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Do cats get bored of certain foods?
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 6:54 pm
by MiddleEarthNet
I’ve been having a slight challenge with the regimes cat I got earlier this year. I buy her some food, she starts off loving it then about 2-3 weeks later isn’t interested in it and sits there waiting for me to change it. I’m sure there is no medical reason because if I put something different down she’ll happily eat it. But I can’t seem to get through a box of pouches and definitly not a decent size bag of crunchies before she appears to have gone off it.
Is it just that she wants different flavours and if I buy smaller pack sizes of each flavour, she’ll eat it? I know some cats are fussy but this is the first time I’ve had one. I am keen she has a mixture of pouches and crunchies.
Is there anything else I can try so I don’t keep on wasting money on food she liked but now doesn’t want?
Re: Do cats get bored of certain foods?
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 7:48 pm
by lilynmitz
I’m afraid she’s just being a cat. Most cat owners can relate to this. This explains why you often see cat owners agonising for hours in the cat food aisle in the supermarket over what their fluffy little darlings will deign to eat this week. It usually happens 2 days after you’ve done a massive bulk buy of the food they’ve been happily chomping down for the last 3 weeks. I’ve never worked out why. It’s flipping fickle and frustrating though! If you end up with loads left over, drop it round to your nearest rescue centre.
Occasionally I suspect pet food producers churn out a bad batch - cats have very sensitive palates, so if something is slightly off they’ll notice it, whereas a dog would eat it anyway. My two will sometimes refuse to eat one flavour out of a mixed box of pouches, but will tuck into it again from the next box of same product.
Re: Do cats get bored of certain foods?
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 7:57 pm
by Mollycat
There's no need to waste anything, just keep all the stuff she has decided she doesn't want, and keep rotating differet foods. Keep an eye on use by dates, obviously. If it's just plain boredom and she craves constant novelty, give it a couple of months and the stuff she got bored of will be another novelty. Yes it's perfectly normal for cats to get bored.
Re: Do cats get bored of certain foods?
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:27 pm
by MiddleEarthNet
Thanks, this is what I suspected. It’s just a new experience for me as all my previous cats were more like goats with their eating habits. I had to be so careful as to what they were trying to eat. Whereas Maisie, will sit next to a plate of my food and not touch it.
Re: Do cats get bored of certain foods?
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:47 pm
by Mollycat
My Boo was like that, a stud who lived in an outdoor pen until he took retirement and came to live with me. He had never begged and never took it up as a hobby. Molly was the opposite, always on the scrounge. But neither of them ever stole food. I even once accidentally left a roasted chicken on the side all night, and in the morning it had not been touched.
Rotating foods is great anyway, keeps them flexible about foods and then it isn't a disaster if their food has a recipe change or production stops. They also have different nutritional strengths and I'm pretty sure a variety keeps them in better shape overall, even if all foods offered are good quality. It also gives you the option to feed something that isn't a complete food as a whole meal treat occasionally.
Re: Do cats get bored of certain foods?
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:57 pm
by MiddleEarthNet
Mollycat wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:47 pm
I even once accidentally left a roasted chicken on the side all night, and in the morning it had not been touched.
WOW! If I did that with Frankie or Alfie would have eaten the entire thing and be sleeping it off for the next week. Katie and Sophie would have licked it and eaten enough of it that I’d have to bin it but not finish it. Maisie would just ignore it.
Re: Do cats get bored of certain foods?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:49 am
by Ruth B
I believe the current thinking is that a cat's constant desire for variety comes from when they relied on hunting for food and helped it accept eating different foods depending on what it caught.
I dare not leave any meat, raw or cooked, on the side for 10 seconds unless Saturn is in my line of sight, he will pinch anything he can get his paws on. He will even get on the side to see whether the dirty plates that have just been put in the washing up bowl have anything left on them. Spare cooked meat is always put in the microwave to cool off before going in the fridge, he has not yet worked out how to open the microwave door, but give him time. Unfortunately out of sight is also out of mind, and there have quite a number of times when an hour or so after going to bed I suddenly remember that the meat is still in the microwave. I'm a bit paranoid on leaving things out in a warm kitchen and if something isn't put in the fridge overnight I will normally get rid of it or let the cats decide if it is still alright, so Saturn normally gets blamed for mind scrambling us into forgetting it so he will have it in the morning.
Re: Do cats get bored of certain foods?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 1:27 pm
by MiddleEarthNet
So been to the supermarket and intentionally bought smaller pack sizes so I could get a variety of flavours. So now she has a mix of meat and fish flavours in both wet and dry food. Hopefully this will work.
Ruth B wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:49 am
I believe the current thinking is that a cat's constant desire for variety comes from when they relied on hunting for food and helped it accept eating different foods depending on what it caught.
I dare not leave any meat, raw or cooked, on the side for 10 seconds unless Saturn is in my line of sight, he will pinch anything he can get his paws on. He will even get on the side to see whether the dirty plates that have just been put in the washing up bowl have anything left on them. Spare cooked meat is always put in the microwave to cool off before going in the fridge, he has not yet worked out how to open the microwave door, but give him time. Unfortunately out of sight is also out of mind, and there have quite a number of times when an hour or so after going to bed I suddenly remember that the meat is still in the microwave. I'm a bit paranoid on leaving things out in a warm kitchen and if something isn't put in the fridge overnight I will normally get rid of it or let the cats decide if it is still alright, so Saturn normally gets blamed for mind scrambling us into forgetting it so he will have it in the morning.
I can relate to this. My previous cats were awful for stealing food. Didn’t even have to be meat or dairy. Mum would often put something in a cupboard so they couldn’t get to it. I would come down the following morning to find it in a cupboard with the plates because mum forgot she put it there. Mind you, one of them would happily steal food off your fork whilst it was on route to your mouth. Eating was hard work with him.
Re: Do cats get bored of certain foods?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 9:42 pm
by alexfairbairn
There is no right answer to this question. As with most aspects of cat care, it depends on the individual. Some cats definitely do better when they eat the same thing every day.