Cats and their Food?

Question

Is your Cat specific about his food and when he gets it?

At 5:05 am on the dot my Tabby never misses a beat he has to
have his tuna for breakfeast otherwise he won't shut up for the whole hour.

At 11:00 am he knows it's time for lunch I have to prepare his chicken in a certain way otherwise he won't eat it must be boiled or marinated the way he likes it. I use to buy him packaged chicken breast from costo if I bought it from any other place or tried tricking him by switching brands on him he'd smell the meat and wouldn't touch it (no fooling him)

His bowl always has to have dried food in it he checks to make sure I've taken care of that.

Answer 1

My cats get tuna in the morning for breakfast also. They wake me up every morning like clockwork. I don't need an alarm clock with them around.

Answer 2

my cats all want to eat at the same time also. they have dry food all the time and I split a big can of wet food between the 4 cats each day.once a week I sneak a little oil in thier food for hair balls.I never change the brand of food they eat because they can get upset stomachs and diareha. If changing food it should be done gradually. you have a spoiled kitty and not his fault.you got this habit started and cats are picky so be prepared to keep doing this.I do not reccomend the tuna as it is high in ash. bad for spayed or neutered cats. try saving a little tuna for a small treat untill you can wean him from it. the chicken is good. you can also buy a roll of turkey and try that. cats are meat eaters they need this protein. the dry is to if a good brand and not alot of fillers in it. read the ingrediants on the bag

Answer 3

Your cat is certainly running your life. Is that the way you want it?

You have to move slowly to change all this. It might take six months.

You have an excellent explanation here about not feeding your cat tuna. To that I will add that cooked chicken is not good for your cat either. If you cook the chicken you destroy important amino acids, such as taurine. So if he is to have chicken it needs to be raw. And you need to use raw chicken wings, chopped up in about three pieces, should also include a small amount of liver, some heart and gizzard. Feeding cooked all muscle meat chicken throws the calcium/phorphorous ratio totally out of whack. The chicken wing "recipe" has the right balance of nutrients.

If your cat is overweight you should not have dried food out for him all the time.

You must make decisions about which of these behaviors to tackle first. You do not want him to start not using his litterbox to add to your problems. I would eliminate the tuna first as that is definitely detrimental to his health.

Feed the dried food for breakfast. About 1/2 cup in his bowl. You have got to tough this out. Go take a shower and go out for a nice walk in the lovely morning air. Continue with your usual feeding program for the rest of the day, except the unfinished dry food is taken up for the rest of the day. Make him wait for this breakfast longer each day. Don't get up until 5:30 for about a week. Continue with the dry food breakfast. The next week, don't get up until 6:00. The next week get up and have your cup of coffee or your shower and put his food down at 6:30.

So we have covered about three weeks now. Do you get the idea? Next you might try changing the lunch to the raw chicken. That could be a toughie. Cats don't always recognise raw meat as food because of their life-long eating habits. If that isn't a go for you then put his dry food down for "lunch". Call a friend and go to a movie in the afternoon, go anywhere. Don't stay around for him to pester you all day.

Remember that cats can fast for 24-36 hours. Many homeopathic vets recommend that animals be fasted one day every week. He will benefit from not eating for a day. Of course he must eat within a 36 hour period.

I could write a book here because most likely you need to switch him to a higher quality dry food. That's another paragraph at least.

Good luck with this!

Answer 4

Please do not feed your cat canned Tuna Fish read why here. I know they love it but as you will read it is deadly for cats.
Tuna fish, and many other fish species, contain relatively large amounts of unsaturated fats. Although health-minded people eat fish to decrease their consumption of saturated fats, the excessive unsaturated fat in a cat's diet may be harmful.

Tuna and certain other fish possess very little vitamin E. Vitamin E is an important antioxidant. When a cat's diet consists mostly of tuna fish that is not commercially formulated as cat food, the cat becomes deficient in vitamin E. Dietary unsaturated fats from the fish are oxidized by a biochemical called peroxidase into a substance called ceroid. Since the affected cat has low vitamin E levels, this oxidation process is not restrained. Ceroid, an abnormal, pigmented, yellow-brown breakdown product of unsaturated fat oxidation, is formed and deposited in fat cells. The result is yellow fat disease (steatitis).

Ceroid triggers an inflammatory response by the immune system as if it were a foreign invader. The subcutaneous fat of cats affected with yellow fat disease causes pain; these cats become hypersensitive and will resist handling and petting. The muscles of affected cats will atrophy and become weak; these cats do not want to move. As the disease process progresses, the body fat degenerates and is replaced by fibrotic tissue, leaving the skin hard and nodular. Affected cats may also develop fevers unrelated to infection.

Yellow fat disease occurs most commonly in young, overweight male and female cats with inappropriate diets. Treatment includes discontinuing the inappropriate diet and administering therapeutic doses of vitamin E. Corticosteroids may also be prescribed to relieve the inflammatory response.

Even if a tuna-fed cat receives prophylactic or supplemental doses of vitamin E, there are other problems besides steatitis that make feeding tuna unwise. Some believe that tuna contains specific substances (allergens) that stimulate allergic-like disorders in cats. Cats should be fed a balanced, commercially prepared diet to avoid these problems.

Answer 5

My old persian is pretty demanding, I feed her 1/2 can of wet food in the AM and then again in the PM. In between she grazes on dry food.

My cat demands variety in her wet food servings or she won't eat her food and cries. So I give her Salmon, Chicken or Special IVF food from the Vet for her old failing kidneys.

Then there are the Friskey *treats* for the days when she's a little bit peckish.

Answer 6

sounds like your cat is a little spoiled. Cats do not need special chicken made and tuna. These should ONLY be used as VERY special treats NOT for everyday. People food is not good for cats. I would start cutting back until your cat is only eating dry food

Answer 7

Tuna is bad for cats - the calcium contributes to urinary tract problems so all fish should be avoided

tough love for sure...but stop giving him tuna


my cats eat ACANA chicken and rice Premium Cat food (canadian brand) they meow if their bowl is empty but are not as demading as yours

Answer 8

My cats get whatever is on SALE.. I have 4 daughters a husband a grandson and my Dad living with me.. I would NEVER occur to me to cook for the dog gone cat!

Answer 9

My boy, Dubby, sure is. He will wake me up by biting my neck, licking my face and yapping at me. He will not give up until he gets his food, and my Goldie, she can get angry if she does not get her food. She will knock everything that she can in my house down. She will drive you insane if she does not get her food. They all need their food by 6:00 am. It is canned as well because my oldest has a kidney problem.

Answer 10

cats are only supposed to be fed one half can of cat food daily....


and dry food through the day...