Cat food no longer available

*GardenerGran+ if you could get to Oxford I could give you many pouches of Gourmet Perle wet cat food which my cat doesn't like! You would be very welcome. None of the cat charities seem to want it, they only want Whiskas and Felix.

GardenerGran My Oliver has been through every cat food on the market he gets so bored with the same one but he never gets bored with Sheba so you may be right and it has some sort of addictive ingredient
He does however enjoy fresh chicken and I buy 2 x small chickens from Aldi every fortnight and share it between him and my little dog,the amount you are spending seems excessive to me does that include his medication ?

I’ve had 3 cats that have reached the age of yours GardenerGran and they got fussier with food as they aged.

It’s annoying you can no longer get your preferred one.
I’ve gone through the brands you mention and our 12 year old no longer seems to like any of them. She now has dry prescription food recommended by the vet - cheaper to buy online (Royal Canin) - plus either tinned tuna or cooked chicken every other day.
3 sachets sounds a bit much to me although I’m not a Vet.

I buy British chicken strips meant for stir fry, £2 a pack from the supermarket and lasts our Ruby 2-3 days.
There is at least one other Gransnet member who I know has a cat companion with hyperthyroidism of a similar age to yours and she may be along may to share tips with you.

Any cat meat pouches I get and they are refused by Ruby, I take the remainder of unopened ones to the cattery where stays when we take a holiday (remember those) ? They are always glad of them.

Yes glammannana it does include medications. I never intended having another cat so we could come and go at will without having to worry about cat care but my brother became very ill and she was neglected so we took her in. Then my brother died so here we are nearly 3 yrs later! Maybe she’ll get over the novelty of a new cat food soon and stop being so ravenous!

I fully understand the cost- Tara also has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and the cost of medicine is obscene.

May I suggest a slightly cheaper way of getting pet drugs?

Tara was on Thyronorm- £54 for 30 mls from the vet. I asked for a private prescription, £15 and then went online and found a company which sold the same for around £18 + p&p.

She started Methamazole yesterday to be applied to inside one ear- the cost of that was £84 from the vet and it will last 30 days.

Although she is 16 she is having a Thyroidectomy next month provided I can reduce her thyroid levels at that time. Sorry I have gone off piste slightly. PM me if anybody wants any more information

My cat will only eat Felix as good as it gets, I think that’s it.
She would eat as many pouches as she can get but we limit her to two.
Just occasionally she manages three by looking as if she hasn’t had her breakfast when my GD has already fed her.
She also has a small bowl of Whiskas biscuits which she picks at throughout the day.
Last vet visit she was pronounced the ideal weight.
This time which is scheduled for January I think she will be put on a diet, she hardly goes out now so doesn’t get exercise.
She is only two and a little darling.

My lovely Phoebe became very fussy. She is now 6 but when she was 18 months old, her brother was run over and she was so upset that she stopped eating for a whole week, and the vet gave her appetite-stimulating pills, and suggested cooked chicken to tempt her.

I was so desperate for her to eat, and she had gone into what can only be called "a depression", so I gave her some chopped up pieces of my own organic chicken breast which I had in the fridge.

Well .... big mistake! She won't eat anything else ever since. I tried to switch her onto cheap chicken from Lidl but she walked away from it, like cats often do, and after 2 days I surrendered and gave her the organic again. The vet thought it was hilarious that she could tell the difference, but she definitely could.

Now we have found a compromise as she will eat organic chicken thighs which are cheaper, so I buy those, cook them and mince them up, and freeze in portions.

This actually works out cheaper than the better brands of cat food, but is more labour-intensive of course. She also has a few biscuits.

I have given away so much shop-bought cat food over the years which I've tried to tempt her with to no avail.

My cat eats three different brands of cat food, no, make that four in rotation. He gets fed up with the same thing every day.

Don't blame him really, so would I.

Please, don't go on giving the cat more than she needs - you don't want her to grow fat, which is what happens when we over-eat.

It should state on the packet whether one or two portions is sufficient for an adult cat.

My oldest cat, nearly 16, also has tablets for an overactive thyroid. The medication has helped to put weight on, but it certainly doesn't curb the appetite! He has a pouch of food twice a day plus dried overnight. He begs for food and follows me to the kitchen all the time, but as he has gained enough weight, I ignor this. After I purchased 160 Felix pouches he decided he didn't like it any more. I then added half a little 50gm Sheba in jelly to each portion, which disguised the taste of the Felix and fooled him into eating it.

All was well until this week when his 3-monthly blood tests revealed that he has kidney disease so I have to feed special prescription food which costs more than twice as much!

I hope you find some food to suit. Can't he just eat the chicken flavour of Gourmet Gold that you can still get?

Sorry, I should have called your cat a she!

Hi Shysal, yes I could keep giving her just chicken flavour I suppose, it’s just more expensive buying single tins rather than the multi packs I used to get. I’m a bit puzzled as to why Purina have done this as it seemed to sell really well. It’s good to know someone else has a cat that begs for food and follows you into the kitchen. Mine also takes a swipe at my leg when other tactics don’t work! You made me laugh sparklefizz with your fussy puss! She’s definitely used to the good life!

Charleygirl5 do you remember we discussed the Methamazole treatment a few weeks back? The ear treatment stuff is not yet available anywhere online in this country and the vet has upped the amount we have to apply so now costing £75 a month. Would be very interested to know how your puss gets on after the thyroid ectomy. Could work out a lot cheaper in the long run. Milly was underweight when we inherited her and the vet said ‘let her eat as much as she wants’. So we did, the next visit they said ‘she needs to lose weight’. Now they’re saying she needs to put it on again because of the thyroid. She would happily eat 6 sachets a day if I let her!

Yes Gardenergran I do remember but I had forgotten it was unavailable online. My vet charged me £84 yesterday.

Tara has been out for hours- I obviously do not know if she dines elsewhere. Every time I move and Tara is at home she thinks I am going to the kitchen to prepare yet another meal for her. 9 times out 10 she is wrong but she does not do it silently. I am escorted when I want a cup of coffee.

shysal be careful he does not develop diabetes- it goes hand in hand with hyperthyroidism and kidney disease.

We live with a bunch of fusspots re food.

Amazon sell different flavours of the Gourmet Gold.
I buy them occasionally for Snowy, but really she’s not that fussy.
She prefers beef flavours over fish or chicken, though.

Have you tried looking online? My female cat has had a catalogue of different illnesses over the 10 years we've had her and is now on a special diet food for pancreatic issues. I have to buy it from Pet Drugs online which is the cheapest place I've found it.

She did have an overactive thyroid so was eating but losing weight and was on medication about 5 years ago but we made the decision to let her have the radio iodine treatment at a special clinic which cured her. Expensive but definitely better than a lifetime on meds which would probably have worked out just as much in time and were difficult to give her.

A few years ago my elderly rescue cat became diabetic so I changed her diet from various tins/sachets to tinned sardines as there were no added carbohydrates. She loved them and with my second cat would eat at least two tins of sardines per day. I soon leared that Lidl or Aldi are the cheapest at 32 pence a tin as opposed to Tesco and Sainsburys where they are over 40 pence. I bulk buy them. I only have one cat now age 14 years old but she enjoys a tin of sardines and a couple of Felix shredded sachets every day. Instead of sardines I give her a tin of cheap tuna fish a couple of times a week.. She also has some decent biscuits always in a dish , she enjoys the Crave brand.

Years ago, when I had cats, I had a tin of something I sprinkled on their food to make them want to eat it. I’ve always wondered what was in it. It certainly worked. Can’t remember what it was called though.

I just did some Googling and you can buy stuff called Thrive and also cat sprinkles that encourage fussy felines to eat. Must be updated versions of what I bought all those years ago.

My cat enjoys the Lily's Kitchen grain free foods (dry and wet) with regular cooked turkey mince - which works out cheaper. She is eating a lot right now (as always in winter) but has far less in summer.

chocolatepudding, I don't feed mine fish - but I do know for a fact that pilchards are sardines, just bigger and cheaper ones!

(why fish is not a good idea)

www.rspcapetinsurance.org.au/pet-care/cat-care/what-should-feed-cat

A lot of dog owners say Lily’s kitchen is nowhere near as good since it was sold off even though the company say nothing in the manufacture of their food has changed.

Thank you everyone for your tips. Quaintirene yes Amazon do some Gourmet Gold but not the savoury cake version except at ridiculously high prices. Willow500 I have used Petdrugs online for other stuff but this particular stuff is not available anywhere in this country, believe me I’ve tried! There are foreign sites but you can’t use a UK prescription. Chocolatepudding I think I will try with some cheap tinned tuna etc. also to alternate with the other stuff. Good idea. How come cat food is more expensive?!

Tara in theory gets a sachet am or pm but some sachets are tiny and when opened do not like a full meal. Tara has Z/d dry food in case she is hungry, mainly during the night.

Thank you for the Thrive post. I hadn’t heard of it but my cat has just gone really fussy. I may also try Lily’s kitchen.
She used to love Sheba but now stalks away in disgust.
She can’t exist on a diet of Dreamiest!