At my wits end with a fusspot

[sjxoxo]

Am at the end of my tether with our cat who is the fussiest eater going. We have tried all types of foods; with jelly, with sauce, patès. Some she will eat half a bowl and then never again, others she just will not eat. Point blank refusal. Sniff and then she will scratch as if to cover it up and it’s back to asking for food when the bowl is full. It’s driving me insane as she is clearly ravenously hungry and get refuses the food I put down. It will just sit in the bowl and she will carry on harassing me for food. She is definitely hungry and I don’t think it’s just neurotic behaviour. She is wormed, the vet says there’s nothing wrong. She has no health problems.
I spend a fortune on food constantly to try and get something she will eat, or seems to like - and nothing so far. She is now about 5 and always been like this. She will not eat whiskers, felix, purina. She did eat lidls own brand for a couple of weeks and then stopped.

Does anyone have any recommendations of a wet cat food that a really really fussy eater might like?? I feel she is so miserable because she is starving hungry, and she is constantly under our feet or making noise for food which she refuses. Any thoughts welcome! X

That sounds frustrating! Could you maybe try a very different kind of food, like KatKin or Untamed? Or one of the raw foods for cats? Perhaps she doesn't like the mainstream kind of cat food? Appreciate that it could be an expensive approach though!

A Bengal?

I have one like this. But there are one or two brands she will usually eat.
I try and avoid offering lots of choices as they just get fussier.
Mine will also eat raw meat - very happy with some beef mince or lamb occasionally. Or tuna/poached fish.
If she's being really uncooperative I will put food down and walk away.
She's 9 years old and hasn't starved yet. But will complain a lot.

Get another dcat.
No food will ever be left..

She will usually design to eat Gourmet ones by Purina - only certain flavours, on a carefully judged rota of the bigger sachets (gravy not jelly) the smaller intense ones (fish only) and savoury cake/melting middle.
My best chance of her eating is leaving wet food down at night when I go to bed. She's shut downstairs so can't come and shout at us in the night 😄😄
Luckily I have 3 other cats so usually one of them will eat rejected foods.
They all like the same dry food thankfully. (James Wellbeloved)

Mine will eat dry kibble - Royal Canin teeth care food for cats or Whiskas. She adores Felix soup for cats, but not /Sheba’s equivalent. She loves milk for cats too.

I have tried various wet cat foods, she prefers the ones with jelly to gravy but won’t always eat them, Sainsbury’s is her preferred brand!

Thanks for all your replies - no she’s not a bengal; she is an odd mix- she’s long haired and sort of rag doll like. She’s also very small as cats go but will eat loads when we find a food she likes (temporarily!). I’m reluctant to go down a really expensive food route but to be honest I’m spending so much as it is and the cupboard is full of food that she won’t eat! I’ve got tins and sachets and it’s a wasteful. We do have another cat already who only eats dry food with no complaints. I’ll investigate the Katkin & untamed, I’ve never heard of it so thanks for the suggestion x

I've just bought KatKin as I am similarly at my wits end with a fussy cat.

She's ignored it. She actually runs away from it and hides when I try to encourage her.

Gah!

Is she a house cat?

Maybe we should set up a swap system for rejected foods? Mine will only eat purple purina dry food and felix as good as it looks. Currently struggling to find the felix, so she's getting sheba and doesn't really like it.

The best she ate was republic of cats! Crying shame I can't get it due to delivery problems!

Ughh I feel your pain. My diva has been a fussy eater since she was a kitten and she's now six. She's fussy about everything - wet food, dry food and even snacks. After trying almost every brand of wet cat food and mousse available from Zooplus, I eventually came to the conclusion that maybe she just didn't enjoy eating wet cat food and mousses. She would sometimes lick the liquid, but would never eat the actual meat. She also rejected fresh meat and fish so that wasn't an option either. I then tried some cat 'soups' on her and miracle of miracles she liked them. Not every brand of course - because that would be completely out of character - but some brands she likes and will eat. For her dry food, it was again trial and error with countless brands and product types. I found that she liked Royal Canin dry food the most so now I buy several different types/flavours of that brand and mix them all together in a large jar in the hope the mixture will mean she won't get too bored if it too quickly. The only other suggestion I can think of is to perhaps try the Royal Canin range for fussy eaters. It didn't work for my cat (diva strikes again) but it might work for you. Hill's Science might have a similar range. Good luck!!!

We have a fussy eater which is bizarre since she was a starving rescue when we got her. However since we've had her our other cats have put on at least half a kilo (each) and are now on diets. She's got 3-4 types of wet food on the go at any one time which gives her the cat food equivalent of the Absolute Radio no repeat workday guarantee.

You could try the expensive tins like Applaws. It's mainly just pure fish and chicken so hard not to like! Supplement with dry food.

Mine wouldn't even look at them unfortunately!

It's a good job she's cute. 😂

I can vouch for Untamed. Fab food and customer service.. I tried Katkin for weeks but it gave my cat really bad runs so i cancelled that one. Encore, Lily's Kitchen, Applaws, Pets At Home Seriously good Bistro food.
Hope you find something she will eat.

I thought I was alone in this, I have exactly the same problem with “white lightning” aka Marie I have literally spent a fortune on trying every cat food on the market and it’s a sniff the bowl and then looks at me like I’m trying to poison her! The only food she will eat is the dry Applaws food in chicken. I’ve given up attempting any new foods, I’ve learnt my lesson, she knows what she likes and that’s that.

Ours was feral six months old, pregnant, I'd emptied the chest freezer throwing ice, split packets of carrots, peas etc onto the lawn for the birds found her eating the carrots. Finally caught her and kitten. She's so fussy. I'm not having it. So gourmet wet food in the morning, kibble after that. She turns up her nose at that. But by morning it's all gone. Shhhh she thinks I don't know.

I've had three day hunger strikes. Which I ignore. She'll eat a mouse so can pickle off, snooty cat 😃

Well it’s nice to know I’m not alone 😬
I feel guilty that she’s hungry but I’m doing my best and she still won’t eat.. I don’t have the time to constantly faff with her food- young baby and other animals and life! I could really use her being a bit lower maintenance! She isn’t a house cat for the poster asking - she goes in and out as she pleases. She’s mostly in at night and will go outside if it’s nice weather, if it’s chilly she prefers to stay in.

Tried another food tonight from my ‘stash’; still no luck. Then she tried to eat a bit of left over sausage someone had put in the dogs bowl!! She’s been with us for years since she was small, but sometimes I wonder if she would be happier in a house where she has more attention.. not that she’s treated badly here by any means but I could imagine her with an elderly lady or someone who wants to baby her all day. I try my best to make sure no one is hungry in our house which is a never ending task and when I can see she’s ravenous and needy I feel like I’m failing! Will have a look at the Untamed stuff aswell. I don’t think she’ll eat dry food.. no chance. Maybe a soup thing though, will try that too. X

Photo of the culprit. Gorgeous moggies you’ve all got Xx

They're both gorgeous 😍

I would dice some ham or boil a piece of chicken for her.

Have you tried different shaped bowls and plates and at different heights?

Also gently warming food can help sometimes.

She must be eating something though!

Cats are really good at pretending to be famished...

Fussy eater here too. She’s happy eating a mix of Royal Canin oral care and indoor cat biscuits, and has finally settled on Purina Gourmet fishy stuff (just half a tin, twice a day).

Cat tax:

Went through this with my boy, after trial and error we've figured out the only thing he will eat is the wet sheba food, in jelly, but only the fish flavours, and only if you mash it up so the food isn't just in one big clump of jelly, and only if you sprinkle a couple of dry treats on top  also leave biscuits down for him all day as he seems to like those more than his wet food but worried about him not being hydrated enough without the wet