cat won't eat

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leapinglena

Member Since 2019
Hi I have a ragdoll just diagnosed with diabetes. He is a picky eater and the vet wants him on wet food only. I have tried every brand available and he will not eat, licks the gravy off the ones with gravy. Now I am trying frozen raw, not too successful. He loves freeze dried turkey/chicken/shrimp so I am crumbling it on top trying to get him to eat. I am supposed to get him off dry so trying Acana which is lower in carb in order to wean him. I have it mixed with his old kibble, but he won't eat and tries to bury it. Help! Any suggestions?
 
Welcome! Have you tried warming the wet food and stirring it up to release the aroma? Here are some tips for transitioning
http://www.felinediabetes.com/TipsforTransitioningPDF12-18-09.pdf
Also, sometimes adding Fortiflora on top can encourage them.
https://www.chewy.com/purina-pro-plan-veterinary-diets/dp/49853
If you’re in the US, there are a couple of low carb dry foods to help with the transition. Young Again, bought directly from their website, And Dr Elseys Clean Protein which Chewy carries.
 
Was he on only dry food? If so put some of the dry food on top of the canned food with some of it pushed down into the wet food. Keep doing this but gradually reduce the amount of dry in the bowl each day. That worked for my cats
 
Lisa and Witn (GA) said:
Was he on only dry food? If so put some of the dry food on top of the canned food with some of it pushed down into the wet food. Keep doing this but gradually reduce the amount of dry in the bowl each day. That worked for my cats
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He was on both wet and dry but would only lick the gravy off the wet. Right now I am crumbling freeze dried chicken on top of the wet but he is being really stubborn, and as soon as I set down the wet food he tries to bury it even with the freeze dried chicken scattered on top. I am trying frozen raw. At my wits end with him. I replaced 1/4 of his kibble with a lower carb one and he won't even try eating the mixed - as much as I love him, he is driving me crazy
 
If he's a licker you need to blend his flood - the wet food. Take 1/2 can of a 5.5 oz, in a food processor or blender - add 2-3 tablespoons water and blend the hell out of it. It should be a thick, pudding consistency when you're done.

If you can, save the gravy to spread on top or try tuna water - or crumbled treats. Try half the treat in your hand first, then the other half on the food.

Also use hot water - not boiling but until it's steaming/making noise. You can also "dab" the food on his mouth so he'll instinctively lick it off.

We can give you a ton of tips and tricks but sadly, only time will tell - there's no quick fix for this, it'll take time and consistency on your part.

God love you and your baby! xxx
 
thanks for your suggestions, going to try the blender and putting some on his mouth. Tried poached chicken but he turned his nose up at it too. I have him eating a few Acana kibbles which are lower in carbs that what he was on. Giving up on the frozen food and going to try Tiki a canned food that is supposed to be good.
 
Still trying to get Riley to eat something other than kibble I got freeze dried raw and he is eating a bit but not nearly enough . Am at my wits end
 
I'm having deja vu reading your post about your kibble addicted furry companion. I went through this with my girl who refused to even consider wet food edible at all from the ripe old age of 10 weeks old. She would not touch it and even tried to bury her brother's wet food as if it was waste. I eventually gave up after many months of standoffs when she was young.

Needless to say, when she was diagnosed with diabetes, the battle to switch her started all over again with exactly the same results only now I had a cat who HAD to eat in order to give her insulin. My cat would not eat any people food at all so my attempts to trick her with tuna, sardines, salmon, oysters, poached chicken, steak, pork, parmesan cheese, crumbled dried chicken treats etc. all failed dismally. I tried just about any food that didn't crunch and every trick known to man to no avail. I have scratches in my kitchen wall attesting to her protests!

The best I could do was get the lowest carb kibble possible and just keep trying. Eventually after a year or so, I pretty much gave up the daily battle and it became a less frequent stand off until one day, I'm assuming when hunger got the better of her, I caught her with her face in her brother's dish cleaning up his wet food leftovers. I immediately went back to holding standoffs with her and only gave her kibble if and when I had no choice because a shot was due or her BG was low. She is now on a diet of wet food only.....no kibble at all. I'm totally convinced that with some of our cats, you have to let them think it's their idea not yours. For well over a year, once transitioned to wet food, my girl would eat only one flavour of wet food. She has finally developed a far less fussy palate and will eat a small selection of different foods.

While I don't have any magical trick to share with you (wish I did), the first thing I would do is get the lowest carb kibble you possibly can. If you are in Canada, the lowest carb kibbles available are Instinct Ultimate Protein (14%), Instinct Original (15%) and Go Fit & Trim (14%). I believe the Acana is somewhere in the 18 to 20% carb range.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink and to think you can , will only drive you crazy. Just keep trying but know that insulin dose can be adjusted to accommodate whatever diet your cat will eat and your first concern is to make sure your cat gets enough calories daily to keep him healthy. :)
 
You could maybe try stella and chewys? https://www.stellaandchewys.com/cat-food/freeze-dried-raw-dinners. I think some people here used to feed it like dry food so it has some crunch. This here says you can https://www.chewy.com/stella-chewys...KJjxvmpdjR7M8CjFbaBNke2pKUX_vTTBoC9PYQAvD_BwE

Of course it's much better to rehydrate to get the extra moisture, but I was thinking you could start dry and then try rehydrating once your cat is used to it. I don't see this food in the food chart, but the ingredients look good (other than pumpkin seeds?) And I'm pretty sure it used to be ok. My cat liked the Primal freeze dried raw, turkey and salmon (I think), but you have to rehydrate that.
 
Thanks so much for your response. I have Acana but tomorrow will try to get Instinct Ultimate Protein which I think is available in Halifax. I am currently trying to get my cat to eat Primal Freeze dried and I am sprinkling it with freeze dried shrimp (treats) which he has always liked. I am having some success in that he is eating almost one block a day. I am not giving him insulin so it is vital that I get him on no kibble asap but the Instinct sounds good for now and may help get him on the freeze dry raw. I also bought a sample pack of Origen which I think is 15% and he does like it. Wll go searching tomorrow and keep you posted. Again thanks for the encouragement.
 
Sounds like you are making better progress than I did. Never had any luck with the raw, freeze dried etc. with my girl....it was kibble or nothing. Keeping our fingers and paws crossed you crack your little guy's kibble addiction ASAP. :D
 
Very recently I took on a long-term foster kitty, 12 years old, who had only ever eaten dry food. At the time she was surrendered to the rescue she was thought to be living solely on Dreamies cat treats...
When I agreed to take her on the lady at the rescue centre told me that the cat absolutely would not eat wet food; they had tried wet food with her and she was having none of it, didn't even recognise it as 'food'. I prepared myself for the fact that I may have to put up with her being on a dry diet permanently. However, against all the odds, she was on a completely wet diet within 5 days of being here...

I'd stocked up on a variety of wet foods to try to tempt her. And at the end of the first day I was pretty sure, sadly, that the lady at the rescue centre was absolutely right, as the cat didn't seem to show the slightest interest in any wet food I put in front of her. She'd sniff and turn her face away. She wasn't even interested in tuna fish, and I naively had pretty high hopes for that...

On the second day I tried numerous things to get her attention; crumbling dry food on top of wet; pushing wet food down into the dry... And I kept putting different foods in front of her to see her reaction. I got the most reaction from ordinary cooked chicken. So, I pushed a few tiny pieces of this into her dry and she sort of nibbled at it, reluctantly. At the end of the day I left some cooked chicken in a bowl for her, and took all other food away. In the morning it was clear she'd eaten some of it.

On the third day I put less dry food out for her, and put some chicken cat food in a bowl for her alongside it (the cat food looked pretty much like 'real' chicken that humans eat). When she got hungry after eating her dry food she started to nibble on the chicken cat food. It was clear though that although she seemed to like the taste of it she didn't like the texture, the actual 'feel' of it in her mouth. It was new to her. She was used to picking up kibble and swallowing it. So I chopped it up and put it on the plate in such a way that it was easier for her to pick up the pieces of food and swallow them. ...Again, I left some chicken cat food down for her at night. The following morning it was almost all gone...

On the fourth day I again put down some kibble and some chicken cat food. She ate a few of the kibbles but then chose to eat the chicken cat food instead... At night I left out some chicken cat food. In the morning it was all gone.

On the fifth day I only offered the chicken cat food, no kibble at all. We got through the day just fine! And that's where we are now. She still doesn't like the texture of the food but if chopped up she will absolutely eat it.

What I learned (albeit from this one experience) was that it seemed really important to find a flavour of food that the cat was interested in, and then work with that.
In addition to that it's important to be aware of the texture of foods, and to try to present food in a way that isn't off-putting to the cat.
Another thing that seemed to help in my foster's case was that grooming her seemed to stimulate her appetite. After I'd brushed her and cuddled her she'd toddle off and eat a little food...

It may well be that I just 'got lucky' with transitioning the foster kitty. I don't know. But the fact that a die-hard kibble addict like her can be transitioned at all may perhaps give hope to others dealing with the same issues.
 
I am learning so much from all the responses. Last night I poached a bit of fresh haddock so Riley wouldn't starve and saved the broth and put it on Primal freeze dried. I mixed it and left it when I went to bed and this morning discovered he had eaten some! I have switched from Acana to Fit and Trim for dry kibble and he is only getting about 1/8 cup a day. Feeling a bit encouraged today. Thanks so much for all your suggestions. Forgot to post this and today seems like I am back to square one. Yesterday he refused the primal and everything else I tried so ended up having some fit and trim dry. Today and yesterday he still refuses primal, tried fancy feast then fancy feast in blender then nature’s best wet which he licked a bit - what a challenge he is! At least I have cut his carbs in half and stopped the gravy wet one, meow mix, that had sugar in it. Feel like I am trying to climb a greased pole!
 
Talked to my vet and Riley is now on fit and trim kibble and every morning and evening I mix some primal freeze dried and break some freeze dried shrimp or turkey on it with a little piece on the floor to entice him. So far he is eating some of it most days. The vet was worried that he was not getting enough food and he was getting more and more stubborn about the wet food. Now we are back to his old routine of kibble (which I now measure) which he can graze on as he wants and wet (freeze dried chicken and turkey primal) twice a day. Fingers crossed that I can eventually increase the amount of freeze dried but it is going to be a very slow process. He seems to have much more energy than he had, is playing more so hopefully he will learn to love the freeze dried!
 
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