Our Fussy Eaters

How many times have you put a dish of food down, only for your cat to turn his nose up at it and walk away? And doesn't want it tomorrow or the next day? It can seem baffling that what was previously his favourite really doesn't interest him any more...

You keep leaving it out in the expectation that "if he's hungry he'll eat it." But that doesn't really happen with cats, does it? If they really don't want something, they don't want it.

It might actually be a favourite, but he doesn't want it ALL the time. The key to keeping a cat interested in his food is variety. And by that I don't mean different flavours of Felix.

Strays and ferals who have to hunt for their own food will eat pretty much what they can find or catch. But it's never the same thing. Even they will have some variety in their diet, although they might go a little longer between meals than the cats that live in our homes. Food raided from bins, left out for other animals, mice, voles, birds.......

I know that I'd go off my favourite food very quickly if I was fed it all the time, and our cats are no different.

When Bella came to live with me she was happy to eat dry food all the time, and didn't complain. When she had her accident and went to hospital, she was very poorly and didn't want to eat at all. The vets tried to tempt her appetite and found that she loved Sheba. So that got added to her diet when she got home, as, all of a sudden, dry food wasn't good enough any more.

After a little while though, that bored her, so off I went to find something else. We must have tried just about everything there is, and finally have settled into a diverse range of food that she likes. Some days she'll only want dry food and leave the wet food, and other days she'll only eat the wet food. She's a bit of a grazer, so the wet food can get a little unappetising after a couple of hours. She only eats little bits at a time, and has never eaten big meals.

She likes Sheba, Gourmet and Felix, but only a couple of flavours of each, and only certain varieties (ie in jelly, gravy, etc). But that's the key with her - the makes are different as are the textures and tastes. And that's the way to keep them all interested - vary the makes as well as the flavours.

The same happens when I go to feed cats too; although they're tricky characters, and there's more to it than that. Sometimes I might be told that Henry or Phoebe might leave lots of food, as that's their habit - yet when I go to feed them it all gets eaten! And the reverse..... they'll eat hardly anything, even though they must be very hungry. I'm told that even Bella eats all her food when I'm away, and that just doesn't happen otherwise!!

Those that eat all their food - and quite quickly too - are just tuning into their survival instincts. Something tells them that if their family are away there won't be any food, so whenever there is, they're sure to eat it, just in case... When they don't eat much, it could be that they're feeling anxious while their family are away, which takes away their appetite. But mostly I find that they're just bored with what they have to eat.

But I'm always prepared, and keep emergency cat food in my bag. If it's been a few days, I'll try them with something different. And that usually solves it - just give them something new and exciting (which it is to them), and their appetite comes straight back!! All I do is swap one of mine for one of theirs, and one day another cat might like that instead!

A little word of caution....... If you're wanting to try out different makes and flavours, do it gradually, and perhaps mix it in with their regular food at first - our cats' stomachs can sometimes be easy to upset!!