Finickiest Cat In The World . . Venting My Frustrations

lavishsqualor

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My beautiful three-year-old tuxedo cat, Thirteen, has a chicken allergy. Ingesting even the smallest amount of chicken turns her into an itchy scratchy bloody mess and lands us at the vet because no one can sleep due to her incessant scratching.

She's been raw fed on rabbit for several years now with great success. The problem is that Hare Today has always been my supplier and they've been out of her specific grind for some time. I've tried other sources but Thirteen won't eat it; she sniffs at it, looks at me and then walks away. My Pet Carnivore, Raw Feeding Miami, even those awful imported Chinese rabbits one can buy at the specialty markets--I've tried them all to no avail. She just won't eat them. I've tried the boneless rabbit that HT does have in stock, and she won't eat it either. I took her to the vet several weeks ago for an appetite stimulant and 1.88 mgs of Mirtazapine was prescribed. When that had no effect it was titrated up to 3.75 mgs, and although it had no effect on her inappetence it did give her ataxia and also made her very nervous. It was frightening and I doubt I'll use that drug again. Her heart was pounding!

I've tried to tempt her with baby food (no luck) and canned foods--Halo Turkey & Duck, Instinct, Rawz, Dr. Elsey's, Fancy Feast, Wellness Core, Wellness 95, Petco's Wholehearted, even Friskies, and the only thing was she was remotely interested in was Nutro's Perfect Portions Beef. But she didn't even eat a whole portion. She just licked the juice out of it.

We went back to the vet this morning and she's lost over a pound! My vet was on the verge of suggesting a feeding tube. When we got home I successfully force fed her a mixture of HT's boneless rabbit and my own supplements and she ate it, but now she hates me. She's been under the bed all day. My vet ran a full blood panel and she's in good health. She's had bouts with pancreatitis but there's no sign of that this time. She doesn't like FortiFlora or any of the freeze dried foods, and I'm about out of ideas. HT will have rabbit grinds around the middle of the month, but that's still two weeks away. Last night I even tried bacon grease! I actually cooked some bacon and drizzled the renderings over her food hoping she would eat it.

Does anyone have a magic spell or incantation? I am truly at my wit's end.
 

daftcat75

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Rawz Rabbit?

Also, salmon oil has been a difference maker for Krista.

She was ho-hum on the Rawz rabbit lately. She loves the duck but it was giving her more hairballs. I compared the two and the duck has salmon oil. I added 1 pump of salmon oil to 1 5.5 oz can of Rawz and she's been cleaning plates ever since. I have to dilute her rabbit w/ added oil with turkey that doesn't have oil because she's now exceeding the recommended oil for the day (eating about a can and a half now.)

Grizzly Wild Salmon Oil in the 4 oz pump bottle is what I use.
 

Furballsmom

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Hi! This is so frustrating and scary when it happens.
Thinking of some success I had with my boy, can you try some other pouch type foods, without chicken? The gravy has most of the nutrients and could possibly help stabilize her weight.
Or maybe Koha?
 

darg

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Mine is finicky but nothing like yours. I can't really offer much other than maybe trying a freeze dried raw. Stella and Chewy's freeze dried raw turkey is like crack to our finicky, psycho cat, Gizmo. They do have Rabbit too. It ain't cheap and I'm pretty sure it has bone. But if you haven't tried it already, they do have small bags of it to try before breaking the bank on a larger bag.
 

Tobermory

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Have you tried bonito flakes as a topper?

HT has cavies. I wonder if she’d eat that.

Stella and Chewy’s or Primal frozen raw rabbit?
 
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lavishsqualor

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Thank you so much everyone for your recommendations and sympathy! With my vet's blessing I fed her some Paw Lickin' Chicken today from Weruva. Naturally, it's like crack to her since she's allergic to chicken, but she's going to get to eat it until Hare Today restocks her rabbit grind. Just keep your fingers (and paws) crossed that she'll eat the rabbit once I can get it. Thank you again for all your suggestions, and I can only hope that your felines are not as finicky as this one.
 
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kittyluv387

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Thank you so much everyone for your recommendations and sympathy! With my vet's blessing I fed her some Paw Lickin' Chicken today from Weruva. Naturally, it's like crack to her since she's allergic to chicken, but she's going to get to eat it until Hare Today restocks her rabbit grind. Just keep your fingers (and paws) crossed that she'll eat the rabbit once I can get it. Thank you again for all your suggestions, and I can only hope that your felines are not as finicky as this one.
Just a little longer until she gets restocked!
 
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lavishsqualor

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I feel like it's 1990 and I'm trying to score Madonna tickets.

According to their website, Hare Today is supposed to receive 10,000 pounds of rabbit today and process it tomorrow. I've been checking their website all morning but their rabbit inventory is still showing zero. Hopefully that will change sometime today.

I'm praying that once I get the :censored: rabbit she'll eat it! She ate Weruva's Paw Lickin Chicken for a minute and then suddenly quit. The only thing she'll eat now is Weruva's Chicken and TUNA! She devours it, absolutely devours it, and I know the tuna is awful for her. Interestingly enough she hasn't manifested any allergy symptoms from eating chicken. In the past it would cause her to scratch until she bled, and her ears would fill with grossness.

After this fiasco I feel like breeding my own rabbits. But who am I kidding? I'd never be able to hurt them if I did.

Everybody cross your fingers and paws for me.
 

Furballsmom

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I'm thinking they won't update their website until they actually have it all processed, ot would be too challenging to process the orders until their quantities are portioned out.

Nonetheless, I absolutely understand your :hyper:
 
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lavishsqualor

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I'm thinking they won't update their website until they actually have it all processed, it would be too challenging to process the orders until their quantities are portioned out.
^I think you're absolutely correct about this. And thank you for suggesting LTS3's chart. Is that something or what!? I can't imagine the time that went into creating it.

I don’t know where you live, lavishsqualor lavishsqualor , but WholeFoods4Pets has rabbit in stock again.
I am in sunny Orlando, Florida, Tobermorey, and I actually bought some rabbit from WholeFoods4Pets but Thirteen wouldn't eat it. I've never used any source aside from Hare Today and evidently she's grown used to their specific bunnies. I can't say I understand it but she looked at me like I'd tried to poison her when I offered her differently sourced rabbit. My two other cats, Atticus and Bella Roma, ate it all fine; however Thirteen would have nothing to do with it. As I said, I honestly believe she is one of the pickiest felines ever! If she weren't an indoor cat--say she'd been born feral--how would she have survived? I guess this just goes to show that their tastes--what they like and what they don't--are based on what they are fed when kittens.

You suggested cavies earlier and I've always been tempted to try it. When I place my rabbit order I'm also going to get some ground cavies, ground turkey and even ground beef.

Safecatch is a great product, it's low Mercury and they also have a low/no sodium variety
That's good to know! I may have to use it as a bribe every now and again.
 

Tobermory

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My two other cats, Atticus and Bella Roma, ate it all fine; however Thirteen would have nothing to do with it.
Ah, yes. How well I understand. Lily and Mocha will obligingly eat anything I put in front of them: homemade, commercial raw, canned and any protein. Iris? My picky calico will eat homemade chicken or turkey with individual supplements or the ground boneless rabbit I buy locally, but only if I use EZ Complete. That’s it. She wouldn’t eat the HT rabbit. :rolleyes3:
 
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lavishsqualor

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Ah, yes. How well I understand. Lily and Mocha will obligingly eat anything I put in front of them: homemade, commercial raw, canned and any protein. Iris? My picky calico will eat homemade chicken or turkey with individual supplements or the ground boneless rabbit I buy locally, but only if I use EZ Complete. That’s it. She wouldn’t eat the HT rabbit. :rolleyes3:
You are SO lucky to be able to purchase ground rabbit locally!!
 

Tobermory

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You are SO lucky to be able to purchase ground rabbit locally!!
A small local butcher shop carries it. It comes from an Oregon farm about 60 miles away. Nice quality. I’m surprised that there aren’t farms in the Orlando area that sell to local butcher shops!
 
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