Picky eater cats can be a danger to themselves

[Joe_Danger]

Ever since Kala was a baby she hasn't been able to eat new foods without serious getting used to on my part, she simply doesn't "detect" food she hasn't tried as food at all, sniffs it and walks away.
She has to first taste it and even then it's a gamble if she is going to accept it or not.
6 years ago I wasn't sure she'd ever wean from Mila's milk because she couldn't "understand" dry food, so I'd put small pieces on her fur in order for her to inject it by accident and get used to the taste like that. It worked.
Over the years, she hasn't once shown interest in people food unlike the other 3, even when given food she can eat she turns it down, but has maintained a good steady weight eating the foods she is used to, knows and likes.

Now all stores are out of Royal Canin food here, and that's pretty much the only type Kala eats, sometimes she eats other brands but usually gets bored and gives up on them.
Unfortunately from what we've been told, either stores are going to stop importing Royal Canin or the food is going to be 60% more expensive and at the moment all shipments are stuck at customs for some reason.

So that means no Royal Canin persian or kitten or anything.
We had Royal Canin sensible which we keep for just in case, so Kala had to eat that but she finished that off too and have been starving herself since even tho there's plenty of cat food in the house.

She does eat wet food, constantly begs for it, but she has the habit of eating a little wet food, then an hour later begging for more but god forbid don't open a brand new pack which she WATCHES you open else she turns up her nose and won't eat it or starts "burying" it.
Heating up? No sir, doesn't work, it has to be brand new, freshly open.

Good thing we have Spaska who eats everything now so she takes care of the left overs



My point is, I can't stress this enough
do NOT expect a picky eater cat to just start eating when they're hungry
Kala is the second such cat I've owned, the first one was Anastasia, also a persian who wasn't as bad as Kala but was still pretty bad (at least she adored her special renal food)

Cats will starve themselves even if there's a ton of food in the house and Kala is a prime example of that
She lost weight from just a week of not eating properly, her poop is smaller than usual too.

Be careful people, picky eaters don't always mean an unhealthy cat, but it can turn into a health issue.
Kala has been like this from birth.

[Mollycat]

A very good warning, is there anywhere you can buy RC online that deliver?

And to add, cats become at risk of hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease) in a matter of a few days if they stop eating or eat very little, so you can't just leave it and the cat will eat when it's hungry - they would rather (in their eyes) starve themselves than poison themselves.

[Joe_Danger]

EXACTLY!
Thanks for understanding
so many people don't understand this

no ordering cat food online from abroad would be too expensive and it would take forever for it to arrive, if the sellers are even going to ship it.
Plus if the current shipments for the country are held up, mine might end up being held up as well, it's not something I can just up and do.
I order games online all the time, but shipping for those is like 4-5 euros from the UK in most cases and they take 3-7 weeks to arrive lol, mostly 7.

[fjm]

Excellent warning. It is why I try hard to introduce my animals to a wide range of foods when they are young, including emergency options like canned sardines and scrambled egg. Not only do foods go out of production or become unobtainable, but manufacturers often change the formulation, which can be enough to make the previously favoured food no longer edible from the cat's point of view. Royal Canin seems to be particularly problematic at the moment - I have struggled to source Poppy-dog's hepatic diet. I hope you can find something Kala likes soon.

[Joe_Danger]

Good new is, we got box of Purina Friskies which she used to eat at one point until she got bored of it and she loved it, for now.
Purina is good, but it gives the persians soft stool if they eat it for too long, at least it did last time we had that.
Got a bag of Whiskas as well, even tho it's not the most quality of foods at least Kala is used to it as well and I think she'd eat it.

Introducing them to a wide range of foods is also what I do when they're little, just like introducing them to several types of litters.
But as they get older they become pickier and settle in a routine, at least most of mine have.
Casper used to eat anything and everything but now he is a lot more picky.
I hope no damage came to Kala these past few days of not having dry food she likes.

Speaking of litter, the litter we've been using for a while now, Quick Paw or whatever, the cats absolutely love it and it's easily disposed of in the toilet with no chance of clogging it because it's some kind of organic or something? Well that's done and gone now, the importer won't be importing it to Macedonia anymore because nobody was buying it due to it being a little more expensive than the regular, horrible, dusty litter sold here. I've done the math and it's actually not that much more expensive or heck it's even cheaper in some aspects since you don't need to put it in plastic bags and throw it out in the trash but it just goes down the toilet, but no people don't buy it, period.
Last time the importer brought 30 bags just for us, we go through 4 bags a month with 4 cats now but he said he is done importing it because there's no market for it here

So yeah, when everything is an import, you really need to be careful about stuff just not arriving in your region anymore

[Mollycat]

I have been very fortunate with my cats, all very well behaved, flexible eaters and no bad habits.

But talking of supply chain issues, this just came up on my facebook:

[Joe_Danger]

That is so awesome!
As for well behaved, everyone except for THIS one is well behaved

but that's a tortie for you

The rest are angels
And even she is absolutely perfect about litterboxes and she sleeps through the night for 8 hours straight, no issues there whatsoever

[Ruth B]

I too have been fairly lucky with cats and food. Dried food it is Purina One, and only Purina One, to the extent that the times we tried other types and mixed them together we would find the floor around the bowl cover with the non Purina cat food and all the Purina gone, as they had picked through the dried pieces and spat out what they didn't want. Wet food is an entirely different matter, Felix AGAIL or Doubly Delicious is the main option with Gourmet Pearl a close second, and occasionally a box of Purina's wet food, then there is what i buy from zooplus mixed in, normally Thrive Complete as they all seem to like it, and then what ever is in the offers section, so they get plenty of variety to ring the changes and it means there is a good chance there is somethng they will eat. For me, for Saturn and Tiggy there is always another good option and one that is happening most days to help ensure Tiggy has her meds, cooked chicken. If i'm lucky I can pick a 'use by today' one in the cheap section of Asda, if not then even the full price ones aren't that expensive, and we get the best part, the breasts and some of the leg meat and the cats gets the wing meat, the rest of the leg meat and all of the greasy stuff from the underside, which is great for absorbing crushed tablet onto. I used to laugh at my parents buying the ready cooked chickens to make sure their diabetic cat got a nice meal of animal protein each day, Tiggy and Saturn are the ones laughing now.