Faddy Eaters
Q. I have 2 cats aged 3 and 4. Both are wonderful companions, friendly and loving but in one area they drive me to distraction. They are both exceptionally faddy eaters. It doesn't matter which brand of wet food I buy from the most expensive to the least, they will ea it one day but refuse the same brand another day. I have tried supplimenting their diet with dried food, but they only nibble at that as a snack.I spend more money than I care to admit on food which is left in their bowls and then thrown away untouched. Help !! P S they are both fit and well and a healthy weight.
My advice is this: choose one food and stick with it. I’d choose something really good quality that will also tend to be very palatable. Pouch formats are a great choice as each pouch represents a single serve meal, so wastage will be kept to a minimum - cats are really attuned to how fresh a food is, so this is an important consideration. I also think that it is better to give cats some dry food too, for the sake of their dental health. A good example of this type of combination in the Hill’s Science Plan range would be Tender Chunks in Gravy pouches and Feline Adult Dry.
I would put out the food as normal and leave the wet food out for about 2 hours (or less in hot weather) and then remove it. The dry food could be left out all day or you could also meal feed that. The advantage of meal feeding is that it would allow you to gauge exactly how much your cats are eating and adjust the food offered at each meal accordingly. Dry food is very much more calorie dense than wet food and it could well be the case that your cats are meeting more of their nutritional needs through dry food than you think. An average sized cat would eat about 50 grams of Hill’s food a day OR 2- 2.5 pouches – so just 20 grams of dry could be replacing one whole pouch. Measure out the dry food – it looks like a tiny portion and it’s easy to underestimate the calories in those few nibbles. I would not change brands just because the cats refused food for a couple of days – simply follow the same routine each day. As long as they are a healthy weight and not overweight it is fine to do this. Don’t offer other foods and don’t give milk which is also a source of calories. This might sound a bit mad but watch your body language – cats are great at reading your feelings and if you have in your mind that the cats are going to refuse the food they might well do so because of negative messages they are getting through watching you prepare the food with a defeated expression or posture. Cats are very clever animals!
By Libby Sheridan (Hills Pet Nutrition) (Professional Advisor)
© 2007-2007 Pet-Supermarket All Rights Reserved. Pet-Supermarket is a trading name of Viverdi Ltd. Company Number: 4928955 .
By using this Website, you agree to our terms and conditions.