Best not to stock food for picky cats...

[BonitaBaby]

This post is about cat food...so I hope it's okay here.

If you're new to owning a cat(s) and your cat(s) is/are picky, then it might be best not to stock up on food, even to try to take advantage of cheaper prices online...I've noticed that every single time I stock up on food, my cat immediately stops eating that food. ?_?
 

It started with her Iams kitten pate, which was the only wet food I could get her to eat at first. I ordered some online to get a cheaper price. It arrived and then kitty didn't want it anymore. Same with the two Fancy Feasts she was eating. Same with Nutro Natural Choice, I think, except I had stocked up on some from the store, so was able to return them unless they're hiding in one of my cabinets that I forgot about...Same with her Orijen cat & kibble. When the 5 lbs bag was running low, I ordered a 15 lbs bag and the bag was barely open before kitty didn't want any anymore. =/ That one wasn't her "fault" though because she got ill and was introduced to Hill's Science Diet kitten kibble at the vet specialist's office, but after that, she didn't want any Orijen cat & kitten kibble anymore. =/ After ordering different 12 oz. sample sizes of the other Orijen and Acana kibble that she didn't have, I got her to start eating Orijen Regional Red after she barely ate for a couple days when I took away the Hill's kitten kibble to get her off of it. She was turning down all the wet food cans I gave her, despite attempts to crumble treats on top or put Fortiflora or crumble a Vet's Best tablet on top. Also, she basically turned down the Primal Raw freeze-dried foods in several different flavors and also Stella & Chewy freeze-dried raw. She was interested, but then didn't eat it. 

So she was eating Orijen Regional Red happily as the flavor she picked out of the 5 (yes, 5) varieties of dry kibble that were out after she must have gotten hungry enough to stop holding out for Hill's kitten kibble...but when the Regional Red ran out, she barely ate despite the 4 other kibbles that were out, so I ordered a 15 lbs bag to get it cheaper online and ran to the store to buy more sample size bags until it arrived. When I brought the sample size Orijen Regional Red home, she started eating again, but when the huge 15 lbs bag finally arrived, of course, picky kitty suddenly switched to eating the Acana Grasslands kibble that is out and is just grazing on the Orijen Regional Red now that she has a huge supply.

*sigh* So now I have purchased a third 15 lbs bag that is on the way...I just bought the Acana Grasslands which is what she is into right now. I feel like each time I try to stock up though, I curse myself because then kitty stops eating that food...what strangeness. ?_?

Btw, I'm storing the 15 lbs bags in 10 lbs airtight pet food containers (Boots & Barkley from Target) after removing ~ 5 lbs so that the rest of the bag fits into the airtight container to keep the kibble from getting stale (hopefully), although my kitty will still eat stale kibble that's been left out for a very long time...(different flavor she's not into that's in a separate bowl that she later decides she wants to eat...)

 

[faeleen]

Am I the only one who is befuddled by the concoctions we have to put together to make our kitties happy,lol? Been through so much food with my two older cats... I just return and exchange when they stop eating something- helps out a lot!

 

[BonitaBaby]

Oh, to add to my first post, I also had bought a $5-6 bag of Freshpet refrigerated "fresh" cat food for my cat, but, unfortunately, she would not even go near it to try it. She looked repulsed. I was surprised because it looks really good from a human perspective. =/

@Faeleen  no, you're definitely not.

 I actually do understand my picky cat and other picky cats though. Maybe there's a gene for pickiness. I really would rather starve than eat something I do not want to eat. If it's a food I find repulsive, I would definitely prefer to starve. I find most seafood to be disgusting and smell disgusting, so I would be miserable if I had an owner who tried to feed me any seafood. The owner would think I was crazy because most people love seafood, but I really want to gag around most seafood and just could not bring myself to swallow it. The smell makes me lose my appetite. I also understand my kitty when she likes a new food and wants it all the time, won't eat other food, but then gets sick of the new food and wants something else, so seems to lose her appetite. 

 

[faeleen]

My girl StellaLuna will only eat food that looks like 'real' human food. The ones with the shredded chicken or slices of fish with the skin on. It's very visual to her.

 

[2cats4me]

You are NOT alone ..  My cats are a big PIA when it comes to  wet food ..  They were doing so well .  They were eating FF Classic and Sheba Pate .  I stocked up  and when we got down to the last six can they refused every flavor ..  When this happens I just let them eat kibble for awhile then I will start back up with the wet food again ..  I wish they would try other wet foods but those are the only two brands they will  eat at all .. 

 

[bonepicker]

Knock on wood this has not happened to me yet, the ten food rotation on timed feedings seems to be working for now. They are ravenous when I feed them. No DRY food might be the key, I know I start craving bread if I eat too much of it, I love it more than meat!

 

[2cats4me]

Knock on wood this has not happened to me yet, the ten food rotation on timed feedings seems to be working for now. They are ravenous when I feed them. No DRY food might be the key, I know I start craving bread if I eat too much of it, I love it more than meat!

That is awesome , You are very lucky your cats will eat all those different wet foods ..  When you have cats like me that only eat one or two brands and then one day refuse it  you really have no choice  BUT to give them dry food  cause they must eat something ..

 

[bonepicker]

That is awesome , You are very lucky your cats will eat all those different wet foods ..  When you have cats like me that only eat one or two brands and then one day refuse it  you really have no choice  BUT to give them dry food  cause they must eat something ..

Oh I get it, I feel your pain!

 

[2cats4me]

Oh I get it, I feel your pain!

Oh , thank you .  I  just have to switch them back and forth .. 

 

[lnjf93]

I can identify with you too. My cat is super picky on his wet food. He gets sick of a certain brand easily and completely refuses to eat. Every time I enter the kitchen he would look up at me and meow incessantly, expecting me to give him something else to satisfy his palate ): God knows how much wet food I have thrown out in the entire duration I have adopted him since, lol. Rotating flavours doesn't help too, and the best luck I have had with wet food is Fancy Feast classic and grilled versions, but sometimes he doesn't finish those either. Difficult to get him to eat more (need to put some weight on him too). 

For dry food he is picky too. Gets sick of a brand after a few months and I will have to source for a different brand all over again. 

Funny thing is he likes cheap/not so good brands but refuses premium brands like Wellness, Nature's Variety, etc.

 

[2cats4me]

 
I can identify with you too. My cat is super picky on his wet food. He gets sick of a certain brand easily and completely refuses to eat. Every time I enter the kitchen he would look up at me and meow incessantly, expecting me to give him something else to satisfy his palate ): God knows how much wet food I have thrown out in the entire duration I have adopted him since, lol. Rotating flavours doesn't help too, and the best luck I have had with wet food is Fancy Feast classic and grilled versions, but sometimes he doesn't finish those either. Difficult to get him to eat more (need to put some weight on him too). 

For dry food he is picky too. Gets sick of a brand after a few months and I will have to source for a different brand all over again. 

Funny thing is he likes cheap/not so good brands but refuses premium brands like Wellness, Nature's Variety, etc.

My cats will only eat the so called cheap brands of dry or wet food .. I have also tried many of the higher end foods and they refuse them ..

 

[BonitaBaby]

 
That is awesome , You are very lucky your cats will eat all those different wet foods ..  When you have cats like me that only eat one or two brands and then one day refuse it  you really have no choice  BUT to give them dry food  cause they must eat something ..

Yes, @2Cats4Me! That is my cat. =/ I've witnessed her choosing to starve herself despite all kinds of food out...wet & dry, so I will just give her the dry food that she wants to eat. You know you have a very picky kitty when she has four types of dry kibble out, but she is not eating because she wants the 5th kibble that ran out and she is still holding out for it and almost starving herself a couple days later. =/

Also, she lost too much weight when she was ill. She still has not regained all the weight and she was not overweight before, but just the right size, so it is not a good time for me to try transitioning her to all wet. She did not like the different prepackaged freeze dried raw I gave her and I'm not ready to try cooking for her on a regular basis...

 

[BonitaBaby]

 
I can identify with you too. My cat is super picky on his wet food. He gets sick of a certain brand easily and completely refuses to eat. Every time I enter the kitchen he would look up at me and meow incessantly, expecting me to give him something else to satisfy his palate ): God knows how much wet food I have thrown out in the entire duration I have adopted him since, lol. Rotating flavours doesn't help too, and the best luck I have had with wet food is Fancy Feast classic and grilled versions, but sometimes he doesn't finish those either. Difficult to get him to eat more (need to put some weight on him too). 

For dry food he is picky too. Gets sick of a brand after a few months and I will have to source for a different brand all over again. 

Funny thing is he likes cheap/not so good brands but refuses premium brands like Wellness, Nature's Variety, etc.

Yes. Picky kitty eaters can be so difficult, especially since we don't speak the same language, so they can't tell us what they want.

I think my cat might actually love cheap/not so good brands of dry kibble, but she was fed Acana at the rescue shelter where she lived for 8 months. I had purchased a Purina ONE bag of cat food to feed her, but they gave me a bag of Acana to take home, so I gave her that bag first, and then after reading up about it, I felt badly giving her a not so good brand of dry kibble since she was already used to premium dry kibble, so I returned the unopened bag of Purina ONE and now I've got her on Orijen and Acana only, except for that awful Hill's Science Diet kitten kibble I had to give her after she was at the vet specialist. I still have lots of a 7 lbs bag of that one, but the general consensus seems to be that Hill's Science Diet is really terrible, so I don't care about still having a ton of that dry kibble. I'm just glad I got her off of it! But if my kitty hadn't been fed Acana at the rescue shelter, she'd probably be eating Purina One.

 

[2cats4me]

 
Yes, @2Cats4Me! That is my cat. =/ I've witnessed her choosing to starve herself despite all kinds of food out...wet & dry, so I will just give her the dry food that she wants to eat. You know you have a very picky kitty when she has four types of dry kibble out, but she is not eating because she wants the 5th kibble that ran out and she is still holding out for it and almost starving herself a couple days later. =/

Also, she lost too much weight when she was ill. She still has not regained all the weight and she was not overweight before, but just the right size, so it is not a good time for me to try transitioning her to all wet. She did not like the different prepackaged freeze dried raw I gave her and I'm not ready to try cooking for her on a regular basis...

Thankfully mine are not too picky about kibble .  I always have their favorite for a backup when they go off wet food ..   I did pick up a few cans of Fancy Feast Grilled Beef & Chicken and they each ate a whole can . So I guess they will eat that till they get tired of it ..  That 's  how we roll  in this house ..   

 

[lnjf93]

 
Yes. Picky kitty eaters can be so difficult, especially since we don't speak the same language, so they can't tell us what they want.

I think my cat might actually love cheap/not so good brands of dry kibble, but she was fed Acana at the rescue shelter where she lived for 8 months. I had purchased a Purina ONE bag of cat food to feed her, but they gave me a bag of Acana to take home, so I gave her that bag first, and then after reading up about it, I felt badly giving her a not so good brand of dry kibble since she was already used to premium dry kibble, so I returned the unopened bag of Purina ONE and now I've got her on Orijen and Acana only, except for that awful Hill's Science Diet kitten kibble I had to give her after she was at the vet specialist. I still have lots of a 7 lbs bag of that one, but the general consensus seems to be that Hill's Science Diet is really terrible, so I don't care about still having a ton of that dry kibble. I'm just glad I got her off of it! But if my kitty hadn't been fed Acana at the rescue shelter, she'd probably be eating Purina One.

Oh yes I heard Science Diet is pretty bad, and so is Royal Canin, both of which I have fed to my cat before and back then my cat had a more voracious appetite. I am trying 1st Choice with him now, and he seems accepting. My cat has a generally small appetite so I leave out the kibble at night on an anti-ant plate. He would have finished them by daybreak (I took the one for finicky eaters because that's what my cat is, a finicky eater, lol). My cat is pretty cool with Evo too, but I expect that he will get sick of that soon. He only likes awful brands ):

At least your cat accepts Orijen/ Acana, I would love to let my cat try those but none of the pet stores in my country have sample packs and what not :/

 

[BonitaBaby]

 
At least your cat accepts Orijen/ Acana, I would love to let my cat try those but none of the pet stores in my country have sample packs and what not :/

Do you have Amazon.com in your country? I bought the 12 oz sample sizes from Amazon.com. You could also check to see if there are any specialty pet stores in your country that maybe stock Orijen or Acana or online retailers.