Fussy eating cat

[milly143]

I need some advice on what to do with my 1 year old cat. He has always been fed the whiskas pouches but a few monts ago I started buying tins of whiskas instead as they work out cheaper and last longer. He seemed perfectly happy with these and wolfed his food down as usual, until about 2 weeks ago. He started leaving it four hours, I assume until he got really hungry but now he just wont eat it at all. Yesterday I put down some tuna cat food down of a different brand (he doesnt usually eat fish) and that was gone in a flash but then this morning, we put down exactly the same food as he ate last night and 3 hours later the bowl was still full. I got given lots of different foods a few weeks ago and tried them all on him but he just shunned them all so having tried different brands of food, I just dont know what to do now. He is still quite content with his dry food. Any advice?

[milly143]

sorry for all the mistakes in that, really should check what I have written before I submit it.

[Elfin]

Cats will give you the runaround if you let them! If I were you, I'd stick to feeding a complete dry food only (like IAMS) - it'll save you a lot of hassle and there are health benefits to the cat.

When your cat gets into this "like-it/hate-it" thing with meat, you end up with perfectly good food going to waste (or sitting on the floor attracting flies in the summer - ewww).

[Quickstep]

I have two cats, the female is nearly one and she doesn't touch any of the pouch/tinned food that the other one eats, she has a big bowl of whiskas dry food a day and seems more than happy with that. If I buy a new type of pouch food she might eat it once but doesn't bother with it again! And my other one won't touch the dry food, i've tried everything to persuade him to eat it so he won't go hungry if i'm home late but he's not having any of it!!

[valsuey]

I started feeding my cat the dry food (Iams and Purina) because of all the flies around in the summer.She seems to love it.About once a week , usually at the weekend I give her a Whiskas pouch and she loves that too.I make a big production out of it, sing a song etc.(mad I know) but she gets all excited and I do believe she enjoys it only having the one a week.

[milly143]

So the chances are he doesn't want it/ has gone off it? How much of the dry food should I give him then? Funny thing is he still wont leave you alone when your in the kitchen until you put food down for him? Is he just being greedy?

[valsuey]

Depends on the size of the cat.I give mine 1 small bowl in the morning and another in the evening.There are usually guidlines on the packets. I think it is just habit sometimes when they ask for food because you are in the kitchen.I stopped using canned cat food ages ago because I found I was throwing most of it away.Cats won't eat it unless its fresh.Awkward little devils!

[Elfin]

LOL @ valsuey singing a song - how cute!
I am now an expert on cat faddiness, as my old cat (now blind and more than a little senile) has been playing me right down the line on this one for months, yet now he is back to eating dried food like he did for years before. Doh!

[amaham]

We cat owners seem to spend more time fussing about our cats than our chaps....!! Speaks volumes I think!