[sammicat]

I have been feeding Nutro Max dry food to my cat ever since she was 3 months old. She is now 2 and a half years old. Earlier, she would also eat the Nutro Max wet food as well. But as she grew older, she became extremely picky and would not eat anything other than Nutro Max dry food. I had to throw out all my cat treats because she would just sniff it and not eat it. Even around the house, she will smell human foods and not try to eat. She just sticks to her Nutro Max.

My problem now is that Nutro Max is going to discontinue manufacturing its primary type of dry food. Nutro Max is instead marketing its Complete Care brand. I bought a small bag and have unsuccessfully tried to get my cat to eat it. She won't. I have mixed the new food with her old food but she won't eat the new food. I have also tried just giving her the new food without the old food and she also won't eat it. I am very worried about this because once pet stores stop selling this particular kind of Nutro Max, my cat might stop eating altogether!

What can I do to ease my cat into trying new foods? I am being very serious - she would rather go on a hunger strike than try to eat something new. Her appetite has diminished recently and she looks like she has already lost a few ounces because of the stress of me putting something new in her food bowl.

PLEASE HELP!!! Thanks!!!

 

[kana]

I'd give her a little spoon full of Turkey baby food and see if she likes that. I'd then mix a little bit in with the new food.
I know my cat goes berserk over baby food treats and will eat a pill right off the spoon if it has been dunked in turkey.

I don't know if this is good advise or not. I just know what makes my kitty go nuts when it comes to food.

Best of luck!

 

[kitkat]

Try feeding more canned foods or sprinkle some tuna caviar flakes on the dry food. Make sure to gradually change over food and if your kitty doesn't like it that much, you can feed more wet canned diet. Your kitty will not starve herself for days or weeks on end just b/c she doesn't like the food. She will eventually eat it. Also, to make your cat less dependant on one certain food, you may try to change her dry food diet every 4-6 mths so they get variety. Good luck :wink:

 

[drjean]

Sorry to disagree, KitKat, but a cat WILL starve itself to death. I've seen it happen. It's rare, fortunately.

You might have a look at the article I put up just for CatForum on my website, since the question kept arising:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... chingfoods

This situation demonstrates the problem very nicely!

Good luck!
Dr. Jean

 

[kitkat]

Oh wow, thanks for pointing that out to me. I would figure that they would eat something even if they didn't like it eventually......Now I know :!:

 

[AngelZoo]

Keep trying, you will find something.
Be persistant and do everything you can to encourage your cat. Even if it's not the best food or treat in the world, just opening her to trying different things is a start.

A lot of companies offer free samples of foods perhaps you can obtain some of those and see if any of them spark and intrest for her.

A lot of ferrets are very picky eaters, and situations just like this is what ferret owners worry about. What we do if we choose to feed a dry kibble, is to make sure they are eating at least 3 different kibbles in their daily diet. Incase one brand stops manufactoring a food, or changes the formula. We will have 2 back up foods for the ferret to eat at least until we find a new brand to add into the mix, so we wont have to worry about starvation.
This is just an example of why it's important to keep your cat adjusted to various foods through out their life.

Good luck, read that article from Dr. Jean hopefully it will help you.

 

[cjnala]

Kidney Stones & food

We have 2 burmese cats. One has to have hard food & a pill to keep her going. The other has had 2 kidney stone operations because she got crystals from the hard food. She hates soft food & the vet says she has to be on Hill's prescription diet X/d soft food.
She eats very little & we never see her drinking. That was her other problem. I guess she gets liquid from this food. Any help would be appreciated. We are thinking about trying another vet.