So fed up

[bonepicker]

I wish I didn't know how you feel but I do. My 2 do this also. What I do is mix the foods. They will not eat Nature's Variety Instinct (or any pate) by itself. It has to be mixed/topped with something else. So I take 1 3 oz can of NVI chicken and 1 3 oz can of Pride by Instinct Lucky's Duck (for example) and put half of each can in their dishes and mix them. This is definitely a favorite blend. They also love the rockstar's rabbit mixed with the NVI and the Champ's Chicken ( both from PBI)

I also mix in Soulistic Good Karma or Harvest Sunrise. I try to mix textures, sometimes flavors, sometimes not. It might be all chicken one meal. It works. They like this. Sometimes I give them each half of a 5.5 ounce can of NV Prairie Homestyle. Sometimes they gobble it up, sometimes not. Nutro Natural Choice minced and sliced varieties are great toppers/mixers. If they like the soft loaf or chunky loaf, try mixing it with one of the sliced/minced varieties. 

I always keep some of the foods that I know each of them cannot resist just in case they flat out refuse to eat what I gave them. For Lilith it's easily the Wellness Divine Duos chicken/duck and chicken/turkey varieties. For Sophie it's hands down the Soulistic Good Karma and Harvest Sunrise. 

If you have too much of a particular flavor lying around, see if your local pet store will let you trade it for the same brand and size but different flavor/texture. They may help you out even if you didn't buy it from them. If they sell it, they shouldn't care

. They finally ate it overnight, so far only nutro and Merrick pates have not been snubbed.

 

[bonepicker]

I'm so picky about the wet food my girl eats. It cannot have any grains - no corn, rice, soy, wheat, oat etc. and no potatoes or peas. Happily, she agrees - she is not a fan of any wet with peas in it. Nutro Natural Choice meets all of these qualifications. Fancy Feast does too, but I have not yet tried it. Here is hoping!

I have to be picky about her wet food because I have to feed her at least half dry. Every time I try to put her on all wet, she gets constipated. I think she is extremely sensitive to gums in wet food and it is hard to find wet foods that meet the no grain, no carb, AND no gum criteria.

Oh well. They poo very little on all wet, she might not really be constipated. Just little balls every other day.

 

[lokipuss]

So, my cat liked Nutro Natural Choice and she still eats the majority of it in the morning, but lately she has been leaving a small chunk that I have to urge her to eat.

A few weeks ago I got two big cans of Nature's Variety Instinct - one rabbit and one venison. She really seemed to like them. So being the idiot I am, I bought a 24 can case of 3 ounce cans of venison and of rabbit.

And of course, when I started te venison case this morning she is being really finicky about it. I fed her at 6am this morning. She still hasn't finished it. She walks over, sniffs nibbles.

I am so annoyed and frustrated. I am not rich and this will not be the first time I have wasted over a hundred dollars on wet food for her. I cannot afford to keep doing this just to get her variety.

I am near tears. I may have to rid of all these cans and I can't afford more to replace the ones she has stubbed. Guys, why do cats do this to us? Do cats ever stop snubbing food and just eat it if you keep introducing it?

I don't know what to do.

Hi there TheHistorian.  I feel your pain as I've been down that road.  When Loki and Luna were kittens, they hated wet food, wouldn't touch it.  I can't tell you how many different brands I bought hoping they would like something.  And....they didn't.  So, I gave up and fed them dry (

).  After Loki blocked the first time, I read that you can sprinkle FortiFlora on the wet food to entice them to eat it.  I tried it to help them transition and they loved it.  I think I only had to use it for a week, maybe 7 days.

From Dr. Lisa Pierson:  "Try a product called FortiFlora.  This product can be obtained from your veterinarian or online.  Most cats love FortiFlora and this has recently become my favorite trick.  This is a probiotic made by Purina but you are not going to use it for its probiotic properties.  You are just going to use it as a flavor enhancer.  The base ingredient in FortiFlora is animal digest - the very substance that makes dry food so very enticing to cats.   The directions say to use 1 package/day - and you can use this much if you want to - but this amount is not usually necessary.  You may only need ~1/4 of a package
- or less - with part mixed into the food and part sprinkled on top of the food just as you would use salt and pepper on your own food.  I also have no worries about using this product past the expiration date."

You can get it on Amazon.com.....  Good Luck!

 

[BonitaBaby]

 
Hi there TheHistorian.  I feel your pain as I've been down that road.  When Loki and Luna were kittens, they hated wet food, wouldn't touch it.  I can't tell you how many different brands I bought hoping they would like something.  And....they didn't.  So, I gave up and fed them dry (

).  After Loki blocked the first time, I read that you can sprinkle FortiFlora on the wet food to entice them to eat it.  I tried it to help them transition and they loved it.  I think I only had to use it for a week, maybe 7 days.

From Dr. Lisa Pierson:  "Try a product called FortiFlora.  This product can be obtained from your veterinarian or online.  Most cats love FortiFlora and this has recently become my favorite trick.  This is a probiotic made by Purina but you are not going to use it for its probiotic properties.  You are just going to use it as a flavor enhancer.  The base ingredient in FortiFlora is animal digest - the very substance that makes dry food so very enticing to cats.   The directions say to use 1 package/day - and you can use this much if you want to - but this amount is not usually necessary.  You may only need ~1/4 of a package
- or less - with part mixed into the food and part sprinkled on top of the food just as you would use salt and pepper on your own food.  I also have no worries about using this product past the expiration date."

You can get it on Amazon.com.....  Good Luck!

Yes! I am both happy & slightly unhappy to have ordered FortiFlora to try to get my cat to eat her old favorite canned food. She wasn't into wet food until I accidentally gave her Iams Kitten Pate with "gourmet" chicken. She devoured it the first time and was very excited and would run to her food bowl while making complaining noises that I wasn't moving fast enough or something.

So I ordered 24 cans online, but by that time she found a new favorite -- Nutro Natural Choice duck pate...and started refusing to eat her Iams Kitten pate that had just arrived in the mail.

Now her new favorite is Sheba mixed grills so she's not into her duck pate anymore right after I stocked up on some. I got the Fortiflora and she demands it! She loves it so it definitely works, but I have to keep sprinkling more on her wet food to get her to eat more.   

However, I am very happy to make her so happy with her FortiFlora aka crack. Now I have to keep buying FortiFlora though...small price to pay for my cat's happiness. She is actually doing so much better eating a bit more wet food and less dry kibble!!! She's leaping everywhere and seemed to lose her "chub" weight in just a week!!! O_O

 

[lokipuss]

Hi Bonitababy !  Paw-some...crack cat baby !  When I went to the holistic vet, she told me to stop any annual vaccinations (don't want to start another thread here...) but in my case, Loki had several compound vaccinations before he broke out with a wild case of ringworm. (when he was 3 months old...on meds for 8 weeks)  So much antibiotics in his young system just wreaked havoc on his immune system.  Probiotics would have helped had I known about them.  So don't feel bad that Boss Kitty loves it.  I don't think it will hurt, but just in case you may want to ask your vet.  I read somewhere (can't remember if Dr. Pierson said this or Dr. Hodgkins said this but it goes like this, "feed your cats the food they need to thrive not survive".  Wet food is the answer...Off topic...have you ever seen the video on YouTube on how McDonald's makes (and has made for decades) their chicken nuggets ?  I can imagine the same thing happens with dry cat food.  Happy weekend to you and crack cat baby. 

 

OHG - I just realized that since Loki has been on wet food, he hasn't had any blackheads under his chin as he did with dry food.  Very interesting.

 

[lisahe]

 
same here. When I was first going crazy buying one of this and one of that to find things they would eat, I bought a can of NB Catatouille. They ate it right up. I bought more and now they turn their noses up at it. 

Nature's Balance apparently changed the formula for Catatouille. Our cats have always loved it -- I served it as an occasional treat -- but it was unavailable for a while this fall. I found it at a local store on Monday and bought a few tubs. By chance, I noticed on the Petco site that some cats have been unhappy with recent Catatouille, so I checked the ingredient list, which now includes rice flour and pea protein, two ingredients I avoid. The cats do like the new food but I don't think I'll buy more.

 

[conikat]

I don't know what on earth they're doing with the foods anymore! But then, I have no idea what they are doing with ours either, but they're probably related somehow. My cats are beginning to hate everything! And I'm so tired of throwing out foods, especially the expensive stuff they are supposed to love; Blue Buffalo, etc. it's ridiculous! I'm going to have to try the probiotics you guys are talking about. Has it worked for everyone?? Anyone not have it work for them????

 

[bonepicker]

My cats have not turned down any of their rotated favorites ( no dry given)

 

[bonepicker]

They get bored unlike dogs. I will just pull one brand out of rotation and bring it back in a few days later, no toppers needed, they are hungry though (I give no dry).

 

[stewball]

Thank goodness I have no problemssolving with the food my two eat.