Cat fussy eater

Cats are notoriously fussy eaters .
I've had many of them and they did as they pleased and dominated my dogs .
Are you worming your cat routinely?

It might be wise to stop giving milk, I believe cats are lactose intolerant.
I have spent a fortune trying to find food that my cats liked, they are so fussy! I only have one cat left now, who will be 21 next Friday, so I must be doing something right!. He is meant to have renal foods but will only eat Felix Doubly Delicious, in small quantities. He will only eat it fresh out of the pouch so I feed him a little at a time, on demand.
I wish I had some good advice for you, but I haven't. Good luck!

Don't worry too much fancythat as Esmay said cats are very picky eaters but won't go hungry. He may be getting food elsewhere and if he is hunting successfully won't need much more. Don't fall into the trap of buying more different foods it is expensive and not necessary. Cats love nothing more than having their human servants running round after them.

My various cats led happy healthy long lives, only one didn’t like milk, the other drank some every day.
It sounds as though you’re doing everything right OP.

Thank you all for your wise words.

I he's hunting a lot, he'll pick up tapeworms though.

I hope you're worming him regularly for these (they can also get them via fleas which he could pick up from hedgehogs etc if he's out & about a lot).

Our first cat died of kidney failure at age 11 and the vet said it was likely caused by the milk we gave her (which of course she loved) so future cats got none at all. We never fed them anything other than cat food - wet and dry (biscuits good for jaws and gums) though different cats did steal a few kitchen scraps (cold baked beans for one example - our DDs cat eats mushrooms!).

As alreay said, they won't go hungry unless there is another health issue you have missed. Vets routinely weight cats nowadays so do the same - weigh yourself first, then again with the cat in your arms and subtract one figure from the other.

I’d like a £1 for every time I’ve read that😊.

My only advice would be to stop the milk.

I put water bowls in every room of the house, as well as a water fountain, and change the water regularly.

Yesterday, Roo turned her nose up at Salmon and duck, but ate beef and lamb. Today I bet she eats the salmon. Each pouch contains only a couple of teaspoons of food and she often doesn’t finish it and never goes back to it - it’s a survival thing.
The pouches contain a lot of gravy, which adds to her fluid intake.

The amount she eats varies as well. I suspect that she has a fur ball in her stomach when she refuses food. She has a pot of cat grass, which she eats and then throws up which helps. She has outdoor access, and she seems to self medicate on various plants. Cat mint is a favourite!

When I used to have cats I used to buy a powder that made their food more tasty. I couldn’t find it for years but when I was in the pet shop last week noticed that they sold some to sprinkle on dog food. I put a Billy no mates type flea deterrent powder in Winnie’s food which is supposed to be quite palatable but she doesn’t like it so I’m sprinkling some on her food and she wolfs it down. I think they do a cat one, too. No idea what used to be in the cat one that I used to buy but it certainly worked.

We once had an Abyssinian cat who eventually would only eat the jelly round fishy cat food. The vet said that Abys were the only breed who would literally starve themselves to death. All our Maine Coon boys have been fine and did well on dried food with plenty of water.

On non hungry days she may well be catching. I once had two cats that hunted together and could catch a squirrel ( tree rat ) One had the first half then the other finished it off all that was left was the tail. They didn’t eat the next day

I have 5 cats, 2 fussy eaters, I have a 2 dry food dispensers that I fill one with Gain dry fish flavour and one with meat flavour,I topped up when needed, every morning I give 5 bowls of Lidls wet cat food to start the day, the fussy ones get felix soup sachets morning and evening, that makes sure they get liquid as they both get blood in their urine sometimes, the vet said they are prone to it and try to get more liquid in them

They all like the Gain dry food

Yesterday I accidently poured a lot of the new dried food into a bowl.
Decided to just leave it there.
I saw the cat eat some.

This morning, the dried food is all gone and cat nowhere to be seen.

Not even sure what I am saying.

I am taking on board all the comments.

The cat is strange.

I had cats all my life until 15 yrs ago but my cats got what they were given a mix of wet and dry if they didn’t eat it they went hungry or went hunting I assume as they always lived a long life barring accidents or serious illness the last two were 19 and 21 when they died. I have young family members with ‘fussy’ cats who are forever at the vets with tummy issues and pay a fortune for this and that special food or treatments. Don’t want to be rude but cats are very self sufficient creatures and survive in the wild without human intervention. Shoot me down in flames but no cat in my care suffered.

I have found a few of the sprinkles mentioned above on Ebay. They are not cheap, but I might buy some.

Crikey they are expensive aren’t they? I’ve often wondered about the ingredients in the stuff I used to use for my cats, a sort of addictive cat narcotic perhaps . The one I’ve bought for my dog is called Years Taste liver and red pepper scent and taste sensation. Just checked the ingredients thinking that I might be giving her some nasty chemicals but it seems to be just liver chicken red pepper and yeast. Does say ‘ not suitable for Dalmatians’ though but I was only reading yesterday of a rare condition that they suffer from ( can’t remember what it is). I know when she went to puppy training classes the instructor used to give them liver cake saying dogs will do anything for it.

Cats love sniffing and sneering at any and every food you offer them, even if they ate it with great glee yesterday.

T.S. Elliot said it all in "The Rum-Tum-Tugger".

Homogenised milk is bad for cats. Clean water is their drink and buy whatever brand of food you feel you can afford, and stick to it for at least a fortnight.

If he consistently refuses it, try something else, but if he is just pulling your leg, he might just stop if you refuse to pander to him. (Unlikely, but it has been known to happen)

My two like to chop and change between three different menus, but on the days they have been hunting, they are not hungry, so leave the food I serve. Sometimes they do eat it in the course of the following forenoon.

Right now, there are plenty of mice, as well as young birds who have not learned to be wary of cats!

A stray that has survived for two years, obviously hunts, forages in dustbins etc. So, unless you are prepared to accept full-time responsibility for him, it is actually kinder not to accustom him to one kind of food.

Cats are like kids they will eat if hungry. Providing it is good quality and fresh