Buying baby food, or tempting the feline appetite

My 19-year-old baby

In the past six months, our elderly cat has gone from being a happily-scarf-down-anything feline to the provervial picky eater. After years of being perfectly satisfied with Science Diet, he will no longer touch the stuff. He's even lost interest in many of the human foods for which he used to beg incessantly and consume with relish.

He still begs, he just doesn't eat things when you give them to him. He just takes a sniff, maybe gives it a lick and then turns his nose up. The "he'll eat when he gets hungry enough" plan we tried at first was unsuccessful. He lost several pounds.

He's healthy enough, or at least our vet's not too concerned about him otherwise. (He's been on pills for hyperthyroidism for a few years and his kidneys aren't what they once were.) After conducting various tests, she just said, "Sometimes old cats get that way," and recommended feeding him whatever we could get him to eat.

We've gone through a series of progressively goopier cat foods, each of which he ate for a while and then rejected. Now, the only thing we can get him to eat reliably is baby food, in the all-meat flavors.

These seem to come only in tiny jars at high prices. Meijer is the cheapest source we've found for Gerber baby food, at 69 cents per jar. Jewel and Dominick's each want about 20 cents more than that. Since, on good days, our cat will eat four jars full, the cost is adding up (not to mention the empty jars, which I somehow can't bring myself to recycle).

Anyone got a line on a cheap source of all-meat baby food? Or any other suggestions?

LAZ

I would get a second opinion. If he has pain eating, i.e bad tooth, has he had a dental?, then he won't eat.

LAZ,

I wish that I could help you but I've never really come across jars of the 'all meat' babyfood that's inexpensive. 69 cents a jar is a pretty good price. Places that you've probably already explored like Walmart and Meijer seem to have the better end of the prices. I might suggest looking for coupons maybe even on the Gerber site. I seem to remember getting tons of them in the mail after I had my daughter.

Sorry I'm not much more helpful than that.

LAZ,

If you read the ingredients on "meat" baby food, you'll find it's light on the meat, heavy on the starches and vegetables.

You could try making your own.

I would poach a blench of boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs in water in a saucepan until tender.

Puree with a Braun hand blender right in the pot. (you can add more water to smooth it out, or vegetable.

This is a good "standard" baby food to start with. You can freeze it in ice cube trays and just thaw a few blocks at a time.

I am not a vet or anything, but I recall that cats need fairly specific nutrients - you may want to look into adding "Missing Link"

"Missing Link"

Hope this is helpful.

As for baby food, yeah, try pureeing stuff on your own, or see if the cat will drink broth.

As for the cat, I'm shocked at the vet's dismissal.

My Mom's elderly cat last summer stopped eating and was lethargic. She's always been kinda lethargic but it got worse. She had one enlarged kidney.

The vet tried anti-biotics and they worked. Figured it was an e-coli infection (not super rare for female cats). The cat is pretty lively now and eating the same old stuff quite well.

My Mom had previously consigned her to death as her littermate had recently died, but was SO glad she went to the vet instead, and years before had found a vet she thought was very good.

If the cat cannot be fixed, I know the kitchenaid food mill attachment is supposed to help you make your own baby food.

Nancy

Make sure there are no onions in that baby food. They're a common ingredient in baby foods and toxic to cats - and dogs. We had a similar situation with our cat. A suprising number of vets do not know which common human foods are dangerous to cats and dogs.

Google "cats onions" for a number of references. Here's one:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... cleid=1108

I strongly suggest making your own as well.

I'll join the suggestion that you make your own, and propose an easier way to do it. Boil up your meat or poultry (cats are often very happy with organ meat--we once had a cat on a pig-kidney diet for a while though I don't recommend what it does to the odors in your kitchen) and then grind them up in the small, lightweight, easy to clean Happy Baby Food Grinder.

If you do large quanties, freeze it in ice cube trays.

LAZ, having had a cat with lymphoma who went through bouts of being a picky eater (chemo has that same effect on animals as it does on humans), I can sympathize with you. (I have another with lymphoma now who's not finicky, and I thank my lucky stars!) There are a lot of people with sick cats who feed baby food (I've found that Gerber's chicken, turkey and beef go over best with my sick ones). Although I don't have any recommendations for you of inexpensive baby food sources, I do have some other tips for finicky eaters:

1. Have you tried microwaving the wet food so it's slightly warm to the touch? A lot of cats stop eating because their sense of smell has become diminished, so warming the food increases the aroma and, therefore, makes it more enticing.

2. Trader Joes sells a tuna fish designed for cats. (I can't remember what it's called, but it's in the pet food section.) A lot of people with finicky cats swear by it! Regular canned tuna in spring water is high in sodium, but if you buy low sodium tuna marketed for humans, you're probably getting a similar product. When my cats are being picky, I've found that tuna juice (i.e., spring water in which the tuna's been sitting) poured over regular cat food will make them eat almost anything. They usually like the straight tuna, too.

3. A lot of people with picky cats will start a meal by spoon feeding their cats a few bites of wet food to stimulate their appetites. If you put food in a cat's mouth (or even just get it on their nose, lips, whiskers, gums or paws), they'll usually lick it off and swallow it. If you then hold the food on a plate under their nose, even most finicky cats will eat.

4. Since you don't mention where you typically buy your pet food, I'd recommend a couple things. Your vet probably has a few varieties that include meats you wouldn't typically find at pet stores (deer, rabbit, pork...). Ask to buy a few individual cans of those. Also, although a lot of pet owners think it's generally a brand of low nutritional quality, they'll also acknowledge that Friskies wet food is the equivalent of "kitty cocaine." In other words, if you can't get your cat to eat anything else, they may still eat Friskies. Finally, if you've only been going to big chain pet stores, please check out some of the independent stores, which will carry some high-quality brands that you won't see at grocery stores, Petco/Petsmart or your vet. I particularly like the store Four Legs on the east side of Clark north of Racine. There are probably a dozen different wet food brands that you won't see at a chain stores, and the owner will also give you samples of dry food, too. (That said, the super premium canned food can be more expensive than baby food!)

5. If you decide to stick with baby food, please talk to your vet about getting a good vitamin supplement. You cat is missing out on some essential nutrients by just eating baby food.

6. I realize you said your cat is 19 years old, and has hyperthyroidism. You didn't say what kinds of tests your vet conducted, but you might want to ask for a referral to an internal medicine specialist. Of course, you need to ask yourself, if you find out that something's wrong with him, at his age, would you make the quality of life (and cost) decisions to treat it? I do know friends whose cats had hyperthyroidism and only after getting the radioactive treatment (sorry, can't think of the name) did their appetite actually improve.

7. You might also want to do a google search for feline and "assisted feeding," which will give other suggestions.

I realize this is a long post, but as you can see, I've been there! Please don't hesitate to PM me if you'd like to email privately, since I realize this thread is a bit off topic.

PS: To add to what Louisa said, some people also feel that cats shouldn't be fed food containing garlic, either. (You'll see that on the link she posted.) Ironically, you'll find both garlic and onions in some cat foods, too. More recently, I've read some articles that say garlic and onions may be ok for cats in small quantities if their immune system is OK (ie, the cat isn't at risk for anemia in the first place). But it is a controversial topic, and best probably best to avoid garlic and onion in an older cat.

What a cute cat!

I have a similar thing with my ancient Boston Terrier. I can recommend sauteeing chicken livers and then simmering them in stock until they are soft enough to squish (or just chop up fine). I cook them without butter or oil because I've been told not to let her have too much fat, but they would be tastier with some. Even so, she inhales them and they are cheap-- although I am spending a bundle on kitchen candles because I hate the smell of liver cooking.

I have also tried cooking other meats, pretty much you name it, but she likes liver the best.

HI,

You might want to try beef heart, which is relatively inexpensive, naturally low in fat with a very beefy flavor.

I do second the idea of bringing the cat to another doctor. It just may be her teeth.

Regards,

bibi rose wrote:What a cute cat!

I have a similar thing with my ancient Boston Terrier. I can recommend sauteeing chicken livers and then simmering them in stock until they are soft enough to squish (or just chop up fine). I cook them without butter or oil because I've been told not to let her have too much fat, but they would be tastier with some. Even so, she inhales them and they are cheap-- although I am spending a bundle on kitchen candles because I hate the smell of liver cooking.

I have also tried cooking other meats, pretty much you name it, but she likes liver the best.

One thing to be aware of...liver is very high in Vitamin A, which is a fat-soluble vitamin (meaning that excess is not flushed out of the body in the urine). Consequently, feeding too much of it can be toxic to animals. I'd recommend googling "liver" & "vitamin A" & "toxicity" & "feline" or "canine" for more information.

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions.

I will look into some more of the premium brands of cat food and maybe try again some home-cooked food. He hasn't been so keen on my earlier efforts (although yesterday he begged for and actually ate some of the bratwurst we were having for dinner! Somehow I don't think the bratwurst diet is a good idea for the long term). He was eating some very stinky (to me, anyway) prescription foods from the vet for a while, but then he went off those.

For now, he really seems to like the baby food, in the chicken, turkey and ham flavors. He didn't eat veal or beef with as much enthusiasm and he wouldn't touch any of the mixtures. For some reason, baby food doesn't come in fish flavors. According to the labels, the Gerber food we're buying has only meat, water and cornstarch in it.

We are giving him supplements with taurine, etc. We are also giving him Pepcid A/C in case acid stomach is the trouble. As far as we can tell without anesthetizing him (which the vet is reluctant to do because of his age and somewhat deteriorated kidneys), his teeth are OK. He's certainly not hesitant about biting me when I try to get my fingers into his mouth!

It's likely either the thyroid or the kidney problems that are putting him off his feed. At his age, the $1,000+ radiation treatment for the thyroid doesn't seem indicated and there's not much they can do about the latter at this stage except special foods that he won't eat (it isn't bad enough for aggressive treatments that I'm not sure I'd put a 19-year-old cat through anyway).

I apologize for the somewhat off-topic nature of this thread but I hope it's interesting to other pet owners and maybe others in need of baby food.

Hi LAZ,

Since you mentioned his kidneys, it reminded me...I'm assuming you've had bloodwork/urine tests done. Since he's older, his kidney values have presumably been creeping up over the years (either the blood test or urine test--I can't remember which--would confirm this). As cats get older and their kidney values increase, you typically want to feed them less protein, because, as I understand it, protein is harder on the kidneys. (I think if he's drinking a lot of water, this helps counteract things, but doesn't completely negate the problem.) Since he's eating an all-meat diet right now, he's probably getting a very high-protein, low-carb, low-fat diet, which is tough on a older cat. You might want to puree some rice and low-sodium chicken broth (homemade, if possible, so you can ensure it's been made w/o onions) and mix it in with the baby food to increase the carb-to-protein ratio. Hopefully it would taste similar enough to the baby food that he'd eat it with the pureed rice--and it would lower your baby costs, too!

ChgoEditor

chgoeditor wrote:One thing to be aware of...liver is very high in Vitamin A, which is a fat-soluble vitamin (meaning that excess is not flushed out of the body in the urine). Consequently, feeding too much of it can be toxic to animals. I'd recommend googling "liver" & "vitamin A" & "toxicity" & "feline" or "canine" for more information.

Thanks for the information. I told one of my vets about the liver and he seemed to think it was a good idea; however, I think they just don't expect this dog to be around much longer anyway and they're humoring me. They only told me to avoid fat offhand after I'd been feeding her up with all kinds of stuff because she was getting emaciated. ("Congratulations on keeping her weight up but, oh yeah, fat will do a number on her pancreas so avoid that.") Maybe I'll try the beef heart idea next.

She does like Gerber baby food too. I don't mind the expense so much but the stuff is nasty. Is that really good to feed to babies? Blech.

bibi rose wrote:I think they just don't expect this dog to be around much longer anyway and they're humoring me. They only told me to avoid fat offhand after I'd been feeding her up with all kinds of stuff because she was getting emaciated. ("Congratulations on keeping her weight up but, oh yeah, fat will do a number on her pancreas so avoid that.") Maybe I'll try the beef heart idea next.

She does like Gerber baby food too. I don't mind the expense so much but the stuff is nasty. Is that really good to feed to babies? Blech.

Yeah, I've been wondering about my vet in that respect, too. Anyone know an animal gerontologist?

And you're right about the baby food. (Although it isn't as gross as Eukanuba maximum-calorie cat food.) One wonders how those of us fed this stuff as babies -- as I'm sure I must have been -- ever grow up to eat real food.

ChgoEditor, you're right about the protein, but he's been totally uninterested in any nonmeat food. We did get him a device that aerates the water (like an aquarium pump), which has him drinking more water.

Try taking your vet to a cat-only practice. I don't know where you're located, exactly, but there are several great cat-only practices in Chicago proper with vets who have specialized in caring for our feline friends.
I'm a cat lover myself, with two of my own, and have had many of my cat related questions solved by the helpful folks at TheCatSite.com- its for cat lovers what LTH is for food lovers, but with a more international spectrum.

It's possible there may be something serious going on, its also possible kitty might have a cold which is affecting its sense of smell, and thus its desire to get down with its grub.

best of luck and keep us posted

Very attractive cat--regal, in fact!

I went through this with an ornery but much-beloved 18-yr Burmese. Most of what worked for me has already been suggested, but perhaps not as a battery.

First, rotate cat food on a daily basis: Friskies, 9 Lives, KalKan, even that expensive stuff, whatever it's called, in the tiny cans. In the end, the cheaper and stinkier the better.

Secondly, mush chicken liver in the blender, and warm it before serving. Basically, at that stage, I didn't worry about protein surplus: Mz. Kitty [*I* didn't name her!] was going to fail--and did--before her kidneys. (Different with males, of course.)

Thirdly, cheap human tuna, in oil, worked well in the rotation. Fat, sure; but, as we all know, as go lipids, so goes flavor. Again, we're talking here about a cat who's about 323 human-years old...

In the end, it was me, Mz. Kitty, a towel, and a high-caliber syringe loaded with liver mush. I was in tears, Mz. K was really really pissed about the whole process. NOT death with dignity...

It simply unfair that the little buggers' life spans are not properly equilibrated with ours. Next life, it's a parrot.

Sorry about your lovely beast.


Geo

sorry to hear about your kitty - I have the same problem with mine. (in fact your posting came up high on a Google search for "gerber baby food case discount" which is how I got here.)

he is almost 21 now and started losing weight a few months ago. thyroid slightly off but OK on meds, kidneys slightly off but not bad, nothing really obviously wrong with him but he wasn't thriving. he had extensive blood tests and finally the vet convinced me that a biopsy would help. the biopsy showed lymphoma of the bowel and possibly liver. he is now taking prednisone and some kind of mild chemo drug as well as an appetite stimulant. the vet was surprised that he hasn't perked up more with the prednisone. I really do think that they just get oddly finicky in their old age. he wails like he is starving, but loses interest after a lick or two.

the tuna in oil worked for a while. try asking the vet for an appetite stimulant (vitamin drops with Valium), and have your regal beast checked for inflammatory bowel disease or bad teeth. I hate having put Max thru the biopsy and I don't think I'd do it again. I just hated seeing him decline slowly and wasn't ready to euthanize him. he is about where he was, maybe a bit better. he will eat the baby food pretty reliably, but that stuff is a pain. I don't like the expense, but I hate all those tiny jars. why don't they make this stuff in an economy size? or at least a 6-pack. it takes forever to ring up all the little jars.

good luck with your kitty - I wish you all the best.

Just a quick update for those who've expressed interest. Max just turned 20! The recent recall on tainted pet food has made meat flavors of baby food even harder to find as more pet owners switched to that, but the key to get Max to eat is apparently variety, so he's doing OK. More details than anyone but cat lovers will want to know are at Max's Birthday Party.

HI,

Congratulations on your cat's longevity. From your description, he seems like a character.

I was just a bit dismayed to learned cats are consider senior at 7 years old. My cat Katie just turned seven a few months ago. It is amusing to see her gathering experience: years ago she would leap out of the house at any opportunity. Now if the conditions are not to her liking: too cold, snow or rain, then she promptly returns to the comforts of home without protest.

Regards,

I used to catsit for an older orange Tabby called "Norm." He was about 19 and VERY picky. He LOVED Sheba. Just loved it. I have a picky 13 year old and he loves a canned food sold at Petco.....I think it's Pet Gold....the cans are sized between fancy feast and Friskies.......mostly seafood combos with rice......calamari, tuna, shrimp......Maybe your baby would like that?

Good luck! Ps, My cat has hyperthroidism and I get medicine made for transdermal application. The pills sort of killed my cat's appetite.

You should be careful with giving too much seafood- it's not really high in nutrients (the shelter I volunteer at won't accept donations of fish-based cat food for this reason) and it's really just meant to be a treat, but you shouldn't rely on it for their main sustenance.

Have you thought about taking him to a priest? Bright red eyes like that are a sure sign of demonic possession, and could explain his change in appetite. Demons are notoriously picky eaters.

Let me second the recommendation for Trader Joe's cat tuna. It's cheap - 35 cents for a regular tuna-sized can, and our cat is crazy for it. It is NOT her diet- she eats a vet-recommended dry food, but it's the vehicle for a twice-a-day medication. She gets half a L-lycene pill for a particular condition, morning and night. We crush it and mix with a teaspoonful of the TJ cat tuna. If we are two or three minutes late, she starts knawing on our ankles. I never knew cats could tell time.

It would probably be a good thing to put into your cat's food rotation, not a steady diet.

Speaking of tuna, TJ's has the really excellent Genova brand Italian tuna in olive oil for a little less than half what you get to pay for it at the widely-despised Jewel and Dominick's.