Is it safe to starve my picky cat into eating his damn food?

[Mamanyt1953]

"Caps are shouting".... Lol...That's your opinion, congrats on having that opinion; I guess...?

That's actually pretty much universal internet usage.

I get finicky cats. Hekitty won't touch wet food, even mixed in with her beloved Little Friskies kibbles. Yes, I know it's junk food. Yes, I've spent over $500 over the years trying to transition her. Yes, I took it as slowly as I could. Fact of the matter is, Hekitty had incipient hepatic lipidosis, and will willingly starve herself if her Friskies are adulterated, and she cannot go more than 48 hours without eating. She has it timed down to the minute, and knows exactly when I'll give up and give in. You have my sympathy, danteshuman . I've been on this roller coaster, and I know how frustrating it is.

 

[Furballsmom]

klunick , and any other readers with the ant issue, there might be something here;
How To Keep Ants Out Of Cat Food – TheCatSite Articles

 

[klunick]

klunick , and any other readers with the ant issue, there might be something here;
How To Keep Ants Out Of Cat Food – TheCatSite Articles

The ants don't get in the food. That sounds gross. They just are around the area where I put the bowls.

One reason I will not feed wet more than twice a day is I am already spending almost $100 every two weeks on wet food alone. I am buying them Blue Buffalo Carnivora and it isn't cheap. Yes we could afford to buy more to feed wet more often but I think my husband would have a cow if he found out how much I am already spending on these kittens.

 

[danteshuman]

The problem & frustrating part I’m having is not transitioning him to wet food but getting him to eat his damn wet food.

What he wants is only fancy feast melody tuna something. He will tolerate and nibble:fancy feast beef gravy lovers, fancy feast melody turkey & my bff pouches.

My point is would I be better off, just waving the white flag & feeding him a healthy dry food? I could transition him to something healthier then his current blue buffalo wilderness duck (no wheat.) His preferred wet food has wheat in it!

Not sure what else to do. I’m willing to keep feeding him 4 wet food meals a day (of 1.5 oz) BUT given his pickiness I want to take drastic action. Either make him hungry and desperate to eat a healthy wet food OR give him 2 junk wet food meals a day & unlimited access to healthy dry food.

So between those two choices,
which is better for him?

Here is my picky brat Jackie:

 

[danteshuman]

And when I say a healthy wet food, I mean the same flavor/type for every meal. I’m sick of his picky-ness waiting for his next dinner to be better!

 

[verna davies]

I know you don't want to feed him poor wet food but if he eats it, would it be worth feeding him that for a couple of weeks then mix in some good quality wet food and keep increasing the good one until it's all good food, maybe one meal a day of good dry food or dry given as a treat. It took me a year to convert one of mine from all dry to 85% wet but I'm so glad I persisted.

 

[zoes]

I would go for a modified option A. I don't think you need to take a drastic option. Feed him a small meal of what you don't want him to be eating per day (between cheap wet food and expensive dry food, I would pick the cheap wet food). The meal should be big enough that he won't literally die of starvation and given all at once. Just little enough to leave him hungry - say, max 60-75% of his minimum daily caloric needs (about 120 calories if he weighs 10lbs; use the forumla: (lbs-2)x20x.75)). If you worry about the effects of starvation, get a baby scale and monitor his weight. He won't get fatty liver disease on 75% of his daily needs. Worst case, he refuses indefinitely, loses a pound or two over the coming months, and you throw in the towel, knowing you did what you could.

Try following what I outlined above - alongside his crappy food and throughout the day, keep giving him small portions of healthier foods you think he might be willing to try. Pouches and mini cans, as you know I'm sure, are good options. You can also ask, at the pet store, for samples of freeze-dried foods that you mix with water.

You can also try giving him the crappy stuff, but mix in 10% good stuff. If he eats it, try 15% the following weak. This way he's not literally starving, he's hungry. Hopefully, hungry enough to try other foods. He will eventually. He recognizes and accepts wet food as food, and has tasted/nibbled a variety of flavours - you're halfway there. Between his hunger and some more patience and experimentation on your part, you'll get there.

 

[zoes]

And if you're ready to throw in the towel at this point, go with the cheap wet food. Just feed him that for a while until you're ready to try again, next month, next year, whatever.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Not to throw a new wrench into this whole thing, but have you tried Sheba Cuts in Gravy? They aren't are bad as FF (non classics) as far as ingredients go, so might be another one to try. What I do is mix those with a better brand for my extremely picky guy. My Tinky sounds so much like your Jackie they could be brothers, except I have been dealing with his picky issues now for 11 years. I do NOT, however, feed Tinky any kibble...he doesn't know what that is. However, when he absolutely won't eat any wet food, I give him unrehydrated freeze dried raw. to make sure he gets some calories in him He refuses it if its rehydrated, the little stinker. I absolutely feel your pain

In answer to your query, I would absolutely go with feeding him mostly wet food, whatever brand and flavor it is, unless he develops issues . with it. Try to slowly, very slowly, incorporate a better food into it as suggested above, and if he accepts it great. If not, then let it go. If at some point he develops allergies or other issues to what's in it, then of course you will need to change

 

[danteshuman]

Thank you for the encouragement to keep feeding him wet! So OK I will keep feeding him junk BUT over the next 6 months I’m going to try to get him used to a healthy wet food. I want to get him to eating at least a mix of 1/2 healthy & half his junk food OR eating my bff pouches (which I view as being 1/2 & 1/2.)

Yeah he eats his dinners. He gets meals of 1/2 can or pouch. I even reheat his meals for 5 seconds in the microwave (I store the other 1/2 of the can in the fridge and he eats it within 36 hours.) So my indoor cat eats 6 oz wet and 1/4 cup dry every day. He leaves leftovers on his plate & I am willing to always give him more wet if he looks hungry.

I know it is boring to eat the same meal every day, so I try to give him variety.

The reason he gets dry food is because every weekend we go to Nana’s house for 1-2 nights (so he can be with his brother/bff. They are littermates and a bonded pair.) I’m limited to 1 cat so we go out of the way so the boys can be together. At Nana’s she free feeds dry food. So when we visit I mix 1/2 of his dry food in with theirs and feed all 3 of her cats an extra 2 meals a day. If I let him pig out on her salmon dry food or if he eats lots of any dry food; he will get the runs. Nana’s house is his second home & he is very happy there.

Jackie at Nana’s house with his brother Nick.

 

[danteshuman]

He liked salmon, chicken & tuna Sheba cuts in gravy for a month and now he won’t touch it.

I think he is a bread loving cat ..... he certainly loves my wheat thins & sticky rice. Maybe it is the wheat (& in some rice) in the fancy feast melodies that he loves? Is there a topper I can add that will give him that bread taste? I have heard of a yeast but I can’t remember it’s name.

Mrsgreenjeans I feel your pain about Tinky being your picky eater! I may have to start a support group for people who have cats that are picky eaters!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

brewer's yeast, but I'm sure it doesn't taste anything like wheat thins It's supposedly good for repelling fleas though, when added to their food, and also supposedly increases their appetite. Maybe I should get some!

 

[klunick]

D dante
Do cats even get bored without varieties of food flavors? I am new to feeding wet food. Kittens currently switch between chicken and salmon flavor. But I am switching them to Carnivora which has multiple meat sources but in a single can. So they will be basically eating the same thing day in and day out. Maybe I will be lucky and these barn cats were born with a sophisticated taste palette and will detect different meat "notes" in each bite and they won't notice it's the same thing every day.

 

[Willowy]

Some cats don't get bored but you may want to vary foods to prevent them from getting too imprinted. If they only eat one kind and that kind gets discontinued. . .

 

[zoes]

He liked salmon, chicken & tuna Sheba cuts in gravy for a month and now he won’t touch it.

I think he is a bread loving cat ..... he certainly loves my wheat thins & sticky rice. Maybe it is the wheat (& in some rice) in the fancy feast melodies that he loves? Is there a topper I can add that will give him that bread taste? I have heard of a yeast but I can’t remember it’s name.

Mrsgreenjeans I feel your pain about Tinky being your picky eater! I may have to start a support group for people who have cats that are picky eaters!

I'm told that "animal digest" is the ingredient used in cheap cat food that makes is so palatable, but you could try a sprouted grain probiotic powder (Flora4 Ground Sprouted Seeds Food Topper - Carna4). I gave it to a cat who was in an awful diarrhea/vomiting cycle and it worked wonders, but my bread-loving cat doesn't seem to care whether it's in her food or not. Worth a try though, and you can find it in small packets that cost about $2.

 

[klunick]

Some cats don't get bored but you may want to vary foods to prevent them from getting too imprinted. If they only eat one kind and that kind gets discontinued. . .

At this point, both will eat pretty much anything put in front of them. Most of the time they are trying to reach up and grab the bowls before I can even put them down.

 

[danteshuman]

Jackie has variety & looked what happy! The little twerp!

He is my first picky eater cat & first mostly wet food cat. My past cats were mostly dry with one wet food dinner each night. Other cats I have known were half dry/half wet. At all of them, only Jackie is picky. However it is the first time I have only had 1 cat at a time. When he visits his brother & there is competition, he gobbles his food up!

 

[Ardina]

Not to throw another wrench in the mix but have you tried raw? I too have a carb loving cat who it took me a year to transition from all dry to unhealthy wet. And she continued to be ridiculously picky with wet food and would only eat gravy type wet food with a bunch of wheat. One day, my roommate was feeding raw to her IBD cat, and I tried giving a spoonful to Saipha. And she went crazy for it. She literally licked the empty bowl for 20 min in the hopes of getting more and then polished off almost 2 lbs of raw meat that day! Since then, I switched her over to raw completely and no more pickiness. Now I have the opposite problem - she starts reminding me 2 hrs before mealtime and constantly tries to steal from my other cat's bowl.

 

[danteshuman]

I have been wary of raw because I’m not sure they will keep the frozen meats at the right temp before I buy it or before it is shipped to me.

All September the little twerp will get allllll the fancy feast melodies he wants, all month long. I did order him a case of gravy lovers beef, so he will probably get that once a week.

I will work on getting him over to a healthy wet food in 2-4 months, using the 1/10 ratio someone suggested. It will be a extremely slow process, that will probably take a year.

I am however going to start feeding him the same meal all day. So instead of 2 different flavors each day, whatever can he gets for breakfast will be the same type of wet food he will be served all day! Hopefully it will help a bit with his pickiness. So for example fancy feast primavera melodies tuna will be breakfast, lunch, dinner & midnight snack. Instead of me opening 1 can for breakfast & lunch and then opening a second can of a different flavor for dinner & his midnight munchies.

I will keep serving him lil soups or delectables treats. He usually gets one when he gets to Nana’s house (because he skipped his wetfood breakfast for dry food, so he wouldn’t get carsick.) Plus I will keep giving him one as an extra treat, once a week.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

If you start that support group for people with picky cats...LET ME KNOW! If they ever stop making Little Friskies dry Seafood Sensations, I am in a world of trouble!