# my cat won't eat most meats i give him



## Vorguen (Feb 23, 2011)

well i have two kitties, one of them will eat anything (yes anything) i lay in front of her so she's not a problem

however my other cat won't eat anything but dry food

i try to supplement his diet with wet canned food (he'll sometimes eat this) and raw meat and sometimes cooked meat but he'll almost always refuse it

i bought chicken hearts which our other kitty goes crazy over it, but he won't even try it, not even a lick just a few smells and he turns his nose up at it


How can i get my cat to try more foods that are clearly good for him?!


----------



## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

Some cats are just really picky and will refuse to eat anything else. I can barely get my clan to eat a few tablespoons of wet a day. I would be more worried if he refused to eat anything, but this just seems to be a case of a picky eater.

I'm sure someone will be along with suggestions soon (I don't have any, nothing works with my two). Good luck!


----------



## Vorguen (Feb 23, 2011)

ah dang... hopefully someone can help im worried about my kitty's nutrition


----------



## Vorguen (Feb 23, 2011)

anyone have any tips for tricking my cat into trying / eating the meat?


----------



## Vorguen (Feb 23, 2011)

Sorry guys i have tried several times to figure out how but I can't figure out how to edit posts.

If someone can teach me please tell me so I don't have to post multiple times (I know thats a forum no-no)


Okay anyway, I just tried something very random to get my cat to eat meat... i grabbed a needle and put some thread on it (after making sure it was all clean), went through the chicken heart, tied a knot on it and left a long dangling string then cut the needle off..

so since i know he loves wand toys, i tried dangling it around for him to "play" with it then "eat his hunt"...

well, he looked at it very excitingly, darted after it, jumped, swatted at it, caught it... sniffed it... let it go, turned around and walked away.

ignored it from there on no matter how many attempts i made.

Then i tried with our other kitty, it looked like it was the best day of her life lol played with it like she never has before then ravaged it so fast into her tummy



Someone needs to help me come up with a way to feed some good quality meat to my other cat (he's 1 years old btw) >_>


----------



## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

I wish i could help, but I've never had that problem.  My guy is a garbage disposal and will eat anything I put on his plate. There are lots of knowledgeable people on here. I'm sure before much longer they'll offer suggestions.


----------



## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Keep trying different kinds of meat. A couple of mine were very resistent when I first introduced raw meat. Venison was the only type of meat that managed to win Annabelle over. The good thing was that once she finally tasted raw venison and recognized it as food, she started eating ALL meats, even those that she had refused before. She just needed the venison to "turn on" her inner carnivore.

I'm having a bit of a problem with my newest addition, Bobble, now. He loves raw meat, but only if it's ground, only if it's either venison or beef, and only if it's properly warmed. He hates pieces of meat, even when I cut them into small, bite-sized pieces, he won't eat any muscle meat but venison or beef (though he will eat organs from any species), and he won't eat anything cold from the fridge. Such a little princess, that boy!

Laurie


----------



## Time Bandit (Aug 17, 2010)

Rochelle knows how to give me a headache during mealtime. If her meat chunks are not cut up small enough (or not run through the food processor), she will refuse to eat. I can't give her whole bones unless it's a wing tip, cut up into three bite-sized pieces. Her food can't be right from the fridge, it must be warmed up slightly. She just started eating her liver whole, so thats a plus at least, haha. Each meal, she needs something special done with her food.

Here's the tricks I've found to get Rochelle to eat (no matter how extreme...):

- Try a food topper. I keep a constant supply of Drs. Foster and Smith 100% freeze dried Tuna Flakes that I sprinkle on her food if needed. Not much, just enough to get the flavor she likes. Other food toppers that I've used are finely crushed kibble, tuna juice, and Parmesan cheese.

- Cut muscle meat up small or give it a quick 1-2 in the food processor (not too much in the processor or you risk destroying nutrients). Rochelle refuses to eat a chunk of meat bigger than one she can lick up with her tongue (except for liver...it's a start!). What can I say, she's a diva and she knows it!

- Sometimes the dish itself can be the problem. The girls normal dishes are little stainless steel bowls with small sides. Last night I fed them on flat plates to see if it made a difference, and Rochelle actually ate everything with no coaxing from me (a first!). Apparently, most cats don't like their whiskers touching sides of bowls and dishes when they eat, so we will be sticking with the flat dishes from now on too.

- Rochelle requires that her hearts be quartered. It's the only way she will eat them...again, bite-sized pieces...something she can lick up with her tongue.

- Hand feed your cat. My cats are comfortable with me sitting down right on the floor with them while they eat...I think Rochelle even prefers having me close by, as she continually looks to me for assurance (and slow-blinkies!). If she is being *exceptionally *difficult (meaning I've tried everything else) and refuses to eat what I gave her, I will put a small piece on my finger tip and offer it to her...I've never had her turn me down yet. Unfortunately, if I do one piece this way, the rest of the bowl must be finished in the same way. So I sit for about 10-15 minutes with her, and hand feed the whole meal. _(*NO I do **NOT find this to be an ideal solution*, but if it's the only way she will eat a meal I will and do.)_ I've only had to do this twice in the over 3 weeks we've been feeding raw now.

- And last but not least, does your kitty have a _favorite _wet food? Rochelle's two favorites are Wellness Chicken and Turkey and Nature's Variety Prairie Lamb Stew. When I was transitioning her to full raw, these two flavors made it so much easier for her (and for me!). We are on full raw now, but I always keep two cans of each flavor handy in case she gets super stubborn again.

I hope at least one of these ideas will help spark a response in your cat! Best of luck to you both!


----------



## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

My Murphy is a picky eater too. I tried getting him to eat canned food a couple years ago, and he always just walked away. When he immediately refused it, I assumed he didn't like it and threw it out. 

That was the problem. Instead of taking it away when he refused it, I just left the plate out next to his dry food. Then he took his time coming back to it, sniffing some more, and rotating bites with his dry food and the canned food. For some reason, he needs to rotate crunchy with mushy.  Anyway, the key was leaving it out for him to investigate on his own. Maybe it's that he didn't want an audience, or maybe he needed time to investigate. At any rate, that eventually worked and he started eating canned food without any problem.


----------



## Vorguen (Feb 23, 2011)

i was thinking of taking away the dry food and offer him meat several times a day but i dont want him to go hungry either :/


----------



## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

If he's used to dry, it may take him a while to transition to better food. Dry food is usually sprayed with fats/flavors that make it appetizing to cats so they tend to be very fond of it.

My advice would be, if you're free-feeding him dry, stop that first. Get him used to set mealtimes by putting the food down for 30-60 min and then picking it up until the next mealtime. Once he's used to eating on a schedule, then you can start slowly introducing better foods. You may have the most luck introducing canned first, by mixing bits of it into his kibble (and slowly increasing the amount) and then moving from that to raw (by mixing the raw into the canned).

Here are two sites that have fairly detailed transitioning articles. You can apply these principles to transitioning to canned or raw:
Practical Guide
Answers: Transitioning Your Finicky Kitties

Good luck!


----------



## konstargirl (Feb 4, 2011)

Oh I'm having this problem too with Misa, but I figure out why she wasn't eating the wet foods. Sorry if I was hijacking this thread. Thank you for the article.


----------

