Fussy cat

[Snowy Celandine]

My adult rescue cat, Lola, whom I've owned since she was a (hand-reared) kitten is becoming more and more fussy about what she will eat and I am running out of ideas. She started on tinned Felix but rejected that after a few months, then she was briefly ok with Whiskas in tins but grew tired of that. Pouches were fine for another few months. She enjoyed Gourmet Perle in trays for over a year but then decided she'd only eat the more expensive versions of that brand before refusing it altogether. She had a few trays of Waitrose own pâté trays but will no longer even lick them disdainfully. She will eat the Chihuahau's Applaws tinned chicken so I have ordered her the cat version which is arriving tonight. If she refuses this I have no idea what to feed her on. I should mention that she won't even eat freshly cooked chicken so that is also out. She does eat plenty of voles and is still eating her Applaws dry food so maybe she doesn't need any wet food but she seems to want it until I put it in her bowl and then she walks off.

Has anyone else been in this situation and what did you do? I've had lots of cats over the years, some rescues, some not, but never encountered such fussiness. I am wondering if it has anything to do with her being hand-reared? She is losing weight due to not eating properly but is not overly thin. Vet can find nothing wrong with her and she is regularly wormed and de-fleaed.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

The tabby and white won't eat soft food at all. He's a lean cat compared to the other two, but the vet is happy with his weight. I make sure that dry food (and water) is always available and he catches most of his food and does get a bit fatter during baby bunny season. You can't force him to eat though, so there's not much else that can be done.

 

[Snowy Celandine]

Thanks Faracat I am not too worried as she is still eating her dry food and all the voles she can find but she does look up at me and then at her bowl (I feed wet and dry food in separate bowls and water is always available for all my pets of course) as though she wants something. I love to see her happy and purring and enjoying tucking in to her food so I'm really hoping she will enjoy the new food that is arriving tonight. If not I will have to give up because I'm all out of ideas!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

How old is she now? I've a very fussy older dog and it can be very frustrating so feel your pain. My cats though, are gannets.

does she like raw chicken wings/duck necks? Lily's Kitchen?

 

[Snowy Celandine]

MoC, she's nearly eight now and has always been a bit of an odd cat in many ways. She is very affectionate for several days at a time, won't leave you alone, and then she goes off and does her own thing for a week and doesn't want to know us. We were told that hand-reared cats can be a bit 'individual'. She's lovely though and I would like her to enjoy her food if possible. She eats her dry food but doesn't purr when she gets it put down like she used to do for wet food.

I've not tried Lily's Kitchen but am happy to if the Applaws doesn't meet with her approval. Unfortunately, she won't eat cooked meat and I don't even like cooking it for her as I'm too squeamish. Stupid I know but I couldn't bring myself to feed her raw meat unless I am absolutely forced to.

 

[Ormsweird]

Have you tried her on oily fish at all? Even cheap value sardines etc goes down like a bomb with my pride.

 

[Umbongo]

I have a cat exactly like this, and her brother who is the opposite and will eat EVERYTHING!

The girl cat is very very fussy. She will eat the one type of thing for a few days then start refusing, then will eat another brand etc. We can do a full circle with her....so felix one week, whiskas the next, butchers, then applaws, lillys kitchen, then back to felix etc. She won't eat cooked or raw meat, will sometimes eat tuna from the tin etc and won't eat any biscuits apart from Dreamies.

If she will only eat a little bit and is possibly loosing weight, can you give her something that is calorie dense so she only needs to eat a small amount of it? Otherwise if she is eating her dried food and hunting, I would not worry too much about getting her to eat any wet food. Obviously so long as her weight is staying stable.

 

[chillipup]

I once adopted a cruelty case cat (a Birman-) from the RSPCA. He had been left in a house and starved. Once I got him back up to weight, he started being picky with his food, turning his nose up at different brands.

He loved whiskas though (of course he did, at the time it was the most expensive!) I finally took the initiative and slowly but surely weaned him off the whiskas by adding other brands to his meals. Eventually he had only cheaper brands......and then he refused that and stopped eating altogether!!!

It became a battle of wills. I refused to feed him the whiskas and he cried pitifully....for.. 4 days!! (despite having fresh tinned food and kitty biscuits twice a day, albeit not whiskas) Thankfully he gave in first, as I stuck to my guns and refused to be blackmailed over the whiskas. (I was almost convinced that whiskas contained some sort of addictive substance) However, once he realised I wasn't a pushover, he ate anything I gave him. He lived to 14 and I loved him dearly.

 

[Snowy Celandine]

Ormsweird, no, I've not tried canned oily fish but will definitely give that a go. Thanks

Umbongo, she is losing weight but she grew quite tubby over the summer so the vet is not at all concerned at the moment. I am keeping my eye on her weight though. Will see how the Applaws goes down before I start to panic!

chillipup, I admire your strength of character I fear I am a soft touch

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

The CPL use sardines in tomato sauce as bait when trapping so that could be worth a try.

 

[Circe]

The CPL use sardines in tomato sauce as bait when trapping so that could be worth a try.

This ^^^
My cats would happily kill you to get at some sardines in tomato sauce. Admittedly they aren't fussy eaters, but sardines get them into a feeding frenzy.
Kx

 

[NinjaPony]

I give my cat lily's kitchen which he loves, and add tuna or sardines if he is being really fussy-goes down a treat!

 

[Snowy Celandine]

Thanks everyone for the sardines tip. I will definitely try it if I need to but, for now, fingers crossed, she seems to be loving the Applaws. Hope I'm not speaking too soon. I had to pick her up and take her to her bowl but once she sniffed the food she tucked in just like she always used to when she was enjoying her food

 

[9tails]

My parents had Siamese that were fussy eaters, how I loved the charity boxes I received of rejected food. I have a toothless cat that will only eat Proplan crunchy food, the others will eat tinned or pouches with gusto.