# What to feed cat that won't eat meat?



## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

I'm very upset that Prince won't eat his balanced raw meat diet anymore. I'm also upset that he won't eat any meat at all anymore. Not even folded into canned food as he used to still eat it. He won't eat anything except kibble and (some) deli turkey pastrami. Not even tuna. No egg, no turkey, no organs, no duck, no chicken ribs or baby chicken, no cooked meats. The only meat he still eats is chicken breast, and some liver. Even with the kibble, I have 4 kinds at home and whichever are in his bowl, he asks for the missing ones. 

He seems to get bored with a certain food very quickly. The first time he devours it, the next he likes it very much, the third time (not in a row) he's fed that food he won't touch it. He used to devour chicken hearts, now it's been ages that he won't touch them. I vary his meals a lot, but there's a limit to how much variety I can provide. Even with treats, his interest fades.

He's an angel but regarding food, it's a nightmare. I'm lost and I need advice...

Someone told me he saw Prince kills and eats pigeons. I find it hard to believe, because I'm with Prince most of the time outdoors and he never so much as managed to get near a pigeon. And this is not someone I particularly believe.


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## Muzby (Jan 9, 2008)

Seems to me you may have bred a picky eater. I see it a lot in owners who cater to their pets whims (as we all know, cats are finicky at the best of times.. but some people tend to go overboard and always give in). 

Cats are not people (though I love mine more than I do most people! LOL) and he doesn't know what's best for him, you do.

You need to be strong. He is obviously a very healthy kitty, and you don't need to give in to his whims as you seem to. Offer him a meal, if he refuses to eat, that's that. Pick up all food and wait until his next meal. You KNOW he will eat the foods, so why not just mix them all together in one big bowl/bag? 

I fear if you keep giving into his "demands" eventually he will not be eating a healthy balanced diet at all, and he will get sick.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Muzby, I agree with your approach, but I read somewhere that cats may starve themselves if given food they don't want. And when I don't feed him what he wants, he does go without eating and it scares me. Maybe I should have "starved" him for longer than a couple hours, as I see my strays are ecstatic with ANY food I put down for them, and when Prince was one of my 30 strays he would eat ANYTHING I gave him with utmost pleasure and almost cry from happiness when I gave him a little tuna.

Same with the stairs - sometimes he will cry and cry and won't go up, it takes us ages to reach the house and no trick of mine helps (never happens on the way down to the street, though). Once or twice I just left him along the stairs and put up with the crying (and the neighbors did too), then a few minutes later he was inside the apt. like nothing, all happy. 

How long should I hold out, do you think? Hours, days?


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Not sure if this is the correct approach but MowMow has about 10 minutes to start eating (he doesn't have to finish, just start). I'll even carry him in there and put him on his tower where he eats. If he hasn't started in 10 minutes it goes down the garbage disposal and he skips an entire meal. Nothing (including treats) until his next scheduled meal.

He gets loud and it gets annoying but I don't give in. I've never seen him skip the next meal after that . Once he's eaten that next meal I praise him like crazy and pet him a lot. He drools and purrs and always seems so proud of himself.

Edited to add: He eats either 2 or 3 times a day (depending how late I slept that morning) so the longest he'd go is about 6 hours.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

I'll start doing that today and report.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

I think the amount of time you can (safely) wait is 12 hours.
I think cats are tricky and hope that you will give in if they turn up their nose at the food. With Grim I usually have to put the food right under his nose and hang around while he eats, then when he stops, I add water and more food, he eats some more, etc etc.


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## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

Don't listen to Krissy, I got this picture in the mail yesterday and written on the back was this message: "Mommy hasn't fed me in DAYS! Please come save me, meow!"


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

LMAO!

Actually, he's mad because I wouldn't put the air conditioner on. He kept walking up to it and patting it like "make cold!!"


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## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

That's me when my boyfriend wants to keep the AC off too!!


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Update:

He hadn't eaten in about 9 hours (night sleep). I put down 3 kinds of kibble and his raw meat diet portion for breakfast. He ate only 1 kind of kibble (there were about 1.5 table-spoons of it) and went away, washed as if "meal finished". This is the most expensive kibble ($15 for 2 lbs), I got it from a neighbor whose cat won't eat it. It's a diet kibble, supposed to be top quality. Then I gave him a full bowl of that kibble and he ate a bit more.

Where do I go from here?


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Did you leave the other two bowls out or take them away? I've heard if you leave them, they will come back and eat a bit of the others. Have you tried reading the article on catinfo.org about transitioning dry addicts to wet? I know that's not your exact situation but it has a lot of good info on basically persuading cats to eat what you want them to.
It's also quite possible that since it sounds like you've been giving in pretty quick, he waited a long time because he thought he would eventually get his way.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Yes, they are outside now, but he doesn't touch them. He finished his meal (washed).

I'm going to do the following:

1. Start measuring the amount he's supposed to eat each day and put it (or what's left of it) down for each meal of the day. If it's finished, I'll add, of course. But I want to know how much he's eating per day, more precisely than I do now.

2. I'm going to read that article and start implementing.

3. I'll update.


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## furryfriends251 (Jan 1, 2009)

MowMow said:


> Not sure if this is the correct approach but MowMow has about 10 minutes to start eating (he doesn't have to finish, just start). I'll even carry him in there and put him on his tower where he eats. If he hasn't started in 10 minutes it goes down the garbage disposal and he skips an entire meal. Nothing (including treats) until his next scheduled meal.
> 
> He gets loud and it gets annoying but I don't give in. I've never seen him skip the next meal after that . Once he's eaten that next meal I praise him like crazy and pet him a lot. He drools and purrs and always seems so proud of himself.
> 
> Edited to add: He eats either 2 or 3 times a day (depending how late I slept that morning) so the longest he'd go is about 6 hours.


My cats skip meals sometimes. Like if they decide on a whim that they don't like beef (or whatever meat) for some reason...but ate it happily the meal before. The food gets put away, and they wait till the next meal. If they don't eat for 12-15 hours, I'll try sprinkle some powdered freeze dried chicken/salmon on top, which gets them going and they realize how hungry they are!

No garbage disposal for me though - there is one...but when turned on it sounds like a frieght train ramming into the house. In other words, it doesn't work


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Straysmommy said:


> Yes, they are outside now, but he doesn't touch them. He finished his meal (washed).
> 
> I'm going to do the following:
> 
> ...


Sounds good. ^^


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

MinkaMuffin said:


> It's also quite possible that since it sounds like you've been giving in pretty quick, he waited a long time because he thought he would eventually get his way.


Yarp, that's what I think.  You softy!


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Yep. No wonder I didn't know how cats complain. Prince never needed to!


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Update:

I fed him only twice today, morning and evening, and only his raw diet. I waited till he whined for food before giving him his meal, to see how many hours pass till he's hungry again (it was 10 hours each time). As usual, he ate the chicken breast and liver part of his daily portion, and left the rest (turkey, heart and bone). I had to give him a few grains of kibble with his meals for him to start eating the raw. Since he didn't eat the rest of his daily portion, he ate too little today. But he doesn't seem hungry. I gave him a few cubes of whiskas temptations (to train him to go up his new ladder - cat tree by the window) but he didn't eat them all.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

How old is Prince again?


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Estimated between 1 and 2 years old by the vet.

He just now asked for liver while I was preparing it for the strays, and ate a lot of it. He was hungry, but won't touch the turkey and hearts. Or duck or chicken ribs, etc.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

I was going to say that maybe he hit like a... tier where since he has stopped growing, maybe he doesn't need as much food as before, so he's not as hungry.
Sort of like, when you hit 40, you can't eat as much as you did when you were a teenager, because otherwise you will put on weight.

But seeing your comment, I think it's probably still him being stubborn. Lately, I've been trying out new foods for Grim, and on the days when he doesn't get something new and fascinating, he'll hold out for hours to see if I'll give in. But eventually when he sees I won't, he'll suck in his pride and scarf it all down. xD


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

MinkaMuffin said:


> on the days when he doesn't get something new and fascinating, he'll hold out for hours to see if I'll give in. But eventually when he sees I won't, he'll suck in his pride and scarf it all down. xD


This is exactly what Prince does, and now my 26 strays too! At first they turn up their noses to the food, and only when they see that nothing better is forthcoming (a couple even go to smell my bag!), they eat the kibble.

And I think your other comment is true too, because I constantly say that it looks as if Prince had decided to go on a diet.

I read on another thread that it's healthy not to feed them before they're hungry, so I'm doing that too. I don't offer him food anymore, I wait for him to whine for food.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Straysmommy said:


> I read on another thread that it's healthy not to feed them before they're hungry, so I'm doing that too. I don't offer him food anymore, I wait for him to whine for food.


The only reason I don't do this is because I don't want to Encourage begging behavior. Grim already gets in enough trouble as it is, I don't Also need a cat that swirls around and meows like its starving. XD


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## dweamgoil (Feb 3, 2010)

I am no expert on the matter here by any stretch of the imagination, but my cats will eat pretty much anything if allowed to. They are not big meal skippers. I feed them twice a day and no snacks unless I am trying to bribe them to do something like go in a room or whatever.

They eat one raw meal in the morning and one canned at night. Each cat gets its portion, and if one doesn't finish his plate or gets all upitty about it, there is another cat, who will be more than happy to eat it afterwards. I do however see they do have preferences. For example, Azalia doesn't like liver so she will eat it, but it takes her longer to eat than something she really likes. However, she LOVES fish and the others hate it. So, in this instance Azalia may not eat the liver and leave it for another cat knowing they will not eat their anchovies. They have their own system to trade food when they see fit.

I don't feed kibble anymore, and I have never free fed. The only time they get dry is as treats. I give them a good 10-15 minutes to finish up at mealtime, and if not, out it goes.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

That food trade sounds very ingenious!

I hate kibble. I read the contents of even the most expensive brands and I cringe. I've been racking my brain lately to even try and lower the amount of kibble I give my strays, and feed them more raw. I'm trying to find an affordable way, but anything is so much more expensive!

I've also started being more generous with the canned food with Prince. I've realized it doesn't cost more than his raw diet, and I'd rather give him canned than kibble. He didn't ask for kibble all day today.


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