Can A Cat Become Bored Of Food?

[candie]

Today my cat hasn't eaten much or hyped about fancy feast turkey and giblets. Luckily had 4 chicken liver tender feast and she gobble it down. Sometimes I have hard tine getting her fav food as they are out of stock and hate ordering cause of the wait.

What can I feed her if it's not in stock ? She been 2 years free without uti so wonder if it's ok to buy fish flavor and give her once in a or twice a month?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
You can certainly try a fish flavor now and then, and keep an eye on things. My guy, and other cats here, do seem to get bored with their food.
A rotation, with foods she's ok with, can be a good thing for that.

 

[KarenKat]

Olive definitely gets bored with her wet food ... I rotate every meal about 8 different flavors / brands

 

[kittyluv387]

Yup they sure do! My cats are obsessed about food but they can get bored.

 

[candie]

I try to rotate but she hated beef and chicken with beef and duck. And she only want fancy feast instead of other brands she can be so picky!

 

[RajaNMizu]

I think the more appropriate title is "Can a cat NOT become bored of food?"
I've lost track of how many brands/flavors have been given the seal of approval by the girls and even still, they throw me off my game once in a while with not liking something that they've eaten in the past and haven't had recently.

Have you tried some toppers? Mizu will at least eat most of something if she has some bonito fish flakes on top.

 

[candie]

I tried bonito flakes that probably had caused her uti in the first place cause after a week of that she was straining and meowing

 

[cheeser]

Oh, gosh. Our cats get bored with their menu options all the time, especially when we've just bought a bunch of cases of their favorite foods!

We try to rotate brands and flavors as best we can so they don't get burned out on anything. Alas, sometimes our house winds up looking like a cat food warehouse until our kitties decide they'll grudgingly accept something from our existing inventory. Cats!

 

[cheeser]

Do you have a particular price range in mind? One of our cats has a history of urinary tract problems, and I have a couple of spreadsheets that I can check for you for foods that don't contain any fish.

 

[littlesoprano]

Possy gets really bored with her food. And unfortunately her favorite is dry food too. So I rotate with whatever cans of food are on sale pretty much to keep her interested. Dry food she rotates flavors of Acana.

 

[Ecoleman24]

I have always rotated my cats food to avoid that as I know my furbabies. I think becoming bored is a definite possibility but also keep in mind the makers of the pet food may have changed the recipe/formula in some way as well.

 

[Luckytheordinary]

You can also try heating up other brands of wet food in the microwave for a short period. Just make sure it isn’t too hot for her to eat. Warming up the food can make it smell better.

 

[Ecoleman24]

You can also try heating up other brands of wet food in the microwave for a short period. Just make sure it isn’t too hot for her to eat. Warming up the food can make it smell better.

I have had success with heating food in the past as well. Good idea!

 

[duckpond]

my cats get bored quite easy with foods. i would think fish once or twice a month wouldn't hurt, but im not an a vet so i dont know. I do know a cat can fixate on fish, and not want anything else, so thats always a concern.

Have you tried toppers? Maybe freeze dried salmon crumbled up on top of their normal wet food? Or a little bonita flakes on top?

 

[KarenKat]

And yet, I have never heard of an outdoor cat looking at a mouse and thinking "nah, I am craving a cow today" lol!

 

[cardinalred]

From being a cat daddy for about 60 years, yes, cats can become bored with their food. When a cat enters your family it's a good idea to get them accustomed to a variety of equally nutritious foods.

Long-awaited Nutritional Requirements of Dogs and Cats, National Research Council of the National Academies, c 2006

arrived about an hour ago.

"...cats will become fixated on a single food if allowed to eat only one food for a long period of time (Kuo, 1967; Mugford, 1977; Mugford and Thorne, 1980; Kane, 1989).

Cats are normally neophilic (selecting a new food or new food flavor) if fed a variety of foods and flavors throughout their lives (Mugford and Thorne, 1980)

Texture and moisture content...are clearly more important for cats (Kane, 1989) Cats normally select a moist diet (meat or canned diet) over a dry pelleted or expanded diet; however, some cats that have had a dry commercial diet for a long period of time will select the dry expanded diet.

Chapter two, feeding behavior of dogs and cats, page 25

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

When I go to bed at night, I hope that my episodes of REM sleep are not filled with nightmares of my cat being bored with the food I placed in front of her as I get enough of that nightmare during the day!

 

[duckpond]

And yet, I have never heard of an outdoor cat looking at a mouse and thinking "nah, I am craving a cow today" lol!

But, knowing cats they probably are. They just don't have us out there to run one by them.

 

[cheeser]

I don't know what other brands you've tried that didn't tempt your kitty's appetite. But I just did a quick sort of my humble little spreadsheet, and unless I'm more tired than I realize, these are the options that turned up that don't contain any kind of fish or other seafood product (at least at the time I last updated my spreadsheet), are pate style foods like your kitty is used to eating, the carbs are estimated to be about 10% or less (which is good for kitties with urinary tract problems), and for the most part, are foods you can find at large chain type stores like Petsmart, Petco, Target, Walmart, etc.

• 4Health (Grain Free): Turkey & Giblet Dinner (only available at Tractor Supply Co.)
  
• 4Health (Original): Adult Chicken Formula, and Chicken & Beef Dinner (only available at Tractor Supply Co.)
• 9Lives (Meaty Pate): Poultry Supper, and Real Turkey & Giblets
• Beyond (Wild Prey-Inspired): Turkey, Liver & Quail Recipe
• Blue Buffalo (Healthy Gourmet): Beef Entrée, and Turkey & Chicken Entrée
• Blue Buffalo (Wilderness): Chicken Recipe, Duck Recipe, Flatland Feast with Turkey, Quail & Duck, Turkey Recipe, and Wilderness Rocky Mountain Recipe Red Meat Feast
• Canidae (Pure LID): Chicken Formula
• Canidae (Pure Wild): Frontier Trail Chicken Entrée, and Redwood Summit Turkey Entrée
• Fancy Feast (Classic Pate): Chopped Grill Feast, Tender Beef & Chicken Feast, Tender Beef & Liver Feast, and Turkey and Giblets Feast
• Friskies (Pate): Country Style Dinner, and Mixed Grill
• Merrick (LID): Chicken, and Turkey
• Nature's Variety Instinct (LID): Real Turkey Recipe
• Nature's Variety Instinct (Originals): Real Beef Recipe, Real Duck Recipe, Real Lamb Recipe, Real Rabbit Recipe, and Real Venison Recipe
• Nulo (MedalSeries LID): Chicken & Chicken Liver Recipe in Broth, Turkey & Turkey Liver Recipe in Broth
• Organix: Organic Chicken & Chicken Liver Recipe, Organic Chicken Recipe, Organic Turkey Recipe
• Wellness (Complete Health Pate): Beef & Chicken Dinner Smooth Loaf, Chicken Entrée Smooth Loaf, and Turkey Dinner Smooth Loaf
• Wellness (CORE 95%): Beef & Chicken, Chicken, and Turkey
• Wellness (CORE Pate): Turkey & Duck Recipe
• Whole Earth Farms: Real Chicken Recipe, Real Turkey Recipe

Hope that helps, and that you can find something your kitty will eat until her usual food is available again.

 

[candie]

I have tried many brands but she only wants fancy feast