Pander to your cat/dog?

tanith

I feel like I'm a slave to my cat she's old (20) but fairly fit and healthy but she drives me insane with her, one day I like it , and the next I don't food habits. I hate for her to miss a meal as she is like all oldish cats quite skinny but once she turns her nose up no matter how long I leave it she won't eat. I feed her up to 4 meals two of which yesterday went in the bin...
So what do you do if an animal refuses a meal, leave it till its inedible or bin it and put down fresh..
I hate to waste food and I have 3 or 4 various tins, pouches, foil trays on the go at a time but she just gets it in head I don't like this (something she ate perfectly well the day before) and thats it she spends hours following me around yowling till I either change it or shut her in the kitchen. I love her really but this is really annoying me now:mad:

Kittendreich

Our dog gets his meals and if he doesn't eat them...tough! He can't tell me that he just doesn't feel hungry that day so as long as he eats enough over the week & he isn't losing weight I don't worry. When we first got him (from rescue) we did go through several different brands of food to find one he would eat most days and could digest fine (he has quite a sensitive tum & being very hairy the consequences are not pleasant!) - but we just stick with them now.

Old cats might be like old people who need less calories each day, but can still manage tasty treats? Unless you can afford it then I wouldn't be opening lots of different meals until she eats one - it is just a waste.

tanith

She doesn't get treats as she has never been one for eating anything that doesn't come either out of tin or pouch , I can even put down cooked chicken and she turns her nose up.. so she isn't trying for a treat . She just won't SHUT UP!! unless I put down fresh for her and the yowling gets louder and louder till I either put her out or shut her in the kitchen.. can't put her out today as we have snow lying on the ground and it looks like another snow shower about to start.. so I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it..lol

lostinrates

tanith wrote: »

I feel like I'm a slave to my cat she's old (20) but fairly fit and healthy but she drives me insane with her, one day I like it , and the next I don't food habits. I hate for her to miss a meal as she is like all oldish cats quite skinny but once she turns her nose up no matter how long I leave it she won't eat. I feed her up to 4 meals two of which yesterday went in the bin...
So what do you do if an animal refuses a meal, leave it till its inedible or bin it and put down fresh..
I hate to waste food and I have 3 or 4 various tins, pouches, foil trays on the go at a time but she just gets it in head I don't like this (something she ate perfectly well the day before) and thats it she spends hours following me around yowling till I either change it or shut her in the kitchen. I love her really but this is really annoying me now:mad:

Luckily my house is full of hairy hoover who can deal with leftovers for a corresponding reduction in their allotted portion. e.g. one of my dogs is not a motivated eater of dog food, but loves it if it has something novel in it...dog safe left overs, which a small portion of cat food would be.

Also, if you have feral cats nearby they appreciate it. The ferals here eat ANYTHING :( and anything that is less tasty for my cats is a luxury for them. If not feral/stray cats then badgers, foxes if in an appropriate area, or at a different time of year hedgehogs, might also appreciate it.

I wonder if you cat just fancies variety. I know its not deemed great, but f that's what she's getting anyway maybe offering her something different at each meal rather than what she ate last time?

tanith

I don't put food outside apart from bird food as I don't want to encourage rats to be honest and we have high fences so nothing much else gets in our garden. I do offer her different tastes at each meal which is why I have a tin open and offer her a pouch or tray of something different in between . I guess I am just going to have to keep doing what I'm doing and put up with the yowling.. I guess at 20 she's entitled to be fussy and grumpy...

Lirin

I wish I had that problem!

My partner and I have often theorised if we left our Lab alone in a massive warehouse full to the brim of dog nuts, exactly how much she'd be able to get through.

jennikitten

Even if I give my cats their favourite food, they will hang around to see if anything better is offered. I think by giving in to your cat you're just reinforcing that behaviour as well as enabling her to be fussy.

I have a vaguely similar issue in that one of my cats yowls to be let into the house via the front door, despite the fact that she knows how to use the cat flap at the back. She yowls so loudly that there was one night I ended up dreaming about a baby crying (!)...despite being asleep upstairs at the back of the house, I could hear her subconsciously through two thick doors and it woke me up within a few minutes. My boyfriend was always giving in to her & letting her in, even if it was 4 or 5am and she woke us up. Once I put my foot down and said that we weren't doing that any more, she learned fairly quickly that yowling wasn't going to get her anywhere. It is annoying, but stick with it and they will stop if they don't achieve what they want. She's now moved on to coming in through the cat flap but sitting outside our bedroom door and yowling, but we're ignoring this too & she's doing it much less. It's like having a kid who wants to get up early.

If your cat's teeth and are fine & she has no problems with digesting food, she'll eat the food eventually. Don't fuss, and don't give her options for a few weeks & see what happens. She's playing up with you.

SnowyOwl_2

Awww wee OAP kitty! She sounds like a headstrong "grumpy old woman" - if she could speak she'd be like Blanche out of Corrie.

Perhaps a strategy you could employ is to offer her a choice of two foods, then the reject goes into the freezer to be microwaved and served dethawed and a bit warm the next day. I doubt if this will solve your problem but you might throw away less. When she walks away from food make sure she sees you remove it.

As she's so old her sense of smell may well be on the wane, so making her food nice more pungent might stimulate her appetite more. I can only think of warming it up for her to help with this.

She might like some raw meat eg little bits of stewing beef or bits of chicken.

You are well and truly wrapped around her little furry finger as she knows you will look after her no matter what, the lucky girl.

tanith

I never thought of warming her food I might give that a try in a minute.. also the smell thing makes sense so I'll see what I can do about that.. she never has eaten raw foods I've tried that but maybe I'll try mince maybe that might work.. thanks for the ideas..and Yes I fully agree with you about Blanche.. she even scolds me when I carefully comb her over her bony frame if I snag a knot in her fur... and yes no matter what she'll have a happy life for however long she has left..

spike7451

tanith wrote: »

She doesn't get treats as she has never been one for eating anything that doesn't come either out of tin or pouch , I can even put down cooked chicken and she turns her nose up.. so she isn't trying for a treat . She just won't SHUT UP!! unless I put down fresh for her and the yowling gets louder and louder till I either put her out or shut her in the kitchen.. can't put her out today as we have snow lying on the ground and it looks like another snow shower about to start.. so I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it..lol

Gimme my Daisy Cat back!!!:p

That's her to a tee!My little furry mistress even knows where her food is kept..I give her small meals thru the day when I'm at home & leave Royal Canin kibble out for her to nibble on.

tanith

This is Jade of whom I speak...