I am switching cat food, moving from Science Diet Lite to Felidae, and Tunch is driving me crazy.
I tried the whole weaning him slowly by mixing the two, and he picked around the Felidae and ate the SDL. Now, I am giving him nothing but Felidae, and he is driving me crazy. He walks around the apartment meowing and shooting me angry glares.
At what point do I just give up and try a different cat food? Is there a chance he just does not like the change, or is it possible that he really does not like the taste/texture of Felidae? How do I judge?
Help. My cat is driving me insane.
Zifnab
Have you been getting any of this cat food from China?
:p
But yeah, try a third type of cat food. I’m guessing if he simply won’t eat Felidae, he actually might not like the flavor. But if he doesn’t take anything else either, he’s just being spoiled and you should tell him to suck it up. Then hide anything you don’t want poop in.
chopper
man, i’m lucky. my dog will eat anything that isn’t nailed down.
once we switched her to a low-alleren food and the vet was all ‘so, does she eat it? lots of dogs find this stuff to be too bland’ and i just looked at her blankly. jesus, she sticks her head in the bowl and its like a scene of unimaginable violence. things flying everywhere, slobber spinning around like debris in a tornado.
Tax Analyst
John, let’s see…when I tried to get my cat off of “Kal-Kan” many years ago; I was trying to get her to eat some dry food now and then because the vet said she should have some crunchy stuff in her diet to strengthen her teeth and gums. Anyway, she sniffed the new fare, gingerly stuck a paw to it and then promptly turned around and started making that “front paw pushing back” motion, like when they are covering up a fresh turd, so I figured that was a subtle hint she didn’t like it…What did I do? Why, I caved, course. Yeah, her teeth went bad later…making me and her a matched set in that category. Good luck…
Pb
It seems you’re operating under a misconception that you’re in charge here. But Tunch–like all cats–knows better. Good luck, Tunch!
jg
Lazy ass. You’re close enough to walk there.
I never tried to change my cats food brand. Its always Iams although I switch the flavors sometimes. They don’t seem to care. They’re still nuts of course. Neither will eat food thats already in the bowl before they get there. It has to be fresh. I dump it back in the bag scoop it right back out and they’re happy. One gets bitchy when there’s no dog food too. Weird.
Punchy
This is why I own rats. They’ll eat anything at anytime. No angry glares, no bitching, and no retaliation.
Cats are vindictive, Mr. Cole. I’d put your shoes and socks in a safe at night if I were you.
RandyH
I’ve never heard of Felidae. Why feed something you can’t pronounce, anyway? What prompted this decision to switch? Science Diet is terrific food.
I feed our two cats Science Diet. They love it and they’re in excellent health. They started to get a little chubby though and I switched them to the “Indoor Cat” formula and it’s making a difference. They had no trouble with the switch either.
George B.
We must remember the lessons of 9/11. 9/11 changed everything.
BFR
Why did you stop using Science Diet? Every other kind of food I’ve tried makes my cats obese so I stick with Science Diet despite the cost & hassle of having to hunt for it.
cleek
we feed our cat Felidae dry. she eats it when there’s nothing else around, but she’s not crazy about it. she really holds out for the wet stuff that we give her once a day. i’m thinking about switching to something else for the dry… as soon as she’s done with that giant bag of the stuff.
Nash
I hear candlesticks make a nice present.
Jake
Have you tried sprinking water from a tuna can over the food? Don’t worry, Tunch won’t starve to death. If push comes to shove, he’ll eat you.
House matey’s cat didn’t like it when we switched her from a cheaper, smellier brand to Kirkland (Costco’s version of Science Diet for adult cats). We tried the mixing old food and new process, the wet food/other treat mixed in process, the begging and swearing process and we were still subjected to sleep deprivation.
After three weeks of being trodden on and woken by the Frozen Nose of Alertness I said fuck it and put her on the Kirkland. I think giving her two kinds of food was making her think she had a choice and if she insited she would get the one she wanted. Now she gobbles it right down.
(For the record, my cats will eat anything, including some fruits and vegetables. Anyone want a couple of slightly demented cats?)
Donna
I switched my four cats from canned food to prescription dry food (Innovative Science Diet green pea & duck) because one cat has food allergies. It took two weeks for them to quit bugging me in the a.m. & p.m. (and I work at home). But they eventually switched and I now have the added bonus of not having cats jump on my head in the morning because they think I need to go open a can.
Laura
I haven’t posted in probably two years, though I still read you regularly. I’m embarrassed that THIS is the post that lured me back, but Felidae has been a life saver, perhaps literally, for one of my cats. She has always vomited fairly regulary. But she’s 10 now and the older she gets, the worst it is, much to my boyfriend’s dismay (apparently, he doesn’t like stepping in cat vomit). A couple months ago, she vomited so much, she was spitting up blood. After spending $550 on a visit to the vet, resulting in negative tests (of course, it had to be a Sunday), the vet said it might be a food allergy (I was feeding her IAMS at the time). I went to a family owned pet food store near me and they gave me free packets of Felidae. I looked them up online http://www.canidae.com/index.html and the testimonials seemed too good to be true. But she didn’t vomit for three days, unheard of for her. She’s been on it for four months now. While she still coughs up the occassional hair ball, it’s much less often and she never has non-hairball vomits. However, I ran out of Felidae two weeks ago and my family pet food store was closed (again, on a Sunday), so I bought some “high quality” cat food at another specialty pet store. She vomited three times that day. I got the Felidae the next day, and she’s been fine since. Your cat may not have food allergies, but cats do not need corn meal, and most cat foods are full of that, along with other useless crap they don’t need. Felidae isn’t the most expensive food I’ve bought for the cats, but it’s the best I’ve given them. I don’t think it’s their favorite, but I don’t particularly care. They’re healthy. They’re shedding less, and a big perk – their poop stinks less. Don’t give up with Felidae for Tunch. He’ll eat when hungry enough.
ET
Don’t even ask what my cat did (or didn’t do as the case may be) when I switched litters. Shudder.
The Other Steve
I’ve switched food on my cats many times, so I’m an expert here. :-)
I started them out on Science Diet kitten food, then went to SD adult and they hated it. I mean seriously, they pushed it away, refused to eat, wanted that kitten food.
So I decided to try something different, I think at the time I went with Iams. They were ok with that and ate it fine. Then I tried Eukanuba, and one cat was ok the other barfed daily.
So then I bought Royal Canine and they were ok with that for a month or two. But that was harder to get so I switched them to Natural Choice regular adult and they ate that for nearly a year with no problems.
Then Natural Choice came out with an indoor formula, which I tried. One of my cats just freaked out on the stuff. barfed a lot, yelped in pain when touched, etc. Went back to the non-indoor. But they were gaining weight.
So then later on they had a indoor weight management, so I tried that and they loved it… fed that for another year.
The chinese thing pissed me off, and I ended up going to Royal Canine indoor food. They really like that, and I’m sticking with it for now.
I get an occasional barf, maybe once every other week, but I think it’s because they pick up something else besides the cat food.
The dog eats Royal Canine Dachshund food, and the cats get RC cat indoor. Both seem to be doing well.
aliceandbob
John,
Cats are like toddlers, in that they’ll throw tantrums if they think you’ll cave. But just as a kid won’t actually hold his breath until he explodes, your cat won’t actually starve himself before he eats the new food. He’s just seeing if you’ll change your mind.
Oh, and most cats loathe change, especially as they get older. My mother got a new couch and the cat snubbed her for a week. Tunch sounds perfectly normal.
ThymeZone
He’s a cat. That’s his job.
Dave
Yeah same experience with my cat. When the pet food recall was in effect we couldn’t find science diet. Our cat freaked. Wouldn’t touch anything we bought to replace it (and we bought a lot of different kinds). When Science Diet returned to the market, so did the peace in the house.
I’ll echo the question, why are you trying to change your cat’s food? Seems like more hassle for both of you than it’s worth.
Tax Analyst
OH…you just reminded me. That old cat, Loki…one day I’m sitting around and just about to eat a banana…she jumps up on my lap and starts sniffing at it…and I’m smiling like, “You’re not gonna like it…for one thing it didn’t have to die for you”…but she’s still interested and finally takes a lick at it…then another…then faster…and faster…getting a little out of control here…then starts BITING into it – big chomps…she’s even got a paw wrapped around it now, and I can’t tell you just how phallic this whole scene looked. Anyway, I’m just letting her go at it, seeing just how much of this banana this 8-10lb cat might consume. She finished just over 1/2 of it, then kind of wobbled over to her bed and conked out for several solid hours. Turns out she was pregnant. I tried to give her a little bit of banana a couple days later…I got a real dirty look for my trouble.
John Cole
Several of my friends and the folks at my family run pet store have convinced me that there was a lot of crap in SDL and other cat foods that just didn’t need to be there. I did a little investigating, and Felidae seemed to be the best out there, so I am trying it.
I like Tunch. Other than my family, he IS my family. I want him around for awhile, and if feeding him better, healthier food makes him cranky in the short run but means he might be around longer, I will do it.
Tax Analyst
Good for you, John. For all their orneryness (in fact, perhaps BECAUSE of it) cats are real good companions, especially for occasionally grouchy single guys. Sometimes they have sort of a “grounding” effect. Sometimes when I was fuming at Nixon (yeah, it was a long time ago) while reading the newspaper she would come over and just sit right down on the article. How could I NOT smile?
erik
You are right (or your friends at the local pet store in any case) about Science Diet. A few cats ago I fed mine SD as it was one of the earlier kick-ups to Kal-Kan and Fiskies. Now my cat is on Innova which is a pretty healthy brand. I’m thinking of switching as a friend just opened a pet store and she can’t get Innova. While she agrees Innova is good she highly reccomends Wellness.
I actually have a sample bag of wellnes super5mix Lite Formula in front of me and the first few ingredients are; Deboned Chicken, chicken meal, ground barley, grount oates, ground brown rice, chicken liver… It also contains peas, cranberries, blueberries, apples, zuchinni, sweet potatoes, garlic, and rosemary. It claims not have and rendered fats or meat by-products.
I’ve had to use these samples for when i run out and there has been no problem. Also the nuggets are smaller than Innova
Pixie
Why are you switching cat food? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Also, might I suggest IAMs? My kittehs are all about the Indoor Cat blend :) it even pleases their picky palates :)
BFR
there was a lot of crap in SDL and other cat foods that just didn’t need to be there. I did a little investigating, and Felidae seemed to be the best out there, so I am trying it.
Bear in mind that this is an animal that will hoover up pretty much any small animal roaming in your vicinity. Yeah, there’s a lot of crap in the cat food but it probably doesn’t compare with the disease bags they eat in the wild. Plus, if he likes the SDL, why take it away? I’m sure there are plenty of foods you eat that are loaded with unhealthy crap – you eat them anyhow cause it makes you feel good.
Face
And friends wonder why I don’t have a cat.
ThymeZone
True. But sometimes my 23 lb cat just lies down on the keyboard while I am in the middle the Greatest Post Ever, and starts licking my hand.
Wants attention, you see.
Whenever that happens, I have to say something cranky to John to let off steam :-)
Laura
To be fair, our dogs vomit too. But they’re outside, where I always have to wear shoes due to what comes out of the other end. However, they never get hairballs. I kinda wish they did. It would mean they were self-cleaning like the cats.
Tax Analyst
Off course, TZ – I never meant to imply that the cat was doing it for my benefit…she wanted attention, and since cats only employ subtlety when absolutely necessary she figured (correctly) that sitting down on top of whatever trivial BS was otherwise using my attention would be the way to go. On occasion I might be slow to grasp the point and toss her off, but she would usually give me a second opportunity to see the light and plop back down on the paper again. I really should have just given in at that point, but for some silly reason I thought I was the one in control of things around there. I make beeg joke…ha-ha…I mean, it’s not like I have an Iron Will to begin with.
Cat’s tongue = texture like sandpaper
Hand; sometimes, outside of forearm; more often
I think my cat had a “restraint” thing…she really wanted me to stay put and would wrap her paws around my forearm…I had to warn her a couple times that I just wasn’t that type of guy.
A guy’s gotta have SOME standards, after all…
BFR
But sometimes my 23 lb cat…
jeebus what are you feeding that thing? I thought my 15lb cat was fat.
Dave
Now you got me thinking…
I know the feeling well.
danelectro
john, it’s much easier to just switch cats.
ThymeZone
All the cats get the same thing, Iams Hairball Control.
Franklie, the big one, is part Maine Coon, I think. Huge frame, big paws. And for a Maine Coon, she is not really that big. I’ve seen a lot bigger. She’s not fat, not obese. Just really big. Her pic is on my Photosite, see the url and the cat almbum.
BFR
Huge frame, big paws. And for a Maine Coon, she is not really that big. I’ve seen a lot bigger. She’s not fat, not obese. Just really big.
Dunno – cat still looks pretty rotund to me. I think you’re supposed to be able to see their ribs.
Roonieroo
/delurk
John,
I work with a variety of animal rescue groups and have gone through this a lot. My sister as given me a lot of tools and methods (she’s a vet) for the food switching situation.
1) You’re cat won’t let herself starve. It might take a couple of days but don’t panic. Cats rarely will go past day two of not eating any food.
2) If you free feed (leave the food out all the time), then just make sure you throw out the food that has been down for around 24 hours and replace it. This is not because the food went bad but it might seem stale to Tunch.
4) If you normally give her food at a specific time and pick up the food after a specific time, keep with that routine. She might be hungry and driving you insane but you only have to survive a couple of days.
3) Don’t cave. Trust your research on the food and she will come around. If she starts eating it after a couple of days, give her about a week or so of knowing it is her regular food. You will be able to tell from her attitude after a week or so if she genuinely does not like it.
Good luck!
Roonieroo
I need to learn to preview before I post. I really can count in 1..2..3..4
How embarrassing :(
Zifnab
I had a Maine Coon a few years ago, good rest his soul, and he looked huge. Right until you gave him a bath. Then he looked like a ten pound wet rat.
If I ever got another cat again, I’d be hard pressed to turn down another one. They’re the most pleasant and friendly animals you’ll ever meet.
Roonieroo
I have to learn to read!! More embarrassment since Tunch is a he not a she! In my defense I had Gracie, my very female cat, licking my hand when I typed that earlier which meant I had “she” on the brain.
Time to turn back on the /lurk
ThymeZone
Only if you barbeque them, I think.
Yes, Franklie is by far the friendliest cat I have ever had.
BFR
Only if you barbeque them, I think
I haven’t tried that yet – I suspect my cats wouldn’t like that very much.
Jake
Gosh you’re a nice cat owner. I intially switched mine to Kirkland because it is as good for them as SD (some say better – no chicken feathers, beaks, wattles and other things that fall under the definition of poultry products), it’s cheap and I’m the one who pays for the damn food.
But that’s about the extent of my rebellion against my feline overlords.
BFR
But that’s about the extent of my rebellion against my feline overlords.
And I, for one, welcome our new feline overlords.
cleek
For the record, my cats will eat anything, including some fruits and vegetables.
in the summer, my cat likes frozen green peas, right out of the bag in the freezer. she’ll even run to the freezer door when i open it to see if there are any lying on the bottom shelf (there often are, because i put them there for her). she likes to bat them around until they pop out of the freezer, then chase them into a corner and eat them.
last night, she licked a whole dose of Frontline off the back of her neck (i misjudged her flexibility). stupid thing.
Laura
When I was a kid, our cats loved cheese. We’d shake wrapped American cheese slices to call them in at night. One of them also loved green olives, the saltier, the better. I don’t know how we even discovered that. One of my current cats loves any green veggie – lettuce, brocolli, spinach, corn husks… she’s the reason I can’t have potted plants or flowers in the house. My other cat loves lotion, Icy Hot and chapstick. He’ll lick me and purr like I’m catnip if I’ve recently applied any. Out of all the things my cats have gone bonkers over the years, the Icy Hot has got to be the strangest.
Krista
Smart man. A lot of people buy cheapie food for their pets, but what you save on food, you pay for (and then some) in vet bills down the road. When we got Dreyf, he’d only been fed cheapie wet food, and his teeth and kidneys were a mess. Switching him to high-quality, low-protein dry food made a huge difference — if he’d had it right from the get-go, maybe he would have lived even longer (and he DEFINITELY wouldn’t have needed $1000 worth of dental work.)
Dave
Since you did the research so I don’t have to, besides Felidae what did you come up with? What should you look for in cat food vs. what should you avoid?
Jill
In answer to Dave’s question: I stay away from anything that has any kind of “gluten” (wheat gluten, rice gluten, corn gluten) or “protein concentrates” (usually rice protein concentrate). That’s the crap that they put the melamine in to bump up the protein level.
My cats were on Purina One weight loss formula for years, and when this whole tainted gluten thing went down, I switched them to either Innova (in the red bag, not the EVO) or Trilogy Life’s Abundance from HealthyPetNet.com. They like both of them; the Innova a bit more. Yes, Maggie drove me nuts for a while because since it’s not full of filler, I feed them less. But she’s getting used to the reduced quantity now.
A side benefit is that I used to have to launder the comforter every week because one cat or the other would puke on it with alarming regularity. Since I switched them, they almost never puke anymore.
TAX ANALYST
Uh…well, it’s well past the Statute of Limitations, so..uh…I had a roommate get pretty steamed at me because the cat took to nibbling on this green, leafy weed-like plant he was growing in the closet. He shouldn’t have gotten so upset, she only nibbled a little at a time and she sure seemed mellow afterwards…
TAX ANALYST
Geez…I guess I was lucky in one respect. As I’m reading the comments here it seems almost everyone’s cat pukes pretty often, but the one I had (a gray mix of “who knows?” that had long hair) hardly ever puked even though she was really meticulous about cleaning herself and all that long hair. But now I wonder where all that fur did end up. Could she have crapped it all out (now THAT’S a dumb statement…WTF else could have happened to it…but I’ll leave it in just in case somebody has an enlightening thought or explanation)?
Sri Ramkrishna
I have two cats and only one of them pukes albeit not very often. Both two good natured cats although one is vindictive but not towards us. Turns out if he’s angry he goes and beats up on the smaller female.
I use IAMs and that seems to work well but my younger one seems to have steadily gaining weight. I wonder if I should change cat food.
jake
(Egads, the latest incarnation of Moz/Ffx has spell check.)
The cat I thought incapable of cleaning the back of his neck (because he rarely cleans anything else) did that the first time I put some on him. Needless to say the vet got a panicked phone call because the amount of drool he produced would have made a 28%er green with envy. Fortunately, they’ve only had fleas three summers out of thirteen and it’s easier to bathe them regularly than to worry they’ll poison themselves. ‘Sides, they’re long haired and when that crap works its way through their fur they look nasty.
Does it have a menthol/eucalyptus smell? Ours go ape shit over Vick’s Vaporub. Nothing goes with irritated sinuses like a big ball of fur hovering right over one’s face!
MarkT
Science Diet is *not* considered one of the really healthy brands. Sure it’s a step up from Kal Kan, but it still uses added gluten and meat by products.
Yes, I know vets recommend it. That doesn’t me it is the healthiest out there.
Janet
What’s wrong with Purina cat chow?
Dave
Jill you rock! Thanks!
Beej
My female, Sheba, will eat only Science Diet Prescription k/d, smoked turkey (she won’t touch plain old turkey, just turns up her patrician nose and walks away), and tuna, but the male, Shadow eats everything that isn’t nailed down and some things that are. His particular favorites are marinara sauce and green olives, but corn and grapes aren’t far behind. Incidentally, neither cat has anything approaching a weight problem. They’ve both weighed around 9.5 lbs for their entire adult lives and at 13 and 9 respectively are very active.
jake
Especially when you consider SD gives vet gets lots of freebies, often very expensive freebies, from the time they’re in vet school. Brand loyalty and all that.
It was a very clever marketing campaign but when a pharmaceutical company does that in order to “encourage” a doctor to prescribe their products, the government calls it an illegal kickback and starts handing out hefty penalties.
zzyzx
One of my cats had to take some antibiotics a few years back. She wouldn’t let me put the dropper in her mouth, so I bought some wet food. I put the goop on the food, but she didn’t want her experience tainted by that, so she’d carefully lick it off first, making sure to get every drop of medicine.
Of course, then I’d take the food away so she wouldn’t get used to it…
CJ
We have a 17 year old cat that is slowly starving to death from hyperthyroidism. She’s also deaf and her sight is going too. We never had problems with the cat until we switched her to wet food about 8 months ago. Since then we’ve been through multiple brands and multiple ‘flavors’ and she continually turns her nose up at all of it at least some of the time, making it impossible to figure out what the starveling actually wants, or to put it more precisely, will deign to eat. I would not have thought that a cat would turn up its nose to food when it was starving, but it does.
The moral of the story is to NEVER give a cat anything but dry food and no table food. Life is much easier without wet food. Did I mention that my gorge rises just thinking of the smell of that crap?
CJ
Laura
The Ben Gay and chapstick have a similar smell, and Vick’s is another thing he goes crazy for. My lotion is fragrant free, though (at least to humans), so I don’t know if it’s the smell or some kind of chemical that’s in all these things that he goes ga ga over.
jake
Petroleum?
Or just another one of those behaviours cats engage in to make keep their subjects amused/nervous. Only the cats know and they ain’t sayin’.
Big E
WAWA thin sliced turkey,
if your cat is a bona fide carbon based life form
that breathes oxygen..
no cat can resist it
SPIIDERWEB™
Ya ain’t gonna like this, but…
Kill it!
Humans aren’t supposed to cow tow to cats or any other animal.
Just get rid of the thing.
Jon H
I have scorpions. They can go months without eating. Plus, when you do feed them (crickets) the female crickets start laying eggs as soon as they hit the dirt, making it a self-feeding system.
erik
Would it be inappropriate to comment on the free market run amok at this point. A rising tide poisons all cats and all that gobledygook.
Lola Heatherton
John, I made a similar choice for my cat’s health, eventually settling on a raw meat diet ( http://www.felinefuture.com/ ). Best thing I ever did for him. At first after a few days of kitty wanting nothing to do with this stuff, I zapped a half-teaspoon or so in the microwave and set it on top of a normal raw serving, and kitty’s been in love with it ever since, going on seven years. Mixing is initially messy and a pain, but it gets to be second nature.
grumpy realist
Because we had outdoor cats and lived near fields, the whole “what do we feed them?” never really came up. Did try both wet and dry cat food of different varieties. Otherwise it was whatever they chowed down in the fields. (And both of them did an immense amount of hunting. You always wanted to be careful when going out in the morning because of the furry Somme on the doorstep.)
jg
I usually find a bird head and a pile of bird seed. Sometimes half a lizard. I have to keep the dog door closed at all times now otherwise they bring their prey home and torture it in my bathtub. Sorry, I mean they aggressively interrogate it in my bathtub.
Jill
A cat won’t starve itself to death. Just keep giving it the food you want. Eventually it will eat it if there is nothing else around. Don’t be a pussy-parent like most people these days.
TAX ANALYST
When I was a kid we had a siamese that would occasionally hunt down and maul a gopher and then carry the bloody mess back to our house…always made sure to present it directly to my Mother…no one else would do…and always looked hurt and surprised that Mom wasn’t pleased and thrilled at the offering.
I always acted like it was an awful thing – had to, Mom would be nearly hysterical…but after awhile I found it kind of amusing in a sick way. I guess I shoulda felt bad for the gopher, but I was only about 9 or 10 at the time.
hilzoy
ThymeZone: “Franklie, the big one, is part Maine Coon, I think. Huge frame, big paws. And for a Maine Coon, she is not really that big.”
— I had always thought that Maine Coons were sexually dimorphic: big males, smaller females. This idea, which might be completely wrong, has made me wonder if Miss Annika, who is only about ten pounds or so, could be (part) Maine Coon — she looks a lot like it in other ways, including things like fur between her toes, and of course a tail like a feather boa.
Pointless to speculate, really: she’s a rescue cat, so her antecedents are completely obscure.
She is very friendly, though, except to Mr. Nils, the other cat, whom she torments.
Jill
I’m a different Jill and yes, I am a pussy-parent.
And Spiidey? STFU before I sic my furry overlords on you.
chloeindia
I, too, cannot believe this is the topic that has gotten back to posting.
Our vet recommended Flint River Ranch food many years ago and we have used it ever since. It is made in the USA, uses human grade ingredients, has no preservatives, is very low in ash, is highly digestible and doesn’t contain any fillers (meaning smaller poops). Three of our 4 felines eat it with relish (the fourth is a medically fragile stray who saw the “sucker” sign on our front door, moved in, required kidney stone surgery and now only eats prescription Royal Canine). You can find Flint River Rance food at: http://www.frrco.com/indexFlash.cfm?
For wet food – I know this will sound grim – we feed them raw rabbit, which we mix up with supplements to ensure they are getting all their nutrients.
Chuck Butcher
Our cat, Marlin, eats cheap dry food with an occasional snack of the canned stuff, she does fine on it, puked a couple times in eight years but a bit tubby. I found her out in the middle of no where in the mountains of NE OR during elk season age about 4 months, I don’t worry much about her after that start. Nice cat, very friendly. (Marlin is the gun I was going to shoot her with, too soft hearted)
Gus, 160 pound Great White Pyrennes, will only eat Atta Boy dry food, we had a battle about the good stuff, his weight loss was bad enough to be scary. He also will not eat if I have to leave town, he is a very big baby and extreme pouter, he will not eat or drink if I leave him home from work until I get back.
Jane Finch
Cats are pretty definite about their food choices, so find one Tunch likes. About 6 months ago, I switched mine from Iams (the “big boned gal” was gaining too much weight even though the low-body-fat male was fine)to Nutro. They loved it from day one, and it’s cured the weight gain issue while allowing Phil to maintain his muscular physique.
Focus On Your Own Damn Family!
Nothing like a cat post to bring everyone to the party, is there?
Cats are true carnivores and need a diet that is almost exclusively protein and fat. Low-protein diets are indicated in certain kinds of kidney disease, but as a rule they’re not great for cats.
As far as them eating crap out in the wild, that’s not a really valid line of reasoning – most feral cats live about 3 years. I just lost a 20 year old to kidney failure in May.
Felidae just may not taste very good to him – and he may be just stubborn enough to make himself ill by not eating. Kitty metabolisms and digestive systems are pretty sensitive as all the owners of vomiting cats can tell you. “He’ll eat before he starves” is not necessarily true. Also it’s just plain mean. There’s plenty of other super-premium cat foods out there; try something else.
jake
Fur between the pads is a sign of Maine Coonishness?
Looks like I owe my cats an apology for all of those years of pointing, laughing and of course tugging on the hair so they do that frantic foot flick thing.
Enlightened Layperson
My own advice: Check into a motel for the next few days. You can always go home to check on your cat’s progress, but you will have an escape when he gets out of hand.
BIRDZILLA
My niece had acat and she would fed it a packet of cat food called BONKERS i dont know what they put in it but that cat went bonkers