Tips for

[mrw5641]

Hi all

At my wit's end here with my kitty. We are on a food trial stage where he can eat any flavor and any brand and I am having so much trouble finding what he likes, he eats a little like he likes it then walks away.

I spent more than enough money on food (Nulo, weruva, tiki, Stella's (all wet))

Any suggestions?

 

[Maurey]

How long do you leave the wet food out? He could be a grazer, and would naturally come back to it some time later. Wet food is cooked, so it's safe to leave out for the day.

 

[mrw5641]

Maybe I'm not giving him enough time. I have seen him devour some foods when I put it out which is why I am at my wit's end

 

[Maurey]

I'd try leaving out foods for longer first, and see how reacts to foods he's nibbled on in the past before trying anything else, personally. There are other options, like raw or homemade (whether cooked or raw), but that's not something to delve into until you know whether he's a grazer or not, imo, given you can't leave raw food out, and homemade cooked is a time investment.

 

[mrw5641]

I wouldn't leave it out all day. I'm reading Max of 4 hours.

Maybe some good toppers

 

[Maurey]

I wouldn't leave it out all day. I'm reading Max of 4 hours.

You can leave it out for longer, the only thing that could happen to it is that it dries out, which can be prevented by sealed pet bowls like this The SureFeed Sealed Pet Bowl from SureFlap , or it can be rehydrated with water.

Maybe some good toppers

Toppers can work, but may also cause your pet to always expect them, so not necessarily a perfect solution. I keep toppers handy for the rare situation where my cats aren't feeling up to eating at all.

 

[Babypinkweeb]

My 11 yr old cat was a grazer too, and Ive been slowly try to change him to a meal plan. It's been 2 months and he's still not perfect yet but it can be done. I feed him a mix of wet and dry as he has eaten dry most of his life and prefers to have some. I started with 4-6 mealtime a day, each time giving him 30 mins of food out before I put it in the fridge. Now he is on 3 meals a day, and he is managing to eat more in a single sitting than I could ever imagine! He used to lick maybe half a tablespoon of food before walking away. If you want to, and have the time, you can try something like that as well. I just top off the leftovers from the fridge with his next meals portions. Slowly he learned to eat more per meal since he knows it's not going to be there for him all the time anymore.

At the start sometimes he would get too hungry over night and throw up some stomach liquids, so for now I leave his food bowl out only for overnight. He eats the wet before dry so I don't mind having mostly dry food in his bowl sitting out. I hope this can maybe give you some ideas! They don't make it easy on us that's for sure.