Feeding elderly cats

[thegreylady]

My two Tonkinese are 16 this year. They are so difficult to feed. If we leave them in a cattery or have our neighbour feed them for a weekend they eat anything they are given. When we are home they refuse everything including freshly cooked fish, sardines, every known tinned or dried cat food warm or cold, cat milk...the list goes on. They sometimes nibble chicken or uncooked bacon fat.
One will only eat a little if I am beside her, her brother won't eat if I am there. The vet says they are fine, not underweight at all. They drink water and are mainly indoors now though they have a cat flap. I just want them to eat a bit twice a day. Sometimes they will share a tiny tin or pouch but never the same twice. I am at my wits end with them.

[cozietoesie]

16? They're nobbut youngsters.

Try upping the frequency of feeding if it will fit with your schedule because they seem to prefer small and fresh. (Seniorboy has four smaller meals a day.) Cat food keeps fine in the fridge so vary the flavours to ensure a different one each time and keep opened pouches/cans for the next day.

It's a real difficulty for me because Seniorboy has to take meds at specific times and that means I can't be as ruthless as I might otherwise be. I'll confess to resorting to AGAIL Doubly Delicious meat in jelly which always seems to prove acceptable even to His Eminence's fussy palate.

[thegreylady]

I haven't seen that one cozie but will look. I will try the 4 small meals too. This morning cat one carefully licked the jelly off some Sheba rabbit while cat two looked at it from his bed. However they had each nibbled a two inch square of poached fish last night.

[thegreylady]

Ah I get it....As Good As It Looks! It has been tried but not for a while. How old is Seniorboy?

[cozietoesie]

He was 20 last Christmas so approaching centenarian terms in human years. He's been on arthritis meds for a few years and they go in his food (he's a pill phobic) so his meals have to be quite precise even if it wasn't that - possibly partly because he's a Siamese - he's desperately ritualistic about all things and likes his food to be offered at specific times.

It's the very devil though. If I'm not concerned about his intake, I'm watching his outgoings like a hawk. Sigh.

Have the girls' teeth and eyes been checked recently? (Thinking about their behaviour when you're there.)

[cozietoesie]

PS - do they have facilities inside the house if they don't want to go out to do their duty?

[thegreylady]

Oh yes we have two litter trays. One will only 'perform' indoors but she always uses the tray. Her brother prefers our rose border but will use a tray. They have to have a litter tray each. They are shut in by 7 every night as the boy would wander. The girl rarely goes out at all but she likes a little sunbathe in the garden if it is warm. We have an electronic cat flap keyed to their microchips as they were being terrorised by a local tabby.
It is quite funny to see his face pressed against the flap, he can't understand why he can't get through any joy!

[thegreylady]

More not joy!

[thegreylady]

Ours are Devils about pills. I have scars on my hands and even one on my boob where a cat escaped from a towelling bag and got me!
When girlcat was very ill we had to take her to the vet twice daily to have her meds! You know those gadgets which pop a pill into their mouths? No chance, pop, vomit, scratch, run that's the routine!

[isadorable]

I warm my soon to be 16 year-old Birman's food in the microwave for a few seconds... That seems to help. He likes food little and often... sometimes three small meals a day. I frequently fret he isn't eating enough but he's doing OK now on liquid meds for his kidney problem that I can squirt into his food.

[cozietoesie]

Just don't buy the special offers. Seniorboy started off by liking Solitaire - just long enough for me to become all excited and invest in a quantity.