Frustrated with my hold out fuzz!

[Deleted]

It`s been a long haul with my little girl. For 6 months I`ve been trying to get her fully switched. She will (unwillingly) eat raw mush, thats as far as I`ve gotten. (the boys switched LONG ago)

Little history... she was a rescue, was in horrible shape when we got her, on no name cat food, was told she`s about 3 but using the teeth chart on here, likely closer to 4+. She has an IB, and tends towards runny poop if the balance of raw mix is off (using bone meal and pumpkin).

It feels at times that she eats the mush because she can`t find anything else.
She is a real scavenger, she roams the house in search of food. It took a while to figure out thats what she is doing, but thats it. She is a plastic addict, and can't leave any plastic where she can get it, she'll eat it. I feel that she had to search for food in her previous settings. She's had at least 3 other homes that I know of


Getting her to eat consists of holding her and hand feeding her, then she takes the tiniest pieces, goes to back of cage eats it , and will chew till it falls out of her mouth then is forgotten, then tries to wander off (like she`s not hungry or forgot she was eating). Rarely she will eat on her own. She goes threw bouts of eating `ok`, to refusing to eat.

I`ve tried only one meat for a while to see if she just doesn`t like one... she hates lamb and 9 times out of 10 will eat pork.
I've tried lots of ways to get her on to chunks and decided to just wait till she is ready. But I really get the feeling she doesn't like it. SHe never eats like " OMG this is fabulous!" like the boys do lol


This last time, she ate yesterday morning ok, then not at all last night, or over night, even when holding and finger feeding... she just refused, poops are on the runny side today.
Given the issues with Neka last week, I wanted to see if she was nauseous, i gave her a few pieces of kibble.... she gobbled it up like she was starving.

This was the first bit of kibble she's had in 6 months and after all this time she still prefers kibble over real food.
Will she EVER actually like raw?

[Heather]

It is frustrating. My Yuri is like this. Three times we went back to the kibble so that he wasn't starving and then went to having him sit on my knee and eat. He doesn't like that either. He will now eat commercial grind...for the most part. Yesterday, he actually ate my own chicken mix and then ate the cats' commercial lamb. What makes him tick I've no idea. He's been on raw now since about Christmas, he's been in my house since the July long weekend last year. Am I comfortable with how he's eating.... no, but if I force the issue I get grinding teeth and even a bigger refusal to eat. I think that these furkids just have to come around in their own time....I agree it is so frustrating. You mention she likes pork, will she sit on your lap when you feed her, this will prevent her from prowling off and just spitting out the food. Let her have only pork for now and see where this gets you. No, OI dont' advocate eating only one protein source but it will take a while before it actually proves detrimental to her well being. If you're really concerned give her a good multi (again something I don't like). I had to do this for Samurai, ancient kitty. He spent almost a whole year on a single protein source, chicken (projectile vomitted anything else). Eventually, he was able to eat other fowl type proteins.
Her passion for plastic...it's the melanine in the plastic she craves...protein (remember that kibble scare a few years ago...same stuff). It's not good for her but she doesn't really care, I think the texture is reminiscent of kibbles . Only allow her to eat out of metal or glass bowls.
Just a few thoughts
ciao

[Deleted]

This situation makes me wonder about using a dehydrator with the soupie. Does anyone have any thoughts about this? Like a "simulated extruded pellet" made with something healthy?

[Heather]

The problem with this concept is it needs to have water added so that it doesn't have the same wear and tear on the internal organs that kibble has. Dehydration (as well as garbage in the kibble) is one of the major issues. Nice idea though.
ciao

[katt]

My boys will not touch lamb. So don't feel bad about that. Just stick with it!

[Deleted]

That's an interesting idea... I have a dehydrator. Maybe I will put some in it, but I'm not sure how. The thing is like a grate over a blower, the soup would go through.

I know when the soup sits out the tiny chunks of meat get dried up and look like little bits of jerky. But they'll be less nutritious for sure if they are cooked and dehydrated... still it's an idea to try over kibble.

[Sherry]

Is she getting anything for her irritable bowel when it acts up? Metro, pred, ?

[Deleted]

Thx for the replies.

The issue for us with the dehyrated foods is she wont touch those lol I have some lung and liver which zeke is the only on who will touch it.

NO Sherry she's not on anything, the vet never mentioned any options for it I'll have to ask next time. Which of those works better?

My biggest fear with her, given the crap she's been raised on is insulomia. WHat a horrible disease to deal with.

Heather I never thought of the melatine connection, interesting. The brat even ate through an ear on her pink elephant to get at the plastic noise inside. And yes she only gets glass bowls lol.
Have you every had a fuzz you could not convert?

[Sherry]

Some varieties of antibiotic will work if there is a flare up happening. My vet prefers metro for it, but we are going to have to talk about a different one. This will be the 2nd time Boris has had it, and the first time, I was able to get it in to him.
Not a chance this go round. I usually wind up with more on me than in him, in spite of burritoing AND scruffing
We are at present trying to avoid pred for him. The problem is, the IBD can give them some really bad tummy aches.

[angelfish]

I know how frustrating it can be. One of my three is and on-again-off-again chunk eater. She'll do the same thing, take a piece, carry it off to the back of the cage chew and only sometimes actually it eat. She's slowly been getting better but she'd still rather go hungry than eat chunks.