My fussy Siamese and his refusal to eat anything except human food...

[TheHouseOnTheCorner]

well he will eat his dry food...we give him Nutricat Senior...he's 7. We adpopeted him last year and have tried all kinds...he won't be satisfied with only the dry...though it's meant to be complete.

He has tried sachets of cat food all brands...all he does is lick off the jelly or gravy...he goes mad for cooked chicken and likes mince and lamb too...should we give up on the sachets and buy him chicken and meat?

We could cook him some batches every other day?

Or is that silly? Is dry food an d a bit of what we eat enough?

He probably has sore gums or knackered teeth. My bengal is the same, will eat biscuits very reluctantly but is stuck up, pompous and generally annoying. Try not feeding him for twelve hours and seeing what happens.

And then pop along to Sainsburys Deli counter and buy some haslet - it's disgusting stuff but all cats appear to love it and it's cheap. Then mix it with the catfood over the course of five days, first day 20% etc up to 100%.

I would not be feeding him human food unless you are willing to do so every day. Ours gets human food when we have leftovers. And only then.

Your choice though, slippery slop or slippery slope to being a short order cook to an animal that licks its own arse.

Haslet? Oooh what is it exactly? I will take your advice then and avoid buying him chicken breasts...can't believe he's hypnotised me into thinking that's the way forward!

Dry food is fine though - and much better for his teeth, which are likely to cause him problems sooner rather than later anyway.

Bugger. He makes me feel like he's STARVING all the time!

Haslet is basically pork bits in jelly, it looks very much like Whiskas and costs about 60p per hundred grams.

You are being conned by your cat.

BTW Pedigree cats yowl all the time naturally, it's not about the hunger, it's all about the attention. You have the Gok Wan of the cat world living in your house.

Mine has just spent twenty minutes yowling at me because I went out and left her...Siamese are not quiet cats, lol

Hi I breed Siamese cats and have had them for 35 years. "Complete" dry food by itself will lead to renal disease. A daily mix of a good quality dry food, plus daily good quality wet food eg Bozita or Carny or Smilla (zooplus website) should be supplemented with occasional chicken/pilchards/haslet ( eg three or four times a week.) I also feed raw chicken wings but feeding raw is not compulsory. If your cat is ill then chicken and rice until better. There is a lot of info on the pet forums website about different brands of pet food compiled by food scientists, definitely worth a look because a lot pf branded foods containa a lot of fillers such as wheat, that Siamese in particular can have allergies to. Hope that helps, sounds like your Siamese has a fab concerned owner!

Oh thanks a lot Incaminka! WIll look those up now...he won't eat pilchards but loves chicken...I don't mind him having raw wings at all if you think he'll like them? Is it good for their teeth? Don't the bones bother them? He has in the past helped himself to boney left over chicken...then left me the bones sucked dry beneath the table...he is SO charming.

It is a well know law of nature that when cats are presented with any food, they will always coose the most expensive.

While you are at Sainsbury ask for the 'scraps' from the deli counter - about 20p for 100g and consists of the small end bit of ham, the last bit of chicken from the slicer, bits of other cooked meat. You can also get the trimmings from the fishcounter, but be warned it is often fish heads.

Yes, Sashh has all the tricks down (fish heads great but get stinky really quick!) With zooplus, you'll find they often do 2 for 1 or other special offers - I wait for these on my favourite brands and buy in bulk. Raw - bones are fine, you are not "supposed" to give cooked chicken bones as they splinter, but I've never had trouble - your vet will advise. Raw, I buy the really cheap ones from Waitrose, about two quid a packet. I find it helps against tartar. Wet food bad for tartar, dry food bad for kidneys, which is why they have a varied diet. Oh, and leftovers, avoid onion/garlic/chives family, really bad for cats. Garfield must've had onion/garlic free lasagne....

I have a really picky cat that wont eat any sort of wet cat food. As a result I have dry food down all the time in a food maze, and my cats get fed raw chicken in the evenings - which they love!

www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood is really informative.