Change cat food - not eating?

pippa80

Hi there moneysavers,

My OH and I brought home our lovely new feline friend from the shelter on Wednesday afternoon. They gave us Whiskas wet and dry food for her and I have some good quality food (Applaws and Grau) that we want to transition her over to. Thing is, she is hardly eating the Whiskas at all (maybe 5-10 biscuits and a little bit of the jelly from the wet food). She was only brought in for rehoming by her previous owners on Friday last week, so she might not have been eating Whiskas before.

Would it be a bad idea to try her on the new food? She doesn't seem nervous, jumps in our laps, purrs, makes bread and noses around the place, doesn't hide etc, but maybe she is just not eating from stress and we should stick with the Whiskas for now?

Thanks for your thoughts!

925dancer

If she's eating so little then I would try her on something else just to get her eating.

As you say, you don't know what her previous owners were feeding her so she might just not like the Whiskas, I know mine don't.

geri1965_2

I would try her on the new food and see what happens. My rescue cat Jimmy is not fussed at all by wet food, he will eat a little bit now and again but he much prefers dry food. My other cat is the opposite, she does eat the dry food (it's what she's had since she was a kitten) but she goes mental for Whiskas!

soupdragon10

Cats won't starve for not eating for a couple of days - it could be that she's reacting to the double stress of changing homes etc and needs time to settle down before she is comfortable eating anything.

It sounds as though she needs what she is getting - lots of fuss and attention to reassure her to help her to settle down.

Have you tried leaving down a bowl of the biscuits with water nearby so she can pick when she eats? Some cats are very wary of eating out in the open in a new environment, so putting it somewhere secluded might also help.

If the shelter were giving her Whiskas, it might be worth ringing them to find out if she ate it while she was with them. If not then trying another food might work - could be the taste/smell doesn't appeal to her.

She sounds a very lucky cat indeed.

pippa80

Yep, we leave the biscuits for her in the morning so she can pick all day and then give her the wet when we get home from work.

That's a good idea to phone the shelter and see if she was eating with them. I might try and tempt her with a few Applaws tomorrow as well.

She's quite amazingly brave - after a couple of hours by herself in the bonding room, I went in and she ran straight over and jumped up on my lap!

paddypaws101

soupdragon10 wrote: »

Cats won't starve for not eating for a couple of days -
.

No, they wont starve....but are at danger of developing Hepatic Lipidosis ( fatty liver ) which can be fatal. Overweight cats are at highest risk as the fat breaks down in times of starvation and overwhelms the liver.

ecsvn

paddypaws101 wrote: »

No, they wont starve....but are at danger of developing Hepatic Lipidosis ( fatty liver ) which can be fatal. Overweight cats are at highest risk as the fat breaks down in times of starvation and overwhelms the liver.

Although this is true. It is a bit OTT. OBESE CATS that do not eat anything for roughly 3 days are at risk of developing Hepatic lipidosis.

Just be sensible and change them over. The whiskas isn't great for them anyhow.
It might be worth considering a feliway diffuser for stress problems to help themsettle in a bit? just google Feliway.com!

enjoy your new additions to the family.:rotfl:

pippa80

Just to update you all that she ate most of her dinner last night and about half of her dry food so far today. Think she's settling in :T

zzzLazyDaisy

If you are really worried about her not eating, just open a tin of tuna, or a packet of cooked chicken - my cat goes mad for human food! (Not suggesting you make this her normal diet, just as a treat while she's settling in).