Fussy cat

[Bec&Cleo]

HI,
Once again my little cleo is being a little difficult by being fussy with what food i put down for her and wanted to get your opinion on how to stop her from being fussy.

When she was little she use to eat fairly well and I feed her dry food, but my poor little one had the flu when i bought her and the vet advised me that i should try and make sure that she ate no matter what, but of course she said it is a fine line between creating a fussy cat and a healthy cat as it super important that she eats.

Now that she is starting getting better i want to make sure that she doesnt get into bad habits of not eating or turning her nose up at food.
I feed her a mixture of two premium dry foods science diet and royal canin (not sure if you know these brands) and at night give her some wet food as she will not touch the dry food at night. Also i use to leave the food down for her all day as she only ever eats small amounts at a time. but i have just started to tak eit away during the day so that she is a little more interested in it at night.

Sometimes she only eats when i tip the food out of the bowl or when i hand feed her and i feel like i have created a bad habit in her.

Now i am in a pickle do i ignore it when she turns her nose up at things or doesnt eat at all beacuse i dont tip it out for her? Can you give me a few hints how to get her to eat better? or for me not to fuss over her if she doesnt eat...is this creating a problem?
I am still working on things with my vet as she is not entirely heathly yet.

[KOPsarah]

Hi again,
Many cats seem to have one of two eating problems, they'll eat anything and get overweight, or they won't eat anything! There are a few things you can do however to help your fussy cat:

-try putting a little of the canned food over the biscuits and then putting it all in the microwave for about 5 seconds. Heating the food up slightly in this way increases the odor of the food and as cats have a distinct preference for strong odors (especially meat ones) this should help increase her interest

-if this doesn't increase her interest you could try briefly soaking her biscuits in a little beef stock and water to increase the palatability and odor

-some cats prefer to eat off a flat surface and this could be the reason she prefers her biscuits tipped out. Try feeding her on a low flat dish and see if this helps.

-Cats tend to prefer to graze during the day taking in a mouth full or two each time then going back to their cat business. However to improve her interest in food you could try giving her several small meals a day at specific times. Give her 10-15 minutes to eat and then remove what she hasn't eaten.

If she doesn't eat at all don't hand feed her or fuss over her but do note down that she has not eaten the meal and keep an eye on how many meals she has missed. If she will not eat all for two days then you will need to try her on a range of foods to get her to eat something and consider a feline vitamin supplement to provide essential nutrients that she may be lacking after two days off her well balanced food.

I hope this helps and if you have any further concerns please don't hesitate to ask.