Cat Refuses To Eat Anything But Treats.

Wreek · Nov 15, 2018

maggiedemi said:
Temptations treats made Demi really sick. I threw away so much food, thinking that the food was causing the vomiting and weight loss. I had seen that warning about Temptations, but I didn't believe it until somebody I trust on here posted about it. I'm so sad that I made him sick. Just be careful, okay? I don't want anybody else to go through what we did.

After we get her back on a normal diet, I'm not giving her anymore treats unless vet says otherwise.

LisaT. · Nov 15, 2018

maggiedemi said:
I had seen that warning about Temptations, but I didn't believe it until somebody I trust on here posted about it. I'm so sad that I made him sick. Just be careful, okay? I don't want anybody else to go through what we did.

Could you please tell me how him being sick manifested? Was he throwing up or having diarrhea?

maggiedemi · Nov 15, 2018

Throwing up. I tried a process of elimination on everything except for the treats because I didn't think a few treats a day could cause vomiting. But when I eliminated the Temptations treats, no more vomiting at all! I'm so happy.

lisahe · Nov 15, 2018

I hope the vet appointment goes well, W Wreek !

LisaT. · Nov 15, 2018

maggiedemi said:
Throwing up. I tried a process of elimination on everything except for the treats because I didn't think a few treats a day could cause vomiting. But when I eliminated the Temptations treats, no more vomiting at all! I'm so happy.

Thank you, maggiedemi!!

Kefa · Nov 15, 2018

Unfortunately, I think there is a risk with any prepared pet food. You just don't know. I would make him homemade food but I tried that and he won't eat it. I suspect before he was dumped on my porch the only thing he was fed was Purina Kitten chow. I also have a suspicion he won't eat wet food because he doesn't like to get his chin and nose dirty. When he got a bit constipated I put butter on his paw and he acted like I cut his paw off! He was so mad.

Wreek · Nov 15, 2018

lisahe said:
I hope the vet appointment goes well, W Wreek !

They came! She's purrrfectly healthy save for being obsessed with the treats. Got an appetite stimulant to hopefully get her back to eating to normal food.

Wreek · Nov 15, 2018

My girl hates getting her whiskers wet or having them touched. It's funny seeing her drink her water and trying not to get her whiskers wet. Lol

lisahe · Nov 16, 2018

Wreek said:
My girl hates getting her whiskers wet or having them touched. It's funny seeing her drink her water and trying not to get her whiskers wet. Lol

Aha! The plot thickens! We have to feed our pickier cat on flat dishes/plates because of (I think?) whisker stress. If you're not already feeding Tiger on something flat, that might be having an effect too.

More important, I'm glad the vet visit went well and hope the appetite stimulant helps! I'm sure you've already tried these but just in case: does Tiger even refuse wet foods like Fancy Feast Classics and Friskies pates? Those are generally pretty popular even with picky cats, probably partly because they're stinky and cats love stinky foods.

Wreek · Nov 18, 2018

lisahe said:
Aha! The plot thickens! We have to feed our pickier cat on flat dishes/plates because of (I think?) whisker stress. If you're not already feeding Tiger on something flat, that might be having an effect too.

More important, I'm glad the vet visit went well and hope the appetite stimulant helps! I'm sure you've already tried these but just in case: does Tiger even refuse wet foods like Fancy Feast Classics and Friskies pates? Those are generally pretty popular even with picky cats, probably partly because they're stinky and cats love stinky foods.

Yes, her plates are flat. Even got her a bigger watee bowl so she can avoid hitting her whiskers, lol.

She's back to a normal diet but still refused the wet food. She chose the kitten chow over it. Lol

lisahe · Nov 19, 2018

Wreek said:
Yes, her plates are flat. Even got her a bigger watee bowl so she can avoid hitting her whiskers, lol.

She's back to a normal diet but still refused the wet food. She chose the kitten chow over it. Lol

That's good about her plates. And at least she's eating, even if it's only dry food! The big thing now is probably to just keep her eating (without her stressing about missing the treats) so she can gain some weight back. Here's hoping she keeps eating well!

Kefa · Nov 19, 2018

Whisker stress doesn't make sense for Homer, he drinks his water out of a giant Mug. He really prefers to be hand fed, or get his food out of puzzles.

RCM mom · Nov 21, 2018

A little trick we tried with our Zira who refused to switch over to wet was we put her favorite kibble/treats in the food processor and made "special dust" and sprinkled some of that on top of wet food. Little by little we just reduced amount of dust...it took some time but it worked!!

sargon · Nov 24, 2018

I actually use a particular type/brand of dry food s treats for Freya.

Dr Elsey's, especially their salmon flavor, is a huge hit with my cat who prefers it to darned near anything else.

it might be possible to make your cat believe that it is a treat, and thus transition that way.

Mosi · Oct 27, 2020

Kefa said:
Relax. I went through this. In fact it is why I first came here. Homer wouldn't eat anything but Temptations. And he did starve rather than eat, until he made himself sick. First off what kind of treats are they? If they are Temptations then they have complete cat nutrition and they can live on those. Homer did. I even took him to the vet and had complete blood work done after he had been living on them for 3 months and he was fine. He still eats Temptations, but I managed to get him to eat other dry food too. And he will eat his dry food soaked in water if I hand feed it to him. He just last week took a few bites of wet food after watching the feral cats eat it through the window. I had been using the Temptations to teach him tricks, like shake with your paw, and jump, and I used them to teach him to eat other dry food. Eat some dry food, get a Temptation. So now he eats his dry food, and he gets a Temptation. And I put them in his roll around mousie and a puzzle box for him. Patience. But don't let her go too long without eating.

I tried every kind of dry food there was. I took so many bags of pet food back to Pet Co I think they thought I was trolling them. The only one he will eat is Purina Naturals, but he will eat Indoor or Original. Like your cat, Homer won't touch any people food. Not even tuna. Recently though I bought some really cheap dry food for the ferals, and I think they must spray it with animal digest too, because he likes it. But he gets constipated when he eats it so I won't let him have it.

I also feed Homer fresh grass every day. He drinks about 2 cups of fresh water a day, and when he drinks I would always say "Good boy, drink your water" so now I can say "drink your water" and he will go have a drink of water.

My cat is exactly the same !! I've bought him every wet cat food going. He will eat a couple of bites from the Purina red bag...but that's it. He will not touch hamburger ...beef.....tuna...although he will drink some of the juice from the tuna and will not eat chicken either. I just got so fed up that I started giving him the temptations which he lovesss. Someone mentioned crushing them up ...so I'm going to try that and mix it with his other food. Thank you for posting ..just wanted you to know ....my cat is exactly the same. BTW ..hes 4 years old and was a stray. I adopted him from the SPCA. Which makes me wonder what the heck he ate before I got him. I'm thinking birds because when he sees them outside ..he goes nuts. He actually made a dive thru my screen window one day but the screen stopped him ...thank God. He would have fell to his death as I'm in an apt higher up. Anyway...thanks for you help.

tarasgirl06 · Oct 27, 2020

Be REALLY careful about feeding Temptations. Many, many cats have become ill and passed away from these. I know the company won't admit it and a lot of people won't, either, but it is true. I will never buy these. And treats are not meant to be a diet for cats. It would be like candy being a complete diet for humans. Abolutely unhealthy and very dangerous.

maggiedemi · Oct 27, 2020

My cats are former ferals and they are very picky. They only like Purina One Hairball Formula for dry food and Friskies Shreds for canned food. I gave up trying anything else. This is what it's gonna be.

tarasgirl06 · Oct 27, 2020

maggiedemi said:
My cats are former ferals and they are very picky. They only like Purina One Hairball Formula for dry food and Friskies Shreds for canned food. I gave up trying anything else. This is what it's gonna be.

Those aren't horrible. They're not the highest quality by any means, but they're not awful.

maggiedemi · Oct 27, 2020

tarasgirl06 said:
Those aren't horrible.

There's no food coloring/dye in the Purina One, so it's a step up from their former Cat Chow. Plus they don't puke as much anymore, so I think it was the dye in the food.

tarasgirl06 · Oct 27, 2020

maggiedemi said:
There's no food coloring/dye in the Purina One, so it's a step up from their former Cat Chow. Plus they don't puke as much anymore, so I think it was the dye in the food.

I noticed the same in the past when I fed Purina dry food -- I don't remember which one(s) but yes, they had color added. NO need for that!

Cat Refuses To Eat Anything But Treats.

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High Priest of Freya, The Slightly Bitey.

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