Now Presenting: Yuki and Yeti

[Tort518]

Yuki and Yeti appear to have gone on a minor food strike. I say minor because they are still eating, but more of the dry food that stays out than the canned they get fed a few times a day. Of course this would start just after I purchased several cases of the food they were gobbling down before.

I'll experiment a bit to see what might be the issue and if there's any way to get them to dive in again. I suppose it could be the warmer temps. The safe room is not the coolest room in the house, but if I can take naps in there it is tolerable.

They have the Glacier Point cooled fountain so they always have plenty of cold water.

If I had to guess, it may be boredom with the same food every day. Any suggestions?

 

[John Popp]

I would say it's boredom with the same food. We need to switch up there food all the time and I have had to back off of things being 50% chicken. Chicken's certainly the easiest for me to do as I don't need to mail order anything but I always make at least 3 different raw foods. Rabbit like many others have mentioned seem to be there favorite and the next time we are preparing their food it will be 50% of what we make.

 

[Tort518]

Good to know it is more likely boredom. They're still eating well and are eating some of the canned food, however more of it is going to waste over the last couple of days. They ignored an entire can of it yesterday.

I think tomorrow I'll pick up a few other flavors and try them out over the week.

On a more positive note, if I had had a video camera handy these two would have had a youtube smash hit. I was teasing them with the plastic strip I tore off the dry food bag and both were sitting up rail straight, biting and pawing at it in turns. Yeti also displayed his Wing Chun martial skills with a series of rapid paw strikes at the strip.

They had me grinning ear to ear, which can be scarey for onlookers.

 

[WitchyWoman]

Dry food is like cocaine to most cats. They become addicts and some refuse to eat anything else. If you stop serving the kibble, they'll eat the canned. If you give them a choice, it's likely the kibble will win out.

 

[John Popp]

No candy until after dinner! Chongo gets some kibble in the evening when he has eaten all of his raw chow. If he doesn't eat all of it no kibble in his little puzzle feeder. He'll often look at me confused when he doesn't get it as he hasn't pieced it together yet.

 

[Tort518]

I'll have to get a couple of puzzle feeders. Which kind would you recommend?

 

[John Popp]

I have the Egg-Cercizer.

 

[Patti]

If you would rather they eat the wet food you might want to take the dry food away, at least for part of the day. Dry food is like fast food, many cats prefer it over canned when given the choice.

 

[Tort518]

They're back to eating the canned food at least for now. And Yeti is starting to meow slightly when I am putting the canned food into their dishes. I got home late last night so they had a period with nothing but the dry food and they apparently were looking forward to the canned stuff.

The two of them are playing with toys alot more now and romping about. I was in the kitchen last night before going up to feed them and Paz was with me. We heard the elephants thundering about. Paz looked at the ceiling and then at me and meowed as if to say "can you have the people in room C quiet down please".

 

[Tort518]

The food strike appears to have just been a fluke. They are eating even better now and not wasting anything.

The only negative to report is a bit of over-grooming by Yuki of poor little Yeti. He has a couple of irritated spots from her nibbling when she grooms. I will be keeping a close watch and if it appears to get worse or doesn't look like the spots are improving then the vet will get a call and maybe a visit.

Is it possible to muzzle a cat?