Can Cats Get Tired Of Eating The Same Thing All The Time?

[shebaa]

every month or so my cat will stop eating her food. i know shes still hungry cause she sits by her bowl, thats her way of telling me shes hungry. i will clean her bowl and give her fresh food and if that doesnt help i just give her some wet food. she goes crazy over that. she then later on starts eating her dry food again. but this week its taking a lot longer. i dont like giving her wet food often cause then she wont leave me alone. she follows me everywhere thinking shes getting more, always getting in my way especially when im in the kitchen . so i am wondering if cats get tired of eating the same thing? do you guys switch up your cats food?

 

[cheesycats]

Short answer: yes. My female cat won’t even eat the same canned food twice in a row.
Long answer: kibble tends to be super high in carbs and not very meaty. Canned foods tend to be smellier/meatier, better for cats health in general, and less processed with less carbs so I always encourage feeding wet food. If you can’t afford a diet solely of wet food like I can’t I put out half of thier daily calories in hard food in the am so they can eat it while I’m away at school or work. Then at night they get a 5.5 oz can of food for dinner and whatever is left of the kibble from the morning is left out over night. I rarely get complaints but my cats are used to this schedule so it’s fairly easy.

 

[Kieka]

I think you have two things going on here:

1) Wet food is usually preferable for cats to dry food. Wet food tends to be more biologically appropriate for cats and has better nutrition. It better fulfills their desire for moisture in their food and gives more animal protein whereas dry food tends to have plant protein which isn't as digestible for cats.

2) She is training you and you are training her. She wants something and if she does x, you give it to her. So she is training you to respond to a specific action with a reaction. But you are also training her by responding to that and by it taking more each time you are telling her a little more then you get reward.

Personally, if you want to keep feeding dry do so. But feed wet at a specific time each day and only at that time. Develop a routine around it, shake a bag of treats first or click a clicker, then she gets food. If she begs outside of the routine just ignore her, utterly and completely. Don't even acknowledge the behavior, say her name, nothing, nada, zip. After two weeks of sticking firmly to the routine of when she gets wet food she should adapt and accept the change.

 

[duckpond]

Most try to get their cats to eat more wet. If she only wants wet these days then i would feed her two or 3 wet meals per day, and forget about dry for now. of my 4 the boys eat mostly wet, one girl eats about 50/50 , the other girl will not eat wet If they would all eat wet like the boys i most likely would give up the kibble, except maybe on the weekend nights

However i do feed wet and dry. i free feed Dr. elseys dry, and feed two wet meals per day. my cats know exactly when the wet meals are, and they dont let me forget I dont normally feed wet any other times, unless im home for lunch then i will put out a can. Mine can also get tired of the same food every day. they have their favorites, but sometimes i have to put it in the back and feed other stuff for a week or two. then they are usually ready for the old favorites again