These two assholes. Two adorable, jerkified assholes.
For the past 2 weeks, we have been at war in this household. Over food. You see, the little darlings love themselves some wet food. And then they don’t. They have dry – all day, every day – a kitten likes a snackerel of wet throughout the day. Each one gets half a can. We have gone through multiple brands & multiple flavors per brand. Once I id the flavors they like, I add it to the list. So shopping for their food requires 2 stores, 3 brands and about 3-4 different flavors for a month.
They like the wet in a rotation. What’s the rotation? God only knows. The food they liked last week? Now they lick it and look at you like you didn’t try. Did they gobble up the turkey & cheese shreds Tuesday? Then Thursday they hate it. Was Ocean Whitefish & Shrimp tasty as hell on Friday? Monday, it’s the most disgusting thing on earth. And repeat ad infinitum.
I’ve learned not to rage at these unbelievable scoundrels. Especially since I have to watch expenses like a hawk or a cat who is STARVED, I TELL YOU stares at me when I go make my food. Instead, I don’t give them any wet. I cut it back, just in case they’re not really that hungry and if that isn’t finished, I cut it out entirely. Sucks to be you, kiddo. I got thumbs and you got crumbs so go eat dry. It’s like a functioning democracy. Treat it like you despise it and the person with the power will take it away. Too bad, so sad. Unlike those bastards, I usually bring back the foods in a day or so. They know the drill. Sometimes, I swear they take turns biting the bullet and finishing leftovers so they can go, “Ah-ha! See, we did finish breakfast!” Got my eyes on you two. But other than that, they’re pretty perfect. Although this year, they got more stubborn. Oh, well, so am I. Open thread, no polly tics, no tangelo terror.
AJ
So cute and adorable!
Ruckus
I see that your new furry owners have settled in just fine and have the help preparing meals almost upon command.
So things are completely normal……
Mnemosyne
Keaton has decided that G needs to give him his morning portion of wet food pretty much the instant G stirs awake from sleep. Rolls over at 4:00 am? BREAKFAST TIME! Checks the clock at 2:30 am? BREAKFAST TIME! Saturday morning just before sunrise? BREAKFAST TIME! And, yeah, good luck ignoring a 15-pound cat the size of a Jack Russell who knows how to open doors
We love him, but he’s a little shit.
Cathie from Canada
I for one welcome our new cat overlords…
Robby-D
My cats are the same way with their wet food. If they decide suddenly they don’t like a particular flavour they used to devour, I make sure the next can I open is the same flavour. Hunger ALWAYS wins out.
Quaker in a Basement
My cat goes crazy for Fancy Feast Gravy Lover’s varieties. But then he also eats dry dog food, just to piss off the dog.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
Your Odo looks a lot like my Lottie. They are adorable, of course. One cat is on a prescription diet for urinary tract health so that’s what they both eat. We give dry in the morning and wet at night. They love them both and never complain. Although it’s expensive, I can’t complain about their finikiness (I don’t think that’s a word, but you get drift).
mrmoshpotato
@Mnemosyne: LMFAO!
Chris T.
Mine do the same thing.
I’ve taken to doing an autoship from Chewy for the one that they declare is their favorite until they have it every day and it stops being favorite, and giving them a different variety from the Costco pack on Sunday. Then they go back to their favorite being favorite on Monday.
SectionH
ruemara OP: You’re not like travelling a lot, are you? Because if not, you’re giving the little (omg, they are gorgeous) brats wet food AND leaving dry out all the time, so of course they’re free to be picky. I’m firmly in the camp of not-all-dry-food all the time, but if you’ve got youngsters, and I mean younger than 4 or 5 yrs (not older cats, esp. with eating problems) to worry about, a feeding in the am and another in the evening should be it. My kids have had really good luck with automatic feeders for their two young ‘uns. It does remove the direct “human gets up, FOOD COMING!” idea. The food comes at a regular time. We always preferred the “wake us up before our regular time, you get to sit in the bathroom until the regular time” method. That works too.
Bastet knows I’ll jump through n-dimensional hoops to feed an old sick cat anything they want, but young healthy ones probably benefit from not being indulged. Disclaimer: I’m obviously not Werebear, and I will defer to her opinion on this.
Amir Khalid
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ:
Finickitude? Finickosity? Finick? Hmm. I’d go with finickiness.
SectionH
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: and @Amir Khalid: how about pickiness? They are picky eaters… Nah. I used to sort of know the p/f division in Germanic languages, so I went looking there. No. Picky is a word, and finicky is a word. I thought they’d be long term cognates, but picky is only attested since 1900 in the US. Pickiness still feels better (that’s all I’ve got) in American English. I mean, I typed picky about cats in a comment above before seeing your post, Mrs. D. Of course, finickiness will do it too.
OH and tbc, cats of any age with health issues: I’m completely on board with whatever it takes.
eclare
So cute! I only feed my two cats dry, which I know can not be helpful to kidneys, but they go through a lot of water.
satby
The outdoor cat rescue that’s now a happy and (getting fat) indoor cat was the same way about wet food even when he was still too feral for me to pick up. It always amazed me, because it’s not like he had all sorts of other options. It must be in their DNA.
Now he’s inside with my other 3, and everyone gets dry food, with wet as an occasional treat. Then they appreciate it and eat it. I don’t have the budget to toss away uneaten cat food either.
satby
They are beautiful cats though, rumara!
Betsy
Aww. You love them so much.
They are really cute.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
When Carlos the Garage Cat was sick and kenneled in the back room, I bought one of almost every canned food PetSmart carried. Carlos rejecting a food was common; he was even rejecting rotisserie chicken for a while. When he did refuse a food, we then offered it to the rest of the household and took note of when they licked the platters clean.
Last night, Chewy delivered several cases of the most popular flavors. I don’t anticipate a problem with finicky eaters after this.
Jim
Love cats , BUT , as long as THEY have what THEY want ………………………………………………..
cleek
cut waaayyy back on the dry food. they’ll get significantly less picky about the wet.
randy khan
They’re waiting for the mouse-flavored food.
I think there are a lot of cats who do the same thing. We have a younger, ravenous cat right now and even he sometimes turns up his nose at a flavor he thought was the bees’ knees the day before.
Skepticat
You’re not alone, and flavor roulette can be maddening. However, my cats get only canned food (and one of them, with renal issues, gets superexpensive prescription food flown in from the States). One of my previous cats developed diabetes, and considerable research convinced me it was because of a diet of dry food—which the feline diabetes website calls “kitty crack.” Most dry food is all carbs, and I couldn’t afford a version with better ingredients. Although he eventually went into remission, he and another of my cats at the time eventually also developed renal issues, and I ended up feeding them chopped chicken (with a little canned food so they’d get taurine). That helped with their weight issues if not my budget. All that said, we feed 56 free-range cats here on the island (all of which miraculously survived Dorian, resilient little critters that they are), and the budget demands mostly dry food. We use rice cooked with bouillon cubes) for filler and add a can of wet food for flavor and a bit of taurine. Cats in the wild aren’t quite so fussy.
ABMcC
Perhaps the most perfect story I have ever seen about kippy dip gustatory quirks. I share your financial pain and frustration. But they are still pretty darned lovable, are they not?
Gvg
My current cat has some sort of delicate tummy. She barfs it all back up if I get it wrong. I have her on a purina one sensitive stomach dry which I feed in small amounts. She gets about a table spoon of fancy feast gravy lovers at least twice a day. Basically a lot of kinds she can’t keep down but she also barfs if she eats too much or too fast so tiny portions several times a day work. She hated the canned sensitive tummy stuff from multiple brands so I went with fancy feast gravy. She really only likes the gravy and leaves a lot of the bits.
my suggestion is to just do small spoonfuls of the wet after main meal. Cat tummy’s aren’t that big compared to humans and it’s easy to overfeed. Maybe measured amounts on the dry too. Pets have been getting fatter as people indulge more. Just remember how small a cat stomach is.
Also medical research I am told shows that requiring kids to “clean their plates” is more likely to lead to weigh issues as an adult because they learn to eat past feeling full and ignore signals to stop. Your cats may be begging out of habit when they aren’t that hungry. Just do a bit at a time.
TomatoQueen
Poor old Luca was a horrendous barfer. Two things helped–no Temptation treats of any flavor, and raising his food dish off the floor so he was standing while eating. He wouldn’t take Laxatone goo but tolerated the crumbles mixed into his food, which was grain free all along and always wet. Merlin has me spoiled completely now–no barf, no hairballs at all since he’s been here. I am not complaining. Also he eats anything put in front of him.
CaseyL
Oh my god, that is so my household! I’ve gotten very familiar with the brands at the “supermarkets” (PetCo, PetSmart) and the “gourmet shops” (Mud Bay, All the Best) as my kiddos careen between Favorite Flavors, Textures, and Brands. (I too have the kibbles out all day every day – and, yes, they are the same way with those, so I always seem to have two bags open and in process at the same time!)
Also – your kitties are gorgeous!
StrangeBlue
My mom had a theory that cats would randomly like or not like a wet food flavor because sometimes the canned food was spoiled. No human is going to taste it and see if it’s rotten, so they can put anything in a can and sell it to you.
my cats will only eat food that is like a pate. Lumps in gravy they will lick off the gravy and leave the rest.
satby
@Skepticat: I’d really like to get a link to send a donation your way.
TCarb
This is exactly on point, and I feel your pain. I have two inside, one stray that lives in the backyard (he doesn’t get along with anyone), and a feral that comes every evening. First rule that I have is, I don’t feed them anything they wouldn’t hunt for if they were wild. No shrimp, no crab and no beef. Even a herd of cats can’t bring down a bovine. Next is, don’t expect an inside cat to actually chew anything bigger than a pea. They can subside on gravy. The stray eats up to the size of a kidney bean. The feral licks the bowl clean. My cats prefer a rotation of Friskies Prime Fillets with chicken, chicken with tuna and turkey. For variety I throw in some Fancy Feast whitefish and tuna in gravy (they don’t like the Friskies fish). If I give them pate, I mush it and add a couple of tablespoons of water. This works for my crew. I top this off with a good handful of Temptations for everyone in the evening. Don’t worry about them not eating the big chunks of food. They just sleep all day. Like a dog, they like to beg, but that is just to see how far they have to push you to get an extra bite. It’s just a game.
bluefish
I love this SO much! Thank you bringing it into my life. So my dog. So true. So damn funny. God only knows made me howl with glee.
catclub
Isn’t the way cats know how to open doors mostly crying until their human does it for them?
BQuimby
“Nearly eleven o’clock,” said Pooh happily. You’re just in time for a little smackerel of something.”
Cat48
You have beautiful kitties and I’m very jealous. I haven’t been able to bring myself to get another kitty, after my last cat died. It still makes me tear up thinking about it. Maybe someday?