I think I've broken my cat

[drivinmecrazy]

He is such a fussy bugger when it comes to food but I've got into a bit of a mess.
The only food he would eat for years was Tesco pouches, only chicken and turkey, only in jelly not in gravy.
Then something changed when they changed packaging and he went off them. Since then we've limped along as he would eat felix (again only poultry and no gravy ).
Now he's gone off that. Actually TBH he will eat the chicken pouches which is only three out of twelve in the box.
Until very recently his sister would eat the others as less fussy, now she's turning into a demon to feed.

We've literally tried every bloody food on the planet.
I think I've made it worse by removing the food if he fusses and try another pouch.
We've just had to take about 40 pouches to the cat rescue cos they're not getting eaten.
So now he is just pestering me constantly and walking around all forlorn telling anyone who will listen how absolutely starving he is.
They always have good quality dried food down which he will, very begrudgingly, take a nibble at. So don't think going all dry will work.
In the past I resorted to buying frozen chicken breasts and cooking them fresh each day, even then he turned his nose up at the freshly cooked meat so that's a no goer.
Have I broken him by pandering to his fussiness?
He is just like DD2, they will happily live on chicken nuggets if I let them.

Any ideas or advice welcome 🙏

Gorgeous cat OP!

It might be an unflattering angle but he doesn’t look exactly starving…. Might be a case of treat him mean, keep him keen? If he gets a bit less food he might be less fussy?

I've mentioned this on here before. Sprinkle s bit of probiotic powder on their food. It's like crack cocaine. The smell makes any food more appetizing. I use Fortiflora

You can also sprinkle a bit of good quality catnip. I read that on some American blog

Ours love Blink cat food. You can buy it in Tesco, or order a taster kit online. Then you subscribe and get your food delivered every 4 weeks, and you get to pick your master's preferred flavours.

@Susu49

I know you said you've tried everything but have you tried Katkin?

Transformed our impossibly fussy eater.

Oh, this is good to hear! My Katkin trial box arrived today. His Highness has just turned his nose up at the spoonful I mixed with the old cat food (previous brand, not old as in sitting out for ages 😂) but I will be persevering!

You can try dried catnip on his food.

He’s got you over a barrel though and he knows it.

@lemonredwood did it come with the powdered chicken stuff to sprinkle on?

I'm imagining all these cats walking around stoned because they've got catnip on their food

[quote Susu49]@lemonredwood did it come with the powdered chicken stuff to sprinkle on?

I'm imagining all these cats walking around stoned because they've got catnip on their food [/quote]
Yep, I sprinkled some on top and he's still stalked away, mortally offended

I'll employ steppemum's stroking plus nice noises tactics in the re-attempt. That sometimes works!

To be fair, it's a double whammy for him this week as there was no catsan of any sort to be found in either pets at home or the supermarket, so he has strange litter in his tray too. I'm surprised he hasn't decided to move out!

@LemonRedwood how has he survived?!

Spite.

He has to live long enough for the revenge to be served stone cold. In a pile of cat sick right by your bed.

He is a very handsome cat!

[quote Susu49]@LemonRedwood how has he survived?![/quote]
Barely, if you believe him.

Although I suspect Fluffycloudland is spot on

We have had Katkin trial - she loved it. Bought a month's worth Dcat went off it! Luckily the dog will eat any leftovers.
Fussy cat currently likes Blink (similar subscription order) and Felix Doubly Delicious.
She seems better if you shake it up a bit, so I have at least 2 or 3 diff boxes of pouches open.
I also bought some Sheba today.

Dcat ate 2 pouches of Felix everyday for a decade, then suddenly went fussy, and lost 500g of weight. Vet couldn't find anything wrong and half the weight has gone back on, although I was cooking her fresh chicken a few months ago too.

I hid a dollop of the lamb Katkin pouch under his lamb flavoured biscuits.

He ate some biscuits and accidentally licked the Katkin dollop then looked at me like I'd tried to murder him.

Then ate the rest of the Katkin dollop.

I'm calling that a win!

@drivinmecrazy I hope your Katkin trial goes as successfully as mine

I rotate my cats’ food. They are indoor cats. They have access to the whole outside world including a big garden but no, they wish to be inside on the couch the whole time. We have to chuck them out in the summer to go be cats.

If I put canned food down they would literally just look at it until it went of and meow incessantly in a campaign of harassment fit for Guantanamo Bay.

I've found it works to change it up each week so it's Whiskas the one week, Felix another, then those Aldi pates they love but they are of course almost twice the price of the pouches (which in bulk come out at 17p/pouch)

Then I will get a box of the good stuff from a cheap shop so the Gourmet thing but it's cheap as it's in B&M.

They will tolerate this and they waste minimal food this way.

Actually I've just had an epiphany. They always, always leave some food from the pouch. So at less then 10p more for the pates I reckon those are actually a better deal as they leave none of them. They are just not sold in bulk, yet.

When I was a teenager (so many moons ago!) we had a Siamese who was an undersized kitten when he came to us. It soon became clear he hated all cat food and had been eating the bare minimum to keep himself alive. He used to try to scratch it over like it offended him.
He was served a portion of whatever we were having - beef, chicken, fish, bacon or whatever. Lived like a bloody king!

@Easterbunnyiswindowshopping

My dcat prefers begging for vegetables.. He is an odd boy indeed. He sits at the table with a plate to himself every night... Peas, broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus. Is should that be asparapuss?

I used to have a vegetable-mad cat. Specifically brussels sprouts. I had to cook them for him specially;

Cosma chicken breast tins from zooplus.

Actually looks like chicken

He also loves kidney beans. And chilli.
Apparently kidney beans (cooked) are good for dcats!

Mine was really unwell at the vet, and they said he needed to start eating ASAP
They boiled him chicken which got sad eyes and "why they no roast it like mama?"
Chicken broth also a no go
They resorted to hand feeding him rotisserie chicken while cuddling him and said "oh he's eating now but only if we cuddle him"

My cat "suckers"

Lamb Katkin you say? Princess absolutely would not touch the lamb! Turkey - manna from heaven
As well as kitty crack, a little grated cheese too? Princess doesn't do tidbits but caught her eating from floor... also have box of Royal Cannin fussy cats... but on Katkin, her fur is so soft and fluffy ❤

Another Katkin convert here.

Boy cat has IBD and had lost over a Kg and had awful diarrhoea, was pooping in the house (not his litter tray 🤢) and looked awful. A course of steroids and food swap and he's now a picture of health and managing to go outside (or to the litter tray if the weather is bad😆)

To keep it simple we decided to get Katkin for both cats, it's ridiculously expensive but they do both look great on it, really shiny coats etc.

They'd eat it cold straight from the fridge but we mix it with a little hot water and mash it up otherwise it's gone in a couple of mouthfuls because actual amount of food is quiet small. They eat every last bit. The only downside is that (although looking healthy and being a good, stable weight) they are always hungry/asking for more food. I hoped they'd adjust to the smaller portions but it hasn't happened so now I get up to serve my masters' breakfast at 6am (if I'm lucky!) 😂

Also, although they will offer you a pack size tailored to cat's size /activity level, the biggest pack size (400cal) is much more economical than any of the smaller sizes so worth getting that and dividing the portions accordingly.

His Highness lapped up the katkin for 6 weeks or so. Definitely saw the difference in his coat - soft, smooth and strokably gorgeous.

He's refused to eat any of it for about 3 weeks now though. He's not unwell, we've checked, he's just decided he doesn't want it any more

I'm now looking at Republic of Cats and Untamed which do similar subscription things. Have ordered trials of both, so we'll see.

@LemonRedwood how are you getting on with Untamed? Princess loved 😍 it so went for the monthly box. She's quite petite so quite pleased at longer dwell times at her bowl and finishing food (for now) - also complete faff with all the packaging for katkin despite recycling - Untamed comes in small cans so easy to recycle.

Have had the trial and have now ordered first box. This is going better than the Republic of Cats (he would just lick the gravy of those so no better than the bog standard pouches).

He absolutely loves the tuna Untamed ones (the ones mixed with other fish as well as the tuna on its own). I'm not surprised as tuna from a tin has always been the little treat to make him love me again after a trip to the vet. He doesn't appear to like chicken, either in gravy or jelly, with ham or without. Ate a bowlful once but has refused it ever since.

I wish they had a little more variety of flavours - he seems ok with duck or beef too but those aren't an option. I don't think he's too fussed about the lack of variety at the moment so that's more my complaint than his!

Will be sticking with them for now though - agree the tins being easily recyclable also a big plus 👍🏻