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Original poster

To think my cat should eat something?!

65 replies

therealreginaphalange · 05/10/2017 20:51

Posting for traffic after no responses on the pet boards.

Our cat has always been very fussy but for the last few months it's reached ridiculous levels. He now miaows for food morning and evening as normal but then essentially licks it for a second then walks away. He's healthy, a good weight and no issues with teeth or gums (got him seen at the vet today). Has anyone else experienced this and what have you done about it? We're wasting so much food trying different brands and types (chunks in gravy, paté, fucking soup).

He's an indoor cat so not exactly burning loads of calories - maybe he just doesn't need much food? But as far as we can tell he's eating almost literally nothing!! Only things he'll reliably eat are those Lick-e-Lix pastes. He's even started turning his nose up at Dreamies. Dreamies!!

Anyway, any advice welcome as we don't really know what else to try.

I should say he's always done the licking-the-sauce off thing to an extent but would at least eat some meat. Now it's literally just a short few licks and he leaves all the meat behind plus barely touches his dry food.

We've tried Gourmet, Felix, Sheba, Whiskas and Sainsbury's and Aldi own brands.

OP posts:
DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 05/10/2017 21:30

Applaws dry food sorted our cat out when he was like this. Also I get him some raw beef once a week when he gets loud and picky. It's like he knows he needs something but can't tell me. When I get it right he purrs really loudly at me Smile

Original poster
therealreginaphalange · 05/10/2017 21:32

Dame DH will get jealous if the cat starts getting beef Grin Will look into that dry food!

OP posts:
tehmina23 · 05/10/2017 21:38

I've had this with my cat, she's lost 0.5kg in a month.

The vet did full bloods, she had a GA yesterday & xrays / scans of her chest & abdomen.
They also biopsied a suspicious lump.

The vet thinks she may have chronic pancreatitis as it's common in cats - she responded well to a steroid injection on Saturday and actually started to eat. Steroids are the treatment for pancreatitis.

Her lump may however be cancerous so crossing my fingers it's just a cyst.

So, OP if you can afford it I'd go to another vet & get some tests done, bloods at least.

Ollivander84 · 05/10/2017 21:43

Mine will only eat
Natures menu/country hunter/applaws/Lily's kitchen wet
Lily's kitchen/meowing heads dry

Pets at home have some food called purely holistic (or something similar), check with them but they did have a returns if your cat won't eat it so you get a refund mine wouldn't eat it

ReasonableLlama · 05/10/2017 21:47

If he is otherwise a happy and healthy cat maybe his appetite has changed and he's not a big eater? One of my cat licks the jelly off his food then goes out all day. The other one will scoff her food then finishes the others off. He does prefer biscuits to wet food. What's he like on biscuits?

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 05/10/2017 21:50

I could have written this! Mine has decided that everything I feed him has clearly been poisoned and therefore looks at it and walks away. With one exception - James Wellbeloved fish biscuits. The problem with that is he has early stage kidney disease and an unstable jaw so it's not ideal! The main thing is he's eating I suppose.

When he lowers himself to eat wet food he has Natures Menu, Country Hunter, Meowing Heads and Hi Life. I have a large stash of cat food in the shed...

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 05/10/2017 21:50

I just get a bit of stewing need and chop it up,only a couple of quid from Aldi. I portion it up and freeze the portions.

He's not spoilt ,honestly Wink

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 05/10/2017 21:54

**beef not need,stupid phone

Ollivander84 · 05/10/2017 21:54

Forgot to say don't get forthglade wet. Even stable cat wouldn't eat that, and she eats soup so it's clearly grim

TheNoodlesIncident · 05/10/2017 22:08

Ours has been like this. I had no idea just how awful cat fussiness could be - it's like having children, you hear tales but the reality still hits you like a brick Grin

Ours occasionally picks at: Applaws, Encore, the beef & tomato Gourmet, roast chicken, white fish. She will willingly - nay, EAGERLY - eat anything WE have, such as toast, fish fingers, any milky pudding...

I occasionally buy a whole chicken and roast it, shred it into bits, use the juices to add some taurine, spread it in a foil tray so it's like a traybake. Cut into portions and freeze the portions to be defrosted at a later date. She does seem to be overwhelmed at large portions so I put only a couple of spoonfuls into her dish (unless I'm going to be out for the day, I'll put the whole whack in then). She also gets lamb hearts and chicken liver in the same way

If you buy a food and your cat just won't eat it, please take any unused tins/bags to animal shelter collection point, they'll be very grateful. My fussy cat seems to be keeping the local cats protection league going not bitter

(I gave her some wild Atlantic red salmon for her birthday. DH wept and she wouldn't even try it, just a couple of disdainful sniffs Shock)

Original poster
therealreginaphalange · 05/10/2017 22:27

So glad to hear we're not the only ones!! Even more great advice here, thanks. Think we'll try some 'real' meat as per the chicken and beef suggestions above as that can come from our food and therefore be more cost effective anyway. And maybe try some of the suggested dry foods to ensure he's getting the cat friendly nutrients he needs.

For the person who asked, he's refusing all his biscuits now as well including cheap crap like Dreamies which used to be a dead cert.

OP posts:
Weedsnseeds1 · 05/10/2017 22:28

Pet food companies will often send a free sample if you ask, so you could try as few makes for free?
Some cats like their food slightly warmed ( I know this is ranging into cat slave territory).
Maybe you do have mice? My boy is the softest, sweetest thing imaginable and he's a serial killer.

Original poster
therealreginaphalange · 05/10/2017 22:37

Weeds yes I think warming is a step too far, especially without a microwave Grin

OP posts:
DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 05/10/2017 22:43

I add a bit of boiled water to the food,he seems to like it and it means he's getting extra water.

Anecdoche · 05/10/2017 22:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

kali110 · 05/10/2017 22:46

If hes constantly vocal and wants food and its a new thing id get his throid checked out, and check that it isnt something wrong, brain, dementia etc

kali110 · 05/10/2017 22:46

Thyroid*

melj1213 · 05/10/2017 22:48

You say you've tried lots of different things - have you just been changing the foods without transitions or have you been slowly introducing new things? Some cats will not even entertain new foods if they are just changed and it can make them ill if you keep changing their food without warning and therefore some cats just won't eat any new foods because of the experience of previous new foods making them ill. Also some cats just take a while to get used to a new food - they like to try a little bit of it for a few days while they try it out and then after a while they start to eat more when they get used to it (much like when giving children new foods to try - they sometimes will only eat a mouthful of it for weeks until they have decided they don't hate it and will start to eat a bit more)

I tried a lot of different foods and spent a lot of money on expensive cat food brands but no matter what I offered them, the only food my cats will eat is Whiskas wet food in gravy (only meat, not the fish and only out of tins, not out of the pouches) from a tin and Whiskas dry food (but only the chicken flavour).

The cats always have access to dry food as I just have one bowl that gets topped up as and when it is needed and they can graze on it whenever they like ... they get half a tin of wet food every other day because they only like to eat small amounts and now they eat it all over the course of the 2 days, whereas they used to waste so much food if they had wet food every day.

DamnSummerCold · 05/10/2017 22:49

Have you change his bowl? Or washing it in a different washing liquid???

It might be something as silly as that.

But I feel your pain, old girl is 17 (and I suspect has a touch of dementia) goes through phases. DP who ‘hates’ cats has been known to lie on the floor hand feeding her dreamies and roast chicken (roast for her...)

We’re all slaves!!!

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 05/10/2017 22:50

Pucinni has a Lick e Lix every day with the medicine in,I'm sure he only comes home for that Hmm

pterobore · 05/10/2017 22:55

Did your vet give him a full check over and not just his teeth? My cat was like this last summer and I'm sad to say she had lymphoma and a large tumour was growing making her stomach smaller (making her less hungry) but she remained the same weight because of the growing tumour. Really sorry to come and post something so negative, just wanted to check that's been ruled out. I hope he's just a fussy cat!

carefreeeee · 05/10/2017 22:56

Weigh your cat weekly. If the weight is stable you don't need to worry - he'll eat if hungry. If losing weight there's a problem and you need to go back to the vet. They don't just stop eating and starve themselves for no reason, when they've eaten the foods previously without problems.

Is he drinking more? Any behavioural changes?

DJBaggySmalls · 05/10/2017 23:01

Did the vet check him for things like hairballs and obstructions, and to see he hasnt swallowed a needle or splinter? If he's just licking not chewing I'd be suspicious. If you can borrow a metal detector run that over him.

Danceswithwarthogs · 05/10/2017 23:11

At the very least weigh him again in a couple of weeks... I'd still be concerned there could be more to it, even if all clear on basic veterinary examination.

Melfish · 05/10/2017 23:19

When my old cat went off her food and was admitted to the vets, they told me they microwaved her food, for about 5 seconds ? before giving it to her. She had a blocked nose so the warm food smelt stronger and she was able to eat.