Finicky Eater - Help!

GranthemsDGB

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Hello!

I'm new to the forum and this is my first post, so forgive me if this is something that's been posted and answered a million times before, which considering it's about the fickleness of cats...I'm sure it has.

I have two fur babies who are the absolute loves of my life. Their names are Declan and Grover. Declan just turned 12 this August and i'm legally obligated to refer to him as the love of my life whenever I introduce him. He's an outrageously handsome, outgoing, ridiculously easy going cuddle monster. When I adopted him, we also adopted his brother and litter mate Mackenzie. Mack was a beautiful, insanely kind and sweet grey angel was wasn't as smart as his brother but was just so incredibly sweet it didn't matter. We had 9 wonderful years together, but in 2016 Mack was diagnosed with cancer and given 6 weeks to live. With my attentive care and love and his perseverance and knowledge that I just wasn't ready to lose him, he held on for 5 months before calmly passing away in my arms. Declan knew that Mack was sick and when Mack passed away, Declan didn't like look for him or become super upset..however he did start some odd behaviors, especially concerning his eating habits. He had never had any problems eating basically anything before, he liked pretty much whatever I put in his bowl, however after Macks passing he started not liking certain textures and flavors and they seemed to change from week to week. He went from a primarily dry food diet to insisting on wet food as well. He would also make me get him a fresh bowl of wet food every time i came back to the apartment, even if i just left for 5 minutes to change my laundry or check my mail. Often, he wouldn't even touch the food, just see that it had been done and walk away. I would find a brand and flavor he liked and suddenly after a few weeks, he would just refuse to eat it. But not in a "I'd rather starve" way but in a "I do not like this and you WILL fix it", which lead to many a frantic trip to the closest pet food store where I would grab just any brand that was different than what we had and he would be fine with it. I chalked it up to him never having been without his brother before and he was acting out and looking for control, so like the loving and terribly indulgent Parent i am, i let him get away with it.

About 8 months after Mack passed, I found Grover. I knew I would get another cat (i was actually planning on getting two) and I spend months looking at pet stores, shelters, peoples weird basements but none of them felt like family. Then I randomly found Grover. He was the cutest, ugly kitten you've ever seen. So small and he looked like an opposum. He started screaming at me the instant he saw me and he refused to even let me look at or acknowledge any other kitten or cat there. He had found his family and I found mine. I had to wait three days before I could take him home, because he was too small and young to get neutered, but I finally was able to bring him home. I was very nervous about introducing him to Declan and had taken several precautions to give them space and time to get to know each other. I brought him home, Declan looked at him, Grover licked his nose and it was a done deal. They were sleeping in the same bed that night. They have always gotten along and adored each other. It doesn't hurt that Grover is literally the best boy ever. In his entire life, he has never made me yell at him or disciplined any bad behaviors. There were a couple of occasions where i caught him clawing a leather hair (which his brother and cousin Blanche did allllll the time) and I told him to stop...and he did. Two weeks later, i caught him again and told him he couldn't do it because I didn't have any idea how to discipline him because i'd never had to. He stopped and hasn't done it since. He is kind and considerate and always looking out for the safety of everyone.

Since we got Grover, Declans food behaviors calmed down considerably, but haven't entirely disappeared. He will only eat pate textured food or those broth mixture things. He has to be feed within 30 seconds of me waking up or coming home from work, and he has kept some of his other "new" behaviors, like insisting that I hold him in my arms like a baby whenever I am sitting down, having to sleep right next to me, etc.

However, we recently moved to a new apartment and his eating issues are flaring up again. He has decided he no longer likes his FancyFeast, his preferred brand for like 5 years, absolutely HATES anything seafood flavored (which he used to adore) and has to have an additional Broth packet every day with his dinner. He doesn't eat any of the meat chunks in the broth but devours the actual broth almost immediately. On the days when I am home, he throws tantrums and annoys me until I get him fresh wet food as many as six times a day, almost never even tasting it. I've tried making him broth from bouillon cubes (nope), using regular chicken or beef stock (never), buy special Pet broth (gross). He also decided that he sometimes hates the "creamy" broths but doesn't know that until he sees it.

Does anyone have any advice on what I can do to help him move past this or at least be able to appease his new eating habits better? Are there any like "fail safe" wet foods that even the pickiest eaters love? Or ones that have more broth? or like pet broth they'd recommend?

Oh and he's not like malnourished or anything. He weighs 17 pounds and just had a vet check up where he was pronounced to be in "Excellent" health and also the hands down best behaved cat while having his tempature taken rectally in the vets entire 30 years of treating animals. Also, Grover (being the best boy) copies any of his brothers eating behaviors. He prefers dry food and if he does want wet food, always lets Declan eat first.
 

mizzely

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When Jasmine died, Lydia went off all her favorite foods too. She wouldn't touch anything that Jasmine and her used to share. I would walk down the aisles of the store grabbing every texture, flavor, and brand combination I could. She also became food obsessed after being nonchalant her whole life (she turned 10 this year). As soon as I even turn over in bed she's meowing at me to feed her - regardless if there is food in her bowl or not. She also no longer likes ANY fish except salmon. If there is unnamed fish on the label she won't touch it. She especially hates tuna.

It's been a year now and she's finally calmed down some, but it took time for sure.

Things I did:

- added reconstituted kitten milk replacer Or bone broth to her pate to make a soup

- used a SurePet Sealed Pet Bowl to keep food fresher longer

- didn't give into her demands. I would not give her new food for 8 hours. Most of the time she would at least at some of it!

Her favorite foods now are
Tiny Tiger
American Journey
Tiki Cat Mousse
Weruva Slide N Serve
Caru
Sheba

The Tiki Cat Mousse may be a good one to try as it is a silky pureed pate.

I also use freeze dried food crumbled up or Wysong AddLife if she's being particularly obstinate.

It's a journey for sure... Good luck!
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I agree with all of the above. Let her go hungry for a little while, even up to 16 hours. It won't hurt her to go up to 36 hours, but you probably couldn't stand to do that. I don't mean don't feed her, I mean don't give her something else once you have put a bowl of food down. Give her ample opportunity to eat it, then after enough time, pull it up and let her know she had her chance. Then give it to her again later. I've got one of those exrremely picky cats too, and he bugs me outrageously if he doesn't eat what he's given. He won't leave me alone and that's how I know he's very hungry. It breaks my heart that he won't eat, and I've tried just about every food out there and still haven't found the perfect one(s) for him. But when he gets hungry enough, he scarfs it down and then eats well for awhile. But I normally have to use toppers with every meal, plus give him one or two pieces of the toppers to get his appetites started before he'll move over to his bowl. (I use 100% freeze dried chicken as his toppers, which I crumble over his food)

In case you want more on this topic, here is a thread put together by many members here on how to get a cat to eat: Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!
 

amysuen

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Freeze dried treats crumbled over food worked for our picky eaters. Other things I've heard work for some cats (but not ours) include Forti flora, Parmesan cheese, crumbled dry food, & tuna juice.
 
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