What to feed a loud and picky eater

[deckm00]

Our 15 yr old indoor tuxedo cat Manny has trained us well but we're at a crossroads and we need to assert ourselves.

Ten months or so ago we were convinced by a Dr. Marty's video that his food and his food only would solve cat hunger and nutritional needs with his all-natural cat food product. The trouble is, Manny hates it. He'll grudgingly eat it if we mix in some chicken stock but even then he'll turn walk away sometimes. In the past when his sister Beemish was alive we'd give them both some deli turkey meat as a midday snack so we started mixing that in with the Dr. Marty food. Of course, now, he won't eat it without the turkey and in his passive-aggressive way, he demands it with every meal. We could almost live with that if it wasn't for the fact that over the course of most of this year the quality of the Dr. Marty food has gone way down to where maybe one out of three (very expensive) bags had stale food in it. We could always get our money back or a replacement bag sent but we don't trust the brand anymore. Plus, Manny has discovered his voice when it comes to wanting to be fed more deli turkey and while it's comical the range of attitude his voice seems to achieve it's not very funny at quarter-to-six in the morning! We've also tried Rawz, another meal-free brand, and while at first he was interested and would nibble at it in between meals he no longer wants anything to do with it. We also bought one of those timed feeders with the ice paks that opens up to his food early in the morning and that worked at first but more often than not we wake up to untouched food and a cat demanding his turkey.

Ok, so to net it out, here's my question. Can anyone recommend a good quality low or no meal cat food, preferably dry that we can add water to, that would meet Manny's nutritional cat-needs and that he'll enthusiastically consume, or are the two mutually exclusive? Thank-you

 

[Kingcocoa]

I feed K9 Natural (Feline Natural) cans. I think they have freeze dried raw food too.
They're pretty good brand imo.
But no guarantee your Manny will eat it.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Just curious, what was Manny eating before you tried this unsuccessful diet? Have you considered going back to that food as a starting point?

 

[LTS3]

Dry food is not meant to have water added to it. It's fine for a small amount of food that your cat will eat up right away but not for a bowlful that is left out for hours.

Freeze dried raw food is meant to be rehydrated in water before serving. There are lots of brands you can try: Stella and Chewy's, Vital Essentials, Primal, etc.

Can you feed canned food?

If the cat is always hungry, there may be a medical issue going on that needs to be addressed by the vet. Or you may simply not be feeding enough food which results in hangry behavior. It's generally recommended to feed 20 to 25 calories per pound of body weight daily.

Try slowly giving less deli turkey with the regular food over a period of time, maybe a few weeks or so. Offer an occasional healthier alternative such as freeze dried meat treats.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Just curious why you are looking for a food with doesn't have "meal" in it. ITechnically, there is nothing wrong with "chicken meal, or turkey meal, or that sort of thing although I can't really ever recall seeing anything but chicken or fish meal. But that's beside the point. The best food for Manny is anything he will eat. I've got a seriously picky cat myself, and I can offer him 3 or 4 different foods when he acts like he's starving and he will refuse them all. It's absurd, but it is what it is. Today he even refused all of his five different treats, one of which is the Feline Naturals raw mentioned above.

Point here is, try being small cans or bags of different foods and try them on for size. If you find something he'll eat, keep your fingers crossed he'll eat it more than once. At his age, though, I would seriously try to stick with canned, as older cats tend to get constipated easily and the extra moisture in canned is better for them. I even add extra water to every meal for both my guys, plus one snack of broth.

 

[dkb817]

@mrsgreenjeans - I can't help much with the food thing, but I CAN vouch to the necessity of added moisture in older cats. My last cat, Ally, was a megacolon girl and refused/couldn't tolerate wet food, which the vet and I both feel caused a worsening of the megacolon as she aged (She made it to somewhere between 10 and 12 years old, was a stay that the shelter picked up before we got to her)

 

[deckm00]

Hi. Just curious, what was Manny eating before you tried this unsuccessful diet? Have you considered going back to that food as a starting point?

Yeah, a few years ago we gave them Royal Canin Vet. Hydrolyzed Protein dry food but we were concerned about there being too much throwing up so we switched to Hills from the vet and that seemed to help although he wasn't nuts about it either. I think what we need to do is find something he likes, seriously reduce the turkey meat portions and limit it to 3 feedings a day, and some left out overnight so that he doesn't wake us so early.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

OK, so this is more important information. Who was doing the throwing up? Manny or Beemish, or both of them? And was it just after starting them on the special hydrolized protein diet, or is that why you started them on it. That's usually given for allergies, so that's why I'm asking.

Also, still not sure why you don't want to feed "meal" in the food. Plus, am I reading that you want to reduce his MEALS to three per day, or his deli turkey treata meals to three per day? If he is waking you up for food, not sure I would reduce his number of meals. Once you find something he likes, you might try either feeding him more smaller meals (especially if he's a scarf and barf type cat), or at minimum feed him one regular meal right before bedtime. I feed mine at 8 am, 2:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. as an example. ('course, I'm retired now, so it makes it easier)

 

[deckm00]

Thanks for all the replies! Here's what we've settled on for now, as of just today. I bought a small bag of "Fussy Cat" salmon&Chickenmeal dry. When we mixed it in with his "Rawz" salmon/chicken/etc food (that he never really liked very much) he took to it like a fish to water and picked out all the new food pieces so I guess he likes it. So far this evening he's not all that interested in the deli turkey anymore which is fine by us. In the past, it was more Beemish who was doing the puking and that turned out to be related to other issues, which is why we took Manny off of it after she passed (It was impossible to feed them separately). Manny's puking seems to be normal and very sporadic. We were always led to believe that too much meal in a cat food wasn't desirable because it's not normally part of a cat's natural diet.

 

[LTS3]

Has the vomiting ever been discussed with the vet? A 15 year old cat may vomit because of an underlying undiagnosed medical condition.

What kind of meal is a concern? Meat meal is just the protein all ground up and dried into powder. The source of the meal could include slaughterhouse remnants and other undesirables. Meals from grains are pretty useless in a cat's diet.

 

[LadyLondonderry]

Has the vomiting ever been discussed with the vet? A 15 year old cat may vomit because of an underlying undiagnosed medical condition.

What kind of meal is a concern? Meat meal is just the protein all ground up and dried into powder. The source of the meal could include slaughterhouse remnants and other undesirables. Meals from grains are pretty useless in a cat's diet.

I’m guessing that D deckm00 is using “meal” in the British English sense of the word, meaning “grain” (for instance, what we in the US call whole-wheat flour is called wholemeal flour in the UK).

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

D deckm00 , glad you've found something Manny is happy about, for the moment anyway. Let us know if you need anything else. We could easily start a whole other conversation about what you said about "Manny's puking seems to be normal" (unless you mean hairballs).

 

[karenburton1305]

We've recently switched our cat to a new diet - we found a company called Reveal who create high quality cat food. It was a gradual shift because our cat is FUSSY and definitely hates change so we had to do the shift under the radar.

The one we use now is limited ingredient so even if it's not fully a non cat dinner, it's a bit easier on our cat's stomach because there's less piled in.

This is our cat's new favourite, but hopefully you'll find something that works for you! I feel like I just find a new food that works and once I integrate it nibbles goes off it again! Exhausting being a cat mum!