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7mo cat suddenly eating less -- picky?

2K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  LakotaWolf 
#1 · (Edited)
My 7mo cat Smokey has always been a very slow eater, taking up to 30 minutes to finish 3oz of wet food. I feed her inside the basement door so that my older cat doesn't eat her food, and now I hear her "burying" her dish after only a few seconds. When I check, she's maybe taken two bites and disappeared to her favorite spot. Sometimes I'm able to tap on the dish and get her to come back to finish, but lately even that doesn't work. If I put it in the fridge and give it to her 20 minutes later, she usually eats more of it.

I feed her some dry at lunch time, and she gobbles that up. She was having diarrhea for a long time, so the dry lunch became part of the schedule. (Nature's Instinct LID Turkey; and the wet food is the same brand/flavor.)

This morning I gave her my older cat's food (Dave's) and she wouldn't even touch it. She does at least start to eat her own food.

We just did the dish-tap-eat-more thing, and now she ate most of the 3oz. There might be a tablespoon left.

I don't think it's a temperature thing, because I just pulled the dish back out of the fridge. Yesterday I mixed it with a bit of hot water to warm it up. Is she just getting picky about the food itself? She's had only the LID Turkey for around two months now. We're moving in two weeks, so I wasn't up for experimenting with new foods because of the diarrhea.

If she were just being picky, would she still be eating at first? That's what's throwing me. She'll start eating and then decide after a minute or two that she's done. Meanwhile, my older cat inhales anything and everything in minutes. I never have to worry about her, LOL.
 
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#2 ·
I also wanted to add that since we're moving, our place is FULL of boxes. It's been this way for a month, so it's not suddenly new this week, which is when she really started eating less. I've been giving them both L-Lysine to help cope with the stress of moving.
 
#3 ·
Can she just be bored with her food. My two are extremely picky and they once both decided to stop eating. They were bored so I started offering more of a variety and it got better. It could also be the stress of moving. Cats can feel your stress..... I would try another really yummy food w gravy just to see if they gobble it up. Then you know it might be the food
 
#4 ·
Sounds like it could be the food. My cats will REFUSE to eat anything less than 3 different flavors of food. I've found that as long as I do that, they'll eat without complaint for any span of time.

My cats would hate me if I tried feeding them the same flavor every day. lol
 
#8 ·
No, never did. Basic stool test came back normal. We gave her a round of Flagyl and had her on the Hills prescription canned food for two weeks, and it cleared up. I started the LID turkey then, and the soft stool never returned until after a few weeks when I tried to give her Smudge's food (Authority). She had soft stool for three days and then it went away, but I was scared back into giving her the LID.

I'd love to just be able to give her what Smudge eats. I recently switched Smudge to Dave's Chicken and Dave's Turkey (50 cents a meal, which is awesome!). Smudge LOVES it, but Smokey doesn't. Boo. Maybe I'll try Authority again now that she's been doing better for over a month. Having to coax her to eat over a 30-minute timespan is getting very old. She eventually does eat it all, I just have to keep calling her back to it! I really need to stay way less than a dollar a meal per cat, with two cats.
 
#6 ·
You could try some variation, but it could just be she's in between growth spurts. I wouldn't worry much unless she starts losing weight.

As a side note, l-lysine doesn't help cats cope with stress. It helps them deal with feline herpes. If your cats have herpes stress can cause a flare up and the lysine will help manage it, but the lysine doesn't do anything to reduce stress by itself.
 
#7 ·
As a side note, l-lysine doesn't help cats cope with stress. It helps them deal with feline herpes. If your cats have herpes stress can cause a flare up and the lysine will help manage it, but the lysine doesn't do anything to reduce stress by itself.
Yes, that's what I meant. They both get goopy eyes with the slightest bit of stress! So I'm pre-empting it by giving them each half a day's dose daily. I'll increase it to the full dose during the moving days. (ETA: I've had them both checked out, and the vet agreed with the use of L-Lysine as long as symptoms don't get worse.)

She acts STARVING all day long! She pesters me for food every time I'm in the kitchen. She does eventually eat her food, and she'll eat Smudge's food if Smudge is eating it, but if I swap their dishes, she stops eating it.
 
#9 ·
I know this is going to sound a bit insane, but if Smokey -really- won't eat and you need to get some food into her, try Fancy Feast "classic" flavors.

My 17-year-old cat is on a fully-raw diet, but she has a ton of medical issues and there are some days she doesn't feel like eating. But if I pop a can of Fancy Feast, she'll devour it and lick the bowl shining clean.

https://www.fancyfeast.com/gourmet-cat-products/wet-cat-food/classic

I know Fancy Feast is kind of reviled as a "cheap", crappy food (...and it's no Dave's or Nature's Instinct, that's for sure) but amazingly, the Classic options are grain-free and have meat as the #1 ingredient.

Since your girl is still a kitten, I'd try to get as much food into her as possible.
 
#11 ·
OK, I picked up some Fancy Feast Classics and gave her a can of Tender Beef for dinner last night. She ate all but some crumbs of it. Great!

This morning, I mixed 1/2 can with some of the LID Turkey (to try to avoid stomach issues, just in case)... and she ate half of it, then started to bury it. I opened the door, and she went over to Smudge and started eating with her out of that dish (which had Dave's). Then they swapped; Smudge went to eat the FF. A minute later, they swapped again. Then Smokey walked away for good, but had most of 3oz total by then.

She seems to eat all the different food, she just need coaxing or something. Or she wants to eat out of the same dish as Smudge. Both of them are OK with the sharing, it's just that Smudge is bigger and eats so much faster. I don't really want to put 6oz down in one dish because I'd have no idea who got how much.
 
#12 ·
That's great that she ate! She is probably bored with her food. I had the same issues with Crisco along with the loose stools. At 5 months old he refused to eat the same LID turkey I was feeding him. I started offering different foods and now he eats like a champ! Good Luck with her. Just go slow introducing new foods.
 
#13 ·
Today she ate half a can and rejected the rest, even with coaxing 10 minutes later. I moved the dish to Smudge's eating area, and Smudge started eating right away. Smokey sniffed and walked away, but then came back and they both finished the rest.

This makes no sense to me!
 
#14 ·
My girl Allie is about the same age a little older, I feed the two kittens seperately but.....

Likewise, I will feed Allie and sometimes from a distance I see her start covering her food before shes a 1/4 way through. My reaction is that I go to her sit down and push her wet food back to the middle of the bowl or just play with it and miraculously she starts eating again. Sometimes there is no coaxing, she walks away :(

So what? If I was not there babying her she would cover her food and walk away? Seems like it to me....Picky kitty!!!

I buy all kinds of canned to try with her and shes very picky, so far she eats natural balance canned ultra at 8:45am then a container of fancy feast purely at 2:30 and natural balance dry throughout the rest of the day(only fresh out of the container, if not she snobs it)...sometimes I give her gravy sensations when shes being extra picky...

Having a scale is great, as long as shes gaining and not losing I think your alright.
 
#15 ·
She's been eating pretty well the past couple of days, eating all but tiny bits. Still continuing with Fancy Feast classics (tender beef, chicken, beef/chicken, and turkey/giblets). She left half the can once or twice, and I was able to coax her back to it. She'd eating faster, so maybe I'll be able to feed them both together soon.

Thanks for the FF suggestion!
 
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