? FINICKY EATER

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Kerri2455

Kerri2455

Member Since 2017
Oliver has become very finicky lately, has anyone else experienced this with their diabetic? I have bought all kinds of foods to try with him too and he may eat well one day and then the next wants nothing to do with the food. I bought Primal nuggets as a topper, he used to like them, now he doesn't. The one constant he seems to hold out for is dry food, which we do have the diabetic Purina DM for him but his numbers have been so good without it I am really not wanting him to eat any. I can top the canned with this dry food but he just picks the food out and then walks away. I hesitate to even give insulin when he doesn't eat a good meal.

I see there is a air dried food called Ziwi that is sold online-has anyone tried this? Is it crunchy or soft? I am thinking he just likes the crunching of the food.

The one constant he has always really liked is fancy feast however it gives him really bad diarrhea. My next trick will be to mix the fancy feast with his high fiber food an see if that wont keep him interested in the canned.

THANKS!
Kerri and Ollie
 
Hi Kerry and Ollis...yes I am experiencing this extremely frustrating situation myself...tried parmesan chz on top...she liked it ...for one day ...my counter top is covered with different attempts to try foods...she will only eat kibble....theres a video on force feeding your cat on youtube...the cat in the video didnt make a fuss but my cat will have no part of it...you may have some luck with this syringe force feeding method...a/d orw/d was the suggested food....good luck...I am going to need some too!
 
I just was thinking have you tried a probiotic? That might help with the diarrhea. Also, if he gets diarrhea from the fancy feast I don't think mixing a high fiber food would good idea, may make him have more diarrhea! Have you tried friskies? I know a lot of people feed that.
 
The food is to firm him up, I used it in the past, the dry form, and it helped a lot! So now he's on the canned version and I think its firming him. I have not tried probiotics, I have tried Metamucil or similar when we were first trying to regulate his output and he could tell something was in the food and wouldn't eat it.

I hesitate with Friskies because of the quality of ingredients. I want to feed something that doesn't have rendered animal in it and I think Friskies and possibly even Fancy feast have animal by product in their ingredients. I have 5 other cats too and want them all eating high quality foods.
I wonder though if Friskies is at least higher in fiber than Fancy Feast where I can mix the junk food in with better food? I may look at that.
 
allison goodall said:
Hi Kerry and Ollis...yes I am experiencing this extremely frustrating situation myself...tried parmesan chz on top...she liked it ...for one day ...my counter top is covered with different attempts to try foods...she will only eat kibble....theres a video on force feeding your cat on youtube...the cat in the video didnt make a fuss but my cat will have no part of it...you may have some luck with this syringe force feeding method...a/d orw/d was the suggested food....good luck...I am going to need some too!
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WOW, force feeding.... I hate to do that.......I figure if he gets hungry enough he will eat but then we aren't giving him the insulin (which may be ok). I think this would be my last resort since he will eat the Fancy Feast but it comes out pretty quick the other end like soft serve. :)

Good luck to you too! I was using freeze dried chicken as a topper and that still works from time to time. Maybe it will work for you?
 
Kerri2455 said:
Oliver has become very finicky lately, has anyone else experienced this with their diabetic? I have bought all kinds of foods to try with him too and he may eat well one day and then the next wants nothing to do with the food. I bought Primal nuggets as a topper, he used to like them, now he doesn't. The one constant he seems to hold out for is dry food, which we do have the diabetic Purina DM for him but his numbers have been so good without it I am really not wanting him to eat any. I can top the canned with this dry food but he just picks the food out and then walks away. I hesitate to even give insulin when he doesn't eat a good meal.

I see there is a air dried food called Ziwi that is sold online-has anyone tried this? Is it crunchy or soft? I am thinking he just likes the crunching of the food.

The one constant he has always really liked is fancy feast however it gives him really bad diarrhea. My next trick will be to mix the fancy feast with his high fiber food an see if that wont keep him interested in the canned.

THANKS!
Kerri and Ollie
Click to expand...
Mine was the same way, I do use ziwi mackeral and lamb as treats, I also use Dr. Elsey clean protein wet and dry, very low carb
 
Bellasmom said:
Mine was the same way, I do use ziwi mackeral and lamb as treats, I also use Dr. Elsey clean protein wet and dry, very low carb
Click to expand...
Is the Ziwi hard crunchy food or moist? And Dr Elsey-the dry food is ok, do you know how many carbs? I would like to have dry for him as a back up or to maybe get his brain to realize he's hungry and start him off with a small handful of dry and then he may be hungry and eat the wet.
 
Kerri2455 said:
Oliver has become very finicky lately, has anyone else experienced this with their diabetic? I have bought all kinds of foods to try with him too and he may eat well one day and then the next wants nothing to do with the food. I bought Primal nuggets as a topper, he used to like them, now he doesn't. The one constant he seems to hold out for is dry food, which we do have the diabetic Purina DM for him but his numbers have been so good without it I am really not wanting him to eat any. I can top the canned with this dry food but he just picks the food out and then walks away. I hesitate to even give insulin when he doesn't eat a good meal.

I see there is a air dried food called Ziwi that is sold online-has anyone tried this? Is it crunchy or soft? I am thinking he just likes the crunching of the food.

The one constant he has always really liked is fancy feast however it gives him really bad diarrhea. My next trick will be to mix the fancy feast with his high fiber food an see if that wont keep him interested in the canned.

THANKS!
Kerri and Ollie
Click to expand...
Yep, my kitty is a finicky eater also, and used to eat 90% dry food with wet food only as a treat. He went on a hunger strike when I tried to change up his food after diagnosis and ended up losing 3.5lbs in a little over a month. At that point I decided to stop taking the vets advice on DM food and started looking for other options. I did find that to get him eating, a slightly higher carb wet food (Purina Pro Plan Salmon entree) worked better than the "healthier" low carb ones. Over time I started mixing in Weruva BFF flavors to see if I could get him on something lower carb. It worked for a while, but then he would periodically stop eating that as well. He also took a special pride in dropping mouthfuls of whatever food he didn't feel like eating all over the counter in front of his bowl and just eating what he did want. A few days ago I switched him to FF classics pate, not expecting him to like it, but surprise of all surprises, he's still going strong with that one and seems to love it!
Another thing that seems to work is sprinking a little bit of Fortiflora over the top. It is technically a probiotic (which may also solve the diarrhea problem), but the main benefit for me is the smell/flavor is an enticement to eat. Spot comes running when he hears me open up the package!
Hope this helps!
 
SpotsMom said:
Yep, my kitty is a finicky eater also, and used to eat 90% dry food with wet food only as a treat. He went on a hunger strike when I tried to change up his food after diagnosis and ended up losing 3.5lbs in a little over a month. At that point I decided to stop taking the vets advice on DM food and started looking for other options. I did find that to get him eating, a slightly higher carb wet food (Purina Pro Plan Salmon entree) worked better than the "healthier" low carb ones. Over time I started mixing in Weruva BFF flavors to see if I could get him on something lower carb. It worked for a while, but then he would periodically stop eating that as well. He also took a special pride in dropping mouthfuls of whatever food he didn't feel like eating all over the counter in front of his bowl and just eating what he did want. A few days ago I switched him to FF classics pate, not expecting him to like it, but surprise of all surprises, he's still going strong with that one and seems to love it!
Another thing that seems to work is sprinking a little bit of Fortiflora over the top. It is technically a probiotic (which may also solve the diarrhea problem), but the main benefit for me is the smell/flavor is an enticement to eat. Spot comes running when he hears me open up the package!
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
thank you! Yes i have heard of Fortiflora but didn't realize the falvor or smell entices them to eat. I will have to get some. I know the vet sells it but i think too maybe a health food store. Is it the same as a probiotic sold at the health food store?

I may just stick with the Fancy Feast and another something healthier and then someone above mentioned Dr Elsey and I see that on Chewy so i can use that dry vs the Diabetic purina stuff which is high carb I am told. thank you!
 
Kerri2455 said:
thank you! Yes i have heard of Fortiflora but didn't realize the falvor or smell entices them to eat. I will have to get some. I know the vet sells it but i think too maybe a health food store. Is it the same as a probiotic sold at the health food store?

I may just stick with the Fancy Feast and another something healthier and then someone above mentioned Dr Elsey and I see that on Chewy so i can use that dry vs the Diabetic purina stuff which is high carb I am told. thank you!
Click to expand...
Chewy also sells Fortiflora in a pack of 30 :)
 
Kerri2455 said:
sweet! Ill order from them which is where the Dr Elsey is too. THANK YOU
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Just FYI, chewy is very good about refunding if your kitty wont eat the food, so maybe not a worry for you. But, both of my cats won't touch it :( You could call Dr Elseys and ask for samples first!
 
Sean & Rufus said:
Just FYI, chewy is very good about refunding if your kitty wont eat the food, so maybe not a worry for you. But, both of my cats won't touch it :( You could call Dr Elseys and ask for samples first!
Click to expand...
Good idea about the samples! Thanks.... I may do that. I do know too that Chewy will work with you on the refund and allows you to donate the food to rescues or shelters which i love!
 
Kerri2455 said:
Is the Ziwi hard crunchy food or moist? And Dr Elsey-the dry food is ok, do you know how many carbs? I would like to have dry for him as a back up or to maybe get his brain to realize he's hungry and start him off with a small handful of dry and then he may be hungry and eat the wet.
Click to expand...
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