Cat insists on being spoon fed

[fisheater]

For some reason my 6 month old kitten decided recently that he only wants to eat his wet food while I am spoon feeding him and he licks it off the spoon.

He used to eat it just fine out of the bowl until one day he turned his nose up at it so I offered it to him on a spoon. He's been demanding it from the spoon ever since and won't eat it out of a bowl. (No worries, he does get plenty of dry food to eat so kitty is not starving)

Anyone have any tips? I seriously can't keep spoon feeding him wet food forever.

 

[krazy kat2]

He has you well trained.

About the only thing I can think of is to not give in to him. I know it will be hard, and he will probably cry pitifully, but he will not starve to death as long as food is available. When he finally does eat without a spoon, praise him like he has done something miraculous.
I made the mistake of letting an 8 year old cat finish off what a bottle baby did not want, and for weeks he would bring me the bottle and beg for milk. It was adorable, but it got to be a pain in the butt. He was getting fat from all that baby milk. Did I mention it was adorable when he rolled on his back and held the bottle with his paws?

Good Luck, and stand your ground.

 

[fisheater]

Just hold out on him eh? Easier said than done. Since he's still a kitten he's just so darn cute

when he looks at me with those adorable eyes. Yeah I was thinking the only way to break him would be to hold out too. I just wish there was an easier way that didn't involve a cute sad kitty face.

 

[kailie]

I literally giggled when I read this. Yep, you're so totally wrapped!

I love it! Unless you plan on feeding him the wet food off of the spoon for the rest of his life, then yes, just stop. He won't starve himself and will start eatting it from the bowl again once he figures out you're not going to give in. Good luck!

 

[stephanietx]

Do you wash the bowls frequently? If not, try washing the bowl and then letting him eat out of it. Resist the temptation to give in to spoon feed him, too. It's cute now, but may not be in a few months!

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by stephanietx

Do you wash the bowls frequently? If not, try washing the bowl and then letting him eat out of it. Resist the temptation to give in to spoon feed him, too. It's cute now, but may not be in a few months!

I was thinking about that too. Cats are very particular and have extremely sensitive noses. If the dish isn't washed between every meal, that may be bothering him. Don't need soap, just scrub with a brush under scalding hot water.

Also, if you are using a bowl, try a shallower saucer, some cats don't like sticking their faces in bowls.

Of course it may just be he enjoys the bonding time with you. When you are sitting there feeding him, your attention is focused entirely on him!

I hand feed Tolly sometimes when he says he really really needs it, but he doesn't abuse the privilege.

 

[howtoholdacat]

When I first saw your post I laughed and thought that would be a hungry kitty in my house! I'm glad he's got plenty of other food. I agree, hold out and change the bowl. One of my cats only likes ceramics. I think it's because they don't have much of an odor like plastic or metal and I find it easier to get all washing residue off of them.

 

[fisheater]

Originally Posted by stephanietx

Do you wash the bowls frequently? If not, try washing the bowl and then letting him eat out of it. Resist the temptation to give in to spoon feed him, too. It's cute now, but may not be in a few months!

Yeah, the bowl gets washed with soap and water after every meal. Otherwise there's dried pieces of food that sticks and, well, that's just gross.

I will try holding out and if that doesn't seem to work I'll change the bowl.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[goldenkitty45]

A smart kitty has his owner wrapped around his paw doesn't he????

Try feeding the canned food on a shallow plate/saucer instead of a bowl.

 

[mystik spiral]

In my never-ending quest to become familiar with cats' needs and habits, at some point I read that bowls could be aggravating to their sensitive whiskers. So I feed my girl off of a small ceramic plate rather than out of a bowl. Now granted, I have never had to spoon feed her, but a new serving plate might be just the thing your little guy needs. And I agree that holding out can be difficult. Lately I have to hold out from about 5:00 to 7:00 every morning!!

Good luck!

 

[gloriajh]

First: I'm laughing so hard that I haven't read everyone's helpful suggestions.

Second: take away the dry food - he'll soon decide the food in the bowl is just the cat's meow.

(maybe someone else already told you that) Problem is, this could be me!!!

OKAY, I went back and read through the other posts. What I do for feeding the canned meat is that I use saucers. I have tons of them, and never use them, so now they are cat saucers - use one time, rinse off, then dishwasher. We have three inside cats, and four outside. I use saucers for all of them. I have enough saucer styles that each inside cat has a style assigned to him/her, and then another style is assigned to the outside cats. For the outside cat dishes, I soak in bleach first, then the dishwasher.

 

[mystik spiral]

I saw my sister-in-law today and brought with me several cans of food that Holland refuses to eat (I have learned that she doesn't like beef and she doesn't like the "pate" style... needs to be grilled or flaked, the picky eater...

). I told SIL I hoped Gracie (her cat) would like the food and she told me Gracie will eat ANYTHING, then of course gave me a hard time about my picky girl. I immediately thought about this thread and told SIL - "Well, at least I don't have to feed her off of a spoon."

 

[fisheater]

Originally Posted by Mystik Spiral

I told SIL I hoped Gracie (her cat) would like the food and she told me Gracie will eat ANYTHING, then of course gave me a hard time about my picky girl. I immediately thought about this thread and told SIL - "Well, at least I don't have to feed her off of a spoon."

That is too funny

.

Tried giving wet food to him on a plate instead of a bowl (I don't have any cat saucers yet). His appetite seemed the same though. I have, however, been pulling up the dry food overnight and not giving it back until his canned food for breakfast is served. He wasn't really interested in the canned food in the morning until this morning, after I had been pulling up the dry food for a couple days now. When I gave it to him in his kitty bowl he practically ran me over and wolfed it down!

So that's what I'll be doing from now on is pulling up the dry food overnight and return it in the morning after his breakfast. I also have a kitty saucer on the shopping list. Thanks all!

 

[pat traufield]

Have you tried leaving the spoon in the wet food?

 

[fisheater]

Originally Posted by Pat Traufield

Have you tried leaving the spoon in the wet food?

LOL! Yes actually I did end up doing this once after I was exasperated when spoon feeding him and stuck the spoon in his plate. Couple of sniffs then he was no longer interested.

I have been having some success with the kitty saucer and pulling up the dry food overnight. He's not crazy about it, but at least he's eating some wet food now without being spoon fed so I'm happy.

 

[pat traufield]

Working at animal shelters we often noticed that some cats are "social eaters" - they only eat when someone is either nearby or even petting them. Could it be that your being nearby holding the spoon is more important than the spoon itself?

 

[presouz]

Well at seven months old my kitten stopped eating wet food and only ate dry. I tried every quality and semi quality can pate food I could find. At seven months old she obviously did not care for food in general she just only ate when she absolutely had to. There is dry food available at all times a no grain EVO. She's a ragdoll, a large breed so she's growing and Weighs just fine. This went on for nearly 4 months. Anytime she would walk by the wet food that I feed my other cat she would try to bury it and never ate it. I didn't like that because her urine volume became smaller and her stool became very pellet like and dry. I bought 3 water fountain spa for pets one pet every room to encourage her to drink more. But the stool and urine continued the same small dry stool out put. So one day she was sitting on the Counter when I was getting wet food for my other cat. And I let her sniff the open can and she started licking the juices off of the pate. I only feed my kitties pate no grain. Anyway after four months of not touching wet food all she would do is bury it I got a wooden spoon near by & scooped some up and she started licking/eating it and she's been eating it that way ever since. So the comments that people say is yeah she has you trained is right.

My cat did not eat wet food for four months so withholding it from her is not going to help I already know that because I did it for four months. I'm happy I found a way that she will actually eat can food again! I use a bamboo rice spoon that is about 3 inches wide and 3 inches long so I can put a few ounces warmed up covering entire spoon. I'm retired so I can do this and it doesn't take more than five minutes & I know that her kidneys are being taken care of by eating the wonderful Merrick canned chicken or turkey pate ! So you see withholding is not always going to work. Because not one of you would say to let it go on for four months. I really just thought my cat did not like canned food anymore. Well I found out that's not true because thankfully four months later I found that she will eat it from a spoon. When my kitty was 7 months old my vet told me that she's going to be a big cat and don't worry if she eats wet food or not & to only give her 1/2 cup of EVO dry a day well when I started measuring her food I realize she's not even eating a half a cup of dry per day. & no can food! There is much more nutrition and moisture health value in a quality pate can food I'm happy she's eating it off the spoon or not ! *bows lol

I do figure eventually she might decide she has to have her can food but for now she doesn't even ask for it I actually have to tap it on her nose before she'll start eating it so bizarre

 

[catlover73]

I am glad your cat is finally decided to accept the fact you are going to feed him off a spoon for the rest of his life.  I had to spoon feed an adult cat wet food on a spoon years ago because she was actually afraid to eat anything due to being abused. I used a paper plate to transition her off the spoon feeding. She would not eat out of a bowl or off a regular plate.  I was over time able to transition her to eat out of a bowl.  She always had access to dry food but was actually afraid too eat it.  I spoon fed her at the suggestion of a vet to get her to stop being scared to eat.  It took me about 3 months to fully transition her to the paper plate.  Then it was around 3-4 months before she would eat wet food or dry food out of a bowl. If your cat does not have a history of abuse or is not severely underweight then I would do this transition as quickly as possible.  If picking up the dry food at night is helping get him to eat normally then keep up with it at least until he is consistently eating without begging you to spoon feed him.  I had a multi-cat household and even though this cat bonded very quickly with my other cats it took some time to get her to understand that she was safe when she wanted to eat.