Cat Food- Fussy Eaters

[Desley (booktigger)]

For those of you feeding HiLife, do check the packaging, only a few pouches and tins are complete, the bulk is complimentary, so it can't be fed purely on its own, if it is the only wet food, they need a decent amount of dry, or just fed occasionally. The girls love it, but i am struggling to find it anywhere. i bulk buy their Tuna and Salmon variety, as it is wonderful for kick starting appetites. I would also check the Tesco posh fish, I am not sure if that is complete or not, as not all Tesco's posh ones are, and they have just brought out a new range of complimentary high meat content foods.
For those of you who think cats with little teeth can't eat raw, I have had 2 males that have proved it wrong - Ginger loved his raw meat, even though he had no teeth at all (he also loved his dry), I just had to cut it into small pieces, and Rolo only has 2 teeth, and he wanted the raw turkey, and in 10 mins had figured out how to eat it, and within half an hour, could eat really big chunks. Tonight he has practically bit my hand off for sliced chicken so I gave it to him in half slice pieces to keep him occupied!!

[Ellie]

Susanne I shall have to send them to you as they run rings round me   

I think I shall start up a school for fussy eaters    They can all give me as many 'looks' as they like - I shall just return that look with interest! 

What a great idea  let me know when I can enrol my lot 

[Liza]

Mine originally ate whiskas kitten when they were babies and went onto whiskas adult until I noticed that it was only about 4% meat so I switched to Natures Menu and they now turn their noses up at Whiskas or Felix.  Have even tried them on Hi-Life they ate a few packets and then no more.........so MN it is for them with Science Plan light biscuits

[Bazsmum]

Mine turn their noses up at tins.... Pippa my tortie stray from last year started off eating practically anything....now she will only eat dry! 

I always laugh because most of mine go off the same foods at once.....usually after they have liked it for a while and Ive bought loads of it in! 

[tiga]

My new rescues don't like the expensive stuff. They turn their noses up at Applaws, fresh chicken and the Coley I cooked for them last night! They wouldn't even taste it. One of them only really likes dry food but will lick the gravy off the wet food (Hills tender chunks). The other one likes the wet food and even eats his brother's leftover wet food.

I would like them to go raw but I think it will be a struggle.

[Mark]

Felix doessn't go down well at all here although they love the gravy one that has flavours like chicken & kidney in. I feed it as a treat along with the Whiskas senior Fishermans choice which they love. I have tried so many premium brands without any luck.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Susanne I shall have to send them to you as they run rings round me   

I think I shall start up a school for fussy eaters    They can all give me as many 'looks' as they like - I shall just return that look with interest! 

[Ellie]

Muppet is the only one that eats anything and even then it's only if there is nothing else on offer 

The boys ate Natures Menu for about week and then left it  Rascal wouldn't even try it  just sniffed it and walked away in disgust 

At the moment they eat Felix AGAIL and Purina one light.

Susanne I shall have to send them to you as they run rings round me   

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Pandora, as MM said, you may be surprised how well they take to wings/raw food - mine were all dry food addicts nearly 3 yrs ago - they all eat raw now and Elsa was 17 or so when I changed her over to raw!

I'd second that.  Jaffa will be 11 in June and he's taken to raw like it's the best thing ever.  Loves his raw chicken wings!  2 yr old Mosi, however, is rather lukewarm about it all! 

Neither of my 2 are fussy eaters but there are times when they give me that look.  I hold firm and refuse to give them anything different, and they are both too greedy to abstain from eating on principle. 

[Gillian Harvey]

Wow a vet that supports raw food, please can you clone him/her and post one to me

You may be surprised about the raw, lots of cats go crazy for it. Start off with small chunks and gradually increase 

Fight you for him/her !    My vet is decidedly frosty about raw feeding, and the reaction of the owner of a pet shop nearby (not one I frequent usually ) looked postively horrified (mainly because he doesnt believe in ANY wet food at all - and only sells packs of dry foods in his shop  )

Pandora, as MM said, you may be surprised how well they take to wings/raw food - mine were all dry food addicts nearly 3 yrs ago - they all eat raw now and Elsa was 17 or so when I changed her over to raw!

[Millys Mum]

  Wow a vet that supports raw food, please can you clone him/her and post one to me

You may be surprised about the raw, lots of cats go crazy for it. Start off with small chunks and gradually increase 

[Elizabeth z17]

I do agree that when I opened that tin of Hi-life for the 1st time, it does look yuk But surprisingly when I opened the mixed fish one for her, that went down very well. She has a few biscuits on her meal, but having those seem to be wearing off a bit. But it may be to do with 8 teeth missing, after she had them out a few years ago. As for dry food thats never gone down well with her.

Whatever meal I decide to stick her on I do find personally pouches are best. Every Sunday dinner Lady gets an extra treat which she loves and thats a piece of Coley. Always gone down well that. If I give her tuna or salmon I have, I put enough down just to give her a taste, otherwise its just wasted

[pandora]

Hmmmm, just got home to three untouched bowls of Felix....or nearly untouched.  It's crazy.  So with thre cats and a fourth on the plan, some serious rethinking has to be on the way.  The Natures Menue they like at the moment (I hasten to add) and they have the Hills dried food, which they are ok with but again they leave lots.  Sometimes it feels as if they live on air and love.

So does that mean that something like Tesco's own brand might be better quality than the main leading ones?  I am trying to find (like most owners) the best yet economically viable feeding combination to ensure that they have the right diet.  i do of course occasionally cook fish but I have read that it is actually not as nutritional for a cat than meat.

I also have to say that my cats do not eat anything larger than a bean in size.  thay just hate the effort of biting things.  When the vet said that raw chicken wings could help them to keep their teeth clean- I laughed hysterically  because there is no way they would ever try.  They also can not hunt anything- apart from the occasional spider.

Now they are all expectantly around me, asking for decent food.  The funny thing is thouigh that despite the little amount they seem to eat, they are not losing weight or anything.  Wonder where they gatecrash for food....

[CallieSkye]

My kitty is definitely a fussy eating pro. She refuses to eat her dry food unless there's wet in the bowl next to it and refuses to eat the wet unless there's fresh dry food available. It's very bizarre. The only tinned stuff she gets is the tiny Tesco cat tuna tins. .49p I feel bad buying them because they don't say dolphin safe but Leeloo absoutely loves them!

I used to feed her the whiskas pouches but she seemed to shed incredible amounts so I thought I'd better switch her to a higher quality food. Right now she's on the Tesco's Finest Tuna Collection and seems to love it.

I bought a couple of the little peel back Sheba Salmon tubs at Tesco the other day because they very only 9p!! I didn't think she'd go for it because they were very pate like but she actually liked them. Sadly they made the ENTIRE house smell like cat food for ages. I don't think I'll be able to handle that.

I would recommend her newest dry food.... *laughs* if I could remember what it was called exactly!!     I think it might be Hills T/d or something like that. The vet gave us a sample, it's for keeping their teeth healthy and she strongly suggested we start it now while she's still young. I was slightly anxious since the bag was quite expensive and Leeloo's picky. But she likes it which is a huge relief!!!

Now that I've go on a little rant...    to answer your tin food question.  YUP. Unless it's tuna, my kitty won't touch the stuff!

[Millys Mum]

If you keep an eye on the bargins section you'll find out when PAH put NM back on offer, it works out the same price as felix pouches then  i bulk buy at this time.
You could try james wellbeloved dry food, mine love the turkey/rice flavour, or nutro and i also use a grain free brand called orijen. PAH own brand is similar to jwb.

I've gave her a Hi-Life brand today, pilchards, she's ate quite a bit, but not as much as I thought.

Mine are not so keen on hilife fish pouches, the tuna is yuk  when they get fish they get human tinned fish, cheaper and better quality. They love the meaty hi life pouches and pate tins tho.

[claws n purrs]

None of my cats are keen on tinned food and I've thrown quite a bit of half eaten food away. 

I usually stick to pouches and dried food with the occassional fresh food such as chicken when I can afford it!

Ronnie eats mainly dried food and I've spent ages trying to find some wet food he likes. Tried some healthy varieties but he's decided that he will only eat Co-op's own brand gourmet cat food 

Freya and Morgan are not quite as choosy but even they turn their noses up at most of the different brands I've tried on them.

In the end, I've decded that I'm going to try and wean them onto one of the healthier brands with a high meat content by mixing their favourite food in until they've got used to the taste while still giving them dried food so they get a mixture.

Dee

[dolcetta46]

Thankfully Oliver is not fussy at all and he eats nearly everything.  The only thing is that he decided he didn't care much for "patè" type, after having eaten them with no fuss previously.  We still have some leftover tins of "patè", but I think we found a solution to finish them off, when we cooked a big chunk of beef we saved the broth and put them into ice cube maker, and mix a couple of defrosted cubes into his serving, all carefully chopped up, then he eats it.

[Mark]

I struggle to get mine to eat food from tins - I wonder if it gives the food a slight metallic taste? - There is also a health-scare regarding ring pull cans. I can't remember what it is but apparently it is slightly toxic and can build up in a cat's system. It's an ongoing battle finding something they will eat. I buy senior food and at the moment they are going mad for Whiskas senior "fishermans's choice" - I hope they don't do off it as I have 20 boxes to get through  - as far as flavours go, a pet shop owner told me once that the different flavour thing is to appeal to humans and cats don't care.

The rescue my mum got her cat from said rescue cats are always fussier than other cats once they have their feet under the table 

Maybe that's why I have 4 fussy cats 

[Desley (booktigger)]

I only have tins for fosters, as I have always struggled getting my elderly cats to eat enough out of a tin (and I prefer them to have higher meat content foods), but when i only have a couple of fosters in, it can be a struggle to get them to eat the full tin. There is a definite size difference in chunks in tins and pouches though

[pandora]

As I said the Natures Menues seem to go down quite well because they have the 70% meat content which is supposed to be healthier for them.  The treats have liver and they smell of it too.  They queued for it.

[Elizabeth z17]

My cat Lady ever since I've had, has always had Felix. It used to be cans first but then I went onto pouches later, which meant less wastage of food. When I moved into my flat last year, I put her on Go-Cat, fish flavours, as fish mad, although she will eat the chicken and turkey flavours, as I thought this would be a change for her, as well as saving me money, but after 3 months she wouldn't eat it no more, so went back to the usual. She's even been eating the ones I consider a bit exotic recently, which for her I found surprising. But I've noticed recently she's sometimes on odd occassions does not seem to be bothered again. So debating whether to vary the brands with her. What do you think?

I've gave her a Hi-Life brand today, pilchards, she's ate quite a bit, but not as much as I thought.

[blackcat]

yes, but I have a dog who is half labrador 

The cooking method is different depending on the container and it changes the flavour slightly. I have just stuck with can because I refuse to be blackmailed, and they are coming to terms with the situation. But I suspect at least one neighbour is feeding them also ...

[pandora]

I have three rescue cats; two I have had for five years now and in October I adopted a third.  Prior to my third cat, I used to feed my two a combination of Whiskers pouches, felix pouches and the occasional sheeba and a bit of dry food every now and again.  They really like the change of flavours and seem to expect a varied diet.  Since the arrival of the third, I have gone a bit industrial with the food and thought buying tins rather than the pouches would be a much more economical and logical thing to do.  The young, new cat totally agrees with me and eats and eats and eats.  The other two however, liked the change to tins at first (again whiskers and Felix and dry occasionally) but recently they are just turning their noses up at it and I throw lots of food away every day. 

The only way I can tempt them to eat a bit of it is to put crunchy sprinkles on it.  I do remember having 'yeast' flakes in the past to tempt them to eat their food but I have not seen them recently.  So I have now gone over to the Natures menues and I am going to try and supplement this much more expensive food with veterinary dry food.  Wonder how they get on with it.  So far they love their new higher protein food and also the Natures treats, although all of it is quite expensive.

Has anyone else had this experience with tinned food?