Can't get Mousie to eat wet food anymore!

[Tina]

Mousie has gone completely off wet food in the past few weeks......have tried several different brands and she won't touch any of them! She's still nibbling at her dry food....but only a little at a time, obviously not enough because she's definately losing weight again.......and as she's so tiny anyway, that's not good!

She'll eat fish when I poach some for her, but I can't give her fish every day as I have heard it's not good for them to have every day (?). She won't eat fresh cooked chicken, liver, beef, or anything else like that.....just fish.

Anyone know of any wet food brands that their cats find "irresistable"? She would only eat Felix As Good As It Looks for a long time, but won't touch that anymore (don't think it's that good for her anyway!). We have also tried Fancy Feast, a Pets At Home brand, and a Tesco brand and another Felix wet food.......all of them have been ones with at least 50% fish or chicken content in them, but she won't eat any of them.

Ideas please! I'm very worried about her not eating enough, her weight's back to just over 5 pounds!

[Mags]

I know a lot of people don't rate Whiskas too highly but have you tried her with Whiskas Supermeat? It isn't lumpy like other meat, more like a pate and is easier to eat. Cassie will only eat the chicken Supermeat so I have to buy the cans separately ......the multi Supermeat packs contain rabbit, chicken, original etc. If you haven't already tried it, may be worth buying one tin to see if she is interested...
Also I sometimes mix about half a dozen biscuits in with Cassie's meat if she doesn't seem interested.....that usually does the trick and gets her started on the meat..

Another brand I've been buying lately is Sainsbury's Perfectly Meaty which contains prebiotic. Cassie devours those in no time, the meat is in very small pieces so it's not like they have hard work chewing it. The pouches are 85g and my local Sainsbury sells them in singles as well as packs. I might add that she doesn't like the normal Sainsbury cat food only the ones called Perfectly Meaty

Poor Mousie, I hope you can find something to whet her appetite soon, it is so worrying when you can't find anything they will eat........ good luck!

[angieh]

I do sympathise with the worry that you are going through Tina with Mousie not eating. I get just as worried about Merlin - being elderly and not wanting him to lose weight either.

Merlin also has phases of going off wet food and I have not given him dry for a long long time as he has had urinary problems on and off for years. Felix As Good as it Looks - liked that for a while and then wouldn't touch it for months, but has recently taken to it again - the fish varieties and as long as I cut the larger pieces up for him actually managed to finish it all up. I thought the "meat" looked very rubbery and wouldn't actually buy that again anyway - but at least they sold the varieties in fish or meat, which suited him. He has now gone back to the beef in jelly - another food that he went completely off some months ago and has gone a fair way through that box that I'd kept in the cupboard "just in case". Today, I have tried him on Felix supermeat and he's had some chicken.

I've never known him turn his nose up at freshly poached chicken - but I do hand feed him this sometimes when he will not eat anything else. I am interested to see that Mags mentions Sainsburys Perfectly Meaty with a probiotic - I may well get some of that in. For probiotic, sometimes I give Merlin a teaspoon of plain yoghurt which he loves and it is easier to give than that nasty stuff from the vet!

I don't know if you have time to cook for Mousie - but there are some good recipes for cat friendly food here and portions can of course be frozen. I have not tried any myself, but may well do next time Merlin refuses to eat!

http://www.petskitchen.co.uk/joe-and...rday-meals.asp

Another food that I have found useful with Merlin when he refuses to eat anything else is Royal Canin Sensitivity Food - a couple of times he has tucked into this food with gusto when he will look at nothing else

http://www.nutrecare.co.uk/prod5.asp...msg=&offs et=

You can probably find cheaper online suppliers for this.

Pinklizzy very kindly sent me a sachet of this food to try if all else fails -

http://www.nutrecare.co.uk/prod5.asp...t=#prod_anchor

This is generally used at the vet clinic and fed by tube, but when I was particularly anxious because Merlin was not eating, I would have tried just mixing it and seeing if he would lap it up.

I also find standing over Merlin, giving him reassurance and gentle strokes whilst he is eating helps too.

I wish you very good luck with Mousie. Do let us know how you get on. ((((HUGS)))) to you both.

[dandysmom]

So very worrying. I second Mags comment about sprinkling the dry food on the wet to get my picky Leia started eating, and it works. She prefers the dry, but after she had a bout of cystitis I want her to eat mostly wet. It is odd how they go off a food they used to enjoy; and then will suddenly start eating one they formerly refused. Have you tried warming the wet a bit?

[cats' staff]

Cleo sometimes does this and, like others have mentioned, sprinkling treats or dried food over wet sometimes gets her eating. At other times only me sitting next to her works! With Cleo though I think it is because she gets nervous that Tolly may come in and jump on her so she needs a 'bodyguard'- could Mousie be nervous of something where she is fed? We have to turn the washing machine off for example as if that starts making a noise Cleo will panic. When she feels comfortable she will eat but at other times she just seems to reject everything and it took us a while to link the problem with various noises and a nervy cat rather than the food.

[Tina]

Thanks for the suggestions folks, will try Mousie on some of the Perfectly Meaty for a start as there's a Sainsbury's right down the road. Have tried sprinkling dry food on top of the wet, but Mousie doesn't like her food mixed bit like me I think LOL! She ate a bit of the As Good As It Looks Cod today.......we had been warming the pouches for a couple minutes in hot water.......but gave it to her cold today and she actually ate some, she prefers it cold maybe? Strange cat!

We feed the cats in the dining room rather than the kitchen as it's always quiet in there and they prefer that to the kitchen. Still can only get Mousie to eat ON the dining room table though, she reckons she's too special to eat off a mat on the floor I think! She's doing okay with the dry as long as we put a fresh handful on the table whenever she demands it.....which is difficult when we're all out in the day, and she won't eat it if it's been there a couple hours! We think much of the problem is that she's just rather spoiled......even the fresh fish she loves, she'll now only eat when OH hand feeds it to her a piece at a time!

The vet wants to try to keep her weight maintained at around 3kg and she's dropped a little below that again. Also difficult to know what to feed her as she had that episode with the tummy upset and frequent vomitting (from her meds or her food) back in September, and her dry food is now a prescription one from the vet's.....but she won't eat the wet version of the same food.#

Will try a few other options and keep you all posted.

Oh, and this week we finally reduced her meds (the vet asked us to wait till December 1st) and she goes for her blood checks to see if she's coping with the reduction on 22nd December.

Thanks again all!

Tina

P.S. Mousie sends hugs and purrs back!

[za9za00]

Originally Posted by Tina

Mousie has gone completely off wet food in the past few weeks......have tried several different brands and she won't touch any of them! She's still nibbling at her dry food....but only a little at a time, obviously not enough because she's definately losing weight again.......and as she's so tiny anyway, that's not good!

She'll eat fish when I poach some for her, but I can't give her fish every day as I have heard it's not good for them to have every day (?). She won't eat fresh cooked chicken, liver, beef, or anything else like that.....just fish.

Anyone know of any wet food brands that their cats find "irresistable"? She would only eat Felix As Good As It Looks for a long time, but won't touch that anymore (don't think it's that good for her anyway!). We have also tried Fancy Feast, a Pets At Home brand, and a Tesco brand and another Felix wet food.......all of them have been ones with at least 50% fish or chicken content in them, but she won't eat any of them.

Ideas please! I'm very worried about her not eating enough, her weight's back to just over 5 pounds!

Try these Applaws, Sainsbury's Encore, Tesco Finest (I forget which one but it has 40-50% meat), Hi-Life, Natures Menu, Natures Harvest, Feline Fayre (Asda in a Black Tin or Pouch), Porta 21 from Zooplus.co.uk.

Applaws, Encore and Feline Fayre are not complete but if your cat goes for these (most do) you can gradually add some of the others in the list to transition onto the complete foods.

Andrew

[Tina]

Originally Posted by za9za00

Try these Applaws, Sainsbury's Encore, Tesco Finest (I forget which one but it has 40-50% meat), Hi-Life, Natures Menu, Natures Harvest, Feline Fayre (Asda in a Black Tin or Pouch), Porta 21 from Zooplus.co.uk.

Applaws, Encore and Feline Fayre are not complete but if your cat goes for these (most do) you can gradually add some of the others in the list to transition onto the complete foods.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew! Did try the Encore yesterday which Mouse just nibbled at......but our other cat thinks it great, so that's her sorted on to something healthier anyway! Not worried too much if the foods aren't complete as both cats eat alot of prescription dry food. I think they need the wet more for the moisture and to make sure they're getting some "real" meat. They both drink GALLONS of water too which is good!

[za9za00]

Originally Posted by Tina

Thanks Andrew! Did try the Encore yesterday which Mouse just nibbled at......but our other cat thinks it great, so that's her sorted on to something healthier anyway! Not worried too much if the foods aren't complete as both cats eat alot of prescription dry food. I think they need the wet more for the moisture and to make sure they're getting some "real" meat. They both drink GALLONS of water too which is good!

Thats part of the problem Prescription food is formulated so that your cat will eat it and sometimes it is very difficult to wean a cat off it. Drinking lots of water is not good for a cat. Their kidneys are not developed for processing large amounts of water and there have been suggestions that this is the cause of an increase in kidney related diseases for cats.

Andrew

[Tina]

Originally Posted by za9za00

Thats part of the problem Prescription food is formulated so that your cat will eat it and sometimes it is very difficult to wean a cat off it. Drinking lots of water is not good for a cat. Their kidneys are not developed for processing large amounts of water and there have been suggestions that this is the cause of an increase in kidney related diseases for cats.

Andrew

Thanks again Andrew. Won't be trying to wean the cats off the prescription food anytime soon as the youngest one needs it, so no worries there. Maybe I exaggerated a bit about the "gallons" of water LOL I meant I'm pretty sure they drink enough to not dehydrate.....between the 2 of them they get through a bowl a day (half a bowl in the morning and half a bowl at night. Or at least that's how much is gone when it's changed twice a day! Cheers for the suggestions and the info!