Vent thread/help with a super picky cat?

[bug_n_flock]

So Charlie is a former feral rescue, and feeding her is not the easiest. She will take frozen feeder animals, but those are expensive as heck! Annnd.... tuna. That is about all that she will eat. She takes a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement, but I cannot consistently get her to eat anything other than whole animals, and she *will* refuse food long enough to start losing condition. She is stubborn. She will eat fancy feast canned and merricks canned bistro meals(the kinds that are not pate, but are kinda chunky.) sometimes. But commercial cat foods give her volcano butt, and she will outright refuse them sometimes for no discernible reason. She is 100% healthy as verified several times by my vet. Just is picky as heck, and I worry she isn't getting proper nutrition with what I am offering.

Sometimes she used to take ground meat, so I bought a meat grinder so I could make a more nutritious blend than just ground muscle and fat, but has since started turning her nose up at mince. I've tried cooked, raw, seared, sauced, etc etc etc. AUUUURG. She wont eat eggs cooked or raw, begs for and steals lettuce from my salads tho...

Any suggestions that maybe I have not thought of? Just tried boiled chicken chopped and tossed in a thickened milk with acidophillus mixed in(SOOMETIMES she will eat dairy), but it was a no-go, even with treats sprinkled on top. :/

After we move to the country she will have more freedom to keep our property free from rats and mice(while being given supplemental whatever food she will eat), but until then she must remain indoors for several reasons(the least of which not being a major road). And a good variety of high quality whole prey feeder animals is just super expensive for every meal of every day... She is worth it, and I will do what it takes to keep her healthy, but another option would be helpful to have....

 

[eagle18]

Are you kidding me, feeding her whole animals??

Cats are survivors, meaning they are not about to starve themselves. The quickest way to get them out of a tree, rattle the food dish.

And yes, if you OFFER tuna, they will take it any day over dry cat food. Use can food if you have to.

I feed strays all the time with good old Purina.

Call her bluff and put the food out.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Thanks for the input.

She is not a stray, though, she is a wild animal. A feral. And I don't offer kibble. period. Too many horror stories about rendering plant awfulness and/or renal failure since cats don't drink much being desert animal descended. I have worked with both stray cats and feral cats before, they are not the same.

Also, cats are obligate carnivores and whole prey is the most natural diet that can be offered, it is actually fairly common practice in the "raw feeding" community, but It is very expensive and typically isn't fed exclusively.

 

[eagle18]

Thanks for the input.

She is not a stray, though, she is a wild animal. A feral. And I don't offer kibble. period. Too many horror stories about rendering plant awfulness and/or renal failure since cats don't drink much being desert animal descended. I have worked with both stray cats and feral cats before, they are not the same.

Also, cats are obligate carnivores and whole prey is the most natural diet that can be offered, it is actually fairly common practice in the "raw feeding" community, but It is very expensive and typically isn't fed exclusively.

A feral cat is one generation from a stray.

Do you honestly believe she will starve herself? A female cat, while in heat, will mate with several different males, guaranteeing she will get pregnant.

The species is built to survive.

Then don't give her kibble, give her can cat food for there is plenty of moisture in that food. I doubt she will turn her nose up at that.

Here's a fun fact. Do you know that the house cat posses a gene that makes them compatible with humans? Out of thirty small cat breeds, they are the only ones who have that gene which is why they have remained domesticated.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Um, yes. I do believe she will starve herself. Like I stated in the opening post, she will(and has previously done so) refuse food long enough to lose enough condition that I have become seriously concerned.. That, and that she will only sometimes accept two kinds of canned cat food, but that they make her sick..

I have literally gone thru the pet shop and bought every kind of canned cat food they had that wasn't complete and utter garbage, and those are the only two canned foods she will eat.

 

[eagle18]

Um, yes. I do believe she will starve herself. Like I stated in the opening post, she will(and has previously done so) refuse food long enough to lose enough condition that I have become seriously concerned.. That, and that she will only sometimes accept two kinds of canned cat food, but that they make her sick..

I have literally gone thru the pet shop and bought every kind of canned cat food they had that wasn't complete and utter garbage, and those are the only two canned foods she will eat.

I added a fun fact to my last post.

And she has checked out okay by the vet. Then ye, the important thing is to get her to eat and she seems to have made her choice. Cheap tuna it is. If she doesn't eat she will go south quickly with her body shutting down.

Are her teeth bothering her?

I don't think it will do her any harm if she is only on it for a little while.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Hmm, now there is an interesting thought! Never thought about the teeth, I will have to check them, thanks!

....... Also lol not to be a contrarian, but there is actually no real consensus that cats are a domesticated species at all, and not simply tame critters who share our homes(much like parrots).

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smit...-smithsonian-are-cats-domesticated-180955111/

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/are-cats-domesticated

Not attacking you, just am someone who enjoys random snippets of trivia lol

 

[eagle18]

Hmm, now there is an interesting thought! Never thought about the teeth, I will have to check them, thanks!

....... Also lol not to be a contrarian, but there is actually no real consensus that cats are a domesticated species at all, and not simply tame critters who share our homes(much like parrots).

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smit...-smithsonian-are-cats-domesticated-180955111/

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/are-cats-domesticated

Not attacking you, just am someone who enjoys random snippets of trivia lol

There has to be a medical reason behind it. Hope you find out.

I know one of my cat who had bad teeth, felt crummy, and would throw up her food.

I did a paper this summer about the house cat and found the research fascinating.

LOL! Can't argue with that last line of yours. =^ ^=

And by the way, one never feels attacked when talking to a fellow cat lover.

 

[jugoya]

Nothing wrong with frozen whole animals.
In fact itcan be healthier to feed whole animals sometimes; giving them some of the vitamins that may be lacking in the regular pet diet.
I would recommend trying to slowly wean her onto catfood; maybe by cutting up her mouse and placing it in her dish with a small amount of dry food?


The bones, organs and even fur of mice; rodents... scales and bones of fish are GOOD for cats.

You might want to think about breeding your own food source, and everyonce in a while offering live fish; eggs are good if you can get her to eat them; might want to try offering them to her raw?

My sister breeds rabbits, rats and quail for her dogs :3

Problem is you have to be extremely careful about certain things, and it can be problematic if you don't know how.
This is why my sister raises her own meat.

 

[SilverSage]

I was also thinking about the concept of people who raise their own meat, as I’m looking into breeding meat rabbits, but I was wondering if you could reach out to local “homesteader” types who are butchering their own rabbits, poultry, etc and who might be willing to give or sell you the organs very cheaply if she will take them. I was also thinking about whole fish?


I’ve had an animal who would starve herself; Lucy, a husky. And she would have killed herself if left to her own devices. When I found her she had dropped 30% of her body weight since entering the shelter because she would. Not. Eat. So I feel your pain! Here was for different reasons of course.

Along those lines, I wonder if your cat might be more disposed to eat things she has to work for? Not sure what kind of foraging options would work with soft foods but it’s worth a try. Also what about tricking her with tuna juices, would she fall for eating something offering if it was drenched in tuna juice? Or if little bits were mixed into her tuna to transition her?



Literally just spit balling here. How long until you move?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bug_n_flock]

Oh wow, good idea about trying to trick her with tuna juice! Yeah, she has gotten so slim before that I have been able to see her hip bones. NOT GOOD! Not sure on the move. Hopefully ASAP, but we still have quite a bit to do before we can move. We are actually looking to start a homestead, so finding homesteader types would be helpful for more reasons than just organmeats.

I tried raising meatrabbits already. That's why I have the bunnies I have currently(And beyond that, my doofy cat BEFRIENDED the bunnies. SERIOUSLY. Thaddeus in particular she LOVES. they chase each other around and it's really, REALLY cute). The first litter I bred the mother rejected them and had to be bottle raised(couldn't save them all. Mom was not producing ANY milk, and I only realized after about a day, day and a half due to rabbits only nursing their babies about once a day, and usually in the middle of the night), and I can't kill anything I've played "mommy" to, so the rabbits are here until they have found homes. Post move I am willing to try breeding meat rabbits again, but outdoors and without the bottle feeding. The rats started out as a feeder breeding project, but then I got too interested in that too, and they became pets also. Haha they are now pedigreed and have crazy genetics('swhat a year and a half of a bored biologist breeding rats for fun will get you lol). Mice STINK so I refuse to raise them until we have the space that I can put them in a climate controlled shed and only go in for care and maintenance a few times a day(not dirty cage stink, boy mice just have a musk that smells AWFUL, even when they are completely clean).

Willing to do chickens and quail, etc(Charlie needs plucked birds tho if they are above a certain size, otherwise she just makes a MESS with the feathers). But after the move. I have had a pet house duck before, and I once raised 9 chickens in the house till they went off to "freezer camp", and I raised quail in the house for a while, but it is just too messy to do in the house realistically(EDIT: not meaning gross parts. Meaning their dust, their feathers, their poo gets EVERYWHERE)

Hamsters are too grumpy with each other to be a practical feeder option, gerbils are bony and mean(as well as chewers!), dwarf hamsters are small and slow breeding, guinea pigs are big, slow breeding, have a whole bunch of bone on them, and are rumored to cause constipation in large snakes, so I don't use them as feeders usually. Mine are pets mostly. I say mostly, because before I changed their housing from a lovely 8'x4' pen to a more cat proof pen, Charlie decided to show me that guinea pigs are not too large of a prey item for her, and she helped herself to one. O.O Seriously, the guinea pig was like half her size at the SMALLEST, and she took it down no sweat.

I felt awful though. I wasn't home at the time, and the pig probably suffered. Cats are not known for their cruelty-free hunting style.

So the pigs now have smaller cages until the move. Smaller, but cat proof so safer.

She really likes frozen whole silversides(no thiaminase in them), but those are expensive as all get out, since I usually have to source them from aquarium shops where they are ordered as "Large fish food" and are like 16$/lb! I need to hit the local asian supermarket again, I think. Maybe they have something similar with a cheaper price. They usually have pork brain(ALL of my carnivores and omnivores go bonkers for pig brain).

I worry about live "feeder fish", as these tend to be comet goldfish which have thiaminase, an enzyme that destroys vitamin B1. Tho I guess once in a while wouldn't hurt anything any. The "feeder fish" are also reported to be super high in parasites, though I don't know how accurate that is, I have never looked into it myself.

 

[eagle18]

And her blood levels came back normal? She is not going into kidney failure or anything else?

Helpful tips you have gotten here.

There is an antibiotic you can from your vet for about 12 dollars. And yes, I have forgotten the name. But it helps clean her teeth and takes care of any pain she might be having from a bad tooth. She will be smiling like a kitten in no time.

 

[eagle18]

Is Charlie doing any better?