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- Jan 18, 2017
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Hi all, I'm looking for help on how to fix a problem I've created! I have two 5 year old males. One is a 14lbs ginger tabby, the other is a 10lbs grey and white tabby. Both are healthy weights. Both cats have had recent thorough workups to make sure there are no health issues.
We originally only had the ginger boy at first. My goal was to feed high quality canned foods and little to no dry food. He ate pretty much whatever we gave him without complaint and he isn't overly food motivated.
Then we got the second tabby. He spent pretty much the first year being miserable and hungry because we can't figure out what he wants. He is obsessed with eating. He is insanely picky and rejects most higher canned quality foods. He seems to stay super slim no matter how much he eats and he eats more than the larger cat.
After much trial and error, I'm now in a state where I am constantly rotating different types of canned food. He seems to prefer lower quality canned food like Friskies the best but he will also get tired of it after awhile. I think he likes pate textures the best but will also eat more broth based or shred type cans, though he seems to tire of those more quickly. He also likes most dry food. There is no rhyme or reason to what he may or may not eat and this goes in phases. He seems to just suddenly tire of things. Sometimes he will eat a particular type for months in a row and then refuse it. After not having it for a month he will happily eat it again. We may have 1 or 2 months where he eats most options without complaining and another 1 to 2 months where he hates everything.
To make matters worse, the ginger tabby has also started to get more picky because of all this rotation and variety.
I don't think the issue is the location of the food. They already get the meals in a shallow bowl/plate so it doesn't seem to be a whisker problem. They both eat from the same plates and take turns, they are good friends and there is no fighting or stress.
They are currently sharing 1-2 5oz. cans in the mornings and 1-2 5oz cans in the evenings between the 2 of them, plus some dry food.
I have tried two different methods with timing, first method is that I leave the plate with the first can of the meal down until it is mostly empty or they have just completely refused it, this may take several hours. I will open a 2nd can a few hours later if they show interest in eating more (may also be a 3oz can if getting closer to dinnertime). Second method is to put 2 different 5oz cans down at once and let them have both to pick from throughout the day. So they pretty much always have wet food sitting out.
The only thing I can think of at this point to regain my sanity is to drastically cut back on the types of food and really try to stick with only 1 or 2 brands. I'm not sure what to do when they reject the food though. I usually end up mixing in broth or dry food when they reject a can, otherwise they refuse to eat and start throwing up.
The other thing I am thinking is maybe instead of leaving the canned food down and letting them graze throughout the day, maybe I should really be enforcing strict meal times so they learn to eat it within an hour or else it will be gone? I'm not sure if that would help anything or not.
Any ideas please?
We originally only had the ginger boy at first. My goal was to feed high quality canned foods and little to no dry food. He ate pretty much whatever we gave him without complaint and he isn't overly food motivated.
Then we got the second tabby. He spent pretty much the first year being miserable and hungry because we can't figure out what he wants. He is obsessed with eating. He is insanely picky and rejects most higher canned quality foods. He seems to stay super slim no matter how much he eats and he eats more than the larger cat.
After much trial and error, I'm now in a state where I am constantly rotating different types of canned food. He seems to prefer lower quality canned food like Friskies the best but he will also get tired of it after awhile. I think he likes pate textures the best but will also eat more broth based or shred type cans, though he seems to tire of those more quickly. He also likes most dry food. There is no rhyme or reason to what he may or may not eat and this goes in phases. He seems to just suddenly tire of things. Sometimes he will eat a particular type for months in a row and then refuse it. After not having it for a month he will happily eat it again. We may have 1 or 2 months where he eats most options without complaining and another 1 to 2 months where he hates everything.
To make matters worse, the ginger tabby has also started to get more picky because of all this rotation and variety.
I don't think the issue is the location of the food. They already get the meals in a shallow bowl/plate so it doesn't seem to be a whisker problem. They both eat from the same plates and take turns, they are good friends and there is no fighting or stress.
They are currently sharing 1-2 5oz. cans in the mornings and 1-2 5oz cans in the evenings between the 2 of them, plus some dry food.
I have tried two different methods with timing, first method is that I leave the plate with the first can of the meal down until it is mostly empty or they have just completely refused it, this may take several hours. I will open a 2nd can a few hours later if they show interest in eating more (may also be a 3oz can if getting closer to dinnertime). Second method is to put 2 different 5oz cans down at once and let them have both to pick from throughout the day. So they pretty much always have wet food sitting out.
The only thing I can think of at this point to regain my sanity is to drastically cut back on the types of food and really try to stick with only 1 or 2 brands. I'm not sure what to do when they reject the food though. I usually end up mixing in broth or dry food when they reject a can, otherwise they refuse to eat and start throwing up.
The other thing I am thinking is maybe instead of leaving the canned food down and letting them graze throughout the day, maybe I should really be enforcing strict meal times so they learn to eat it within an hour or else it will be gone? I'm not sure if that would help anything or not.
Any ideas please?