Hunger Strike For Wet Food

[TwirlyGirly]

I wasn't sure whether to post this in the "Nutrition" thread or here in "Behavior," so, if after reading, you think it should go in "Nutrition," feel free to move this!

I have a problem.

We have three kitties; Tripod (born with three legs, domestic shorthair, 12 years old), Nicodemus von Wittykitty (domestic shorthair, 4 1/2 years old), and Prince Legolas of Mirkwood (long hair, 11 years old).

Legolas is the most recent addition to our cat family; we adopted him from our local animal rescue July 10th of this year.

All three of these cats are "picky eaters." Up until we adopted Legolas, Tripod and Nicodemus were strictly dry food only, free-feeding. Neither one of them had any interest in wet food (certainly not any "people food"), nor would they eat any cat treats. As a matter of fact, they both turned up their noses at TUNA!

To further complicate matters, Tripod has always had issues with diarrhea and frequent vomiting (clear liquid). After a lot of research and experimentation with different types of dry foods (hampered by my limited income and difficulty getting the cats back and forth to the vet - my daughter and I are both disabled and use wheelchairs full-time for mobility), I finally determined his issue is IBS with diarrhea. Prior to adopting Legolas, I found a dry food that not only do both cats like, but also resolved his diarrhea/vomiting problems (Natural Balance Limited Ingredient). YAY! Tripod is a tiny cat, and he gradually gained roughly two pounds over four months after switching to the Natural Balance (he was about 6 lbs, and weighed 8.2 at his last vet appointment in June).

When we adopted Legolas, with his previous owner he had been on a free-feed (dry food) diet supplemented by a small amount of wet food (served in the evening). Lo and behold, when Tripod saw Legolas eating his wet food, he decided to give it a try and he liked it! (Go figure). So, then the challenge became one of finding a wet food that wouldn't cause Tripod's IBS to flare up, and both kitties would eat. So, I bought a case of cans of the Natural Balance Limited Ingredient wet cat food.

Legolas ate it, but wasn't thrilled. Tripod, on the other hand, LOVED the stuff. So, I began supplementing both cat's diet with a small portion of the wet food every day (about 1/4 - 1/3 of a 5.5 oz. can each for Tripod and Legolas per day).

Everything seemed to be going along just fine, except Tripod has become increasingly obnoxious about the wet food. Meaning, every time I go even NEAR the kitchen, he runs up to me and begins meowing and getting under my wheels. Over the past few weeks, it has become difficult for me to do anything in the kitchen because he won't leave me alone and I'm scared I'll accidentally run over one of his (three remaining) feet. I also noticed he has been spending most of his day lying within a few feet of the cat's food dishes. Waiting. He wants that wet food ALL THE TIME. (These were all hints, obviously, that something is wrong but they apparently escaped my notice).

I should mention here Tripod is the "top cat" in our household cat hierarchy. He's the one who immediately jumps into the litter pans to "christen" them as soon as I clean them every morning, and when I fill their bowls with dry food, he takes a nibble out of each one. That hasn't changed.

Three days ago, Tripod jumped up on my bed and as I was petting him, I thought to myself "Gee, is he losing weight? He seems thinner!" I mentally reviewed the past couple of weeks - was he vomiting again? No. Was his appetite still good? Absolutely. I then wondered if perhaps he was having diarrhea again, so I started following him when I saw he was headed to the litter pans - but no evidence of diarrhea.

Stumped, I thought maybe I was imagining things and perhaps he wasn't losing weight. Then, yesterday afternoon a friend stopped by for the first time in a couple of weeks. Tripod ran to her to greet her, she started petting him, and said to me "Is Tripod losing weight? He's thinner!"

Okay, so it's not my imagination. Trying desperately to figure out what is going on, I asked myself whether he was still visiting the bowls of dry food as often as he had before we introduced the wet food. Thinking back, I realized he wasn't. While he always took a bite or two when I filled the bowls in the morning, I couldn't recall seeing him actually doing much eating of the dry food other than that.

Last night, I did a little experiment; there was 2/3 of a 5.5 can of cat food left from the previous night, and I put all of it in his bowl. He quickly gobbled down the entire thing. Now, if he'd been eating the dry food throughout the day as he did before we began giving him wet food, I don't think he'd have had the appetite to eat all of it in one go.

I can't believe this, but I think Tripod is literally starving himself during the day in the hope of getting more wet food! (Before last night, after eating his portion of 1/4 can, he wanted more. But instead of going to the dry food, he'd just keep following me and meowing. I suppose I thought he was eating the dry food after I went to bed, realizing no more wet food was forthcoming, but apparently that's not the case).
Here's the problem: I simply cannot afford to have Tripod on an all wet food diet, especially due to the cost of the food he needs to control his IBS w/diarrhea. (He's also had some dental issues resulting in multiple extractions, so he needs to be eating at least some dry food). I calculated how much it would cost to feed him the wet food exclusively, and it's around 100.00/month. I can't do it.

I'm really stumped here. Should I cut out his wet food entirely so he'll go back to the dry food? (I feed Legolas his wet food in another room, behind a closed door, so if I do cut out the wet food for Tripod, he won't have access to Legolas' portion). Do I run the risk of Tripod refusing to eat AT ALL if I cut out the wet food?

(BTW - Legolas won't eat tuna, either. How did I manage to end up with THREE cats, all of whom hate tuna? LOL!)

I really appreciate any guidance you may have to offer regarding this issue with Tripod. I've been a cat guardian my entire life, but this is a problem I've never had, nor could have anticipated.

TwirlyGirly

 

[FelinskiFamily]

All you can do is try and see how it goes. Sad thing is they don’t understand it’s money thing and not your not loving them, he is probably trying to blackmail you by not eating, poor thing. Try going back to all dry and see how it goes. My cat won’t go anywhere beer kibble, as if the bowl was always empty, no matter how hungry he is, and he always runs with me to the kitchen, even if I only went for a glass of water. But he is very picky too, won’t even eat all kinds of human food meat... so spoiled.

 

[TwirlyGirly]

All you can do is try and see how it goes. Sad thing is they don’t understand it’s money thing and not your not loving them, he is probably trying to blackmail you by not eating, poor thing. Try going back to all dry and see how it goes. My cat won’t go anywhere beer kibble, as if the bowl was always empty, no matter how hungry he is, and he always runs with me to the kitchen, even if I only went for a glass of water. But he is very picky too, won’t even eat all kinds of human food meat... so spoiled.

Of course my fear is with as thin as he is already, if I cut out the wet food and he decides to continue his "hunger strike" for more than a couple of days before relenting and eating the dry food, he could conceivably become really sick really fast. There's just not enough fat on him to sustain him very long. I really hate being in this position; he's forced me into an "all or nothing at all" dilemma in regards to whether he gets the wet food.

 

[orange&white]

I would try a more affordable brand of canned food, and hope to find one that doesn't make his IBD kick in. Wet food is a lot healthier for cats than dry, even the cheap canned foods.

Some members here sprinkle Fortiflora on their cats food when they're being picky. (Not the whole packet at a time, just sprinkled like we would salt our food.) Apparently the aroma is especially irresistible to cats. You could try that if you really want him back on all dry food.

 

[TwirlyGirly]

I would try a more affordable brand of canned food, and hope to find one that doesn't make his IBD kick in. Wet food is a lot healthier for cats than dry, even the cheap canned foods.

Some members here sprinkle Fortiflora on their cats food when they're being picky. (Not the whole packet at a time, just sprinkled like we would salt our food.) Apparently the aroma is especially irresistible to cats. You could try that if you really want him back on all dry food.

Do you have any suggestions for a wet food that's gluten free, grain free, and limited ingredient that's less expensive? Because I haven't been able to find any. The Natural Balance LID is the least expensive I've found (per ounce).

I like the idea of the Fortiflora, but it's not cheap either. Looks like approx. 25.00 for 30 packs. I'd have to sprinkle it on all three bowls of dry food, because if it's as yummy to cats as you (and the reviewers of the product on the amazon.com product page) say, if I only sprinkle it in one bowl, all three cats will eat out of that bowl only. In other words, I don't have any way of ensuring only Tripod gets the food sprinkled with the Fortiflora sprinkled food. Buying enough for all three cats is just as cost-prohibitive as feeding Tripod only the Natural Balance wet food.

 

[orange&white]

I know all the limited ingredient foods are very expensive. The best you could shoot for then would be gluten free and grain free. Perhaps some of our members have specific brand names. (I feed a home made raw diet, so I'm not a brand expert.)

I think it is @mrsgreenjeens, if I'm not mistaken, who is one of the folks using Fortiflora as an enticement for picky cats. She may be able to say how long one box of Fortiflora will stretch when only sprinkled lightly over food.

 

[TwirlyGirly]

I know all the limited ingredient foods are very expensive. The best you could shoot for then would be gluten free and grain free. Perhaps some of our members have specific brand names. (I feed a home made raw diet, so I'm not a brand expert.)

I think it is @mrsgreenjeens, if I'm not mistaken, who is one of the folks using Fortiflora as an enticement for picky cats. She may be able to say how long one box of Fortiflora will stretch when only sprinkled lightly over food.

Exactly. I had tried just gluten free/grain free foods prior to the limited ingredient while trying to isolate Tripod's specific food-related issues, with little success. They seemed to help a bit (cutting down on his diarrhea from a daily thing to a few times a week), but when I finally tried the Natural Balance and eliminated gluten, grain AND limited the ingredients it cleared up entirely. It was such a relief NOT to see the poor little guy running back and forth to the litter pan all day long (or so it seemed). I'm so glad I found something that works (specifically, the chicken & pea formula), I was reluctant to even change the flavor (the wet food, also Natural Instincts Limited Ingredient, is likewise chicken & pea).

Because Legolas does not have any digestive issues (and wasn't that thrilled with the Natural Instincts), I recently switched him to Blue Buffalo because I suspected it was a textural issue with him (the Natural Instincts is pâté). Blue Buffalo has some chunky varieties, so I've been rotating chicken, salmon, and chicken with him, and he loves the stuff (it's a bit less expensive then the Natural Instincts, too).

From the amazon website, the Flotiflora comes in a box of 30 packets ("sachets") for roughly 25.00. Each packet contains 1 gram (you're supposed to sprinkle one full packet over bowl of food). 1 gram isn't very much; on another website a customer wrote it's less than 1/2 teaspoon. I guess I'm also not really convinced it would work even with a full packet, let alone 1/3 of that per bowl, because it's not that he doesn't like the dry food - prior to trying the wet food, he loved it. It's just that now that he's eating the wet food, he's decided he likes it more (and apparently is willing to starve himself in an attempt to guilt me into feeding him the wet food exclusively).

When my daughter was a baby, and just starting solid foods, I was determined not to raise a picky eater. I succeeded; she was eating escargot at the age of two! Around that same time I was chatting with a nutritionist, who told me "No child has ever starved themselves to death when there has been food available."

But is this true for cats, provided the "food available" is something the cat does like and did eat quite happily before something he decided he wants more came along?

TwirlyGirly <who's being manipulated by 6 pounds of fur>

 

[Blakeney Green]

One option you could try if you have a Tractor Supply nearby is the brand 4Health. They have a grain-free line. It's a decent food that won't break the bank. I'm not familiar with IBS, so I don't guarantee it would be good for your cat - read the label first! - but if it would work, it could help you afford the wet.

 

[susanm9006]

Don't know if this will work but have you tried mixing his wet and dry food together sort of a gravy train mixture?

 

[danteshuman]

Is it possible his teeth are hurting him? I buy these two wet foods for my guys because one of my cats has chicken allergies. Is there anyway that you can find a local pet store to buy one brand/few cans at time instead of investing in an entire case?

Instinct by Nature's Variety Grain-Free Beef Formula Canned Cat Food

Natural Balance L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets Venison & Green Pea Formula Grain-Free Canned Cat Food

 

[orange&white]

But is this true for cats, provided the "food available" is something the cat does like and did eat quite happily before something he decided he wants more came along?

I've owned only one cat who woke up one morning and didn't recognize any type of cat food or human food as edible. He ended up in hepatic lipidosis and he and I shared a grueling couple of months of syringe feeding him every few hours. So it certainly isn't the norm, but some cats do seem perfectly willing to starve to death.

 

[orange&white]

Now I'm thinking it was @maureen brad who was talking about sprinkling the Fortiflora. (Sorry, my memory is bad.) I'm pretty sure she wasn't using 1/3 a packet at a time. If I can remember who is was, I hope they'll chime in with some real life experience with it.

 

[losna]

Have you considered a raw diet? It takes some work training a cat onto raw if they've never had it, but switching to raw reduced the tummy upsets we had here by a very noticeable amount. It also makes litter box cleaning much easier and less onerous.

I understand the hunger strikes; Sinbad will go on hunger strikes every so often, and end up starting to vomit up stomach bile. I hate it when it takes me that long to figure out what he's objecting to. :/

But it costs us between $65-85 a month to feed our 3 cats on raw, including shipping. The variance is how much we decide to indulge them every month (they LOVE rabbit but it's really expensive so we don't get much for them very often). We buy a month's supply at a time and store it in the freezer in the basement. It makes feeding them a bit more of a chore, but the benefits more than make up for it to me.

 

[TwirlyGirly]

One option you could try if you have a Tractor Supply nearby is the brand 4Health. They have a grain-free line. It's a decent food that won't break the bank. I'm not familiar with IBS, so I don't guarantee it would be good for your cat - read the label first! - but if it would work, it could help you afford the wet.

I'd never heard of this brand before, so I did a bit of sleuthing. There is a Tractor Supply in N. Kingston, RI - about 20 minutes drive. I will need to find out if it's wheelchair accessible (unfortunately, despite the ADA, that's not a given). I'm also a bit concerned with being able to get there during the winter months (any snow/ice locks me in and not only can I not get from my house to my car, but also often can't get into the place I need to go). So, it would be better for me to find something I can buy online if the weather isn't cooperating. But thank you for the info!

 

[TwirlyGirly]

I've owned only one cat who woke up one morning and didn't recognize any type of cat food or human food as edible. He ended up in hepatic lipidosis and he and I shared a grueling couple of months of syringe feeding him every few hours. So it certainly isn't the norm, but some cats do seem perfectly willing to starve to death.

And THIS is exactly my concern. Who knows what's going on in that furry little head of his? "If I just whine enough and stop eating, SURELY she'll give in and give me what I want eventually!" ARGGGHHHH!

 

[orange&white]

Tractor Supply does ship...not sure the shipping charges.

 

[TwirlyGirly]

Don't know if this will work but have you tried mixing his wet and dry food together sort of a gravy train mixture?

This is a really good idea, and no, I hadn't thought about this until you mentioned it. As a matter of fact, tonight I'm going to mix in some of the dry food with the wet, and see what he does. If he eats it, the solution might be continuing to feed him the wet food in the evening, but mixing in the dry, and slowly decrease the wet food and increase the dry until he's back to just the dry food. If it works, I should be able to get his weight back up without worrying about him ceasing eating entirely in the hope of me giving in and feeding him only the wet food. Thank you!

 

[maggiedemi]

You can order online from Tractor Supply, I think it's free shipping over $49.

 

[TwirlyGirly]

Have you considered a raw diet? It takes some work training a cat onto raw if they've never had it, but switching to raw reduced the tummy upsets we had here by a very noticeable amount. It also makes litter box cleaning much easier and less onerous.

I understand the hunger strikes; Sinbad will go on hunger strikes every so often, and end up starting to vomit up stomach bile. I hate it when it takes me that long to figure out what he's objecting to. :/

But it costs us between $65-85 a month to feed our 3 cats on raw, including shipping. The variance is how much we decide to indulge them every month (they LOVE rabbit but it's really expensive so we don't get much for them very often). We buy a month's supply at a time and store it in the freezer in the basement. It makes feeding them a bit more of a chore, but the benefits more than make up for it to me.

I understand that you buy the food prepared and store it in your freezer, but my freezer is at the top of my fridge and is difficult for me to reach, and space is extremely limited. I would not be able to store (and reach) a month's worth of food for them up there.

I know there are folks who do the raw food prep themselves, and I really like this idea, in theory. But to be honest, what with my disability and living in a home with no adaptations (except for a ramp to get into my house) - meaning, a standard kitchen - I just don't think this is a sustainable option for me. (To give you an idea, the top of my shoulders are level with the counters in my kitchen. For me, food prep and cooking is like a person of average height trying to prepare meals while on their knees). I also have issues with chronic pain, and there are far too many days when just getting a meal for myself seems impossible.

If circumstances were different, I absolutely would delve into raw food diets for my fur babies, because I know that would be best for them, but that's not something I can commit to at this time.

 

[orange&white]

And THIS is exactly my concern. Who knows what's going on in that furry little head of his? "If I just whine enough and stop eating, SURELY she'll give in and give me what I want eventually!" ARGGGHHHH!

I tried to emphasize that hepatic lipidosis is pretty rare, so as not to alarm you. It certainly is something to watch for, but most cats won't starve themselves to death. I just happened to own one of the "lucky" ones who ended up with fatty liver disease from refusing food. He was also diagnosed with some mental issues (PICA, separation anxiety, eating disorders) when the vet never could find anything physically wrong with him.