Food for picky senior cats

[BirdIsland]

Can anyone recommend a food to tempt my two senior cats? They're 14 and are increasingly turning their furry noses up at my offerings! The boy in particular only eats wet food. They used to have Felix as good as it looks, but won't eat that now. They'll eat the jelly off standard Felix but not the meat. They don't like Iams, Webbox, Sainsburys own, Whiskas (same as Felix, eat the jelly but not the meat) or Sheba. Sometimes even turn their nose up at fresh cooked chicken! They'll eat things like Almo Nature and Applaws but I don't think these are complete foods. I throw so much food away, I'm happy to spend a bit more if they're actually going to eat it.

Any recommendations for brands your senior furry overlords will accept??

Have you tried HiLife? The tuna is preferred to the chicken here, but that’s a case of “chicken is enjoyed; tuna is ecstatically devoured”. (Mine are not, to be fair, super-fussy, but their enthusiasm does vary.)

Thanks @TheBalletCats I'll give that a try, I usually buy from Zooplus and they don't seem to stock it but Amazon seem to have some. I generally get baleful looks when I offer up something deemed unacceptable so we'll see what reaction I get with this! I do worry though, they eat so much less than they used to which I know is to be expected but they're such skinny little things now.

I feel your pain, going through the same thing with our girl since the Felix AGAIL problems. Have you heard of Blink pouches? That is complete food and they are currently doing a trial box offer, just £1 via their website and it was really easy to cancel the subscription after the trial box (unfortunately our madam wouldn't touch it but it looks decent quality). I also picked up a box of HiLife in Pets At Home to try recently so if you have one nearby you can try there too.

The confused looks when you dish up something new again to try - its so sad. Not to mention the waste and expense, although I currently have a fat and happy seagull in the garden picking up the leftovers. Bloody Purina.

I know you said wet food but have you tried the Royal Canin Exigent fussy eater food? You can buy tester bags of 400g and my mature cat loved it over even wet food.

@minimilkmaestro

I know you said wet food but have you tried the Royal Canin Exigent fussy eater food? You can buy tester bags of 400g and my mature cat loved it over even wet food.

He also liked the senior/mature food from the same brand.

Paws & fingers crossed for you. I usually shop at ZooPlus but with the supply issues they were having have had to get some bits elsewhere.

If they like Almo/Applaws it might be worth trying Blink! - it’s not specifically for Seniors (my two were only 9 in April, so while Nijinsky is on Senior dry food - & Balanchine is on renal dry, as he has been since he was 5 - they mostly have “normal” wet food [have just swapped Mr B back from renal wet stuff as it was getting so difficult to find & he’s well enough to have Pronefra in wet food]) but is grain-free & my cats think it is delicious… (I get it from Pets At Home when I get it, though you can get it from Amazon too.)

Almo Nature’s Holistic foods are complete rather than supplementary (& again, apparently delicious). As you shop on ZooPlus, it might be worth trying Feringa…

Good luck finding a food they’ll eat. I am the person who once spent a summer LITERALLY spoon-feeding a friend’s 21 year-old cat at intervals during the day (they were - both - staying with me Because Reasons) plus cleaning his gunky eyes & brushing him. He was so thin under his super-floofy fur - but Just Old, if that makes sense? Perfectly happy pottering but not much appetite - & had sussed out his owner would break out the treats in place of proper meals to ensure he ate SOMETHING. So I totally understand that Worry. Hopefully you’ll soon find something(s) they enjoy & mealtimes will only be tricky as they lustily sing the song of their people at the time they feel is right & proper for you to feed them, whether or not you agree…

Hi
I don’t mean to sound rude or patronising but have you had their teeth and kidneys checked? What about furballs?
Loss of appetite at this age normally means something is amiss although it’s strange it’s happening to both your cats at the same time.
It’s such a worry, I don’t know how many times I’ve been there with cats. I’d spend a fortune buying everything off the shelves at all different places trying to find something they’d eat. All of it wasted.

I know your predicament only too well your post has brought back memories.
There’s one called gormet melting heart that they loved (for a while) it’s very soft and has a liquidy centre, but mine had failing health so it slowly got to the point where nothing would tempt them.

Good luck, I hope everything is ok.

The Tabby Demon will accept Waitrose Own Brand sachets, for older cats in the brown packaging, although she tends to lick the jelly off and leave the actual meaty bits. I now only dosh out a teaspoon at a time.

If I make a tuna sandwich however she is there in nanoseconds ready to clean the tin!

Another vote for HiLife, but mine will only eat fish flavour and not chicken!

@Silverparting
Fish is definitely favoured over chicken here - to the extent that, having had the big mixed box, from now on will just be getting the fish. But that’s as well as Almo Holistic, Feringa, Mjam Mjam, and Purr & Meow. Oh & they get either Applaws or Almo chicken & pumpkin for their tea on Fridays because pumpkin’s so good for the feline GI tract & I’ve been told the one meal of supplementary food out of the 14 they eat in a week is ok.

Try Felix doubly delicious 7+. Asda and Morrison's sell it. Mine are both 16, very fussy and love it!

I am having exactly the same problem and it's now got to the point where I am stressing out. They were all on Felix, then the recipe changed and within weeks 2 of them where so ill the vet advised me not to build my hopes up.
I have literally tried everything, and in some cases they have literally cowered away from the food.
The only one that I haven't tried is the Waitrose own brand so will try that tomorrow.
One thing I have noticed is a lot of these 'nice' foods have similar markings on the tins. Since the Felix debacle I check everything now. Why on earth are we buying tuna and chicken cat food made in Thailand?!
It's just a never ending nightmare at the moment, two are still quite ill, and the others are looking at me like I'm the devil serving up stinking cat food!

Mine isn't quite senior - he's 7,so mature. He had a super fussy period alongside liver issues and since that has only eaten Royal canin (appetite control) and pets at home AVA mature wet food. He's very happy with his diet. My bank balance doesn't seem to have the same joy about it.

I was also going to say Royal Canin - I buy the Vet Dental type on vet's advice. My two (14 and 15) just love it.

Royal Canin.

Felix Soup or Thrive

Have you tried them on a paté or a mousse type of food?

We've used the Purina Gourmet Gold paté in the past, and the Lily's Kitchen smooth paté - both were deemed acceptable to my "bosses".

It stops them just slurping at the gravy, since it's a really smooth, blended texture.

My former cat did have real fussy periods which I only indulged to an extent - because we were abroad in difficult countries where we didn't have many choices. What I did - only fed types of meat he would eat (chicken only, pieces, not minced, gravy not jelly) and took away snacks before and during the time, the meat was down. So once he figured out that that was the meal, he would fill up on that. Or he would wait till the next meal and as a greedy bugger, he got on the program quickly.

With the current cat, I am doing meal times (3x a day as he is a kitten, will drop to 2 when he is an adult, per the vet) as I felt that free feeding was leading to fussiness. So let's see how that pans out as he ages.

I would try not to indulge it if you can.

When cats get like this, they only get fussier and fussier.

It's best to just make sure you get a good quality food with a high meat content. Don't buy Felix, Whiskers, or any supermarket food - when you do that you are basically giving your cat our equivalent of McDonald's for every meal. It warps their sense of taste and satiety.

Buy a food which has meat in it - some of the Pets At Home brands are quite good. If they've been on Junk their whole lives they'll probably turn their nose up at first, but do you really think they will starve to death?

When they're actually hungry, they will eat it. Just be strong with it.

Felix
Iams
Webbox
Sainsburys own
Whiskas
Sheba
Fresh cooked chicken
Almo Nature
Applaws

This is so many different types of food!

Your cats are probably super confused and not coping with all these changes.

You need to buy one type of food, a good one, and keep offering it consistently.

There will be wastage at first because they undoubtedly won't eat it when you first start. But you need to stick with it. Cats need consistency and routine, eventually they'll come around and eat it - they're not going to starve.

Buy a good food, ONE brand, and give them a chance to get used to it.

Mine stopped eating dry food (Harrington’s) but I’ve found she’ll eat it in the Dreamies puzzle feeder with a few Dreamies added in.

So many good ideas here, thank you! To the PP who asked about kidney issues, my boy does have problems with his kidneys, and I tried all sorts of the specialist food when he was first diagnosed, but he point blank refused it - the vet said it was better he ate something than nothing so to go back to regular food. I occasionally try him again on the renal food but he's having none of it. I thought the girl was going the same way recently when she started being sick a lot, although tests came back fine - I actually think the issue was the change in the Felix recipe.

I'm going to pick a few good brands and try and stick to them, problem is they'll eat them for a couple of days then totally reject them. It's so difficult, they really do rule our lives! Wouldn't be without them though, little furry overlords.

If your boycat has kidney issues it’s worth checking with your vet if they’d be happy for you to add Pronefra (a phosphate binder) to his food. It’s a liquid that you dose by weight - & you can can give it directly rather than mixing it with food - and it has a ridiculously high rate of feline compliance (much better than ipatakine).

Balanchine was on renal food from when he was diagnosed with - genetic - kidney problems (aged 5y7m) until a few weeks ago (9y4m) but has been swapped to having the same food as Nijinsky (plus Pronefra) because it was getting so hard to get the renal food he liked. (Well, he’d’ve happily eaten Hills &/or Royal Canin, but I’d not feed him sugary gubbins, so…)

I've tried most of these foods with my fussy cat, currently having success with Gourmet, especially the Revelations, I haven't had to throw any away yet which is miraculous with him.
Somebody pointed out that cats won't starve, well that may be right but an old cat will lose condition very quickly if they are not eating properly.
Another thing that helped was putting my cat on medication for his arthritic back legs, he was getting very stiff and was probably in discomfort or even pain, so that might have made a difference.

@onelittlefrog

Yes, I do think cats will reject unwanted food for long enough that it can be damaging, even fatal.

cattify.net/cats-without-food/

It’s dangerous advice.