Cat has become super picky about food

[njg55]

One of my cats is on a special proteins diet for IBD, the other is not. The one who can have regular food has become super fussy about food recently, although she likes the occasional small amounts of leftover special proteins food I let her have when the other one is finished. Searching for brands and flavors she would like, I bought a can or two of lots of different wet foods last week. So far, she's only been really enthusiastic about one or two out of roughly eight things I've tried. She seems to prefer seafood and fish to anything with beef or poultry, but even some of those are getting a paws down. I don't want to feed her the expensive special diet food regularly. I've been taking notes about what she likes and doesn't and will get a few more cans of what few things she has seemed to enjoy and hope she doesn't change her mind and also try yet again to find flavors or brands she will like. I swear I offered her three different things this morning (including one can that I'd opened yesterday that she didn't like much, but after a bite or two she decided she still wasn't enthusiastic). This is getting very annoying. A lot of food is either going down the garbage disposal or into the stomach of our dog if I've left the dish unattended on the floor. She had a routine vet visit recently and no problems were found, so I think she's just being finicky. Is she getting too used to the leftover special diet food to want anything else? Should I stop letting her have that so she'll be "forced" to try something else? There is always dry food available, so she's not going to starve!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I wanted to clarify what it is that this cat will actually eat - the food that is intended for your other cat with IBD? If that is the case, is there something about that food that precludes her from being able to eat it as her primary food?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Since there is always dry food available, perhaps she simply isn't hungry. Rather than stress about this, I say just offer her ONE item of wet food and if she doesn't eat it, let her eat the dry food. I am saying this because I believe I have one of the pickiest cats in the world and have been dealing with this issue for almost 15 years. He has gone from eating a wonderful diet of raw, to canned, and now to kibble because it's that or starve. It breaks my heart, but it is what it is.

My only other suggestion would be to try using toppers. They may or may not work. In my case, they used to work, but no longer. Of Course, I"ve been using them for so long, and even though I have to switch up toppers with every meal, I've run out of new ones to try. But they did work for quite some time.

Good luck!