Cat refusing to eat suddenly and seems afraid of her bowl?

[jersharocks]

My cat Juliet is suddenly refusing to eat from her bowl. It's a raised bowl with a saucer-type top and it's made of ceramic (this one from Chewy). She's eaten from this bowl for months and starting last night, she is acting as though she is afraid of it.

She just had a vet visit last Tuesday and was given a clean bill of health (including bloodwork and fecal screening). She's had intermittent soft stool (not diarrhea but definitely soft/sticky type poop) for a couple months and the vet didn't really have a definitive answer for what could be causing that. We are proceeding with a theory that she might be allergic to chicken.

We did just change food from Science Diet Sensitive Skin (Chicken) dry food to Natural Balance L.I.D. Duck and Green Pea dry food. I transitioned slowly over the course of a little over a week. She ate the new food happily for the first several days (like dig in and finish it faster than her old food!) and then last night when she had a bowl of about 80% new food and 20% old food, she suddenly seemed afraid of the food and/or the bowl.

I woke up this morning and found a hairball under the cat tree so I assumed that she would eat better after that. But nope, she seems just as hesitant to eat today as she did last night. She will eat some if I put pieces of food on the floor but still not all of it. I've tried her normal bowl, a small Corelle plate, a stainless steel bowl, and food on the floor. She is refusing to eat more than a few pieces before she walks away.

Her sister Contessa is having no problems with the new food. She was hesitant on the first day but she's happily eating her food now. I normally feed mostly wet food with some dry but I wanted to get them on a dry food alone to see if the poop issue got better before I started messing around with wet foods. Juliet is notoriously picky so I had high hopes when she took to the new food right away. She's also very skittish and we think she's at least partially deaf because she often doesn't hear us coming and gets surprised but she can still hear us pull out a treat bag so she can hear some things.

Any thoughts on what I can try to get her to eat? Should I schedule a vet appointment? Local vets are booking 6ish weeks out unless it's an emergency so I probably need to decide soon if I want to bring her to the vet.

 

[Antonio65]

I have no advice for you, but I am curious to read what others will say, because my cat is acting nearly the same.
She eats from her raised bowl fine in the morning, but she's kind of afraid of it (or its content) at night. Weird, because she's eaten from that bowl for over a year.

 

[LTS3]

I'd make a vet appointment now just in case since vets are booked solid for weeks in advance these days. You can always cancel the appointment if your cat's behavior and appetite improves. Have you called the vet for advice? Your vet may be able to offer suggestions and that might avoid a vet trip later.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

My cat Juliet is suddenly refusing to eat from her bowl. It's a raised bowl with a saucer-type top and it's made of ceramic (this one from Chewy). She's eaten from this bowl for months and starting last night, she is acting as though she is afraid of it.
...

We did just change food from Science Diet Sensitive Skin (Chicken) dry food to Natural Balance L.I.D. Duck and Green Pea dry food. I transitioned slowly over the course of a little over a week. She ate the new food happily for the first several days (like dig in and finish it faster than her old food!) and then last night when she had a bowl of about 80% new food and 20% old food, she suddenly seemed afraid of the food and/or the bowl.

I woke up this morning and found a hairball under the cat tree so I assumed that she would eat better after that. But nope, she seems just as hesitant to eat today as she did last night. ... She is refusing to eat more than a few pieces before she walks away.

Her sister Contessa is having no problems with the new food. She was hesitant on the first day but she's happily eating her food now. I normally feed mostly wet food with some dry but I wanted to get them on a dry food alone to see if the poop issue got better before I started messing around with wet foods. Juliet is notoriously picky so I had high hopes when she took to the new food right away. ...

Any thoughts on what I can try to get her to eat? Should I schedule a vet appointment? Local vets are booking 6ish weeks out unless it's an emergency so I probably need to decide soon if I want to bring her to the vet.

You'll have to try to rule out possible reasons why she is not eating at the moment - not an easy task.

If you've been transitioning her for about a week and you've reached the 80% new food vs. 20% old food status, maybe she has already transitioned and just would prefer having only one type of food in her bowl. The smells of both foods together might finally be bugging her?

Another thing -- you could make sure that your Natural Balance dry food does not belong to the Lot number that has a "Best By" date of 10 March 2022.... just in case!! (update: oops, that is for the chicken formula, not the duck - my bad!)
see,
Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc. Voluntarily Recalls L.I.D. Green Pea & Chicken Dry Cat Formula for Possible Salmonella Contamination

Also, I'd recommend feeding her her old wet food if she is still refusing to eat... you don't want her to go too long without eating much! She might just be acting picky regarding her food, in which case, tried-'n-true food choices will get her through a rough patch.

 

[jersharocks]

You'll have to try to rule out possible reasons why she is not eating at the moment - not an easy task.

If you've been transitioning her for about a week and you've reached the 80% new food vs. 20% old food status, maybe she has already transitioned and just would prefer having only one type of food in her bowl. The smells of both foods together might finally be bugging her?

Another thing -- you could make sure that your Natural Balance dry food does not belong to the Lot number that has a "Best By" date of 10 March 2022.... just in case!! (update: oops, that is for the chicken formula, not the duck - my bad!)
see,
Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc. Voluntarily Recalls L.I.D. Green Pea & Chicken Dry Cat Formula for Possible Salmonella Contamination

Also, I'd recommend feeding her her old wet food if she is still refusing to eat... you don't want her to go too long without eating much! She might just be acting picky regarding her food, in which case, tried-'n-true food choices will get her through a rough patch.

I did check the bag and it expires in 2023. I did have that thought initially because I remembered hearing about the recall and almost didn't buy this food because of it but it was one of 3 choices I had at the pet store for dry food with no chicken and it didn't have as many bad reviews as others so I went with it.

Yesterday was actually the first day that I tried feeding 100% new food. I have a feeling that she doesn't like the size of the kibble. It's smaller than the old food and after watching her carefully, she seems to get frustrated when trying to eat it. I think it slides around more than the old food so she can't get a good grip on it to pick it up and eat it. I also noticed that her sister had difficulty with it so I think that's the problem.

Eating off a rough surface like her cat tree is much easier so she is more willing to eat it. She ate most of her breakfast today which was the new food. I might buy one of those silicone food mats to put the food on and see if she eats more of it. Or maybe a bowl with vertical sides instead of sloped sides.

I did give her canned food last night just to get her to eat something and she ate all but one bite of that and it was a large chunk so I get why she didn't eat it. She's a dainty and picky eater, the food has to be just right or she won't eat it.

I'd make a vet appointment now just in case since vets are booked solid for weeks in advance these days. You can always cancel the appointment if your cat's behavior and appetite improves. Have you called the vet for advice? Your vet may be able to offer suggestions and that might avoid a vet trip later.

I have not called the vet yet since they were closed yesterday for Veteran's Day. As of right now, she's eating again so I will pay close attention and if she stops eating again, I'll call the vet straight away and get her on the schedule.

Thank you everyone who has replied. Hopefully we've got this figured out but I'll let you all know if anything changes.

 

[jersharocks]

Another update: It was definitely NOT the bowl that was the problem. She was acting hungry so I gave her some more of the wet food I gave her last night in her elevated bowl and she ate every bite. So it definitely seems like something with the new food. I'm going to proceed with the theory that it's the kibble size and try a few things to see if she starts eating it better (without walking away early or refusing to eat or acting scared, etc).

 

[jersharocks]

Just to give an update: Contessa (who will eat just about anything) started turning her nose up at this food shortly after I made this thread so I knew it had to be something going on with the food. My theory is that it was starting to go bad/rancid because it was being stored in a plastic container. I opened a new bag and left the food in the bag this time. We're about halfway through the bag and they're still eating it no problem. Hopefully it stays that way.

Now I just need to find a canned food that Juliet will eat reliably. She is so freaking picky but I love her anyway lol.

 

[stephanietx]

When transitioning to a new dry food, do a gradual transition to avoid tummy upset and poop problems. I always start with about 25% new to 75% old and then over a period of weeks go to 100% new. This also tells you if they don't like the new food as they will often leave that in the bowl.