My cat is such a finicky eater. He doesn't want to eat pork fat now when before he does, and he gets tired easily of eating the same kind of food for more than 2 days, even if it's fish, so I find myself having to change his food often so that he can eat, which costs more. He is so finicky that he gets thin from not eating. So I'm wondering if your pet is a finicky eater? How do you deal with it if he is, and what kind is your pet?
According to some article I read a while back, cats can learn to be finicky eaters. If a cat rejects food you feed it and because you believe they are bored of eating the same food, you switch then the cat will expect that the next time it rejects it's food it will get something different. To get cats to eat their food you should try enticing them with something different. They love the aroma of meat, fish or chicken. So when you cook these mix their dry food with some soup and your cat will eat whatever is given to them.
I don't have a pet, but my in-laws have a very spoilt dog LOL He's very snooty and refuses to eat dog food. He'll just sniff it and turn his nose up at it. Instead, he prefers milk, Weetabix, steak and chicken! When they go out shopping, he always gets treated to a roast chicken of his own. I honestly think he believes he's a human being LOL
@Denis Hard, My cat seems to choose to not eat at all rather than to eat the same food, so I have to switch it up a bit. Would you believe he's also gotten tired of eating chicken bones? I intend to buy him wet cat food too to change things up. @Lushlala, Our Jack Russell is also like that. It's understandable though, because human food tastes better than dog food.
@sidney....I have to say dog food never looks appetising, does it?! I mean, you only have to look at it to be disgusted. -and don't dogs have sharper senses than humans, especially of smell and taste? Those dry biscuits, how are they supposed to east those? I think it's time pet food manufacturers seriously 'revised and upped their game' because I really don't blame pets for not liking what's currently on offer on the pet food market.
@Lushlala, True, dog food is supposedly loaded with the nutrition and vitamins that dogs need, so maybe they couldn't come up with a way that could make them taste more appealing. We have some voracious dogs though, and they couldn't care less about the taste of dog food, like they will eat anything, even plain rice with no taste at all!
What gets me about my cat, is that some food he has formerly enjoyed he will now turn his nose up at. I think his favorite grocery store brand may have changed their formulation, because he no longer likes it as much. At first he wasn't eating it at all, then he got desperate. Then a brand I bought that he loved the first time I got it, he wouldn't eat it the the second or third time I bought it. The only thing you can depend on him always liking wet or dry is Friskies. He loves that stuff!!
@Ke Gordon, So were on the same boat then. My cat just acts the exact same way! My cat only eats human food, so the "formulation" is out of the question. I think he is just getting really picky! He is also turning 11 years old, so I dunno if age has something to do with it. He gets tired of eating fish and chicken bones if I feed him consecutively with it! So I have to alternate between fish and meat.
Well, at his age, you might want to get him checked out at the vet. Even though most cats are a little finicky in an older cat like that it could be a sign of illness. I would watch him closely and if he starts with any other unusual behaviors I would get him checked out. It is better safe than sorry. I had that issue with a cat who was a bit older once..and it turned out to be a kidney problem.
@Ke Gordon, The last time I had him checked was last January 2016. He did not eat for 2 days, and it was diagnosed that he had phlegm in his lungs. Then the night that I took him to the vet he was improving already. So at this point, he still eats the same way that he used to, just a but more finicky. He still is interested in food, like his eyes would light up when I'm about to feed him and runs towards me, so I guess he is just getting fussy, lol.
Compared to our dogs, our cats are rather picky with their food. For instance, one cat prefers fresh fish and a specific cat food variant to fried fish or any other cat food brand. Another cat doesn't even eat cat food. He prefers pure fish, be it fried or fresh. These are little nuances that we pay attention to because if we don't, one cat would end up starving. We try to feed them with what they like without going overboard with our budget.
We have 3 dogs and our morning routine is to mince the dog food and roast in the oven toaster. Our 2 males dogs are okay with that breakfast but Barbie, the only female is a finicky eater. Our housemaid used to hand-feed Barbie but we reprimanded her. But without hand-feeding, Barbie would eat just a few and the leftover is more. When my husband noticed the leftover, he instructed to housemaid to prepare a small portion only for Barbie so as not to waste dog food which is expensive. Until now, Barbie is still a finicky eater but only during breakfast.
That's odd and new to me. She only eats less during the morning and eats a lot during later meals? I guess her appetite is not as stimulated in the morning. I also sometimes hand-feed my cat to eat some food that I gave him because he doesn't eat them on he's own, but if you hand feed him he seems to get forced to eat it.
In some ways my dog is a picky eater. He would much rather eat human food than dog food. And he knows the refrigerator houses the human food. But he will eat Alpo and a few other brands when he can't get me to share my food with him.
My cat is fine, she will eat her cat food and be done with it. However, my dog is finicky, he is extremely picky. I have had to change brands of dog food more than a couple times because he will just stop eating. He likes to eat what I eat, but don't let him because he won't eat his dog food if I do.
Well you are lucky that your dog still eats his dog food once you stop giving him human food. While our dog only eats human food, and will not eat dog food at all to the point that he vomits since his stomach has no food to grind.
Oh yes, and my little friend now is worse than any of the other pets that I have had. He only eats dry food, which I still do not understand, and he will not eat it unless he sees it poured into the dish. It is strange, and you can just have a pile there and he won't touch it, until you pour just one or two new kernels on there. He also only drinks water, but that might not be too strange. They certainly have their own personalities. Thanks for sharing.
Yea, that's what I've heard! But even my brother's and my parents' dogs are very finicky. I reckon a lot of the dry pellets/dog biscuits leave their mouths dry, too......not very appetising! You guys are so lucky to have dogs that aren't picky, because it means less work on your part. The dogs I've had in the past preferred meat and bones over anything else. However, those can get pricey, so people here tend to try to find a balance, also to ensure their pets get a well balanced diet.
@Lushlala, Dog food is also pricey, but so is meat. At least with the bones you don't really eat it anyway, so it makes sense that you should just give that away to the pets, so just buy meat instead, it's like hitting 2 birds with 1 stone.
Well my cat used to be pretty fincky but now the vet only wants him to eat special food since he is on a diet to prevent urinary crystals. He did not like the wet version or the treats, but he seems to enjoy the dry food and this is something that we feed him on a regular basis, if he didn't like it, he would learn to like it..! I really don't think any cat would starve themself to death..unless they were very ill.
