Sassy cats – Fussy with food!

Gallery

Posted on by

I want Fancy Feast!

When Gracie, the youngest catkid was adopted in January, there were a lot of food issues. She wouldn’t eat anything. Then only dry. Then only real chicken. Then only chicken cat food. Then back to real chicken. (When I say real chicken I mean the stuff I roast myself without any salt or flavorings. She’s not fond of rotisserie chicken which would be so much easier.)

It took months to get her to a point where she ate the same stuff the others did. (In the meantime, tubby Hazel gleefully consumed anything she didn’t like. What a trooper.)

For most of the summer she was happy with chicken cat food. Now that it’s fall she is turning her nose up at chicken cat food.

She started this after I stocked up with two cases of chicken cat food. Turkey cat food is her current favorite. I even caught her eating beef cat food, a flavor which she tried to bury in the spring.

Only gravy! No lumps! Use a strainer!

Mollie only eats gravy (and dry food). She will leave all the food lumps in her plate (for Hazel to clean up).

Morgan eats mostly dry with some wet. Sometimes she eats a lot of wet cat food and sometimes none at all. She is not fond of chicken cat food (yes, that’s the one with an inventory of two cases).

Hazel, glorious Hazel, will eat anything that isn’t nailed down. That’s the good news and that’s the bad news. Every family needs a Hazel.

Here is the typical dinnertime conversation.

Me: Dinnertime! Come and get it. Friskies chicken!

Hazel (with enthusiasm): Oh, my favorite. Feed me first, feed me first! (Picture a fireplug dancing around!)

Morgan (bored and not interested checking her nails to see if she needs a manicure): Again? Didn’t we just have that last week? Or was it yesterday? Just a little and not the big pieces. Don’t give Mollie all the gravy.

Mollie (with authority as the alpha cat): Just the gravy please. No lumps. Last time you tried to sneak in lumps.

Gracie (as the spoiled kid who only eats mac n cheese): Ewww! Like what were you thinking? Who would eat that? I want Fancy Feast. I want sushi!

In the meantime we are grabbing our car keys to get a pizza and beer!

I’m the good cat. I’ll eat anything. Do you have something in your pocket?

56 thoughts on “Sassy cats – Fussy with food!”

  1. Wow! Do you keep a food diary/log for them? I’m not sure I could keep this straight! I’m tempted to tell you the same advice mothers are given with picky children…”if they’re hungry enough…” but I won’t do that, since I would be doing the same thing! My dog knows exactly who to come to every time she wants a treat or scrap from the table. I’m the patsy! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • Yes, sometimes I keep a diary. Right now thinks are fairly stable except for the recent dislike of Friskies chicken (after I bought 2 cases). When Jake was alive I kept a journal. He was very finicky and with his diabetes he had to eat. He had me over a barrel and he knew it.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  3. Mealtime in a multi-cat household is always fun! We have an extra dog in the house right now (dogsitting) adding to our chaos. Our cats have to slink around her to get to the feeding spots. They aren’t 100% sure about her. So that’s four cats and two dogs and five different feeding spots on two levels. Luckily no fosters at the moment. I just can’t do it until the extra dog goes home!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  5. One of the reasons I miss Pharoah is because he was my garbage scow. Anything left in the cat dishes, he would gobble it down. I don’t like dark meat chicken and he would eat that too. I can no longer buy a whole chicken as there’s nobody to eat the legs and thighs! But thank goodness now I only have to prepare two separate kitty meals instead of three!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  6. With the new cat we are trying to figure out a new eating regime as well. He lived for a year and a half with dry food available all the time and once a day some wet food. But now he isn’t so much into dry and when offered wet gobbles it down or just takes a nibble. But the desperation level before the gobble and the nibble are the same, so we never know. Oh, and never offer food from the fridge. That is yucky!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • I had a cat who wouldn’t eat it cold. Fortunately even Gracie will eat it from the fridge if it’s what she wants at the moment. I am still trying to get a pattern going but it’s usually a can of Friskies in the morning split between all four (Mollie gets 2 tbsp. of gravy only). Dinner is another story. It’s a full Fancy Feast for Gracie and the Friskies gets split between the other 3. Sometimes she will holler at lunch time too. I am so grateful she’s eating. BTW according to the rescue, she wasn’t like that at all at the shelter.

      Like

      Reply ↓

    • The more you pay for something the more likely it is to be buried! In the spring I tried the high end wet. Not a hit (except for Hazel, wonderful Hazel — then I wonder why she’s tubby!)

      Like

      Reply ↓

    • At this point she’s healthy. Teeth were taken care of and no blood in the urine anymore. My take is that while she was having issues, I was catering to her and she liked it. I don’t know if the case of chicken cat food I bought tasted different or if she got tired of it. Morgan isn’t fond of it either but she will eat it.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  9. I love Hazel. A dancing dream at meal times. We had a Mollie gravy cat once, but the vet put a stop to that. (and they say they will eat anything if they are hungry enough – wrong!)
    Have you tried duck? (The food, not the action) RC was fond of it…for a can or two – long enough to con me into buying an expensive brand case for a delicate cat tummy….of course, nose up once the case came. (It’s now in hurricane emergency pile….Molly Malamute would be thrilled with it.)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • I tried duck in the spring and it wasn’t a hit (except for lovely Hazel). I get a duck dry food that works when mixed in with other dry. Before Gracie, when I had Jake and the other two, one flavor (I think it was the beef) was so boycotted I donated the rest of my supply to the local shelter. My vet says that only a cat will starve before eating something they don’t want. My cats never get anywhere near starvation because of their neurotic owner.

      Like

      Reply ↓

    • I used to keep charts when I had Jake but as the cats aged, they mellowed out. I try to give some variety and the “other three” are usually good about it. Gracie is another story. She wants what she wants when she wants it.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  12. Have you tried Stella & Chewy’s freeze-dried chicken? It’s meant to be reconstituted, but my picky kids love it as treats or small meals. I know what you mean about how the minute you stock up on a food they don’t want it. These guys are keeping us busy!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  13. Good grief. I find it challenging just trying to keep up with Theo’s loves and hates de jour. Today he is eating food he rejected last week. Situation normal.

    Hazel is a clever one. I’d suspect she was at the root of the problem, convincing the other girls that their food is unacceptable. She’s probably snickering into her paw right now, happy in the knowledge that her plan actually worked and no one is the wiser 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • I don’t have the stamina to do that. For the dry food it’s easier although I usually go grain-free or limited ingredients but I mix the new stuff in the old and all goes well. I have diet dry for Hazel. Not her favorite but she eats it. Crackers she says.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

  20. Hazel… such a funny girl! Gracie sounds so much like Z Cat. We had to keep an assortment of all kinds of flavors and brands to try to keep her eating some kind of wet food and she usually just licked the gravy. Morgan, I can see her just as if I was there! Maybe Mollie would like pizza and beer! We had three kitties that loved spaghetti and meatballs. And they got a full Thanksgiving dinner. That was before we knew better and began thinking about nutrition.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • Old Jake was the only cat that ate people food and only meat or potato chips (no, I don’t know why…maybe the salt?) That’s a blessing as there is no begging. Jake was also somewhat finicky. He like seafood (which isn’t good for cats) and sometimes got stubborn. Gracie is the worst with eating habits. While Mollie and Morgan aren’t all that big on wet food, they will eat enough dry food. Gracie, who isn’t starving by the looks of her nicely filled out body, gets all persnickety and wails loudly to get her way. She’s come a long way from her dumpster diving days.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  21. Teddy and Jack eat whatever is in their dishes….until they don’t. Teddy finishes what Jack leaves. Guess that’s why he is 14 pounds and Jack 9. Right now their favorite food is Sheba pâté. I don’t stock up on any particular food. When I do they go on strike and want something different. They are not spoiled ! They just have me well trained as any cat servant should be.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • Four cats dictates that I buy cases. I used to get the mixed varieties but there was always one flavor they didn’t like. (Can a batch taste different from another batch?) I tried to hone in on buying specific flavors they all like. They all love Fancy Feast which is twice as expensive as Friskies, made in the same factory. But even with FF they would go through stages. Fortunately if I have something the others aren’t eating, Hazel will eat it. It wasn’t all that complicated before Gracie came. For an 8 lb. cat, she eats a lot.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

    • Yes! And they are so theatrical about it, clunking the dish to be sure I know what they are doing. Funny thing is, if I think Gracie had enough and don’t give her what she wants, she will go back and eat the stuff she tried to bury. Not always but sometimes.

      Like

      Reply ↓

Don't be shy, I'd love to hear what you're thinking!