A no-grain canned food (no corn, wheat, barley, rye, rice or soy) is better for him than dry food that often contains these ingredients.
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health

I would sprinkle the top of his canned food and mix in just a bit of grated cheese, or parmesan cheese, or a few tuna flakes, or chicken fat to get him interested in his food again. Yes, some cats will take out their displeasure or annoyance on another cat, whether related or not, out of frustration. Perhaps bribe him with some yummy treats (such as a bit of chicken, or tuna) immediately when he comes back in as well as lots of praise. Then he may look forward to coming in more often if he knows he's going to get something special.

 

Feed Blanco what he'll eat, it's okay.

 

I agree! rcat

 

I have tried the no grain canned, sprinkled it with some cheese product that was supposed to help teeth (LOL), ground up dry and mixed in, yes he does eat the salmon (not so fond of the tuna), really loves gophers and lizards. I would buy the darn varmints if it was reasonable and real. I have bought live mice for snakes to try that. He is not motivated by food the way my house cat is. I give him all sorts of treats and sometimes he likes it, sometimes he is just too nervous to enjoy it. He is asleep right now between my legs. I think that is the most important relationship to nurture. Before I came on this forum, and during the past 40 years I raised cats on dry food (never had urinary track issues), and gave them canned tuna now and then. One liked liver so I bought chicken liver and made it for her. They lived full lives. I wouldn't doubt that cat food may have gotten worse as human food has. I will always offer some canned but this cat doesn't even like cooked chicken, chicken broth, raw chicken, nothing. He isn't always motivated by cheese I eat. He sure loves what he can catch. I even started feeding him outside, thinking that would help. I am frustrated. I will continue to weigh him and he is going for a check up. But dumping canned food twice a day isn't really leading to anything. I am buying EVO dry and if anyone thinks another is better, I will buy it.

 

really loves gophers and lizards. I would buy the darn varmints if it was reasonable and real.

LOL!

Sorry I don't know Blanco's history, but it seems like he's probably finding his own dinner outside. If that's the case, I wouldn't worry too much about what you give him, since it would just be supplementing his diet.

Strange. Like Blanco, my former stray, who's nearly 100% outdoors, is not interested in anything chicken-flavored either, even real chicken. He only likes fish-flavored foods, but he does also love rabbit. Maybe you could try that?

 

Just watched Shark Tank and one pitch was for high protein energy bars made from crickets and other natural things. The crickets are high protein. Blanco ate 3 huge grasshoppers last week - wonder if he knows more than me

 

You can sprinkle till the cows come home, but if it's just going to rot in the bowl, it's not doing anyone any favours, except a couple flies.

I know you want him to come back home to eat, and if a good quality dry is what does it, then do it!

My girls aren't quite like your Blanco, but Sadie comes close sometimes. What we did was worked out that she would kill for a handful of her treats.
I stopped giving her a "supper" and started to train her that she will get her treats, known as a "treat tray" around here lol, BUT that is also when the doors lock and there is no more outside till the next morning. (She gets two wet meals, has a little dry to nibble if she wants, so she's not starved of nutrition)

The time changes are fun lol, but she has worked it out so what she and Belle have done it worked it so they go upstairs for a nap after the treat tray.

Purr-fect! lol

Feed him what he'll come home for and get some sleep He's doing his own version of a "raw" diet lol

 

I've given up this fight with Jack. Jack will ONLY eat kibble so now I buy a great quality grain free kibble called Pure Vita. He loves it and his allergies have gone away.

As far as Blanco staying inside, buy earplugs. He will holler, moan, cry, scream, and otherwise be a total PITA for about a month. If you can endure that then he will eventually come to the realization that his outdoor days are done and settle down, but it will take weeks of enduring his complaining. THIS is precisely why I don't do outside.

 

Well he was in most of yesterday and all night. Would he eat canned he usually likes - no. All he wanted was out. He ran away so fast and when I called his name, he turned and gave me a meow as he ju!mped the fence. I don't think I want to cage an animal like this. I had another male cat once that we kept in and he lost all of his life. He was alive but one depressed animal. I will try the treats and gauge food by his appetite. My goal would be to keep him in at night. He considers it home because he brings his kills home to eat. I know this is not what I would consider ideal. My female is much more like cats I have had. She goes out for a little while, lays in sun, and spends most time in the house, always a night.

 

You worry way too much about this, it might even be why he stays away so much. Cats pick up on tension, and they don't like to be smothered if they have independence like him. The cat was born outside, right? He's pretty much lived outside. He knows how to take care of himself out there, and that's where he wants to be. He's likely is either eating somewhere else or is getting most of his food from what he catches -- so don't worry if he doesn't eat. Let him be the way he wants...

Until this year (so for 11+ years) we would let Blacky outside 24/7, I never worried about it, she's a street smart cat and would usually come in on her own around 10-12. She never went too far from home (usually we just had to look out the front door), didn't approach strangers, didn't get in fights, avoided roads, ran from cars, didn't even kill birds...

 

Busted! I saw Blanco at the neighbors 3 doors down that fed him as a kitten. They still leave Meow Mix (yuk) out for at least one stray cat that is definitely feral. He was looking in the food bowl. They have a big dog and that is why he never let the cats in the house. When I called his name, he meowed to me but no way he was letting me get close as now he is afraid of being stuck in the house. OK so I suspected that. I hate it on more than one account. On the way back from the store, I see my female Mama on the same porch looking up at the door like let me in. I know they don't let her in. Next door to this house is where Mama and Blanco seemed to live under a car. They would crawl out from a car that didn't run in the driveway and this other neighbor would feed them. I guess home roots go deep. I thought my open home with all the amenities would keep them here. Blanco just came in and I gave him a little dry and he looked at me with a big smile meow. I am going to give him little bits every time he comes in and still offer wet at meal times. Carmel, I never worried like this with my other 3 indoor/outdoor cats over the years. My kids think it is because of reading this forum and maybe that is so. Reading about the dangers so much and all the diseases, I have become a catophobic!

 

I think it's hard when you have a cat that goes outside, I agree with whoever said that he may been finding his own dinner outside. It's really hard to regulate what they eat when they are indoor/outdoor. I'd let him eat what he wants, maybe offer the canned food on occasion, but give him what he wants. I know that my feral will only eat fancy feast canned food, but she does eat squirrels and rodents too, so I don't worry too much about what I give her.