Getting a finnicky/fussy cat to eat?

This Fat Girl Runs

My cat is 6 or 7 years old (a rescue cat so not sure of exact age). He's an indoor cat as he's deaf. I've had him for 5 years now and have always noticed he is not a big eater.

Lately though, he's gotten worse, especially with wet food. He licks the jelly or juice off the food and leaves the bits behind, and a lot of times he won't even do that, he just leaves it all sitting there. I've seen him go to the bowl, take a sniff then just walk away. I've tried every brand of wet food I can find. Sometimes he likes it and eats it all but the next day he'll turn his nose up at the same brand.

He eats his dry food, but sparingly, and never empties his dish.

He's active, loves to play and I make sure he gets some good exercise with chasing games before I feed him (or put food down rather :rolleyes:)

He eats treats easily, and never turns his nose up at those!

He's a healthy cat; has been checked out by the vet who is happy with his health. He's not underweight or acting sick and he drinks his water regularly. He just doesn't eat very much.

Does anyone have any suggestions how I can get my cat to eat? A better brand of wet food maybe or a way I can make the food more appealing?

Or am I just worried and it's ok that he doesn't eat very much?

Nody

Well what wet foods have you tried? Our cats can turn one day to another from one brand to another so we're usually rotating 6+ different brands along with raw feeding. Some cats simply eat less then others but if he licks only the jelly the risk is he'll not get all the stuff he needs into him which can lead to problem down the line.

A few brands we have had success with (and can often be bought with mixed meats to allow variety from Zooplus):
Feringa & Feringa duo (esp duo)
Catz Finefood
Schmusy Nature
Terra Faelis
Bozita
Porta 21 (not complete)
Cosma & Cosma Nature (not complete)
Animonda Carny
Applaws (not complete)
Almo Nature (usually not complete)
Lily's Kitchen

Always check if the food is complimentary or complete (usually listed around feeding recommendations; if they state to feed kibble as well they are not complete and need kibble + soft to have all in it).

This Fat Girl Runs

Nody wrote: »

Well what wet foods have you tried? Our cats can turn one day to another from one brand to another so we're usually rotating 6+ different brands along with raw feeding. Some cats simply eat less then others but if he licks only the jelly the risk is he'll not get all the stuff he needs into him which can lead to problem down the line.

I did try him on a raw food diet (after extensive research!) a while back and while he was keen on eating the food, he couldn't keep it down so I stopped.

The brands of wet food I've tried the most (that I can get in shops here):

• Applaws
• Sheba
• Felix
• Whiskas (all the kinds, steamed, grilled etc)
• Fancy Feast
• and even the Tesco store brand wet food.

He definitely doesn't like fish either!

Thanks for the brand recommendations. It's exactly to avoid problems in future that I'm asking for ideas to get him to eat more!

Nody

Well you have a list of brands added into my previous post that you can try; for Bozita try cans over tetra pack and most come with 200g cans as well

Pumpkinseeds

Our 4 love the Bozita tinned food. The salmon and chicken ones are the favourites.

Zapperzy

Mine was the same, picky eater and an indoor cat who seemed to live on air. Zooplus is brilliant for browsing brands, I used to rotate her wet food so she wouldn't get bored of a brand. The pate types can be easier for picky eaters as there's no gravy/jelly to lick off.

I used a mix of grau, animonda carny, smilla, bozita tetra packs and feringa. I used to crush some thrive treats (dried chicken/tuna/beef treats) over her food sometimes to tempt her, the chicken especially powders easily in your fingertips. Crushed dreamies as well were a favorite sprinkled over.

Iv one indoor cat that eats like a horse, had another that seemed to live on fresh air, so definitely all cats are different. If I went by the recommendations on the side of the tin one would be starving and the other would never have eaten a quarter of what she should've been eating.

ferretone

Shame he can't keep down raw, as that is a great way of keeping the wet food healthy. Have you tried very small bits to start? My friend in Germany feeds just 15g raw chicken a day, as that is the only wet food her cat will eat! Though at least hers is thankfully a huge fan of the water fountain.

Apart from what other posters have said, which is great advice regarding othe brands and zooplus, just wondering have you had a vet check and blood panels, just in case there is something going on that's causing this? I realise there often isn't with cats, but just feel happier when this is ruled out first.

Edited to add: sorry, I see you've had all that checked

This Fat Girl Runs

Thanks for the tips! I've ordered some of that Bozita from zooplus so hopefully that will help. If not, I've got a friend who takes all the food my cat won't eat because her cats will eat anything!

The last time I gave my cat raw food it was a tiny piece of chicken....an hour later he was barfing it up. He does seem more interested in raw and never turned his nose up at it, he just can't keep it down. I did speak to my vet about that too!

We'll see how the new food goes. Otherwise, I might just have to accept he's not a big eater and keep rotating/trying new foods.

This Fat Girl Runs

Well, the Bozita was a bust, he took one sniff and walked away without even trying to lick or eat it. I tried again the next day and nope, wouldn't have it.

So, am donating the 5 remaining cans to an animal shelter so they don't go to waste.

Pumpkinseeds

Does puss have a preference for flavours? Some cats love poultry others prefer meat. Some prefer tinned food in jelly other prefer gravy.

Also, has he been to the vet for a check up? One of our cats was doing something similar for a while, turned out that he was having problems with his teeth. Until he stopped eating completely we'd no idea that he needed a couple of teeth removed.

This Fat Girl Runs

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Does puss have a preference for flavours? Some cats love poultry others prefer meat. Some prefer tinned food in jelly other prefer gravy.

Also, has he been to the vet for a check up? One of our cats was doing something similar for a while, turned out that he was having problems with his teeth. Until he stopped eating completely we'd no idea that he needed a couple of teeth removed.

His taste for flavours comes and goes. He likes chicken one day, won't eat it the next. He'll eat tuna from my hand when I'm using it to make a sandwich or something but won't eat it if I put it in his dish. One day he'll devour salmon, the next he won't touch it. He'll eat one brand of food easily one day, the next day he won't. And so on!

I alternate between flavours and brands of food and just hope I'm lucky that that's the day he likes it!

He has had a tooth removed a couple of years ago so I check them regularly and all seems ok.

He's otherwise very healthy, as I mentioned previously my vet is happy with him.

Kovu

Sounds a bit like my puss. I have to mash up the chunks with the jelly/gravy or else he'll just leave them behind.

Literally have to rotate the food brands every week (bar kitekat, he won't touch it unless he's starving, dunno if that says something about the food!) or else we have food going to waste. But he has a love for rabbit and duck so I try to stock up on those when I see them as they're not the easiest flavours to find. Have tried Bonzita as well and he sat and looked at me as if to ask "what the hell is this stuff"
Won't east raw unless he catches it:pac: but will pester me for coleslaw, mashed sweet potato, yogurt, ice cream, baked fish.....yesterday he decided to tuck into a black olive covered in oil that I dropped on the floor

The best way to tempt Koves though is to mash it up, scoop it into the middle of the dish in a little pile & scatter dry food across the top. Even though he has dry food ad-lib he'll not eat it until it's presented in this way
Maybe you could try that?

Oh- he loved this stuff after I got the free sample of it. Although maybe it was because of the crunchy/wet mix again.

This Fat Girl Runs

Kovu wrote: »

Sounds a bit like my puss. I have to mash up the chunks with the jelly/gravy or else he'll just leave them behind.

Literally have to rotate the food brands every week (bar kitekat, he won't touch it unless he's starving, dunno if that says something about the food!) or else we have food going to waste. But he has a love for rabbit and duck so I try to stock up on those when I see them as they're not the easiest flavours to find. Have tried Bonzita as well and he sat and looked at me as if to ask "what the hell is this stuff"
Won't east raw unless he catches it:pac: but will pester me for coleslaw, mashed sweet potato, yogurt, ice cream, baked fish.....yesterday he decided to tuck into a black olive covered in oil that I dropped on the floor

The best way to tempt Koves though is to mash it up, scoop it into the middle of the dish in a little pile & scatter dry food across the top. Even though he has dry food ad-lib he'll not eat it until it's presented in this way
Maybe you could try that?

Oh- he loved this stuff after I got the free sample of it. Although maybe it was because of the crunchy/wet mix again.

He does love cottage cheese and yoghurt I can't eat it without him coming over to try and get some for himself.

I like the idea of mixing the wet and dry. I'll give that a try. He does eat dry food but not a lot of it, he never empties his dish. Maybe mixing the two will be more tempting to him. Thanks!

Alun

One of our cats recently went through this thing of just licking the jelly off and being very finicky. One thing I noticed her doing was flicking her head to one side while eating, as if it was painful on one side and she was forcing herself to eat on her 'good' side. I took her to the vet, who found nothing except some very mild gingivitis on the side she was avoiding, and a course of antibiotics cleared it up. She has some plaque build-up on that same side, again nothing serious, but I may get that removed if it's going to cause any more problems down the line. So maybe get the vet to take another look at his teeth to see if there's anything wrong there.

Nody

Kovu wrote: »

Literally have to rotate the food brands every week (bar kitekat, he won't touch it unless he's starving, dunno if that says something about the food!) or else we have food going to waste. But he has a love for rabbit and duck so I try to stock up on those when I see them as they're not the easiest flavours to find. Have tried Bonzita as well and he sat and looked at me as if to ask "what the hell is this stuff"

Try Schmusy Natural, Animonda Carny and Catz Finefood. Catz also has a few other rare meats to help in the rotation and you can try Cosma Glory Quail eggs which tended to be a hit with one of our fussy foster cats (the other two were not as liked).