I got Morganna (a female Burmese Blue) when she was two years old and she was found stealing food from a local hotel kitchen. When rescued she was very underweight and with diarrhoea from a very unsuitable diet. The rescue returned her to health, got her spayed, chipped and vaccinated before I adopted her. She was still somewhat underweight when I first got her. The rescue told me not to give her dry food as it gave her diarrhoea, and had been feeding her Sheba pouches. I continued with this regime and for the first few months all was well. She was greedy for food and wolfing down 2.5 Sheba pouches every day, licking her bowl spotlessly clean. It did take her a long time (around 6 - 9 months) to settle and not run away from visitors, people walking past her, sudden etc. Probably to be expected as she was living on the street!!! She is not a lap cat, but liked to sit beside me and purr and liked a fuss (on her terms). She is very vocal and likes to greet me with her tail high and a friendly meow.
I've now had her for a couple of years and her eating habits have changed dramatically. She has become very fussy and goes off cat food flavours apparently on a whim (wasting quite a lot of food). She is now at a healthy weight, isn't losing weight (3.9Kg), but now only eats between 1.5 - 2 pouches a day (sometimes less). I have tried her on other types of food - she will sometimes eat Purina Gold, sometimes Sheba trays, but always leaves some in her bowl. I tried both Felix and Whiskas in the past but she wouldn't eat either. I did try her on Blink! having bought some when it was on offer - which she appeared to love, but when I bought a larger pack she wouldn't eat it at all (typical cat). Last year she seemed to prefer fish flavoured Sheba in gravy, rejecting Lamb, Duck and Turkey. This year, she's gone off the fish flavours and now prefers food in jelly :-( There are some things she will always eat - treats (meaty sticks and Dreamies) and steamed chicken breast - but a cat can't live on those long term!!! She won't eat raw meats at all. On the days were she rejects the whole bowl of food at two meals, I'll offer some steamed chicken breast - and I think she's now manipulating me to get more chicken!!
I'd really like her to eat better quality complete cat food, so tried a test box from Untamed. On opening the tins, the food looks and smells like human grade real meat and fish. Luckily she liked the chicken flavours (and cleaned her bowl), but was disgusted by the fish flavours, so I have ordered more of the chicken ones in the hope she will eat these.
I should add that I live on a farm and she has access to outside. I can't keep her in at night, as she goes out the cat flap to hunt in the barns for mice - and I'm sure she is eating these to supplement her (from her point of view) disappointing diet of cat food. She used to bring her "trophies" home and eat the mice in front of me - leaving the voles and shrews on my lap as a "gift", but she has stopped doing this of late - although I've seen her outside eating a mouse first thing in the morning on a couple of occasions. I think she has stopped bringing me "gifts" because she saw me throw them away!!
I have had cats most of my life and this is the first one that has become a fussy eater! I'd be more worried if she was losing weight, but her weight seems to remain stable even when she appears to be hardly eating much. She saw the vet in January for a health check and booster vaccination and the vet was happy with her health and weight. I'm really hoping I can find a way to waste less cat food!!
