Ollie cat not eating

[hollinhurst84]

Been off his food for a few days, also over grooming his belly but that's an ongoing problem
He's raw fed, nibbling at odd bits but yesterday hadn't eaten for 24hrs
He will eat cat treats, and a disgusting cat food pouch that was probably 1% tuna (and he doesn't even like fish!)
Do I just keep putting his normal food down?
Photo of the traitor after he inhaled his cat food pouch

[cozietoesie]

So he'll eat pouch?

[hollinhurst84]

He ate one but only that one
Was sheer desperation after finding it in cupboard
Won't touch applaws pate, won't eat chicken/turkey/pork mince or chunks

[cozietoesie]

I know you wanted to use as raw food as you could - for his body - but maybe he doesn't really like it? Some cats are dreadful fusspots about their nosh (Seniorboy is a case in point) and - just maybe - as he's becoming more secure with you, he might feel in a position to start exerting himself. I'd try a couple of decent pouches and see how you get on.

How is he otherwise?

[hollinhurst84]

See that's what's puzzling. He went off the applaws stuff which is why I took his lead and went fully raw
He was crunching chicken wings and eating so much and now he's just like "no food please"
The only way I can describe it is like a human opening the fridge and being "meh" repeat for an hour
I can probably grab him a couple of pouches but I'm stuck because he won't eat applaws which is the only decent stuff I can get locally
He's ok, over grooming belly but no sneezing, snot or runny eyes

[NameChange30]

Could he be ill (the over grooming might be a sign)? But if he's eating other food he might have just gone off the raw food. Could the recipe have changed?

Try a good quality food with high meat content like Nature's Menu.

[hollinhurst84]

Not changed, it's just supermarket meat he gets so human grade turkey mince and chicken wings normally
Over grooming is v definitely stress related - he cries when I'm not cuddling him (v clingy cat)
He's been in the vets maybe 6 times in the time I've had him (less than 3 months) and am trying to avoid taking him again because he gets so stresse. Been scoped and had a full check when he had his broken embedded tooth pulled

[NameChange30]

Cross post! See what else you can find locally? We order online because it's cheaper but we do have a great local pet shop that sells good quality food in small quantities, which is helpful for trying things.

Our cats stopped eating their wet food and they were just eating dry (Orijen) but now one is on a prescription diet and isn't eating it - so frustrating!

[hollinhurst84]

Will have to nip to p@h, am absolutely skint but have loads in for him none of which he will touch
Let him some chicken breast and a chicken wing down so will see if he's eaten when I get home at 6

[cozietoesie]

They're the very devil sometimes. Seniorboy will simply stop eating if he doesn't get what he likes and as he's an older cat - and on meds - I've had to concede. (A young, healthy cat, I'd hang a bit tougher.) What he really likes is Felix AGAIL Doubly Delicious selected meat flavours - varied at each meal - supplemented by some small 'extras'. (Cold meat for lunch as an example.) He's been on that for close on two years now and doing fine. Anything else, he'll just leave lying and go into a hunch.

Hey Ho.

[hollinhurst84]

I'm tempted to be a bit tough for a few days. He virtually inhaled the "tuna with egg custard" so I'm not convinced he's ill
Plus he zoomed around last night and bounced on the bed until 3am
Just a bit soul destroying - the supermarket was too busy yesterday so he's on my organic chicken breasts

[hollinhurst84]

Nice clear eyes and his "why you no feed me?" Face

[NameChange30]

Pets at Home sells Nature's Menu.

[NameChange30]

You're broke and you're feeding him organic chicken?!

[hollinhurst84]

It's freezer food - I don't have any available cash as such but I have a fully stocked freezer. Went to supermarket yesterday to grab a packet of mince and chicken wings but had to turn round due to queue to get in
So on coming home I defrosted some chicken breast for him until I can get him some food - it's my food technically
Not sure why

[hollinhurst84]

I'll have a look - is it the frozen stuff? I had a root last time I was in but they only seemed to have the dog stuff or plain mince

[NameChange30]

Here is the link for Natures Menu cat food available at Pets at Home. Some is online only but the rest should be available in store. I get the pouches which we store in the cupboard. (They also sell Natures Menu frozen food but I don't get that, no space in the freezer for cat food!)

[hollinhurst84]

I'll have a look. Feeling shit because everything fully stocked but no money to spend trying loads of things, and I'm really ill. Just want to put food down and him eat it

[NameChange30]

I know how you feel, it's frustrating, we are going through something similar at the moment! It's a nightmare. The food isn't cheap and I hate wasting it!

See how you get on at Pets at Home, maybe just get one or two things in small amounts if you can. If he's hungry enough he will surely give in and eat some of it eventually!

Have you considered dry food? The advantage over wet food is that you can leave it down without it spoiling. (Can't give it to my cat atm sadly because she has idiopathic cystitis and we need to get liquids in her!)

[hollinhurst84]

I really want to keep him on wet and preferably some type of raw. He's FIV positive so trying to pump him full of good stuff as much as I can!
He gets salmon oil on his food which he usually loves but even that isn't bribing him
Will try pets at home after work tomorrow and get maybe a couple of things. Knowing my luck he will go off them if I get too much (bloody cats!)

[Crazycatlady27]

Check to see if his gums are red. My cat started to refuse to eat because he had developed stomatitis and by the refusing to eat stage, his gums were horrifically inflamed. Cars don't show pain unless it is very, very bad.
He didn't appear unwell though at any point

[NameChange30]

Wet and raw isn't the only good stuff. For example, Orijen dry food (the stuff we get) has 80% meat content. It's excellent quality and our cats have been in very good health with lovely soft glossy coats. (Poorly cat's idiopathic cystitis isn't caused by the food although she is on a prescription diet now.)

[hollinhurst84]

Not that I can see. He's quite good at letting me poke him, he's had a recent general anaesthetic so all scoped and teeth etc checked then when the vet pulled one
He has a hole in between mouth and nose but that was healing up fine

[hollinhurst84]

Argh. It's so confusing. Vet advice was any wet food was better than dry
I'll just have a root at p@h and grab some random stuff. Can be like food tasting for cats!

[NameChange30]

The vet is wrong!

[hollinhurst84]

They all seem to say different. One nearly turned purple when I said he was on raw and asked about his veg and carbs
The other was mega enthusiastic about raw (and she spotted he didn't have cat flu, just that nasty embedded tooth)