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picky kitty

865 views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  rightsaidfed 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
When we adopted our cat in July, she was always very greedy and would always finish all the food we gave her immediately, she really couldn’t wait for me to put the bowl down at feeding time. We fed her dry food for the first 2 months or so as that was what the vet and the shelter we got her from recommended. I then did some research and gradually changed her to wet food with just a little bit of (good quality) dry food before bed time. She usually eats her wet food, but I’m not sure she’s really that keen on it. Sometimes she leaves a bit of food in the bowl and then comes back half an hour later to finish it, or sometimes I put the bowl down, she sniffs it and wanders off and then returns a bit later to eat it. Occasionally she doesn’t finish all her food and I have to throw out a little bit. There are a few kinds of meat that she won’t touch at all, e.g. lamb or anything gamey, but I don’t try feeding her these anymore and lately I’ve only been feeding her food that she ate without any issues before. I buy good quality food for her, usually poultry or beef ones, and I rotate flavours every day or two (I get 4 or 5 different ones).

Back at the shelter, she had to share an area with 5 or 6 other cats that she clearly didn’t get on with, so I think that might be why she was eating her food so quickly at the start – I think she was probably nervous about someone else eating it. So I guess her eating more slowly also means that she’s comfortable here, but it’s just such a big difference! This morning she kept meowing outside our bedroom door for us to get up and feed her and then she barely even looked at her food, but she happily ate the same flavour for breakfast and dinner yesterday. Is it normal that cats get a bit pickier with food if they eat wet? Would it be better if I don’t rotate her food as much and maybe stick to one flavour for an entire week?
 
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#2 ·
As far as I can tell, they are definitely pickier with wet food. I fed them the same dry food for years and they were happy. They also used to get the same wet food every day for dinner (dry food in the morning). Then I changed them to better quality stuff, and one of my cats suddenly got super picky. I still have no idea why. I tried just about every high-quality wet food there was, only to find that she's settled on Fancy Feast tuna & cheddar as her favorite. Eech. If I give her that for a few days in a row, she's happy, then suddenly one day she won't want it.

I'm tempted to say that maybe sticking with a weekly rotation would cut down on the pickiness, but I'm more tempted to say that there's just no telling. Good thing kitties are cute or I'd go right out of my mind.
 
#3 ·
Lower quality cat food to cats is like fast food to humans. It tastes great but it's awful for you. It's full of additives to make it tasty and addictive even.

You could be feeding her too much. How old is she? What does she weigh? How active is she? What foods are you feeding her and how much?
 
#4 ·
Thanks for your responses! She's about 2 years old and weighs almost 4kg (about 8.5 pounds), she's normal weight I'd say, definitely not overweight anyway. She's fairly active and playful, but she's indoors only. I feed her Grau and Animonda Carny wet food, most of them are grain free and some flavours have rice in them. She gets 200g (7oz) of wet food a day, the daily recommendation on the can is slightly more than that for her weight, plus a small amount of dry before bedtime. Does that sound like too much?

I gave her a different flavour this morning and she ate it all within a few minutes.. it was a fishy flavour though, she only gets that one maybe once every two weeks.
 
#5 ·
Every cat is different. If she's not overweight then it shouldn't be too much, but the amount seems higher than I'd expect. 7oz plus a handful of dry would make some cats balloon up in no time.

You could cut down a little and see if her appetite becomes a little more pliable. You obviously don't want to starve her or see her lose any weight but maybe try 5.5-6oz and see if she suddenly isn't as picky.
 
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