Tell me why my cat eats her food at the kennel but not at home?

[three4rd]

This is getting old quick. The past 2 months or so before she went into the kennel she was getting very finicky with eating her wet (canned) food. So I gradually transitioned into a different food (same brand, different flavor) and she seemed to really go for it. Then, I bought enough cans of the new flavor to last her for a 3-week stay at the kennel.

While I was away, I checked in with them several times to see if she was giving them any trouble with eating the wet food. NO problem at all. I asked again when picking her up yesterday and they confirmed no trouble whatsoever with getting her to eat.

Now that she's home, totally different story. Same food - just sits there in the bowl. I had even powdered a bunch of greenies to sprinkle on her food (since that gets her to eat) and took that along to the kennel but they said they never needed to use it.

The way I figure, I'm just going to let the food sit in the bowl. If she's hungry enough, she'll eat. I'm not going to play a little game here. Could she possibly remember that I was motivating her with the crushed greenies? I have no idea what to do. Starting to tick me off very quickly though. NO other changes whatsoever. Same bowl. same omega-3 oil that goes in the wet food. I don't want to starve her, but if she's eating the same food over there, she should also at home, no? If I start this thing with the crushed greenies on top of the food, she'll want that every time. I can see there'd be a need for (another) change IF they had trouble at the kennel, but it seems the issue is not the food (?)

 

[Antonio65]

Could it be that she is associating the wet food with the stay at the kennel? No matter how comfortable and cozy that place is/was, and how lovely they treated her at that place, she might be associating that taste with an unpleasant experience.
Now that she's back home, she might not want to recall those feelings through that food?

 

[FeebysOwner]

I guess I would have to take what the kennel said with a grain of salt, so to speak. You have no way of knowing for sure what they fed her there, or if she didn't want her food and they gave her something else and it just wasn't charted. That can easily happen, even in the best of kennels. And presuming the food wasn't returned to you is not really indicative of anything. Did they return the greenie toppers to you that they said they didn't need?

It is also possible that the schedule they had her on is different from yours at home and that could have impacted how she ate. I also don't know if they leave food with her like you keep it out at home, or if they pull it up after a period of time. If the latter, she knew she needed to eat when the food was available.

I don't know how old she is, but many cats seem to get pickier and pickier about their food as they age.

Is there an issue with using the greenies for a topper? Lots of folks use toppers to help get their cats to eat. So, unless there is an underlying medical condition that you are worried about with giving her greenies, I'd say 'stick with what works'.

 

[Caspers Human]

Often, it's not about the food but the fussing that happens when the human makes the food for the cat.

When Casper's Girl-Human makes his food, he sits there and waits, patiently while she fixes it up for him. She puts it down and he goes right to it. When I do it, he just sniffs and looks at me like he's saying, "You don't do it like Mom does!"

For cryin' out loud! It's the exact, same food in the exact, same bowl! I measure everything the same way. You could put two bowls of food, side by side, and you couldn't tell the difference between the one I made and the one she made.

It isn't the food. It can't be! It has to be the way she fusses over the cat while she makes his food. I must not be fussing the right way when I make Casper's food. (Elliot? He's a little garbage disposal! He'll eat, practically, anything! He's a rescued cat so he probably hasn't quite gotten over his food security issues, just yet.)

So, anyhow... Your cat has learned the way you fuss when you make her food. If, for some reason, you don't make the "right" fuss, she doesn't want to eat. When your cat goes to the "cat hotel" she doesn't have the same expectations about how to make the right kind of fuss.

I suggest trying to do it differently. If you usually talk to your cat while she watches you make her food, try just dishing it out and putting it down. If you are in the habit of just dishing it out, try talking to her.

Sometimes, it's not the food. It's the fuss!

 

[Alldara]

I've been wondering if food security comes in to play.

They KNOW you're invested in getting them to eat. New people, not so much. No trust. Gotta eat when you can.

Cat sitter comes over and everyone eats fine. Doesn't matter which neighbour or friend. But! When our friend stayed the weekend, well she couldn't get Cal to eat wet. He figured out she would give in re: dry food and that was that.

 

[Caspers Human]

I think you nailed it!

Even in her own house, she'll eat if somebody else makes her food. It doesn't sound like it's the food, at all. It's got to be about who makes it and how.

Try making her food at a different place in the kitchen. I don't know... something different.

 

[three4rd]

Thanks for replies. This situation has become a bit more odd. Since being home, she's spending most of her time in the crate. Very unusual. I had to coax her out to eat her usual afternoon dry food. Ate and then after a half-hour or so upstairs went right back down and in the crate again. The kennel gave no indication that she wasn't acting normally or maybe not feeling well. They're very good where I take her and are part of a veterinary clinic. Usually, like this time, there's no food left when I pick her up - even though I send more than enough. She's been going to this same place for years. Maybe just a period of adjustment back home, but can't recall this happening before. It's a bit worrying.

 

[three4rd]

Now that she's back home, she might not want to recall those feelings through that food?

Possible I suppose, but never any issues before. Once she's back, explores the whole house and then is pretty well settled in to the usual routine. Last night, actually, was pretty much normal and she was upstairs with us the whole evening, but today she seems to prefer to hang out in her crate. Who knows. See what happens.

 

[Alldara]

Thanks for replies. This situation has become a bit more odd. Since being home, she's spending most of her time in the crate. Very unusual. I had to coax her out to eat her usual afternoon dry food. Ate and then after a half-hour or so upstairs went right back down and in the crate again. The kennel gave no indication that she wasn't acting normally or maybe not feeling well. They're very good where I take her and are part of a veterinary clinic. Usually, like this time, there's no food left when I pick her up - even though I send more than enough. She's been going to this same place for years. Maybe just a period of adjustment back home, but can't recall this happening before. It's a bit worrying.

She's older now and it may have just been stressful to be boarded. I'd take her for a vet check if she's not better in a few days.

Sometimes you get sick after you get home and begin to relax. Also any cat cold she might have picked up there would have an incubation period. So it's normal that she could be sick now and have been fine there.

Did you try heating up her food?

 

[three4rd]

She's older now and it may have just been stressful to be boarded. I'd take her for a vet check if she's not better in a few days.
...surely will
Sometimes you get sick after you get home and begin to relax. Also any cat cold she might have picked up there would have an incubation period. So it's normal that she could be sick now and have been fine there.
....I'll keep an eye on that. I have meds here yet from a previous respiratory issue.
Did you try heating up her food?
.....never did that.

I thought of something else though. My wife has the suitcases open today downstairs (where her crate is) to remove and wash clothes, so maybe foreign / different smells emanating from those? Or, are the suitcases associated somehow with her going to the kennel. They were around at least a week or so up until the morning I took her over. As you say, older and possibly more stressed. I'll watch closely and see how the behavior develops.

 

[three4rd]

She's older now and it may have just been stressful to be boarded. I'd take her for a vet check if she's not better in a few days.

Sometimes you get sick after you get home and begin to relax. Also any cat cold she might have picked up there would have an incubation period. So it's normal that she could be sick now and have been fine there.

Did you try heating up her food?

Sorry I replied within your quotes....

 

[Caspers Human]

Like most people who, sometimes, need a vacation from their vacation after they return home, I can certainly understand that a cat might feel the same way. It just takes some time to get back to the old routine.

Give your cat a chance to have her vacation from her vacation. I'm sure she'll be back to her old routine in a day or two.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Did she eat 'normally' earlier today, before her dry food meal?

It is possible that maybe a new employee at the kennel did feed her something different during the last day or so of her stay, and she is now feeling the effects of a food change. Keep an eye on her stool (and urine) to see if you notice any change.

I suppose you could call the kennel and ask if there is anything going around there.

But what you mentioned about the suitcases could be a factor too - either the different smells and/or what they remind her of.

Hopefully, she will return to her normal self once she has been home for a few days.

 

[three4rd]

Like most people who, sometimes, need a vacation from their vacation after they return home, I can certainly understand that a cat might feel the same way. It just takes some time to get back to the old routine.

Give your cat a chance to have her vacation from her vacation. I'm sure she'll be back to her old routine in a day or two.

Thanks for those encouraging thoughts! Hoping so. Clean bill of health from the vet a week or so before the kennel. Blood work all normal. I had posted here before about a vomiting issue and so followed up on that with a vet visit. No vomiting since.

 

[three4rd]

Did she eat 'normally' earlier today, before her dry food meal?

It is possible that maybe a new employee at the kennel did feed her something different during the last day or so of her stay, and she is now feeling the effects of a food change. Keep an eye on her stool (and urine) to see if you notice any change.

I suppose you could call the kennel and ask if there is anything going around there.

But what you mentioned about the suitcases could be a factor too - either the different smells and/or what they remind her of.

Hopefully, she will return to her normal self once she has been home for a few days.

All good thoughts and observations. thanks! As to your first question...no....did not want to eat her wet food this morning, then did after sprinkling on some of the crushed greenies as discussed in an earlier post. Then, once she came out of the crate, she did eat her dry food. Thing is, you could tell time by this cat. If I don't feed her when she's used to it, she'll come around constantly and let me know...till I do! That said, the kennel is a different routine. I divide up her feedings into multiple times a day - 7 actually - which begin in the morning around 8 or so and don't end till around 9 pm. Obviously, the kennel doesn't have the luxury of that wide a timespan, nor can I expect them to do something like that, so meals are closer together. Often when she's back from the kennel, I'll notice that she wants food more often than how I usually space it out. Hasn't this time, so that, too, is out of the ordinary.

 

[three4rd]

Go figure...she just came upstairs and is laying on her usual fuzzy blanket. So maybe the adjustment has been made.

 

[three4rd]

Still doesn't want to eat her wet food....not sure what to try other than different food.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Still doesn't want to eat her wet food....not sure what to try other than different food.

Not even with greenies as a topper?

 

[three4rd]

Not even with greenies as a topper?

Not so much, although I opened a can of her previous food (nearly the same Purina ingredients) and she ate with no problem. This afternoon, however, she left her dry food sit (very unusual) and instead went in her bed (which is in the crate a large part of the time). Only time she's usually in there is overnight. Last night acting normally though. Something seems 'off' for sure, but maybe it's just a longer than usual adjustment period to being back home, though that never happened before. I think I have to prepare myself for the inevitable (hopefully slower than faster) decline. I'll give a few days and then make an appointment, especially if she's not eating well. Doesn't seem to have drunk much water either. Behavior most of today is not the cat I've known for the past 12 years.

I just emailed the kennel to find out what her general behavior was like while there: active, passive, lethargic, etc. And also, did she spend alot of time just laying in her bed. Any insight they can provide will be helpful if she winds up going to the vet.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Did she also have this dry food while in the kennel? If so, do you have another dry food to try with her as well?

Otherwise, it seems she is acting OK, then not, and repeat - yes? That would suggest something unusual going on, or that she is coming across, in the home. See if you can find any other pattern to her being OK and then not, only to repeat that process again.

It isn't usual for a cat to go 'back and forth' with their behavior if they are ill. Not saying it can't happen, but it would be a bit odd.