Why are cats so picky?

livismom1

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I am at my wits end with our cat! We have had him since the beginning of July. He is a neutered 6-7 year old domestic short hair. We have tried
1. Tiki Cat Born Carnivore Chicken and Egg dry--- Loves it
2. Dr Elsey's Clean Protein Chicken dry---- Loves it
3. Weruva Slide n Serve Jeopurdy Licious Chicken pate---Loves it

4 Farmina Wild boar and apple wet---loved it now hates it
5 Stella and Chewy Duck, Duck, Goose dehydrated raw---loved it now hates it

These are all the ones we have tried but he either hated or barely tolerated
Fancy Feasts classic pates any flavor
Tiny Tiger pates any flavor
Tiki Cat Velvet mousse all flavors
Farmina lamb and the chicken wet
Stella and Chewy rabbit
All the other random flavors in the variety pack of the Weruva Slide n Serves named after tv shows

Is it ok to feed him 2-3 pouches of the only wet food he will eat now and have the 2 different dry foods out as well? It doesn't seem to be balanced or the variety I think he deserves. Money isn't really an issue except that I keep buying foods that he once liked and now wont even give a second look.

Oh and I live in a smallish city in IA with only Petco and Petsmart and no small business pet stores. I would like to stick to a higher rated wet food. One that is lower in calories cause he is a BIG boy at 16 lbs. lol

Any ideas or suggestions would be great. Oh and I tried putting some cat nip in his food and he went totally psycho and tried to eat me in my sleep. LOL I had to wear a hoodie and hide under the blankets.
 

Furballsmom

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Hi! Have you tried Merrick Backcountry cans or pouches, or Natural Balance? These are currently available at those stores.

Are you able to order online? Chewy.com also carries Kasiks (I buy the big cans, divide them into smaller containers and freeze those) and you could look into Red Barn, and also there's Koha.

Also, be careful about limiting his diet so that if in fact he does need to actually lose weight that he doesn't lose it too fast. Wet food is better because it isn't as carb loaded as some kibble.

How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat? – TheCatSite Articles

Is Your Cat Overweight, Underweight, or Just Right? - IAMS
 
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livismom1

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Hi! Have you tried Merrick Backcountry cans or pouches, or Natural Balance? These are currently available at those stores.

Are you able to order online? Chewy.com also carries Kasiks (I buy the big cans, divide them into smaller containers and freeze those) and you could look into Red Barn, and also there's Koha.

Also, be careful about limiting his diet so that if in fact he does need to actually lose weight that he doesn't lose it too fast. Wet food is better because it isn't as carb loaded as some kibble.

How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat? – TheCatSite Articles

Is Your Cat Overweight, Underweight, or Just Right? - IAMS
I have been ordering all the food off of Chewy's so far. I will definitely look into Koha. If I can find it online. I am not a fan of Natural Balance (too many quality control issues and voluntary recalls) or Merrick because it is made by Purina.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Just so you know you aren't alone, I have two cats, and neither one of them likes or has ever liked the ones that your boy doesn't like. We've tried ALL of them. So our boys simply have discriminating tastes (aka are picky). Practically everyone said no cat can refuse the Stella and Chewy Rabbit - Hah! I know of three who can :wink:

Some cats love variety, and others don't seem to care. One of mine needs something different at each meal, and the other normally doesn't like any change in his food. Go figure. And neither of them like the same thing. But they definitely DISLIKE some of the same foods

If I were you, I would continue to look for additional wet foods for your guy, but not worry too much right now about only feeding him what he'll eat. If he takes to something else, great, but if not, don't stress about it. Oh, and you can always try other things for toppers, like Purebites, or Wholelife. 100% freeze dried meat, nothing else. You choose which protein you want: chicken, turkey, beef, liver, etc. I use them all the time, as toppers and as treats.
 
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livismom1

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Just so you know you aren't alone, I have two cats, and neither one of them likes or has ever liked the ones that your boy doesn't like. We've tried ALL of them. So our boys simply have discriminating tastes (aka are picky). Practically everyone said no cat can refuse the Stella and Chewy Rabbit - Hah! I know of three who can :wink:

Some cats love variety, and others don't seem to care. One of mine needs something different at each meal, and the other normally doesn't like any change in his food. Go figure. And neither of them like the same thing. But they definitely DISLIKE some of the same foods

If I were you, I would continue to look for additional wet foods for your guy, but not worry too much right now about only feeding him what he'll eat. If he takes to something else, great, but if not, don't stress about it. Oh, and you can always try other things for toppers, like Purebites, or Wholelife. 100% freeze dried meat, nothing else. You choose which protein you want: chicken, turkey, beef, liver, etc. I use them all the time, as toppers and as treats.
Thank you so much for this! I just wish he would eat anything other than chicken. But if it is ok to give him the same slimey chicken goo in a pouch morning, noon, and night...then that is what I will do. LOL

Oh I have a theory why he won't eat the Stella and Chewy rabbit. When he lived at my daughter's dads house, she had a bunny. Oliver the cat and Lucy the bunny would play together in the house. They were kind of besties. I felt kind of guilty buying it but I was running out of different protein sources to try. lol
 

35 year catdad

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That is hilarius about the catnip- turned -people eater big boycat on hard drugs...
Catnip doesn't do much to my 15 huge old healthy boy but his girlfriends (3 and 19) attack him when they are nipped up. The 3 yr old likes to attack anything that moves and keeps the ole girl fit and active.
Try Trader Joes Turkey Giblet wet at .69 a can. I think turkey is better and cleaner than most chicken products. This is their favorite wet food ever even ones at 2.25 a 5.5oz can!
Was just reading about lentils for human health and I see they have some Phytates and heres why we dont eat any wheat soy or corn products...Hills uses wheat and corn gluten in their KIDNEY special diet food. yikes.
"
Phytates, decrease the body's ability to absorb micronutrients. In fact, red lentils may have less than 50% of the phytates than some low phytate varieties of corn, wheat, beans, and soybeans.Nov 4, 2019 " my cats have never had corn/wheat products ever and I think thats why vet bills have been $230 in last 17 yrs )ok I spayed and microchipped my kitten) and zero health problems here thank God ...being indoor only is 70% of our health "luck"
dont tell anyone here... but real tiny fresh leaves on a hemp or even regular fresh sprouted )NOT older) as they have irritant hairs on the when mature. sativa female plants are what my old girl craves more than nip. Only one or two single strands about 2 " long or it comes back up. I think she needs the CBD but other two dont eat it ever. No high ever recorded she acts exactly the same except her whining and begging stop when I finally cut her some. Only fresh growing work. Notice the ignored catnip on ground untouched. This is too old I didnt let them eat any. just showing what they want.
 

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MissClouseau

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No doubt cats are picky eaters but I'm not sure if there is even true variety in pet food as much as it looks at first. Like if a cat likes to eat only one certain (animal's) meat, that already takes away heavy majority of foods.

My own Hima is particularly picky about wet food and what I can warn about is be careful with rotating foods. Hima has some digestive issues for example and she doesn't handle greasy food well. If I change her foods too much, sometimes the combination makes it too greasy in total by the end. But she also gets bored of the same food for a long time. I rotate like, a month of Gourmet Gold turkey then the next month or two weeks Gourmet Gold chicken - for day meals, and for the evening meals Miamor chicken one month or so, then Miamor trout.
 
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livismom1

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I will have to look to see if Trader Joe's has a web site to order on. The closest one to me is about 100 miles away.
 

Youcantseemegrrr

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Why are cats picky? Because they know we are suckers for them and what we will go through for them.

Its no different than picky human eaters and I'm probably one of the biggest picky eaters ever.
 

35 year catdad

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I made a booboo....its .79 a can at Traders not .69 and lately a couple cans I bought sometimes gives my big guy the runs. I think in the heat wave it overheated in shipping. Talking about picky we had a flamepoint siamese who never ate a bite of wet food the entire time my girlfriend had her and she made it to 19. The cat not the girlfriend...shes still with us at 58 :) We tried everything but dry was all she would eat.
 
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