Cat will only eat food with by-products?

Question

My cat will not eat any type of cat food unless there are by-products. How do I get her to eat healthy cat food? It is strange because my husband and I have such a healthy diet, we're vegetarians. Our cat is 15 months, weighs 10 pounds and eats about a 1/2 cup of dry food a day, no more. I've had her since 5 weeks. Twice a week I will give her wet food but she eats very little. We live in the country and she will eat a mouse every now and then. Thanks for your advice.

Answer 1

If your cat is doing well on the food she's on, then let her eat it and don't change.

If you really want her to eat something better, mix the old and the new and when the old runs out, don't replace it, she will get hungry and sooner or later she will eat the better food.

Answer 2

That is because the low quality food add things like sugars, salt which are also not good to make the pet want to eat it.

It is sort of like asking a young child what food they want choco-puffs or rice krispies, most are going to want to eat the sweetest junkiest ones, so sometimes a bit if tough love is needed to get them the eat a more nutritious cereal by refusing to give the junkier food. cats being naturally finicky trying to change the over can be a bit tougher

Answer 3

I have no idea what you imply by way of "potted" meat precisely. I might now not purchase any canned meat (is that what you imply?) to provide them as those all set meats usually are too salty or include different matters that would not be well. You can surely feed your cat uncooked meat, however the supply of the beef will have to be both from an natural supply, or grocery store meat might be adequate as long as it is antibiotic unfastened. Or you might seem into the numerous types of commercially all set uncooked meats designed for cats or puppies. Many of the bigger puppy retail outlets will deliver those - manufacturers reminiscent of Nature's Variety, Bravo, Companion..... Now, you can not simply begin plunking down uncooked meat in your cat to devour as a constant nutrition. That's an excessively very well nutrition for cats, however you ought to do your homework to be certain that the cat is receiving the entire vitamins and minerals it demands. Raw meat on my own is not ample - additionally they want calcium from bones and something the heck is in organ meats.

Answer 4

You can't really force a cat to be vegetarian. Cats are natural carnevours and hunters. I understand your concern so you can try what the others above me have said about mixing food and lowering the content of what you don't want her to eat over time.

Feel lucky. I have one cat that will only eat dry food, one cat that will only eat canned food with gravy, one cat that will only eat canned food with gelatin, and one cat that will eat anything and everything (including vegetables and fruits). Talk about hectic feeding times! But we all love our cats and we will all do everything we can for them. That's all that is important.

Answer 5

"Natural Pet Care" by Pat Coleby (Aussie author) is an excellent resource.

I recommend avoiding tinned food, as it is not good for animals. The mice are good for her, especially if she eats ALL of the fur, etc as well.

My cat has only ever been given dry food. Farrell's kibble is great as it contains no fillers. The greyhound trainers use it for the dogs. She only has water apart from this, apart from the occasional fish when hubby goes fishing.

I've included a link below which sells a herbal supplement which is excellent for dogs & cats. Have you tried feeding her veggies? My cat point blank refused to, although she was about 12 or 13yo when I tried (she is now 16yo and very healthy). For our dog, I use a food processor and grate about 7 different types of veggies, mix it well, then store it in one cup serving sizes in the freezer. I take out one serve each morning for that evening, and he gets one cup of kibble in the morning as well as a bone most weeks.

But if your cat will hunt and eat her own prey, then that is wonderful! Just so long as she stays away from endangered species.

Blessings, Gypsy Queen

PS: it can take a week for your cat to accept a different food - depends on how stubborn she is. Just persist and remember that she is quite capable of catching a mouse if she is hungry!

Answer 6

You just haven't found the right high quality food yet. I'm trying to get my cat to eat canned food too but she seems to only like stuff with by-products in it too. I bought 5 different kinds of good canned food yesterday, hopefully she likes one of them. As long as my cat drinks a bit of the water I add to the canned food, I'm happy. It's a pain to get her to eat/drink the canned food, but its worth it.

I picked up a sample bag of dry food called Orijen. Supposed to be one of the best, 70% meat, 30% fruits, veg, botanicals, no grains. Because of the high meat in this product, it makes cats drink more, which is great.

Answer 7

When I got my cat she ate a lot of the cheaper foods at first. I tried to switch her to the Wellness brand of healthier food, but she would spit those kibbles out of her bowl. I thought that she only liked the junky food until I switched her to Innova (not the EVO- the regular.) I mixed it in with her other food, and she ate it! I now just have her on Innova and it is her favorite- she can't wait for feeding time. It would be worth it to buy a bag and try it. I thought my cat was hopeless when it came to higher quality food- it turns out it was just a matter of trial and error.

Answer 8

Cats are naturally finickey! Cats are happy to eat mice so meat by products aren't a bad thing to them. Actually, cats will often bring home mice and leave them on your doorstop....that's their way of helping feed the "family" they belong to.
I had a cat that would only drink Very Very cold water. It had to be fresh and cold...I hardly had time to round the island and put her dish down. After 15 seconds she'd meow letting me know it was no longer good enough.
Cats know what they want. We can't force them to change.!

Answer 9

You might try Natural Balance Venison & Green Pea canned food.

It doesn't have byproducts, but it's the ONLY food Poppy will eat. Because she's so finicky, I suspect that might say good things about this food!

Answer 10

Mix her old food with the food you want her to eat. Slowly start putting less and less of the old food until there's no more. It will let her get used to the taste and her digestive track will stay on the down-low "-)