What food to try next with our newly adopted Kitty?

[mamiecole]

Hi All,

Just found this site and am looking for some feeding advice.

We just adopted a super sweet, super adorable 2 year old orange tabby named Pumpkin. He has been home 6 days and my attempts at finding a food he likes are failing miserably. 

The shelter said to feed him "Any high quality dry food."  

So I bought some Natural Balance Indoor Cat Formula, Chicken and Salmon flavored dry food.

He wouldn't even have a bite.

So next I bought Halo Spot's Stew Chicken flavor dry food and he ate a small amount, but not much. He was acting hungry, yet wouldn't eat the food, so I went out and bought some wet food, thinking that might be the issue. 

I've kept fresh Halo dry out for him at all times while I have offered the wet, but he just ignores it. lol

Here are the brands and flavors of wet I have tried:

Wellness Healthy Indulgence Turkey: He ate about half a serving, once. The second time I gave him this flavor he only licked the juice and did not eat the food.

WHI Chicken and Liver: Will only lick the juice

WHI Tuna: Ate a few bites on one occassion, but refused subsequent offers.

Halo Spot's Stew Chicken: would not eat, but took a few licks

Halo SS Salmon: would not eat

Halo SS Lamb: gave me a death glare as to say "How dare you offer me this disgusting stuff?"

I tried mixing the Halo Spot's Stew Canned chicken with a bit of water. He licked the water but wouldn't eat the actual food. 

My thought was that maybe he has some sort of issue with actually chewing and eating, since he mainly only licks the juice from the food, but he will eat Greenies Dental treats when we give them with no issue.

I did take him to the vet yesterday because he was sneezing and I discussed the food refusal with the doctor. He said his appetite might not be good right now because of his URI and to keep offering.

He is feeling much better today and is acting hungry and like he wants to eat, yet whatever I offer, he refuses. 

Any advice about what to try next? 

 

[Willowy]

Find out what the shelter was feeding him, and just give him that for about a month, even if it's crummy. Then you can start trying other foods. He's had enough changes without switching food, too!

 

[agentspooky]

Wow, I'm surprised he isn't interested in any of that! Is he depressed, or does he seem happy in general? Does he have any health problems you are aware of?

My cats really like Castor and Pollux brand food. Also they love Stella and Chewy's freeze dried raw food, you could try sprinkling a little of it over whatever you're feeding Pumpkin.

Willowy may be right that it's a good idea to start with the shelter food though, and maybe ask if they had any problems getting him to eat.

 

[mamiecole]

Thanks so much for the advice. I have called the shelter twice today and left messages and am still waiting to hear back from them, but my guess is I won't be able to get in touch with them until Monday.

In the meantime I went and bought some Meow Mix and he ate a bit of it today on two separate occasions. I figured it was better than him eating nothing. I also offered him some wet food twice today when he acted hungry and it was the same "Lick all the juices but not eat the food" thing. 

I don't think he is depressed? He sits and looks out the window at the squirrels and birds, he runs to the door to great me when I come inside, he follows me around from room to room when he is awake and hops in my lap for petting and to take naps. Since he has only been here one week, and was at the shelter for only a few days prior to us adopting him, (and who knows where prior to that) he has had a lot of changes in a short amount of time. So I imagine he could be feeling a little unsettled and out of sorts. 

 

[just mike]

I may have misread this but are you leaving Halo dry out for him to free feed off of? If so, that may be one of the issues. If he's free feeding on kibble he may not care so much about the wet food. Again, I might have read what you posted incorrectly but I read it twice :lol3:

Anyway, try mixing up the flavors and textures. The suggestion that you find out what the shelter was feeding is a good one but they may be using a lot of different brands also depending upon the donations thay are receiving.

Try Fancy Feast Classics, Nutro Max Cat 3oz cans (chunks and gravy), Nutro Natural Choice (pate') and maybe Soulistic. See if he might be interested in those. Pretty soon you'll have tried them all it looks like.

If you are free feeding the kibble, let us know. We'll help show you how to wean him off the kibble and put more wet into his diet. There is also a raw forum here on TCS if you are interested in feeding him a raw diet at http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-feeding-for-cats

 

[mamiecole]

I may have misread this but are you leaving Halo dry out for him to free feed off of? If so, that may be one of the issues. If he's free feeding on kibble he may not care so much about the wet food. Again, I might have read what you posted incorrectly but I read it twice

Anyway, try mixing up the flavors and textures. The suggestion that you find out what the shelter was feeding is a good one but they may be using a lot of different brands also depending upon the donations thay are receiving.

Try Fancy Feast Classics, Nutro Max Cat 3oz cans (chunks and gravy), Nutro Natural Choice (pate') and maybe Soulistic. See if he might be interested in those. Pretty soon you'll have tried them all it looks like.

If you are free feeding the kibble, let us know. We'll help show you how to wean him off the kibble and put more wet into his diet. There is also a raw forum here on TCS if you are interested in feeding him a raw diet at http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-feeding-for-cats

I had been leaving the Halo dry out for him at all times, but he wasn't eating it. Today I put the MM dry out for him, he ate a small amount. I left the remainder in the bowl, but he never went back to eat any more of it after that. The next time he acted hungry, I offered him the wet food (Fancy Feast beef in gravy) and he licked it but didn't eat the solids. He was still acting hungry, so I dumped the "old" dry out of the bowl, poured some more and he ate a few bites. (Which is more than he ever ate of the Halo dry) 

Although I don't know the brand, I do know he had dry food in his bowl at the shelter. No idea if he was eating it though?