix of this and felix kitten since they were weaned and they seem to do ok on it - they wont eat too much of it on its own though, even though its an ocean fish flavour!! I just mix it with Felix and its fine!

I also leave out dry food (Nutro Natural Choice Kitten) for them, and I believe this stuff is fantastic, its the reason they are so healthy (touch wood). Also their mother and my male cat who grew up on Felix/Whiskas are sooo much healthier now on adult Nutro dry, you can see it in their fur, their body weight (and their poops!), and they dont have any more GI problems, and the litter box smells better too!

I would def recommend trying to get them to eat some brand of good quality food, whether its by mixing it with cheaper stuff, or 'mind gaming' them into it!

My indoor kitties and Felicity get one kind of food - Hills Country dry food and they love it. The other two girls get Hills Country and a little bit of wet meat. The don't swap around and they don't get bored. Lily is a fussy eater but is very happy with her food lot.

I would double check the ingredients on Iams Wet Food against Go_Cat - They are made by the same manufacturer, and at least with the dry food, the difference is so minimal, that it doesn't allow for the amount of price difference (Iams Dry cost nearly twice as much as Go-Cat and Iams wet actually cost 2.5 times as much as Whiskas wet for Kitten).

In my local Pet Shop and at Pets @ Home there is a brand of Italian Food, which has no additives, just meat, stock, eggs and natural Jelly. It's not much more than Whiskas, I feed it to my kitten once a week and he loves it. There is a kitten version, but I rarely see it in the shops, but the adult version is exactly the same, just bigger chinks of meat, so you just have to cut it up a bit before serving.

Tesco does several different flavours of Hi-Life. I think 4 or 5. I sometimes get that, allthough I have never seen the kitten version. It's high in Protein, so I assume it's ok to feed to a kitten ?

I know what you mean with the dry food - my kitten isn't keen either, and he hates drinking anything, so I only leave some out during the day as an emergency, he rarely touches it. Only when he is bored with his normal wet food. I tend to stick to Whiskas Supermeat for Kitten and Iams/Go_cat Dry for Kitten as the main diet. We don't have the kind of choice here as there is in the US, and on top of it we get way overcharged for anything "premium" anyway. I can't afford to spend half my grocery budget on the cat.

Ah, yes, I have only noticed one flavour of kitten food, and am sure thier online supplier only has one brand on their list. I didn't check Iams ingredients, as I wouldn't feed Iams (plus it was more expensive than HiLife).
MadPiano - I wouldn't feed anything like Go Cat to mine - the ingredients are incredibly poor (don't know about Iams, I don't feed for ethical reasons). You can get James Wellbeloved biscuits for kittens - the most you should pay for those is £9.99 for Turkey, Duck or Lamb, and £10.99 for Ocean Fish - this is for a 2kg bag. It might seem expensive compared to the couple of quid you will pay for 2kg of GoCat, but the ingredients are so much better. If your lucky, Go Cat will have a 12% minium meat/fish content - with cereals being before that, so they can be anything from 13% upwards. James Wellbeloved has a 26% meat content, and 26% rice content, so over half of it is 'good' things. I wouldn't even feed my cats Whiskas biscuits anymore. Another thing with 'cheaper' biscuits is you will notice they are different colours - all preservatives, colours etc. Quality brands are boring brown, cos they dont contain these things.
Sorry for the essay.