Cat Will Starve But Won't Eat Cat Food

[Belinda123]

lisahe , I will try this week to give him some boiled egg! Thank you for the link!

@Feebysownser
All those brands are available here, but so far reading the ingredients, it has onions and garlic. Not sure if this is okay for cats?

I saw that a lot of people has success with Weruva, but I haven't seen this brand for sale here in the UK... looked online and it's an US import only, I think.

 

[Cleo Savannah]

I have a two year old Savannah. She is extremely picky. I have yet to find a dry food shell touch but the one brand of canned food she likes in almost any variety is 'Fussie Cat'. It's not at my grocery but at Pet Stores. On sale for .89 a can, I feed her two cans a day. The key is a food in aspec as opposed to a pate type. With Fussie Cat you can see the real chicken and or fish in the can as opposed to ground mystery meat that doesn't smell right.

 

[FeebysOwner]

All those brands are available here, but so far reading the ingredients, it has onions and garlic. Not sure if this is okay for cats?

I would stay away from them if they all have onions and garlic. Neither is supposed to be good for cats. Seems crazy these brands would only offer baby food with those condiments in them. Can't imagine a baby needs that stuff either!

 

[sabrinah]

When I cooked for myself today, I showed him the tuna once more (nope) but weirdly enough he was very interested in the black olives. He tried to eat them, which I didn't let him, but he managed to lick a bit.

I know olive jars has lots of salt so not an option for cats. Looked online now and they can have a bit of a catnip effect? Anyone knows more on this?

My cat doesn't care for catnip but she loves black olives. If I get combination pizza she always pulls the olives off and tries to drop them in Ranch dressing before she eats them. I hate olives so I don't really mind her taking them as a treat a couple times a year. They do have a lot of salt, but maybe consider cutting one up into very small pieces and putting it on top of cat food? Olives and ham aren't ideal at all but if you can use them to wean your kitty onto a complete food I think it would be worth the temporarily high sodium levels.

 

[Belinda123]

Hi Cleo Savannah , I just looked at Fussie Cat now, it;s available only in the US... So I can't try that one...

I have been reading more articles online and I am kinda giving up. I will try the other 14 treats I bought today plus the ones that Columbine will send me and I;m done. I read lots of stories of people against processed catfood and swapping their cats diet with meat only plus supplements. I will wait for the Feline Complete to arrive (Amazon said one week) and hopefully that with the chicken, the kitty will get all he needs. He refused ALL brands so far, and I've tried 9 different products until now. If he doesn't want supermarket food, maybe it's giving me a message...

I don't know. Nevertheless I'm still open to suggestions in case anyone has more ideas!

 

[lisahe]

Hi Cleo Savannah , I just looked at Fussie Cat now, it;s available only in the US... So I can't try that one...

I have been reading more articles online and I am kinda giving up. I will try the other 14 treats I bought today plus the ones that Columbine will send me and I;m done. I read lots of stories of people against processed catfood and swapping their cats diet with meat only plus supplements. I will wait for the Feline Complete to arrive (Amazon said one week) and hopefully that with the chicken, the kitty will get all he needs. He refused ALL brands so far, and I've tried 9 different products until now. If he doesn't want supermarket food, maybe it's giving me a message...

I don't know. Nevertheless I'm still open to suggestions in case anyone has more ideas!

Yes, if he'll eat the chicken with the supplement, that would be better food than anything from the supermarket. We feed our cats two homemade meals a day and those foods are their favorites! They're also the healthiest because they're pure meat and don't have all the unnecessary fillers and thickeners that pet food companies put into their foods.

 

[ailish]

Wow! Can't give you any ideas that haven't been suggested, but Just wanted to say it AMAZES me the way some people treat animals. My mother rescued a 5-year-old Dachshund that was "mostly" housebroken. Mostly not! It was like the dog just didn't get it. She just went wherever. About a year later...she's completely housebroken. Nobody at her old house bothered, apparently. A friend rescued a dog who, like your cat, was raised on rotisserie chicken. That was all in would eat, and it was 7 years old. Slowly, very slowly, they switched it over to dog food and now it's fine. Of course, that was a dog, and they'll eat anything!!! Good luck!

 

[Belinda123]

Hooray! Halelujah! Cayce ate a supermarket food!

Of the 16 new stuff I bought over the weekend, he snubbed 4 so far, but ate the Encore chicken +rice pouch for £1 at Asda.

I must say, when I opened the pouch, I was surprised myself, as it was not stinky neither looked like catfood (it actually smelled good, almost like human food) I could see the chicken shreds and I had high hopes. He snubbed it at first, but went back to his bowl half hour later and ate EVERYTHING (I poured half packet) I was SO amazed, I poured the rest and he scoffed it.

YAY! something I can give to him when I'm in a rush, it's affordable and easy to find, and I don't have to cook so often now. It's a relief.

Also, I decided to give it a go to the Whiskas milk today, and bought him some. It has vitamins and Taurin etc so I thought it could be a supplement - Gave him one portion which he cleaned the bowl straight away.

So today this cat has been VERY well fed! He's more naughty and bouncy than ever!

Anyone has experience with Whiskas milk as a last option for supplement? I tried to find online if there was an age limit for giving it to cats but couldn't find it. Cayce is 4 months, but can a cat drink Whiskas milk as an adult?

 

[FeebysOwner]

PetAg Kitten Milk Replacer Liquid is another option - doubt if it is that much different from what you are giving him now. And, as far as I know it would not be an issue to give when he hits adult hood. But, if you wanted to as he gets better, you could always dilute the milk with water, especially if the food he ends up eating long term has additional vitamins as well as taurine, he may not need the milk.

 

[lisahe]

That's great news, Belinda123 ! Yes, I had a feeling Cayce would be most likely to eat something like that, that's a lot like human food. And it's weird: so often they seem like they're going to totally snub a new food but then they end up loving it. They can be so wary. I hope he continues to eat well for you and enjoys other, similar foods you might be able to find!

 

[sidneykitty]

I don't know if anyone suggested this before though I did a scan through previous posts, but just in case you need to try something else, Almo Nature has quite a few cans of food that are practically like human food. From my googling, it looks to be available in the UK but I'm not 100% sure. My cat is quite picky and she would eat that when she wouldn't eat anything else. I was very impressed with it when I opened the can. Wishing you both the best! Its never easy having a kitty who won't eat.

 

[mizzely]

My 9 year old Lydia gets kitten milk several times a week

So happy you are finding stuff for him to eat!

 

[Belinda123]

Hi there! Cayce diet update...

I'm trying to finish the other brands I have at home before buying more Encore...

Thrive chicken (shreds similar to Encore, but nope - not touching after leaving it for him the whole day)
Cosma chicken snacks - nope
Tesco ham cuts in jelly for cats - nope (I saw that it had ham so I gave a try...)
Dreamies Deli-catz 80% chicken - nope
Felix chicken & duck chunks 90% - nope

So far, only success with Encore and Whiskas cat milk.

What I'm doing now is, I give him a whole chicken thigh in the morning which he munches throughout the day, and in the evening trying one different brand plus a little whiskas milk (the advice is one bottle per week).
He cries a lot when it's something in his evening bowl he won't eat (which is most of the time, as it's me trying out a new brand). I think he's saying he's hungry.

Is this okay? :/ Or shall I just stuff him with chicken the whole day, buy only Encore as extra and stop trying new brands? :/

I hate seeing him hungry! :/

 

[maggiedemi]

Did you try Sheba Cuts instead of the pate?

 

[She's a witch]

Are you giving him raw chicken thigh or is it cooked with the bone? I am asking because cooked bones can be really dangerous for cats.
I would consider preparing his food in batches (adding felini complete) and freezing not to have to cook everyday for him

 

[mizzely]

I'm a jerk to my cat with new foods lol. I will not change her food for 10 to 12 hours. She does however get a small amount of dry food so she is not starving. If she hasn't touched it after 4 hours I add kitten milk. If she still doesn't touch it after a few more hours, I add freeze dried food on top. Most of the time she eats at least 80% of the food by the end of the night. If she really hasn't eaten any of it or barely touched it, I'll replace it with something else and will not offer more of that kind for a month or so.

She usually wants food in her bowl in the morning but does most of her eating in the late afternoon / early evening.

 

[cataholic07]

My boys were extremely picky with food, I tried a bunch of different wet and dry food. Right now I am feeding the Natural instincts raw and they LOVE it. They actually love all raw now. It's actually even cheaper the dry and wet because once they are adults they won't require as much food as they would the dry and the wet. The supermarket food is crap, and honestly stay far away from whiskers milk, most cats are lactose intolerant and the only type of milk that would be beneficial is goat's milk honestly. You live in the UK right check out Purrform. Most pet stores will carry a raw that's complete so check them out to. I will say on raw my boys look very healthy, soft, shiny fur (before they kind of look a bit rough lol) and their litter box most times you don't even smell it. They poo less and it's much smaller pieces. We first found out they loved raw when my mom gave them chunks of uncooked chicken and pork as treats so I think if your kitty prefers people food anyways he might really love raw. You can get the ez complete that you put on food or buy premade. Honestly I love raw and it has even saved me quite a bit of money as they were eating 3 and half cans a day with some dry (about $10-13/day) now they are eating 2 tubes of raw max a day most day and a pack of 6 is only $16-$24. That last over 3 days most times 4 depending on how piggy they feel lol. And once they are adults it will be even less

 

[war&wisdom]

and honestly stay far away from whiskers milk, most cats are lactose intolerant and the only type of milk that would be beneficial is goat's milk honestly

Whiskas CatMilk is made for cats. The lactose is 98% reduced, which means that it has less lactose than goats' milk -- precisely because cats are lactose intolerant.

 

[lisahe]

Are you giving him raw chicken thigh or is it cooked with the bone? I am asking because cooked bones can be really dangerous for cats.
I would consider preparing his food in batches (adding felini complete) and freezing not to have to cook everyday for him

Is this okay? :/ Or shall I just stuff him with chicken the whole day, buy only Encore as extra and stop trying new brands? :/

Oh, Cayce, Cayce, Cayce! Cats can be so tricky!

I'd probably suggest a combination:
-If he's still happy to eat the Encore, I'd make that his main food for now (or even maybe for a long time? some cats are perfectly content to eat the same thing all the time) and feed him plenty of that, at least until the Felini arrives. He really needs those nutrients -- like taurine -- for proper development so I would try to get as much complete food and kitten milk into him as possible as soon as possible.

-But once the Felini arrives, I'd try that out on him with chicken, as She's a witch suggested. And I'd cross my fingers really hard that he'll eat and love the Felini food! That would be the first new thing I'd try on him since it's closest to what you know he likes: plain chicken.

-As all that's going on, though, since you have food on hand -- and you'll have that care package from Columbine -- try something new on him every now and then (maybe every two or three days?). Cats can really sense our stress so the more you can do that without stressing yourself, the better. Maybe he'll be more accommodating if there are less options? One of our cats gets picky, too, and I know how much it stresses me -- what you're dealing with is much worse so I can only begin to imagine what you're dealing with!

Good luck!

 

[Belinda123]

M maggiedemi - I've tried Sheba cuts in jelly - also a nope!

She's a witch - I only give him plain boiled chicken with no bones. Will start adding Felini Complete as soon as I get it through the post. I hope it's true that it does not change the chicken taste!

cataholic07 - Just saw that Nature Instincts raw is available here in the UK so will try! The Whiskas milk is safe, made for cats with 98% less lactose so it's the right lactose level for cats, plus vitamins taurine etc. I'm keeping to one bottle per week as per package instructions and he is loving this thing so much, I think it's ok to keep giving it to him. At least it's something I don't have to prepare! True he doesn't poo much and it's probably because his main diet is chicken only... Will also check Purrform, thank you!

lisahe - yes that is sensible! Will not try a new brand every evening but maybe every two or three days so he doesn't get put to misery too often, poor little sod! (or shall I say purrrr little sod). At least he has started to get taurine and vitamins on a reasonable dose via the Whiskas milk so that's something. He loves it though - I give him a little bit and he cleans the bowl each time.