Again food issues - not eating canned food

[auntie crazy]

Nivi, what Minka suggested is what I would also suggest in a case like yours; just remove the kibble from the house entirely. Then try different types of canned foods (as LDG suggested) and different types of topping incentives, like catnip or Whole Life's Freeze Dried 100% Meat Treats (my cats adore the chicken). Also, feed the same time every day and don't leave the foods down from one meal to the next... this gets the cats accustomed to having set meal-times and better "prepares" them to be hungry and to eat (like Pavlov's dogs). And offer as much variety as you can to keep them from fixating on any one product; if they only accept one canned now, you can slowly add more as time passes.

Hmmm, it's been five days since you responded to Minka's original suggestion; how are things going now? Hopefully, Calvin and Hobbes are eating their wet foods like they should be!!!

AC

 

[calvin&i]

Am so sorry about the late reply. I was checking posts on my cell phone but was not getting a chance to get on the computer to respond.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. What would I do without all of you???!!!

Let me respond to the suggestions here as best as I can (I simply cannot figure out how to quote multiple people in a response

)

@ Laurie
I have tried different toppings - they love freeze dried shrimp as treat and I have given them that but it's crazy how stubborn they are as they will totally refuse to have it when in their canned food.

Also I have mixed boiled chicken since they love it so much and the same result. Maybe a different treat like liver, but to be honest, I am less confident about that approach.
But the texture thing is definitely worth trying. Do you remember the Wellness recall that we had earlier this year? That was when both boys were on Wellness canned (different flavors) and Merrick and loved the pate style. Then suddenly around the time of the recall they rejected all pate and went for exclusively chunks and flakes. Sometimes all Hobbes wasnts is gravy and so it just maybe a good idea to try something soupy with him. I will definitely have to give that a try.

@valanhb
That's a great suggestions

. Oh how I wish I could get kitties that would eat all the canned food that I get, but as you rightly realize, it does not work that way for many of us. And just imagine if I bring a couple more kitties and the ones that I have end up corrupting them?

Unfortunately sprinkling "treat" on the canned food is just not working

@MiLu
I am giving them the dry and wet separately. I have not tried mixing the 2 though. However, I am decreasing the amount of dry they get slowly with the hopes of them being more hungry in time for their canned food.

@Auntie Crazy
With time I am also thinking of removing the dry food and just letting them be on the canned. I have nearly halved their dry food and I do see them eating more of the canned. But I do hear you about the variety and I have given them tons of choice actually and they may lap up something 1 day and just not touch it the next. It's been a struggle.

@Turks rule!
Thanks for sharing. Like you I am feeding them multiple times - it was 2 canned and 2 dry feeds and now its 2 canned, 1 combo and 1 dry. Maybe I should, as others suggested, just try doing away with dry and see what happens.

But, touchwood, the last couple of days has been slightly better. I have decreased the amount of dry they get. They generally get wet food in the morning (6:30 ish), a little dry at noon, wet again at 6:30 ish in the evening and then a little bit of dry at about 11:30. Nowadays, I am giving them a bit of canned at noon and then a tiny bit of dry and I want to slowly make that all wet. On the other hand I am thinking if I really need to keep feeding them 4 times a day but since they do not eat much at a time, I am reluctant to change the feeding times.
As far as variety goes, they get tons and tons of variety. DH sometimes tells me that that may be the problem: they just get too much variety. But who knows. But they really may eat something 1 days and then next day (or in a day or 2) totally refuse it. I have recently added Grandma Lucy's that you have to prepare with warm water and they generally like the chunks of meat in it. They do not get that the chunks of fish and meat are in the soupy thing and i have to literally spoon feed them a little chunk and a little of the "rest of the stuff" for them to eat. Don't know how long they will like it. I also got the new petsmart Simply Nourish and on days they just love the Salmon and Chicken and on other days they will not touch it. Go figure!

But thanks everyone for the suggestions - I am really leaning towards phasing out dry and experimenting with different texture. And I am still open to any suggestions or anything you think I am doing wrong.

 

[ducman69]

Originally Posted by Minka

You have to be REALLY determined to get a cat to eat more wet food; but I must ask you this first: can you afford an all wet diet?
If so, I would make the goal to be all wet because I have found that it is more frustrating that helpful to have a cat on half dry half wet. Cats like their dry food like we like McDonalds, and so it's hard to convince them to eat the healthier wet food when they Know there is dry food in the cupboard.

Probably depends on what you're feeding.

The healthiest foods I think are less palatable, dry or wet. Many kids won't eat much greens and steak, but throw a cheapo grease+salt pizza at them and they love it for example. When I was free feeding Wellness Chicken dryas kittens, they still ate all their wet when provided, except when I ordered 24 cases of 12oz Wellness chicken wet, and I think they got flavor burnout.

Currently, they inhale their wet since its a different flavor all the time, and the Blue Wilderness dry they finish, but not all at once. So its not really a dry vs wet thing in my experience. Oh btw, I had tapioca pudding a little while back from those little plastic cups, and forgot to throw it away right away, and had to shoo Wesley off as I found him with his face completely buried in the mostly empty cup with pudding residue all over him, lol! And that has zero meat and no fat in it, so I would wager they probably like the taste of carbs now and then, which some dry foods have lots of.

 

[feralvr]

It is so frustrating and upsetting that on some days the cats love a certain brand and then on others flat out refuse it. It is more complicated when you have multiple cats. Perla can be extremely finicky and I went through many brands trying to satisfy her taste. She went crazy for a brand called BFF ( Best Friends Feline) first ingredient is tuna

. And they have a few different flavors. But she ate. After a day on that, I went back to the other brands, EVO, Instinct, Core, Natural Balance and Holistic Select. She flat out turned her nose up. So I interspersed the BFF again. I had turned her into a tuna addict. She only ate the BFF. I do think it is important to rotate brands so they don't get finicky, but am wondering if Perla wants to expect the same thing everyday, as she likes things to be the same in every aspect of her life. She doesn't like surprises. Now I found a way to get her eating those other brands again. She loves the Stella and Cheweys freeze-dried raw patties. So I crumble some of that on her wet food and she digs in. I also feed three times a day and mix in a tiny bit of dry with the wet food and always add water. For Pipsqueak, who is a dry food addict, I sprinkle a tiny bit of dry kibble on top of the soupy wet and that gets him eating and licking up the wet at the same time satisfying his need crunch.

 

[cyndersmom]

I am having the same problem right now, up until 2 weeks ago my 12 week old was eating an all wet diet. i have tried everything,and i am getting worried as he is a growing kitten and needs the nutrients. im at my wits end,he even will only eat a bit of dry. he is healthy and plays,pees and poops but i cannot really get him to eat ANYTHING, he will lick a bit then walk away,and i know he is hungary because he runs with me when i bring his dish over. I need some help PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am getting really concerned with this.......

 

[just mike]

Originally Posted by Minka

I guess Nutro doesn't taste like McDonalds then.

I wouldn't know