Conference misery::feline_v1

    
    Re: 
    
    >> Is this normal behaviour for cats ?
    
    I reckon it's about par for the course.
    
    Our two are exactly the same! It varies from day to day, week to week.
    They also, *will not* eat a whole tin a salmon Whiskas.
    
    They only took up eating Felix after the manufacturers started putting
    the paw print on the lid with the slogan "stamped and approved" :-)
    
    Sounds pretty normal to me. If one of ours won't eat it, the other
    won't and our two hate the sight of each other. So I don't think it's a
    plot.
    
    Geoff
    

      We have "Whiskas" over here in the "colonies"...made by a company
    called "Kal-Kan" if I'm not mistaken....
    
      Cats are very weird in their eating habits... We have five of the
    critters, and two females are very petite and dainty, and are very
    slim. We "free-feed" dry food, and feed canned in the evening. These
    two girls only eat a little, and get a lot of exercise playing. One
    other female is a bit more plump, but not overly so. One of our males
    is also a "controlled" eater, while the other one---Luke, A.K.A. "The
    Blimp", is a veritible HOG! He will eat canned food as long as there is
    any available to him. I believe his life before we adopted him has a
    lot to do with his eating habits. He was a "throw-away" that some idiot
    dumped in the neighborhood, and for almost a year he had to literally
    fight the neighborhood animals for his food. I think he believes now
    that if the food's there, eat it before some other animal does.. 
    
      So I guess the bottomline is that cats are unpredictable in their
    eating habits. 
    
    JMcD

    If they have continued to eat dry kibble throughout this ordeal, then
    maybe they have just decided that they prefer the dry.  I have several
    adults who don't favor any kind of canned food, and only eat dry.  This
    has had no detrimental affect on their health.
    
    Jo

fish based cat food, which seems to be the most common base for cat food in
the USA, is very high in protein...in fact, I have met several breeders
recently who are specific in their feeding instructions in that they tell
people to NOT feed the fish more than once a week....perhaps your cat is
responding to the level of protein and not finishing a tin because it is
too "rich"?

about changes in eating habits...I found out my finicky eater wanted his
food warmed - if I warm the canned food, he loves it - if I don't he won't
eat it.  I also found that variety of BRANDS was not healthy for Nick - he
got diarrhea..however, even different flavors of the same brand didn't hurt
him.  This led me to the theory that different flavors of the same brand
aren't all that different...probably just enough difference for the human
to think it's variety.  In that case, having a cat with a need for variety,
you may find him/her suddenly going off a whole brand of food, regardless
of flavor offered.

If you are feeding canned food only or primarily, I would suggest putting
the brands they've eaten in the past aside for at least 6 months and serving
one brand until they get fed up with it.  You can then go back to a brand
they tried before, or if that fails, a new brand.  I am not that familiar
with the standards for pet food in the UK, but I know the British Isles
folks are just as prone to be suckers for their pets as we are here in
the "colonies".  That being the case, most recognized brands of food should
be nutritionally complete, as pet owners would destroy any company that made
their darling pets sick....and businessmen are well aware of that.  I know
that taurine supplements are added to virtually all cat food brands in the
USA.  With finicky eaters, they probably won't stay on any one food long
enough to hurt themselves anyway.

re .0
Our two are also fairly faddy eaters. We spend ages in Sainsbury's
agonising over what flavours of catfood to buy (takes longer than all the
other shopping!).
We tried them on just Whiskas, but they tired of this after a while.
Some catfoods seem to be too "rich"... perhaps Whiskas falls into
this category. Ours seem to prefer Kattomeat.
We currently feed a mixture of flavours from the leading brands, and also
some of the "special recipe" small cans of Whiskas/Kattomeat for variety.
Current favourites: Chicken Whiskas, Lamb Kattomeat.
They also have Iams dry food.

Normally, we allow the cats to "free-feed". When they are getting lazy about
eating, we introduce some artificial "competition" by removing the dish after,
say, half an hour, covering it to keep it fresh, and re-offering it at the
next mealtime. 

If you just leave the food down until the next meal, it may dry up
and become unpalatable/unpleasant.
*DC

    We feed our cats on Whiskas - the rabbit one mainly. All the cats seem
    to have recurring problems with diarrhoea and the vet recommends
    feeding just twice a day, morning and evening, and taking the food away
    after half an hour. What isn't eaten is thrown away. Cats soon get used
    to a routine. We also feed a little Iams with the Whiskas.
    
    Rolf is currently recovering (I hope) from a nasty bout of enteritis -
    his lower bowel is bleeding. He is on the chicken/white fish and rice
    diet. According to the vet, pedigrees are more prone to diarrhoea.
    
    I recommend that you put the food down for half an hour then if they
    don't eat it, throw it away. If they don't eat for 2 days, take them to
    the vet - that usually stimulates their appetite ;-)
    
    I'd be interested to know what works for you!
    
    
    Lisa plus PR&F.
    

	Whiskas changed their recipe a while ago, and since then, mine have not
	eaten it, they used to love it. (It was the same time they changed the 
	design of the label)

	I've spoken to a few other people, who's cats went off Whiskas when 
	they changed their recipe.    


	I tried quite a few catfoods then, and mine love KATKINS chicken 
	variety. I almost dropped, it's one of the cheapest around!

	The cans of Gourmet (the one that's changed it's name recently) fish in 
	prawn jelly goes down well, though it's more expensive.

	Have you tried the Delimoist. Its in bits like the dried food, but
	moist.

	I didn't know FELIX was similar to KATKINS, I'll give it a try, my cats
 	could do with a change occaisionally.

	If all else fails, pilchards in tomato sauce go down a treat - but only
 	as a treat, I wouldn't want them to eat this all the time.

	Good luck,
	Heather

re: feeding fish

I' curious.  I recently heard that fish based food (the stuff that looks
like real fish) has too much protein and should only be fed as a treat...
anyone else heard this?  Mind you, I'm not likely to overfeed the stuff
as I HATE fish-breath first thing in the morning, but I'm just curious.

				D

	The cat food - Gormet - fish in prawn jelly - has the same percentage
	protien as ordinary chicken Whiskas etc.

	Now the pilchards in tomato sauce........... that's only an occaisional
 	treat.

	There is usually percentages on the cans and boxes of cat food in the 
	UK, as the US is usually way ahead of us in this dept., try checking
	the packaging for info.
	

	Heather

    Well, Calvin and Hobbes have been eating a diet of mainly Felix for 5
    months and have not shown any hint of going off it, they are still
    eating the correct ammounts. We gave most of our stock of Whiskas away
    to friends but held onto some tins which we have occasionaly tried to
    feed but the cats still wont eat it. HOWEVER, I found out last night
    that for several months they have been going into a neighbours house
    every so often and stealing their cats food, guess what they feed their
    cats, WHISKAS !!!!! I suppose they feel that if they have a free supply
    of Whiskas next door they want something different when they eat at
    home!
    
    MArtyn, Calvin & Hobbes.