Tom cat being fussy with food - behavioural.

[Janeyk]

If he is leaving food (which all cats do) ... you can throw it out on the lawn for the birdies - especially at this time of year they are very apppreciative.

Mind you if Rambo is anything like my lot (and most cats I've ever met) the minute you throw cat food out for the birds they will rush outdoors and eat it! 

I do that too 

eta: not run out and eat it, throw it out for the birds 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

My cats are all silly with food and I seem to throw mountains away......sigh

I can put fresh food down for Misa and he will lick a bit and if I have a catbowl on the working top with old cat food say drom mnight before......whats happens..............oh yes he gets up and eats the old food which he wouldnt touch when it was down for him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I give up 

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

If he is leaving food (which all cats do) ... you can throw it out on the lawn for the birdies - especially at this time of year they are very apppreciative.

Mind you if Rambo is anything like my lot (and most cats I've ever met) the minute you throw cat food out for the birds they will rush outdoors and eat it! 

[Janeyk]

Hi Angela 

Rambo is gorgeous 

Like Mark, my cats are the same Schui less so because he has poor sense of smell, the ferals outside are as bad too! what I tend to do is just put out what I think they will eat then the rest in the fridge but ike yours often they won't touch that either aren't they fussy eh? 

[angielouise]

Nah, he does it with all of them.  He's having Felix Marinades at the moment, and the only one that I can say he really doesn't like is Felix Roasted. 

Ange

[Millys Mum]

Is it a particular brand, some of us are noticing changes in products, my lot dont like whiskas much anymore, they would normally hoover up a junk food but the new steam cooked type isnt as tasty to them which is very unusual as they are all gannets  

[angielouise]

Hmmm I think you've hit the nail on the head there, about them knowing how to play us humans!

That's interesting though - yes, maybe it is to do with age.  Sounds like it could be. 

Well, whatever it is, I guess Lord Rambo will just continue the way he is - I'll still love him 

Ange
xxxx

[ginge66]

Hi Angielouise and  

I'm no expert with these matters but I did notice when my last three cats got older they became very fussy with their food and I had to keep changing brand and type every couple of weeks, it was a bit of a nightmare I remember

 At present I have three young cats and they will eat anything thats put in front of them and i have a work colleague who often donates them food as his older cats refuse to eat it, so maybe it has got something to do with their taste buds becoming more sensitive as they get older. Either that or they are older and wiser and now how to fox us hoomans

[angielouise]

Hiya,

Pouches mostly - very occasionally tins, but not very often, so the food doesn't have a chance to go funny in it's container either.  It's just Rambo being a fussy wotsit I reckon 

Ange
xxxx

[Millys Mum]

 

Do you feed pouches or tins?

[angielouise]

Wow! 

No I didn't realise!  *runs to check*

Well, I'm glad to be here - animal forums are a great source of information.  I keep gerbils and tropical fish as well (hmmm, cat heaven!) and the forums I use for both of those have been invaluable over the years.

Thank you again. 

[Dawn F]

I've just come back from a holiday and the notes I left for the feeder were rather long!  welcome by the way, did you realise you were the 2000th member and had a thread running to welcome you!

[angielouise]

Crikey Dawn, I bet that gets complicated at meal times!

Rambo likes dry food, but prefers wet a lot of the time.  Trouble is, he even leaves the dry stuff if it's been hanging around an hours or two, but I can just tip that back in the bag .

[Dawn F]

I have four cats and they all have things attached to eating - one for instance won't eat any wet food at all, another will only eat one brand of wet food the other two will eat three brands (sadly not the same ones!) but don't eat certain flavours

[angielouise]

Thanks Mark - Oh well, at least I know he's just being normal then!  Rambo's the first cat I've owned, so I'm still on a learning curve I guess.  I've always been a dog owner up until Rambo came into my life.

 

[Mark]

Sorry but that is pretty normal behaviour in cats  - I throw more in the bin than is eaten here. Apparently it is something to do with how sensitive cats' sense of smell is.

[angielouise]

Hi all,

Just registered with this great forum 

I have a spayed tom cat called Rambo, who's around about 9 or 10 years old.  He decided he'd quite like to live with me about 3 years ago - I didn't get much say in the matter, lol! 

Anyway, he loves his food, but for the last few months he's developed a really strange (and annoying!) habit.  We'll put out his favourite wet food (or anything actually) and he'll eat what he wants then, and if anything is left in the bowl, he refuses to eat it later.  It's like if it's not completely fresh in front of him, then he doesn't want to know.  We've tried stirring it up, which worked for a while until he realised what we were doing, lol, and we've tried mixing in a tiny bit more food to make him think the whole lot is fresh. 

We've tried putting it in the fridge between his meals, or just picking it up out of his sight, but he just will not touch it - even if it's only been a few minutes since his last nibble!  So we end up throwing it away and putting out fresh each time, which is turning out to be quite costly.  We can't really predict what he'll eat and how much, because he's a fickle little wotsit and sometimes will eat a good helping, but another time will beg for ages only to eat one mouthful before walking off, even if he's not eaten for several hours.

Anyone got any suggestions of how we can change his eating habits please?

Thanks,
Angela