Hello!
we have a lovely tortie girl with us since the day before yesterday. She's fairly relaxed and is getting to know our (neutered) tom, it's all going pretty well and we are very happy. She's one year old.
The only problem is that she will not eat cat food, neither dry or wet, neither will she take any treats. She licked some yogurt off my finger, she liked catmilk and a bit of chese too. I cunningly tried to mix some wetfood with catmilk or tuna but no luck. She will only eat cooked chicken (leftover from dinner, unseasoned) or tuna, pure. She seems to be wolving these down, she's obviously hungry and willing to eat! I tried warming the food to bring it to mouse-temperature but that didn't help either. Judging from the way she is interested by us cooking and eating, we assume that she might only be fed food scraps before we got her (from a cat rescue). How can we teach her to eat real catfood???
Any help appreciated!

Aah bless her and you,well done to for homing another rescue firstlySlowly and with patience and persistance,like go normal when your cooking or about the kitchen and gradually lesson her tuna with sardines,catfood or whateever food you want her to eat,when she is hungry she will eat,she as you say for whatever reason doesn't feel assured that she'll be fed on a regular basis just yet,so you just have to win her round and earn her trust as you did with your 1st,did they say what she ate at the CR at all?

If she wants to eat real food why not let her? Have you tried feeding her raw meat? Perhaps this is what she's used to. Real food is much better for her than all this commercial crap.

Interesting. I was just wondering what she was fed while at the cat rescue? Perhaps you could get in contact with them and find out, I would be surprised if it was tuna and chicken though. Tuna is ok to feed as an occasional treat and not as a regular meal.

If you have introduced her to these foods since bringing her home then perhaps she is now determined to be picky............as in 'who wants burgers when they've tasted steak'.

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I don't know the all the details but her previous owner had to give her to the cat rescue as he had to leave his home because he had been the victim of a stabbing and I think he was put under police protection or something. I don't think she was ever abused or something as she's very confident and trusting and not scared of people at all. So either she was fed on left-over human food only or she was pampered by only ever getting cooked meals made for her. She's quite skinny though so I don't think she was overindulged... The CR place said that she was a bit fussy with her food but that she loved chicken and fish, both correct
and that I should gver her that to get her appetite going.

I have not tried raw meat yet...
Is it safe to wait for her to be hungry enough to eat what I give her?? I don't want to starve her!!

Also, is it ok to have tuna several times per week? Only eating chicken and tuna can't be covering all necessary nutrients, can it??


She was at the CR for only about a week, in a private home, in foster care. I understand they feed the ususal pouches there (Whiskas, Felix...)

My kitten Alfie was weaned onto Whiskas jelly pouches, but when I got him home he wouldnt touch the stuff (cant blame him really!) and was always crying for bits of ham, chicken etc..

I changed his food to a comlete dry food, JWB kitten which I leave down all day for him and Applaws tinned cat food which you can get from Pets at Home, Pet Supplies, Pet Food, and Pet Products on Sale Now at zooplus.co.uk etc. and he loves it!

Cooked chicken really shouldn't be the only thing you feed, cooked foods are deficient in taurine which is why commercial foods have added taurine. If I were you I would try giving her raw meat and see how she takes to that.

Do you mean not give in to her demands for chicken and tuna and hopefully she will start to eat the cat food?
Well a cat wont let itself starve unless ill so you could try it.

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well I wouldn't be so harsh and force her to eat only catfood from one day to the next if she doesn't want to but maybe gradually mixing it? and She can have chicken and tuna of course but not everyday...
she doesn't touch dry food at all but maybe I need to try a different brand, I've tried Iams, Hill's and Go-Cat (my tom loves abit of that now and then I know it's not the greatest...)