Picky Eater - Wet Or Dry Food

[Dunkinlvr]

I am retired and on a fixed income. My cat (a 6-year-old tabby) is causing me a lot of expense because of her picky eating habits. I have given her canned Sheba, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Nutrish, Newman's Own, Beyond, Purina One, Iams and Meow Mix. One day she will eat something, the next day she won't. She'll eat a particular food at one meal, but not the next. I have given her a small amount of dry food that she will eat occasionally. I've done a lot of research and have heard both good and bad about wet and dry foods. Even at my veterinarian's office, one vet says she has never fed her cats wet food, while another says she never feeds hers dry food. I'm so confused now I don't know where to turn. I can't keep shelling out money for food she won't eat. I'm sure I'm to blame, but I just don't know what to do anymore.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Believe me, I feel your pain. I can't tell you how many cans, even cases of food I've donated to the local shelter because my cats liked it when I tried one or two cans on them, then decided later they did NOT like it . It's most frustrating.

As to whether or not you should feed dry or wet, which is best, ask 10 people and you'll probably get 10 difference answers. How long have you had your little one, and what was she eating before you got her? If she's fairly new to you, can you find out what she was eating before? If she's not new to you, has she always been this way? If not, what changed? Did YOU try to change her food and is this when she started getting "picky"?

Some cats like a variety, and others like the same food day in and day out. I've got one of each. The one who likes variety will not eat the same food twice in the same day (I feed 3 scheduled meals per day), and usually won't even eat the same food twice in two days. Needless to say, my counter top looks like a pet food store .

Anyway, it's a matter of figuring out just what she likes. Some cats like pate, some like shreds, some like chunks, etc. And some like fish, some lamb, rabbit, beef, you get the picture. Same with the dry food. Believe it or not, even with dry food there can be a world of difference in the texture and flavor. So you may need to buy the smallest packages you can find to try them out to see if she'll eat them (IF you want to go with kibble)

Have you tried using anything as toppers to try to get her to eat? Have you had her checked out to make sure she doesn't have anything medically wrong? Is she losing weight?

In the meantime, perhaps this article will help you: How To Choose The Right Food For Your Cat

 

[Dunkinlvr]

Thank you, Sally, for the valuable feedback. To answer your question, my cat was abandoned by her previous owners when they moved out of town. She was taken to the SPCA by a neighbor and I adopted her about a week later. Needless to say, I have no way of knowing her previous feeding habits. I have had her for 2 years now and have had the problem pretty much from the start. The vet says she's in great shape, not under or overweight, and has no medical issues. I feed her 3 times a day and then just a small spoonful before bed. The one food she does seem partial to is Friskies pate, but I've heard that's the McDonald's of cat food. I don't know what to believe anymore, but I don't want to be doing harm to her by feeding her the wrong thing. I don't mind paying a premium if she will eat it, but I just can't keep tossing food away. It's really nice to hear someone describe their experience and have it match mine. Thanks again!

 

[maggiedemi]

My cats are picky too. They don't like the expensive brands. For canned food they will only eat Friskies, Fancy Feast, Purina One, Purina Pro Plan, and Sheba Cuts. I just try to avoid the fish flavors. For dry food, I try to keep it under half a cup per cat. I'm still experimenting with dry foods, so I'm not sure what their favorites are yet.

 

[jen]

If she is an ideal weight is it possible that she is eating just very very small amounts and thats enough to make her not hungry and she stops? How long do leave the food out before determining she isn't going to eat it? Just leave a bowl of dry, if you have multiple bags of different brands open put seperate bowls of each out and let her be. If you want to offer wet too then go for it and leave it down for a little bit. I have one picky cat and I put her wet and dry food on the counter at the same time each day, sometimes her wet goes untouched and I come back later and throw it out and sometimes it will be all day before she touches her dry but she isn't going to starve herself and will EVENTUALLY come back to it.

I know you get a lot of opinions on what food is better and wet vs dry but just find something she likes. Also keep in mind that cats are strict carnivores and are not meant to eat the carby dry food full of corn and wheat that is convenient and cheap for us to feed them. So find higher protein/fat and lower or no carb and grain. Also remember "grain fee" is basically a marketing strategy, the foods can still be chalk full of carbs in other forms. Carbs=sugar=diabetes and other health issues. They are meat eaters. Period.

 

[maggiedemi]

jen-- can you suggest some low carb dry foods please? I have to find a new dry food for my cats since they now hate the one I was feeding them.

 

[Kat0121]

I am retired and on a fixed income. My cat (a 6-year-old tabby) is causing me a lot of expense because of her picky eating habits. I have given her canned Sheba, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Nutrish, Newman's Own, Beyond, Purina One, Iams and Meow Mix. One day she will eat something, the next day she won't. She'll eat a particular food at one meal, but not the next. I have given her a small amount of dry food that she will eat occasionally. I've done a lot of research and have heard both good and bad about wet and dry foods. Even at my veterinarian's office, one vet says she has never fed her cats wet food, while another says she never feeds hers dry food. I'm so confused now I don't know where to turn. I can't keep shelling out money for food she won't eat. I'm sure I'm to blame, but I just don't know what to do anymore.

Clearly your cat is related to my girls. They are both very picky and do the same thing yours does. What I do is mix and match foods. 2 different foods- a can of pate and a can of something else- shreds, minced, etc and use that as a topper to the pate. It mixes textures and flavors. I also use the dry food as a topper to add texture. I don't even want to think about how many cans of food have gone in the trash or down the disposal because they refused to eat them.

If they don't eat something and you bought a quantity of it (say a case), try putting it aside and then reintroducing it later. I've done this with success. Mine seem to reject a food that they previously liked a lot right after I buy a case of it.

Friskies poultry pates are one food that they have yet to reject so I keep that on hand.

The majority of vets are NOT experts on feline nutrition. They gloss over it in vet school and it's largely taught by reps from the big pet food manufacturers. When I talked to my vet about cat food, she just looked at me and said, "they need a diet that is high in protein and low in carbs." Um. Yeah. I know. I just said that. I know more about feline nutrition than she does. Sad but true in many cases unless the vet is feline specific and those are harder to find than a standard vet.

I'm not a fan of dry food but it's up to each of us to decide what's best for our cats. Mine do get some dry but only as a topper to wet foods or the occasional snack. I do splurge on the dry food since a bag lasts a long time. I give them the Petcurean GO! Fit & Free and they like it. For wet foods, they like the Friskies pates, Wellness minced and cubed, Pride by Instinct chicken, duck and lamb, Fancy Feast, Soulistic Good Karma, Nature's Recipe shredded chicken and Sheba pates.

Good luck. I know how you feel. I go through that all the time with the diva sisters.

 

[bonepicker]

Nothing wrong with friskies pates, I feed my Feral cats mixed grill, super supper and turkey & giblets in friskies line.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Nothing wrong with friskies pates, I feed my Feral cats mixed grill, super supper and turkey & giblets in friskies line.

Yes, as long as it's JUST the PATE, it's not a bad option. At least this food is fairly low in carbs, which is good. If she likes this, I'd just stick with it. It's good for your budget so seems like a win, win situation.

 

[lalagimp]

jen-- can you suggest some low carb dry foods please? I have to find a new dry food for my cats since they now hate the one I was feeding them.

This one comes to mind Chicken Recipe - Dr. Elsey's
I actually tried it and even though it costs a premium and is calorically dense, my girls adjusted to it and ended up eating less than the other stuff I have them on. We ended up going back to the old food, just to finish the bag, but I'm going to end up ordering this again. If you want to see more about the actual product it's in my signature.

 

[maggiedemi]

Thanks for the link. That's very interesting about the oxalates in dry food.

 

[nahui]

Ohhh! this is sounds so familiar. My oldest cat has always been a picky eater. At one point I was spending more feeding him than I was spending on food for myself because he would constantly change his mind about the foods he liked or disliked.

It seems like we have finally settled into what works for him. It is a lot of work, but it has significantly reduced the expense, while keeping him healthy, of course. He eats throughout the day, about 8 to 10 times a day but only a few nibbles each time. We feed both dry and homemade food and a vitamin and mineral supplement. For the dry food he chose the cheapest kind of kibble . I don't like feeding him that but it is the only dry food he will eat and it is usually the last resort when he won't eat anything else. The rest of his food comes from a variety of meats we cook and process for him, changing the mix on a weekly basis. We also did a lot of research and found this to be helpful in guiding our particular recipes for Mr. picky eater:Home Cooked Pet Diets,Home Made Recipes And Pet Nutrition

Hope it helps!
http://www.2ndchance.info/homemadediets.htm

 

[mokapi]

One thing you might try to do is go to smaller, more "mom and pop shop" pet stores and ask if they have samples. I worked in pet retail for a little over 8 years, and 6 of those were spent at a much smaller "chain" store. Our food reps would always bring in boxes of samples and we'd pass them out all the time. You might get lucky and find one that your cat really likes, but at the very least you wouldn't be spending anything and you'd have some extra variety.