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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

Cat not eating much

18 replies

ShotsFired · 09/08/2016 09:44

My cat is heading towards 13 years old. She is still pretty active, can leap tall fences in a single bound etc, but does spend a lot of time sleeping, and is kept indoors overnight.

But she doesn't eat very much. We carried on feeding her the same biscuits as her previous owners (adopted a few months ago), split over 3 meals in fresh bowls, but there is always leftovers. She has multiple water sources including rainwater dishes outside.

So I have started adding in a sachet of wet food as well, which she gets very vocal about in advance. And she's hanging round us at mealtimes too, but that could just be naughty!

I've never had issues with a cat not eating properly before. Could it just be her age catching up with her - I have never had a cat this old before, so not sure what to expect. She was fully MOTd before I got her, all jabs up to date, flea'd and wormed etc and seems in otherwise perfect health and quite content with us.

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Icequeen01 · 09/08/2016 10:16

Could it be she is just bored of the biscuits (and can spot a soft touch when she sees one ) I feed my two cats a small sachet of wet food in the morning but have dry food available during the day as we both work full time. They then have another small sachet at tea time. If your cat is happy to eat the wet food then I don't think there is too much wrong with her. One of my cats was 19.5 when we sadly had to put him to sleep. My sister's cat lived into its early 20's and I know lots of people on here have cats in their late teens or early 20's. I'm sure you have lots of fun years ahead with your kitty.

cozietoesie · 09/08/2016 10:20

That's a youngster!

Maybe she prefers wet food? All my own boys have eaten wet food exclusively if they could.

elephantoverthehill · 09/08/2016 10:23

My cats have never cleared their bowls in one sitting and always leave a bit to come back to. The food never gets finished unless the (current) cat is confident I am at home for the evening. When she does finish the food she nags and nags for more. When I do refill her bowl she turns her back on it and goes off outside.

Original poster

ShotsFired · 09/08/2016 10:32

icequeen

Could it be she is just bored of the biscuits (and can spot a soft touch when she sees one smile)
haha, yes possibly. I did buy a different brand which she was ok with for a while then (obviously) turned her nose up at (am not daft enough to buy in bulkthank goodness!)

If your cat is happy to eat the wet food then I don't think there is too much wrong with her.
I am leaning towards giving her two sachets a day, probably due to the soft touch element, but it won't do her any harm and she also has biscuits, right?

I'm sure you have lots of fun years ahead with your kitty.
I hope so. My last cat got very ill at age 10 and I had to have her PTS

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Original poster

ShotsFired · 09/08/2016 10:34

cozie

Maybe she prefers wet food?
As far as her previous owners said, she spent her whole life on dry food, but she seems to like wet food too. And certainly likes spending ages suspiciously sniffing (for example) a piece of ham before turning tail and walking off as if I'd offered her cold sick...

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PinkSparklyPussyCat · 09/08/2016 10:36

And certainly likes spending ages suspiciously sniffing (for example) a piece of ham before turning tail and walking off as if I'd offered her cold sick...

Harry does exactly the same! I offered him Dreamies last week and he went out in the garden to avoid them!

Original poster

ShotsFired · 09/08/2016 10:38

elephant

My cats have never cleared their bowls in one sitting and always leave a bit to come back to.
She leaves a lot and then seems to refuse to eat out of the same bowl again. If I mix a bit of new food with it in a new bowl she'll eat again (but then who wouldn't like a clean dish with each meal, hardly unreasonable!)

But there is always stale leftovers which get binned, even if we reduce the amount we give her per sitting. Hence my worry. And her hips feel bony but could be quite normal/slinky.

But it sounds like she's not too dissimilar to your mogs, so I shall try and fret less. For all I know she's devouring all kinds when she is out on her rounds - she certainly has the hunting instinct.

Many thanks to you all for reassuring me a bit.

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cozietoesie · 09/08/2016 11:05

Maybe give her smaller amounts of wet food ? (In s fresh dish each time of course.) A pouch or can will keep just fine in the fridge for a couple of days, thus allowing you to rotate flavours as they seem to like.

(My own old boy has a feeding cycle of four pouches, all different flavours. They have a special part of a shelf inside the fridge door where I keep the part pouches so that I can judge what he's had already.)

cozietoesie · 09/08/2016 11:07

PS - rotating flavours is a serious matter with my boys. Maybe she likes some variety as well?

Original poster

ShotsFired · 09/08/2016 13:02

Thanks Cozie - its not the wet food she doesn't eat, it's the dry. I have a couple of varieties I do try and rotate, but either way she doesn't eat much of them (one of them being the exact type/flavour she was half way through eating when she moved here).

Re. wet food, interestingly she doesn't seem to like the senior food as much as the non-age-specific stuff (although it all still gets eaten). Maybe she doesn't realise her own age and is insulted by the box?

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cozietoesie · 09/08/2016 13:43

I have the problem with Seniorboy that he's gradually losing weight - an age thing, really: his hind leg muscles are very very skinny these days. Poor lad can hardly move but he has some calories presented to him.

Maybe she doesn't much like dry food? (Some cats don't - eg my own lad won't touch it. He just has ordinary adult wet food. as his main nosh.)

By the way, has she had a senior health check - ish - at the vet recently? Her MOT may have been fine but I'm guessing that that was 'back then'. I'm thinking - given her age and eating habits - especially about her teeth and joints? (You said she sleeps a lot and while cats just do sleep a great deal, especially as they age, it can also indicate that they find that the easiest thing to do if they're maybe a little sore.)

Icequeen01 · 09/08/2016 13:47

It may be that her previous owners never offered her wet food, hence they would say that she only ever ate dry food - my neighbour says that about her cat but he has never been given any choice. Judging by the way he woofs down my cats' wet food when he has managed to get in I would say he would love the odd wet pouch now and again! Also, for what it's worth, most of my elderly cats have not particularly liked the senior food.

Sorry to hear you lost a kitty so young. I had to have one PTS when he was 12 and I felt so cheated. I have also lost some very young cats to the road (not where I live now) and it's just the worst feeling.

Have we seen a photo of your kitty?

Lottielou7 · 09/08/2016 18:09

Cats are really fussy and I find that you have to regularly change between food types, otherwise they just get bored of it. One of mine much prefers dry and the other prefers wet.

elephantoverthehill · 09/08/2016 18:36

I just managed to spill elderflower tonic water into my cat's food bowl. The bottle fizzed up when I opened it. Cat was not impressed. Do you think it may be because I had omitted the gin? However I have noticed my 10 year old cat is sleeping more in this warm weather and I am only putting down a quarter of a tin at any one time because of the flies. She still just has a bit, wanders off and then finishes it when she knows I staying in .

Original poster

ShotsFired · 10/08/2016 07:50

Well last night she totally refused a new flavour of wet food. Was absolutely disgusted by it. So I thought fair enough, she doesn't have to like every flavour going and put down an alternative known one she likes, which she also turned her nose up at.

Half-hour later I go back and the first bowl was empty...!

And this morning she dived into her biscuits face first. I swear she reads MN and is just fucking with me.

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Lillagroda · 10/08/2016 08:01

They're all different, really. I think it's one of the fascinating things with cats.
I have a gulper who'll eat anything you put down in ten seconds flat (sometimes twice if she ate too fast... Lovely) and a grazer who's ridiculously fussy and likes to take her time over her meals. Both are eating less at the moment, I'm sure I have read somewhere that cats do eat less in the summer.

Like others have said, 13 is definitely not that old - all my cats have made 19 before showing signs of age. As long as her weight is stable I wouldn't worry - can you weigh her once a week for a while to reassure you? Besides if she's a good hunter she might be eating a lot that you don't get to know about.

Original poster

ShotsFired · 11/08/2016 08:32

Lilla As long as her weight is stable I wouldn't worry - can you weigh her once a week for a while to reassure you? Besides if she's a good hunter she might be eating a lot that you don't get to know about.

She's not really a pick-upable cat, although we may be able to put her in her basket and weigh that with and without her. Although have non-digital scales so may be tricky with the finer weight increments. Will try.

She was def a good hunter in her youth, but I have no idea what she does when she goes out on patrol now. It's certainly a possibility.

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Original poster

ShotsFired · 11/08/2016 08:32

Thanks everyone for the great replies and advice, I will keep you updated on how she gets on! xxx

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