A bit worried

[Brandy DW]

Is she maybe a social eater? Some of the cats at the clinic I work at will only eat if they are being pet, or getting enough attention. Zeddie used to be like that, she would only eat if I stood in the kitchen with her until she finished. If I left her alone she would just follow me wherever I was going. She grew out of it, but some cats just like to have company.

She's never been like that, because sometimes when I left for work in the morning I'd have enough time to play with her some and then I'd feed her and she'd go to eat and I'd leave and by the time I came home her food bowl would be empty. Tonight I was petting her while trying to get her to eat the wet food and she'd sniff at it and then walk off. I even put some of it in my hand about 10 minutes ago and offered it to her, and she licked it, - then licked her lips a lot and walked off. I ended up putting the food back in her food dish.

I gave her a chicken liver treat and she ate that right up. Same as the catnip treat I gave her a few hours ago.

Then because I was frustrated, I tried something. Last fall when Neka wasn't eating and before I knew she had lymphoma/pleural effusion in her chest cavity. I tried tempting her with a different brand of dry cat food, because at that time she was still eating wet cat food but I wanted to try to get her back to dry cat food. So I had bought a bag of fancy feast dry chicken turkey flavored, I did fancy feast because she was eating the fancy feast wet food. Well tonight I got a little handful of the stuff that I still actually had with some of Neka's toys (it was a resealable bag) and put some down for Sabriel. She ate it up like it was her dang treats.

So now I'm thinking that maybe she's just sick of chicken. Even though one of her cat treats is chicken liver. The fancy feast dry food is chicken turkey. But both are not fully chicken only.

So now I'm wondering how good this fancy feast dry food is - it's certainly not a top quality cat food. It's with purina and it's fda approved. I think right now what it comes down to is she'll eat it. But she's also still eating at least some of the dry blue wilderness - just not all of it.

How often do cat's get tired of a flavor or type of food? I called and asked a vet and they said not often but it could happen. I'm kind of confused.

Edit: Even that she didn't eat all of, I gave her 1/4 a cup of the fancy feast. She ate a good amount of it though so better than she was doing with the wet food. Maybe by morning she'll have eaten all of it. When I bring her to the vet on tuesday I'm going to have them do a full physical exam, check her ears and mouth, and get a blood panel done to check her levels. Then ask them about the food issues.

 

[Brandy DW]

She ate all of her fancy feast dry food - I think she's telling me she's sick of the blue buffalo chicken. I put some in her food bowl anyway - hopefully she eats some. I don't like her on the fancy feast junk.

 

[Kristin]

Zeddie used to love chicken, then one day she just stopped (of course I had a full bag still -_-). I change her proteins about every other day, and the only ones I've found she doesn't like are chicken and beef. (She is on raw) She still loves her chicken PureBites though

 

[DChap]

I'm having major issues getting Tojo to eat consistently but the Pure Bites chicken or turkey he always goes for. Not enough nutrition to sustain him tho

 

[NikkiA]

Our boys go in phases, one day, they are starving, the next, they are not interested in their food. A lot of it comes down to when their last meal or treat was.
I will say that they all seem to hate it if their whiskers touch their dish. If the whiskers have to touch the dish to get the food, the food stays on the dish.

 

[Brandy DW]

Well yesterday morning I put 1/4 cup into her food dish of the blue buffalo - this was around 9:30am - I left home around noon. I started working nights this week so I didn't get off work until about 11:15 and didn't get home until close to midnight. By then she had eaten all of the blue buffalo but that was also over 12 hours of time. Then I put 1/4 cup of the fancy feast dry food in her bowl and she ate that right then and there.
This morning I brought her to the vet to have a physical done on her, and to get a blood panel done. Physically she's fine, she weights 8 and a quarter pounds. The blood tests came back normal as well thankfully.
So I'm going to just keep offering food and hope she eats it. I put the blue buffalo down there when we got home again around 11:30 am. She's fine litter box wise - still using it for poohing and peeing, and no diarrhea. She's fine activity wise. She's not doing anything odd or quirky. Also the vet checked her ears and they looked fine, and she hasn't been doing that twitch lately. So I'm just going to assume that all is well until I have a reason to suspect it's not. With the food I'll just keep offering and hopefully she keeps eating.
Oh and they also had to shave her a bit around her neck to get the needle to draw blood. I was there and saw him try 3 times before he got the clippers. When he shaved her a bit, afterwards he did it in the same spot and then blood finally filled the needle for it to be tested. But she's still well hydrated so I at least don't need to worry about her not drinking enough.

 

[Wyldthingz]

Perhaps she is getting board of the food variety then the added stress of change? As long as she is playing and eating some, I wouldn't stress too much. Try some good quality premium canned diets or raw something? Sometimes they play these games with us when they figure out that food= attention? Cats are funny that way.

 

[shelby]

Sometimes they do get bored with a certain food. I also would suggest some wet foods also.

 

[WitchyWoman]

Brandy have you thought of getting grief counseling to help you deal with lingering issues over Neka's death? It can't be healthy for you to be in a constant stressed state over every seemingly minor thing that you think could signal a problem with Sabriel. I'm just offering this as a suggestion as there are coping strategies that a counselor can suggest that can help you deal with any fear you have that something bad will happen to Sabriel.

 

[Brandy DW]

Brandy have you thought of getting grief counseling to help you deal with lingering issues over Neka's death? It can't be healthy for you to be in a constant stressed state over every seemingly minor thing that you think could signal a problem with Sabriel. I'm just offering this as a suggestion as there are coping strategies that a counselor can suggest that can help you deal with any fear you have that something bad will happen to Sabriel.

My coping strategy is work. I go to work and I'm able to forget or at least not think about what's going on - that's with my cat or any other problems in my life.
I'd also like to say that I'm not overly stressed by it, I'm just able to think of all the different things. With Neka's illness and death I don't think it's a bad thing to be overly cautious. I'm now in the state of mind hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Last year I lost two people I knew fairly well to cancer, and lost Neka to cancer, and my brother's long time gf got cancer but it has since gone into remission. You have to remember that the way people are is not always because of one thing. As for the counseling thing I wouldn't even know where to begin and I'd just feel very foolish for going. I'd like to think I'm not that odd. Also in my defense usually when cat's quit eating or their appetites change it can signal something is wrong health wise. I know you meant well with your suggestion Deborah but now I'm feeling extremely self conscious about how I come across to people online.

Oh and Sabriel ate her food today again. I'm thinking with the variety I'm giving her now that she's good for now, I'll update if anything changes or if she starts going off her food again.