Cat not eating properly

[Amo_angelus]

hehe in my house it runs more along the lines of:

Cat/female bunny
Still cat and female bunny
Oh cat and female bunny again
Eldest guinea pig

Mitzy thinks Destiny is a cat and she thinks he's a bunny so their dominance issues are amusing. She bosses him around and he bosses her around and I sit there wondering which one is really running the house.

[Corporal Smokey]

hehe you said that right. He's a proper little monster. He won't use his scratching post because my carpets apparently feel nicer. He wants whatever pillow I'm sleeping on and if I don't move he will lay on my face. And if I'm not fussing him, so help him he will eat my hand until he gets his attention.

Cats' prerogative I'm afraid 

List of hierachy:
1. Cat
2. Still Cat
3. Cat again
4. Cat
5. Everyone else who shares cat's house and works for cat.

Get used to that one and you're sorted!

[Amo_angelus]

Yes, I love my baby ever so much! I ask my vet, sister, mum and ex a lot of my questions but no one had a clue about this one. Thank you for telling me about the whiskers. You're probably right, that could be something to do with it. His new water bowl is a lot wider than his old one and he's drinking a lot more as well as eating. When I first got him his whiskers were a lot shorter too. I don't know why, but they did seem very scraggy and short, now they're ever so long and strong and most of them are straight, some are still weaker than the rest and some are still very bent. He has one that forms a perfect right angle.

hehe you said that right. He's a proper little monster. He won't use his scratching post because my carpets apparently feel nicer. He wants whatever pillow I'm sleeping on and if I don't move he will lay on my face. And if I'm not fussing him, so help him he will eat my hand until he gets his attention.

I like learning new things about my kitty cat. It is good fun, although I wish I knew a little bit more about them to go off of.

[Corporal Smokey]

Hi Amo, don't worry about learning to be a cat-slave, some of the most veteran rescue champions on here will tell you they learn new cat things all the time.

The reason for the saucer thing could well be whiskers. Cats' whiskers are one of the most important tools they have. You only have to read some of the remarkable stories of deaf and blind cats on this forum to realise how useful they are for mapping their surroundings. With a bowl, the whiskers can't sense their environment properly so many cats don't feel comfortable-especially one who's perhaps still feeling a little fragile.

The fact you even asked our advice shows you care and you'll get along just fine. Learning new cat things is half the fun.

And yes, they are monsters, they would rather starve than bend their own rules!

Good luck!

[Amo_angelus]

Well...That's the thing Incompetant vet told me to take him off two days after I started him on them.
My sister said this is BS, Joe dog was on for at least a week and he only had one tooth out. Mitzy had most of his out plus an abscess drained at the same time. So he probably needed them still.
So I put him back on them a few days later. But on my own judgement. He was getting them when I thought he was in pain.
Then a week later (when my proper vet came off jury duty) Andy told me I was doing the right thing. So I kept on for a bit longer. Only using them when he looked to be in pain. And then when he started trying to chomp things I stopped alltogether.

hehe it's possible. He does like making me run around him. I swear he thinks he's the reincarnation of maat.

[Stuart]

Glad to read that Mitzy is eating again  keeping finger's crossed that He eat's better now

maybe Mitzy was just testing you to see how good a slave you can be?? 

keep us updated Amo 

[Desley (booktigger)]

When I get fosters in that dont want to eat, the first thing I do is try them on different plates, as one of my permanent cats spent her first 11 years eating off saucers, and saw no reason to change when she came here - she wasn't quite as neat an eater though. If the bowl wears off, then another vet visit, just to make sure he isn't in any pain still - how long did he have painkillers after the dental for?

[Amo_angelus]

My friend on facebook actually suggested it to me. I still don't understand it completely. But thank you. I was actually not looking forwards to coming back here and reading the replies. I was afraid you'd tell me that changing his food plates won't do anything and he needs to see a vet and I was being a bad meowmy.

I've never had cats before. And Mitzy's not come to me in the best way so I've kinda been thrown in at the deep end. I'm kinda having to look at him and ask myself about everything "Is this just because my cat still thinks he's a god and is being picky, is it because of something I've done wrong, is it because of what he's being treated for, is it the start of something I don't even know about yet" And on another forum there's this user who thinks she knows everything about cats and treats me as though I shouldn't have cats.

I'm glad that I was worried for nothing about reading these replies.

If the bowl thing wears off like the rest is there any other common things that I've over looked? My vets say there's nothing wrong with him, the only thing they can do if I take him back is run blood tests and suchwhat.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Fingers crossed all he needed was different bowls, it is actually quite common.

[Amo_angelus]

He only had his teeth done a week or two ago. Time seems to merge together these days.

Well I did plan to wait till the weekend to switch him over onto pot from plastic, but he was looking sooo pathetic on thursday night/friday morning I couldn't wait. He seemed ever so hungry. So I found out one of my coffee cups, you know the shallow, wide ones? I put his water in that and his food in it's saucer. I don't understand what's going on it that pussy cats head! He ate as though I'd actually starved him! He made me feel like such a bad puss tat mummy. So I gave him double what he usually eats. A mix of both soft and hard food. My sister told me off for that but he was ever so hungry.

Anyway I bought him his own dinner set this weekend. A shallow, large rat food bowl for his water and a hedgehog plate for his dinner. My mum runs a pet shop and has small animal feeding stuffs in stock very cheap for me because I buy at cost (she orders cat stuff in especially for me). Hence the hedgehog and rat stuffs, but they're a perfect size for his stuffs.

He is a very tidy eater usually. We found this out on a vet visit. I'd always given his food in a bowl, but one vet visit I had barely enough time to get home and collect him before we had to go out for the vet, so I was going to feed him when we got in. My sister lives between the vets and the buss stop so we called in on our way home and she fed him from a hedgehog plate. Ever so neat and he did prefer the plate to the bowl.

I can't understand why he wasn't eating from his bowls though when he was that hungry.

Also I don't want to say this has worked, because everything I have tried has so far worked for a few days before wearing off.

I was careful heating his food up. I only put it in until I could smell it and them mushed it up, took it to his feeding place and let it cool for a few seconds while I coaxed him to come for it before giving it to him. But I made sure there were no heat pockets and it wasn't hot, just warm enough to make me hungry. That hi-life food actually looks and smells edible!

[swampmaxmum]

I also gave up plastic long ago as they prefer to eat off china (or porcelain!) and flat plates can be good if the food doesn't spill everywhere. As others have said, you can get nice small china bowls for dry food too and Max prefers that as he doesn't have to chase the dry food around. Some cats like their wet food microwaved but others don't so as you are finding out it's hit and miss! Dry food goes a lot further too if he likes that. I mean he has to eat less of it to get more calories in him. Is he drinking ok? Hope all's well soon with toofies, mouth and eating.

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

If he is happier eating dry food, let him have that for a while - they do often prefer that when they have a sore mouth.

desley is right, dry food is often easier (although you wouldnt have thought so)  to eat as they swallow it whole.
He is probably still sore, i was sore for weeks after having teeth removed

[Desley (booktigger)]

If he is happier eating dry food, let him have that for a while - they do often prefer that when they have a sore mouth. Changing what you feed him on is a good idea too. Good luck, and if no better, a checkup at the vets to make sure everything has healed ok.

[Mark]

I would watch it heating food (I'm sure you will  ) as you can get heat pockets - I would stir it with my finger to make sure it is OK. I only use porcelain dishes as well. Alice is a really tidy eater so she is allowed saucers but Clapton gets it all over the place so he has China pasta bowls - they are the perfect shape and only cost £2 for 3 in Wilkinsons 

[Stuart]

Hi Amo, how long ago did Mitzy have His teeth done ?? I aint no expert, but I think changing from plastic to a saucer
is a good idea, maybe being biast cause thats what I use to feed Misty 
Could he just be going through a fussy phase ?? My Misty has been a nightmare, specially over the last year, although
thats probably a lot to do with His CRF, He is currently going mad for (3rd change of brand in 6 months) Felix senior in
foil trays.
Misty got a couple of teeth out earlier in the year ( a total of 3 removed now ) but I dont remember Him going off his
food. I also give misty roast chicken breast for a treat
I quite regularly heat Misty's food in the Micro for 20-30 seconds
you could try that and see if that helps

[Amo_angelus]

Ok, I'm really confused now and I am hoping that I can get some help.

I took my cat in to get tarter removed, well they had to remove most of his teeth too. He now only has ten left from a full set.

Well I brought him home and he wasn't eating until I put him on wet food dissolved in water.
Then he stopped eating.
Put him on metacam and he started eating again. Obviously he was in pain from loosing so many teeth.
He stopped eating.
I began to warm his wet food up with no water. He began eating again. I figured the smell would attract him.
He stopped eating.
So I began tempting him with ham once more and it worked in part. He will eat the ham, but only eats the wet food in small ammounts. Not even a can a day.
Well now his gums must have healed because he's been in my bag eating the cat treats which are hard food, but still not too good with his wet food.

I don't get it. He loved his food when I first put him on it. Couldn't eat it fast enough!

My only idea is that because it's a plastic dish it may be holding old smells sensitive to his nose. So I'm giving him a saucer come Saturday. Porcelain and flat so it won't hold smells and he seems to like eating from saucers better. But does anyone else have any other ideas?