Mixing in the Fancy Feast

My Willow would definitely starve herself to death. She is that picky.
Have had dogs that I know would have done the same.
"Marina" wrote in message
...
dgk wrote:

Some of my friends say that no animal will starve itself, but I have
my doubts about that.

The people that say that have never met my Miranda. She is underweight.
When I got her, my niece warned me that she would only eat fresh, raw
meat. I tried to introduce wet food into her diet, but she outstubborned
me. I put the smallest crumb of wet food on one side of a plate of meat,
and presented it to her with the catfood furthest away from her, thinking
she would eat through the meat and keep going. Hahaha! She took one look
at that plate and walked away, and refused to even touch the meat on it.
After 24 hours, I gave up, because she was so very thin and I couldn't
stand that she wasn't eating.

I'm convinced she would have starved herself rather than eat the smallest
smidge of catfood. I've never met another cat who is so not interested in
food.

When I dish out the food at their feeding time, Caliban rushes in front of
me to get to his food bowl and inhales his meat in about two seconds.
Miranda comes sauntering in much later, sometimes an hour or two later,
and the look on her face clearly says, 'I guess I might have a taste of
that food now.' Then she eats a few morsels at a time, going away for ten
minutes or half an hour, then coming back for a few mouthfuls again.

Sometimes she just stops eating for a few days. She's alert and playful
and acts normal in every way, she just doesn't eat. Not interested.

Ah well. She seems to do well on her raw diet. Luckily she likes the pills
with vitamins and other vital supplements. She's nearly six years old now,
very svelte but in good condition and very healthy.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban.
In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

if you read news papers always check for a coupon, often twenty five/fifty
cents more off when you buy four cans, Lee
"dgk" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 9 Aug 2010 14:52:29 -0700 (PDT), Sherry
wrote:

On Aug 9, 2:01 pm, dgk wrote:
I have a tough time getting my four cats to agree on a main source of
wet healthy food. We used to all like ProPlan Salmon and Rice but then
they changed the formula and we don't like it anymore. So we tried
some BFF stuff and we kind of like the yellow can, and we might accept
some MaxCat and maybe some Wellness. But mostly we just like looking
at the food as if to say "you really expect us to eat this ****?"

While I was away, the catsitter had some problems getting them to eat
so she mixed in some Fancy Feast with the healthier stuff. She said
that they would then eat it all, so I tried it and sure enough,
they'll eat almost anything if there is some Fancy Feast mixed in.

I feel stupid. I would sometimes give them Fancy Feast but it just
never occurred to me to mix them together. I guess they get used to
the taste if it's mixed in with something they like. Every day I learn
anew just how weird my little beasties are.

Fancy Feast really isn't all that bad, depending upon which variety
you're talking about. There was a discussion a while back in which
Phil Pass (who does know his stuff, all things feline)..anyway,
he had broken down for comparison's sake the better varieties of FF
compared to various premium brands.
It surprised me. Wish I could remember the specifics. I know there
are healthier brands, but all FF isn't junk food. (But again, *some*
varieties are not very healthy against premium cat food).
If you're getting them to eat just by mixing part-FF, I think you're
doing great.

I get "that look" a lot also, especially lately. I take it pretty
seriously
when they won't eat, because I've had cats who got so ill from not
eating. They probably know this, and are playing me like a fiddle.

Sherry


Some of my friends say that no animal will starve itself, but I have
my doubts about that. Cats can be very stubborn. With dignity of
course. I should pay more attention to the ingredients on the FF cans.
Even at 60 cents a can, it is no more expensive than Wellness or stuff
like that, and Target often has it for .48 or so, making it much
cheaper than their normal food.

i tried all canned for a bit before tiger got crystals, trudi refused to
eat for 2 days, so i gave up... she keeps herself thin because of the pain
in her hindquarters so two days without food was too dangerous for my worry
wart self, its dry or die for her, Lee
"Marina" wrote in message
...
dgk wrote:

Some of my friends say that no animal will starve itself, but I have
my doubts about that.

The people that say that have never met my Miranda. She is underweight.
When I got her, my niece warned me that she would only eat fresh, raw
meat. I tried to introduce wet food into her diet, but she outstubborned
me. I put the smallest crumb of wet food on one side of a plate of meat,
and presented it to her with the catfood furthest away from her, thinking
she would eat through the meat and keep going. Hahaha! She took one look
at that plate and walked away, and refused to even touch the meat on it.
After 24 hours, I gave up, because she was so very thin and I couldn't
stand that she wasn't eating.

I'm convinced she would have starved herself rather than eat the smallest
smidge of catfood. I've never met another cat who is so not interested in
food.

When I dish out the food at their feeding time, Caliban rushes in front of
me to get to his food bowl and inhales his meat in about two seconds.
Miranda comes sauntering in much later, sometimes an hour or two later,
and the look on her face clearly says, 'I guess I might have a taste of
that food now.' Then she eats a few morsels at a time, going away for ten
minutes or half an hour, then coming back for a few mouthfuls again.

Sometimes she just stops eating for a few days. She's alert and playful
and acts normal in every way, she just doesn't eat. Not interested.

Ah well. She seems to do well on her raw diet. Luckily she likes the pills
with vitamins and other vital supplements. She's nearly six years old now,
very svelte but in good condition and very healthy.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban.
In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

"dgk" wrote in message
...
I have a tough time getting my four cats to agree on a main source of
wet healthy food. We used to all like ProPlan Salmon and Rice but then
they changed the formula and we don't like it anymore. So we tried
some BFF stuff and we kind of like the yellow can, and we might accept
some MaxCat and maybe some Wellness. But mostly we just like looking
at the food as if to say "you really expect us to eat this ****?"

While I was away, the catsitter had some problems getting them to eat
so she mixed in some Fancy Feast with the healthier stuff. She said
that they would then eat it all, so I tried it and sure enough,
they'll eat almost anything if there is some Fancy Feast mixed in.

I feel stupid. I would sometimes give them Fancy Feast but it just
never occurred to me to mix them together. I guess they get used to
the taste if it's mixed in with something they like. Every day I learn
anew just how weird my little beasties are.

It's been my experience that the posher food you give them the more picky
they start to be.
Not when they are ill, of course, everything or anything is good then.
My vet advises a medium quality food for cats/dogs that have no health
problems.

When I was using up KFC's posh food after she'd passed away, on Boyfriend,
when it ran out he did not want to eat *normal food".
Tough on him, that was.
If he refused it as not good enough, I removed it. Took two days before he
scarfed up what I gave and he still does.

The posh food will wait until he is a poorly boy in the future.

In article ,
"Christina Websell" wrote:

It's been my experience that the posher food you give them the more picky
they start to be.
Not when they are ill, of course, everything or anything is good then.
My vet advises a medium quality food for cats/dogs that have no health
problems.

Huh. Here across the pond it's the really high quality food that tends
to be the least palatable to the cats not used to it. Low salt, no
artificial flavoring, appropriate percentages of by-products... it's the
cheap stuff and the slightly pricier canned department store junkfood
that they'll eat like crazy, and the medium quality food is also pretty
kitty crack-like.

I've gotten the advice to give the food they really love every once in a
while as a major treat to keep up their taste for it. Something
unfamiliar can be just as unappetizing as something comparatively
flavorless to a sick cat.

--
minnow ^..^

http://twitter.com/taheenahana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnow/

moonglow minnow wrote:

Huh. Here across the pond it's the really high quality food that tends
to be the least palatable to the cats not used to it. Low salt, no
artificial flavoring, appropriate percentages of by-products... it's the
cheap stuff and the slightly pricier canned department store junkfood
that they'll eat like crazy, and the medium quality food is also pretty
kitty crack-like.

Agreed! I think of Friskies canned food as kitty McDonald's. Which isn't
so terrible for them once in a while - and that's about how often mine
get some, at those times when I didn't plan well and ran out of their
premium stuff before I could get to the store that sells it. They get so
excited about it!

I've gotten the advice to give the food they really love every once in a
while as a major treat to keep up their taste for it. Something
unfamiliar can be just as unappetizing as something comparatively
flavorless to a sick cat.

Interesting idea, makes sense.

Joyce

--
Once upon a time, the world was young and the words "mackerel" and
"pudding" existed far, far away from one another. One day, that all
changed. And then, whoever was responsible somehow thought the word
"fluffy" would help. -- Hilarious recipes at: www.candyboots.com

On 12 Aug 2010 21:29:35 GMT, wrote:

moonglow minnow wrote:

Huh. Here across the pond it's the really high quality food that tends
to be the least palatable to the cats not used to it. Low salt, no
artificial flavoring, appropriate percentages of by-products... it's the
cheap stuff and the slightly pricier canned department store junkfood
that they'll eat like crazy, and the medium quality food is also pretty
kitty crack-like.

Agreed! I think of Friskies canned food as kitty McDonald's. Which isn't
so terrible for them once in a while - and that's about how often mine
get some, at those times when I didn't plan well and ran out of their
premium stuff before I could get to the store that sells it. They get so
excited about it!

I've gotten the advice to give the food they really love every once in a
while as a major treat to keep up their taste for it. Something
unfamiliar can be just as unappetizing as something comparatively
flavorless to a sick cat.

Interesting idea, makes sense.

Joyce

That is a good idea, but they get Fancy Feast pretty often these days
so I doubt they'll forget that they like it. Of course there are 8
million varieties of FF, in fact there might be 8 million varieties of
Salmon alone. Some are actually rejected by one or more of my cats but
most are scoffed up by all four.

My first two cats, around 23 years ago, would eat just about any
quality cat food. I'd hear about people having trouble getting their
cats to eat anything, or how to mix foods together to gradually get
them used to another one, and I'd think that these folks really don't
know how to feed cats.

Well I'm more than being paid back for that snotty attitude. I now
have four cats that are among the pickiest animals on the planet. And
of course I try to make my life a bit easier by finding one that all
four will eat. Right.