To think my cat should eat something?!

[therealreginaphalange]

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.

my DH cooks organic free-range turkey for our fussy miss. She sometimes turns her nose up at that too. Has recently taken to causing a fuss right when we sit down to eat. He has spoiled her. Spoiled rotten. Just like me

Its worth trying some gravy, seriously! A cup of warm gravy, even granual type works wonders. Just drizzle it over their food, works with my fussy puss.

That reminds me, warmed chicken stock poured over was very good at helping my elderly cat find her bowl, and eat what was in it. She was ancient. This little missy is just fussy!

if he's like my cat, he will stop eating..... in order to get more lik-e-lix.

sounds cruel, but i recommend weaning him off them.

My youngest (9y.o.) is fussy - he only reliably eats Applaws now, and only the fishy flavours. Even with that he'll have picky moments on a very regular basis. Sometimes he won't eat in his usual place but will upstairs, and only when I've moved the bowl round the floor several times! He's just plain awkward. Eldest cat is on special veterinary food and will complain about that frequently but will eat any of youngest's that he can steal. (DDog meanwhile will eat anything at all, thank goodness). Some cats just are awkward.

Have you considered raw feeding? A lot of the dog raw food providers now do stuff for cats. Companies like Nutriment etc

Thanks all - I'll keep an eye on his weight, and have already tried the warming his food tip this morning which seemed to help a bit. We're going to try some higher quality dry food and then potentially just give him real meat instead of wet food, as I've been told by vets previously that they don't necessarily need both.

Otherwise he seems fine, not in pain etc. We don't have the money to go for full investigations but obviously if his weight keeps dropping we'll do whatever we need to do to make sure he's treated.

Grumpy he's only had Lick-e-Lix for the first time in months this week, it's not a regular thing - just a treat!

And to someone further upthread who asked, we have of course been introducing different foods gradually and giving him a chance to get used to them. The usual pattern is he'll devour the first serving of the new food then never touch it again. Sigh.

He's more likely to eat higher quality wet food than dry - more like eating birds in the wild. If you give him real meat he won't get all the right nutrients unless he's also reliably eating the dry (because he's only get a bit of the animal & not what he'd get in the wild)

Have you tried leaving him alone with just one type of food? Just go out or go to bed and leave him. They do have a habit of playing you.

Gourmet mousse might work if he really won't eat, mushed up with water into gloop. Smear a blob on his mouth and see if he will take the rest from his bowl once he has licked it off.

Have been there, opening different pouches for the jelly or gravy to be licked off and the chunks left in a heap. Tried chicken, actually tried everything but have an old and poorly cat so have been doing it for some time.

Horrendously fussy Riverscat will only eat dry food hates wet food. Also will only eat eye wateringly expensive food from the vets. I also find she does like ham and cooked chicken and bread for some reason

Nike I did wonder that. Should probably start with wet first!

go to a pet shop and ask them about Royal Canin. they do one food especially for fussy cats - Exigent it might be called? their customer service people will also send out sample packs so could be worth a try.

Thanks yolo, will do.

You've had some good advice op I doubt I have anything to add, my cat started being fussy with wet food and refused to pander after a few trys of different brands so she now only has dry food to graze, will give her raw or cooked chicken about once a week if I am cooking with a meal.

Would be worth a vet check if there is no improvement but also mindful if the cat is older eating habits can change.