Fussy eaters / Supplements?

[Puzzles]

I'm after some advice if possible please ... the 3 kits are becoming very fussy eaters ... they much prefer Tigger's food to theirs They refuse point blank to eat Bozita, Alamo Daily Menu etc & are even going off Schesir Tuna now (they've loved it since they arrived here), they also flatly refuse to eat anything that contains chicken. They seem to prefer Tigger's Sheba, Felix, Friskies and the Purina wet foods. They still have a variety of good biscuits, but I try and make sure that they have a good mix of wet and dry. It's a nitemare, I'm chucking away soo much food at the moment. Does anybody have any other ideas please? And do you think it's a good idea to give some kind of supplement?

[candes]

Oh I am contending with that same problem yet again. I take Sasha and her kitten food to the bedroom and close them in together. I open the door and every drop is gone. Then she can eat anyones leftovers as long as she got hers.

I think a lot of it has to do with survival mode. If you feed them in the same room, they will eat part of their own, then race to the others to eat that. Thus saving their own food. It could be part preference also. Or the forbidden fruit idea. I feel that perhaps it is all 3. But do we truely ever know what they are thinking? I tell you MC kittens are little heffers.

Mine will clean every plate in the house. So did Teddy as a youngster. After one unusually large meal time, when Sasha was done, she wasn't just a tubby and bloated kitten, she was round. Never saw Teddy eat to that extreme. And wonder if she may end up being a cat that will need her waist line watched. Sometomes I think she will eat as much as I give her. Fortunately, it isn't as bad as when I first got her. But this all could have been related to her nutritional deficiencies. Cats will eat extra to compensate until they are better. And she certainly compensated.

[jckkerrison]

I'm after some advice if possible please ... the 3 kits are becoming very fussy eaters ... they much prefer Tigger's food to theirs They refuse point blank to eat Bozita, Alamo Daily Menu etc & are even going off Schesir Tuna now (they've loved it since they arrived here), they also flatly refuse to eat anything that contains chicken. They seem to prefer Tigger's Sheba, Felix, Friskies and the Purina wet foods. They still have a variety of good biscuits, but I try and make sure that they have a good mix of wet and dry. It's a nitemare, I'm chucking away soo much food at the moment. Does anybody have any other ideas please? And do you think it's a good idea to give some kind of supplement?

As mine are fed mostly the Felix I use a gel supplement to start with & by the time they are around 6 to 7 months I go onto a powder called SF-50 & continue with that until they are about 2.5yrs old & the growth rate seems to slow down a bit then I stop that as well,I always keep some though as I find it good to use if they have been poorly,just seems to help build them up a bit again unless their name happens to be Bruce but thats a different story.....

[candes]

As mine are fed mostly the Felix I use a gel supplement to start with & by the time they are around 6 to 7 months I go onto a powder called SF-50 & continue with that until they are about 2.5yrs old & the growth rate seems to slow down a bit then I stop that as well,I always keep some though as I find it good to use if they have been poorly,just seems to help build them up a bit again unless their name happens to be Bruce but thats a different story.....

You know Jackie, that idea appeals to me more than ever now that I have a 4 cat home. It is such a worry watching what the kittens eat to make sure they get the proper nutrients. So much extra effort on my part. On top of this, every cat has their preference and I feel like I am running a cafe. And look at what happened to Sasha at the breeders. She was offered a large choice of food items. Then when she stuck to raw lean beef only (there I said it), she suffered a nutritional deficiency. That breeder most certainly fed her lysine, but what about the supplements? Perhaps I will continue Sashas supplements after they are no longer mandatory. I will say this 100 times over. Proper nutrition makes for large cats. And your cats certainly are not delicate flowers.

[Puzzles]

Thanks so much for your replies They are not pigs at all ... in fact quite the opposite really, especially Finn, sometimes I have to take him to the food! Tess is the only one who will clear up after everybody else -but only if she approves of my offering! Sometimes I feed Tigs away from the kits so that he has time to actually have a good go at his food before somebody barges in wanting to taste it too - but I'll often feed them together now - it's quite amusing to watch, they all try and make sure that they have a taste of all the dishes - even when it's all the same food! I can't remember the last time the plates were totally cleared - they all seem to prefer 'grazing' as opposed to eating a huge amount at one sitting.They're growing OK I think, so perhaps it's just me being a worrying Mum

I'll see if I can find the SF-50 powder anywhere, or is it just available at the vets please?

[candes]

Thanks so much for your replies They are not pigs at all ... in fact quite the opposite really, especially Finn, sometimes I have to take him to the food! Tess is the only one who will clear up after everybody else -but only if she approves of my offering! Sometimes I feed Tigs away from the kits so that he has time to actually have a good go at his food before somebody barges in wanting to taste it too - but I'll often feed them together now - it's quite amusing to watch, they all try and make sure that they have a taste of all the dishes - even when it's all the same food! I can't remember the last time the plates were totally cleared - they all seem to prefer 'grazing' as opposed to eating a huge amount at one sitting.They're growing OK I think, so perhaps it's just me being a worrying Mum

I'll see if I can find the SF-50 powder anywhere, or is it just available at the vets please?

I thought all MC's made pigs of themselves. So then, how do I always end up with the heffer MC's? Lucky me, you should see my food and litter bills. A 2 week supply of food alone costs me $90 ($85 swiss francs) and I may have to buy more. The majority of that goes to the 2 MC's.

[Puzzles]

Sometimes I wish they would make pigs of themselves, at least I wouldn't be worried that they're not getting enough!! Litter bills here are virtually non-existent as they all much prefer to 'go' outside now (hopefully not famous last words!) - but like you the food bills are horrendous! I spend about €50 (about $65) per week at the supermarket and then approx another $160 roughly every 3 weeks at Zooplus! I think we need to win the lotto asap

[candes]

Sometimes I wish they would make pigs of themselves, at least I wouldn't be worried that they're not getting enough!! Litter bills here are virtually non-existent as they all much prefer to 'go' outside now (hopefully not famous last words!) - but like you the food bills are horrendous! I spend about €50 (about $65) per week at the supermarket and then approx another $160 roughly every 3 weeks at Zooplus! I think we need to win the lotto asap

You spend $345 every 3 weeks on pet food and litter? Holy crap! (Pun intended) And I though $90 for 2 weeks worth of pet food was a lot. And I wouldn't dare mention what I spend to someone from my own area. They would faint. Now I know your money is similar in exchange to ours. But you must get a lot less for your money. No wonder some folks from other countries find it difficult to feed top shelf food. Wow!

Oh and one more thing. Tiny Sasha gets about the same amount of food as my 20ish pound Teddy Bearz. Even more once she cleans the others plates. And Teddy is no lightweight in the eating dept.

[Puzzles]

Noooo - not quite that much!!
I typed that then worked it out ... wish I hadn't really It worked out at approx $2000 for the last 6 months - so that's $333 per month .... arrrrgh, better not tell the OH!!

You are right, it's very expensive in Europe now. We've noticed a big difference during the last few years. I do make sure that we've always got a fairly full 'cat cupboard' and of course there are tins and cartons of stuff that nobody will touch hiding away at the back

[candes]

That is still a lot of money. I have noticed something with Sasha in the house. In the past, my cat cupboard never went bare. And last week, I actually had "food insecurity" (a USA term for anxiety caused by not having enough food) for my cats. And was counting the cans and days until I got to the pet store again. Still I spent all that money (more than the time before) and am still wondering if I will have enough. And may have to spend even more next time around. Sasha is a hungry heffer. And no my husband has no clue what I spent either.

Oh and I had the tins in the back also. All gone!!! Sasha took care of that when we ran out of her preferred food last week.