Help - Fussy cat with slow 'digestion' & stand-off with swapping to Katkin food

[TemporaryCatSlave]

Looking for some advice.

So Temporary Cat (I'm looking after him for friends) is refusing to eat his new Katkin food. I've been mixing it with his old food but he's only nibbled a tiny bit It's been 3 days now and he's obviously hungry and I'm feeling guilty. I chose the Katkin flavour closest to what he was eating (Gourmet Perle) and have even sprinkled crushed up Dreamies on it but he still isn't keen.

The reason I'm trying to change him over is he's only pooing every second day. I've been giving him malt paste (he hates it so have smear it in his paws to lick off) which seems to have softened things up and made it easier to go, but not improved frequency. He also does some awful smelling farts and I think he's sometimes uncomfortable with gas or being up bit bunged up. I've also recently been adding a small 3ml dose of Lactulose mixed in his wet food which was helping too but that's having limited effect since he's not eating much. He's an indoor cat (was outdoors before he came to me so is getting less exercise) very good at using litter tray, drinks enough water (he has a cat fountain and uses it).

He's 2+ years old, neutered, about 5-6 kg and lother than this acts appears very healthy, glossy coat/good teeth etc.. He isn't a huge eater and grazes rather than hoovers his food in one go. It was mentioned to vet when he was there for some vaccinations and they said he's fine & didn't seem concerned by the every 2nd day thing but it bothers me.

So should I give up on the Katkin and go back to the old food or stick with it for a bit longer - (if so how long?) The sad hungry meows and mournful looks after sniffing his dinner are tugging on the heartstrings! Am not sure how much longer I can go before I crack.

Also any ideas for entertaining him and making him move more are welcome. He does get a bit bored and wanders around badgering me for attention (I mainly WFH now). He's not interested in chasing balls and has lost interest in the other toys, and even less enthusiastic about running & jumping for wand/teaser toys. He flops on floor or hides in his tunnel and just swipes with his paw, lazy sod. He does like dangly things.

Oops, cat tax! Here's Mr Beautiful aka Rex

I'd just feed him his usual food. Sounds like the poor thing has enough changes going on at the moment without changing the food too. Can always try the Katkin again once he's settled.

Another thing, have you got the sprinkles to go with the Katkin food? My cat only eats Cluck without the sprinkles on top & won't touch Duck at all.

You cant let him not eat for 3 days thats awful, just feed him what he likes before he starts losing weight.

@FormerlyPathologicallyHappy He did eat in that time (I'm not that heartless!). The first day he totally refused to touch the Katkin after 2 attempts at breakfast & morning tea (he likes small portions anyway) so I then put a small amount of the Katkin down next to his usual food, which is what Katkin recommend to do if cats don't take to it easily. Then Day2 I started mixing teeny tiny amounts with his usual food and he was almost trying to pick out the familiar stuff and not eat the rest, like the princess & the pea!. I also cracked and gave some cat biscuits a few times. Today he did eat a bigger portion of the mixed stuff and wasn't giving me so many devil glares, but I'm not yet convinced he will transition to straight Katkin.

@ADHDQueen Yes I have the sprinkles but he wasn't impressed! Even on his normal food he sniffed, looked at me, walked away and came back later to eat it under protest. He has turned down cooked and raw chicken breast in the past & some raw beef, doesn't like Lick-e-Lix-& turned his nose up at 2 other types of cat treats - will only eat Dreamies. I think he's just a bit of a fussy bugger in the food department! He's been here 4+ months now so other than the poo problem he seems pretty settled, if a bit bored at times.

I think I'll keep trying with the rest of the Katkin trial pouches mixed with his normal food for a bit longer. And if no luck give up & keep on with the Gourmet and hope the bowel issues can be sorted out some other way. It's just a bit sad when he's clearly uncomfortable at times and this food might have helped.

Thanks both for replying.

Just keep with his normal food. Vet isn't concerned and he's in a strange place away from his people - not a good time to go messing with diet. Just let him be

His metabolism will start eating his muscle mass to cope with the shortfall.

You need to stop this and feed him his normal food. Cats don’t deal as well with rapid calorie restriction as humans do and we go into re-feeding syndrome easily.

My cat only poops every 2 days, and has done for as long as I've had her (a year). The vet wasn't concerned, just said some cats do that. As long as the poop looks ok (not dry hard balls) and they are not straining it seems fine.