Cat food fussiness

[DinoGreen]

Wondering if anyone has any tips because I’m at my wits end with my cat! He is 9 years old and much loved. Has always been in generally good health but in the last year has had two UTIs requiring antibiotics. He has also lost quite a few teeth.

He’s always been fed a dry food only diet, but after the last UTI which was in early December, the vet suggested that we give him wet food to help with his water intake (which would hopefully help prevent UTIs) and would also be easier for him to eat with his teeth.

We started feeding him two wet food pouches a day (just standard Sheba) and he was devouring them, absolutely loved them.

Then suddenly after a few weeks, he stopped eating them. We tried different flavours but nope, wouldn’t eat any of them. So we switched to a different brand (gourmet) and all was well again.

Until here we go again, a couple of weeks later, he’s now rejecting these too. We go back to Sheba, nope. I tried him on a Waitrose own brand, he ate that, but then refused a second tin.

I’ve now got different brands of pouches and tins coming out of my ears and he won’t eat any of them. He’s happily eating his dry biscuits still but clearly wants wet food too as he regularly miaows for it when we go in the kitchen. But then when I serve it up, rejected.

Any tips on where to go from here with a fussy cat? I do want to keep him on wet food really because it seems to be helping with the UTIs and with his poor teeth.

[claireb7rg]

One of ours is similar to this to the extent that I have to buy different food every month. One mo th I buy whiskas the next month sheba.
Though sometimes he still has a hissy fit (not literally hissy) and won't eat either so then I have to go through alternatives.

One point I had 8 different cat foods that he wouldn't eat 😩😩🙄 luckily the other one eats anything going so it didn't go to waste.

Maybe try him on plain chicken or fish to get him eating something?

[Superstardjs]

My previous cat was a bit like this when she got v old. She would only have the fish with gravy, then lick off the gravy and leave the fish. I tended to have most success with tuna in spring water, usually with a little splash more water, so it was v wet. I don't know that she was being picky, so much as she genuinely didn't know what she wanted.

[Elieza]

I think our tastebuds and smell can go in old age. And then appetite. It happens with old people and another pet I had (not a cat).

Now I have an elderly cat and she has gone that way too. What she loves one day or week is sniffed and rejected in disgust the next time I serve it up. I now have a massive storage unit of half a dozen different brands/flavours/textures (even cat soup has been handy when she is being fussy) I go through to find one she will eat for a few days before it is deemed disgusting.

So annoying.

At first I didn’t put up with that and had an attitude of “you’re getting nowt more so you’d better eat that perfectly good food if you are hungry”.

But unfortunately cats are strange creatures and she ended up losing weight because she wouldn’t eat it. A sixth of her body weight. It’s hard enough to keep the weight on her at the best of times as she has kidney disease, so the weight loss was really bad and I can’t have it happening again. The vet’s advice.

I also give her dried food she can help herself to. She does like both. So she will eat that if a wet food of the correct variety just can’t be found that day.

If I can just be a better cat slave and offer the right one first time...! 😻

[HunkyPunk]

My cat is also very fussy - like you say, last week's firm favourite is this week's 'wouldn't touch with a barge pole'!
When he's refusing to eat, I cook some chicken in a saucepan with water, so it's v moist, and just feed him that for a couple of meals. If there's any left, I'll put a few small pieces on top of some wet cat food, which usually encourages him to eat that again.
I suppose if we had our favourite meal day in, day out, it would lose its appeal eventually!

[HunkyPunk]

I also used to worry about the cat getting dehydrated, as I have never seen him drinking from his water bowl. Dh reckons he finds water outside somewhere. I do regularly give him special cat milk now, which I notice often disappears when he is 'off' his wet food and eating more dry.

[Joinedtosayhello]

They can be quite discerning creatures, can’t they? I find one serving of Lik-e-Lix on top can help and this will assist with fluid uptake too (not always as sometimes my cat isn’t in the mood for that either!) or some Whiskas Crunch, although appreciate that may not be possible if your cat has lost a lot of teeth. Like PP have said, I think the smell and tastebuds change with age and also just as we humans wouldn’t want to eat the same things on rotation, they don’t either. I also find my cat will, without fail eat some cut up chicken or steamed white fish as a treat so perhaps try him with that or put a little on top of the wet food to tempt him. Let us know how you get on.

[Teaandscone]

m.youtube.com/watch?v=8XTClouSp9c

Would this help?

[Bargebill19]

Try warming the food first. - put it in its pouch/tin in a jug of warm water.
Or try mixing his dry food with thin gravy to get more fluids into him.

[DinoGreen]

Thanks for all the tips. He is still eating his biscuits so certainly won’t starve, and losing a bit of weight wouldn’t harm him anyway - he’s got plenty of winter insulation

@Elieza my DH is very much of the “don’t pander to it, he’ll eat if he’s really hungry” attitude but I’m more of a softie! I think I’m going to have to try the same as you and keep lots of different brands and types in the cupboard for him to sample at his leisure.

@Superstardjs actually I know my cat does love tuna - whenever DH makes a tuna sandwich he comes running. I always thought he probably shouldn’t have much of that but it’s better than nothing so I’ll try him on that too.

I’ve got a lot of ideas to try now so thanks all!

[DinoGreen]

As if he knows I’ve been talking about him, said FussyCat has just climbed onto my lap to demand strokes. He doesn’t look starved does he?