How To Get a Cat to Eat : 13 Steps to GUARANTEED Success! - Cat Health Vet Advice

Have you got a really fussy cat? Are they really picky when it comes to eating and you're just tearing your hair out, trying to get them to eat? Help is at hand as in this article I'll give you 13 ways for how to get a cat to eat as well as discuss how to prevent them from becoming picky and fussy in the first place!

Do you buy one food, they seem to like it and then they just go off it completely. You buy another one and you end up with 10 different unfinished bags of foods in the cupboard that your cat just won't eat? It can be a nightmare. As well as discussing how to get a fussy cat to eat I also give you some vital tips for how to prevent your cat from becoming a picky eater in the first place.

But first you need to answer some questions:
- Is your pet actually hungry?
- Are they healthy or actually unwell?

Connect with me:

Disclaimers: all opinions are my own, sponsors are acknowledged. Links in description are typically affiliate links that let you help support the channel at no extra cost.
We are a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.

The information provided on the Our Pets Health YouTube channel is not a substitute for the examination, assessment and advice given in person by a suitably qualified veterinary surgeon. The information is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute specific vet advice for any individual cat, dog or other animal of any species.

[maryalycevonstein]

This is the single most helpful resource I have found on the internet for the problem of fussy eaters, and I’ve been searching for answers since April.

[sle]

I thought i was the only one with this problem. Sometimes i open 5 different packets of cat food and he sits there looking at me like he wants me to open another one

[michelseifert]

My cat didn't want to eat for a week. She was in a hospital getting fluid and lost a lot of weight. After a week of trying to put food in here mouth we came to the idea to blend her wet chicken and give it to her with a syringe in her mouth. First day she didn't like it but let it happen. After one day she liked it and after not even 2 days she is licking the shredded food from a spoon without the need for the pipe. Give it a try!

Vote up to maybe save a cats life (I don't want no fame but it would have helped if I did it earlier)

Edit: we were super lucky to have an extra 6 months with our 19 year old cat through this method. Later sometimes she ate and other days we needed to give her for 2 hours food with the syringe.

[RichObiQuan]

My gf left her cat at my place to take care of him and i get very worried that he hides under the bed and doesn’t eat. But he is used to me enough to cuddle with me at night. Idk what to do, i just want him to be ok

[ilovepikachu]

I am getting a cat soon so I am watching thousands of cat vids to get ready.thanks, this helped me a lot 😊😊😊

[christiansanchez]

I recently picked up a cat from a person who didn’t have time to care of him and it’s really sad cause he’s really skinny and it’s been a nonstop battle I’ve gotten him probiotics for his gut bacteria and some calming vitamins to reduce his stress from being moved I’m working to get him dewormed just in case he has worms that are making eating for him uncomfortable this video is a massive help considering this is my first time nurturing a cat back to health

[felicitykraker]

My cat's best friend is my brother, he recently moved to college and Mt cat hasn't been eating her food. Thank you for this ❤

[mariadirienzo]

Thank you! this really helped. My kitty is sick with we don't know what yet, and these tips really helped me to help him eat. So glad I found this. I was so worried. thank you!

[dajo]

Meat flavored baby food or Hartz Delectables Bisque. They're Gravy consistency and go down well when my cat isn't feeling well.

[brendaanderson]

Yes I have found this very helpful, lots of suggestions I hadn’t thought about, but when you mentioned them, they make perfect sense, thankyou, I will certainly be trying them out on my cat

[beautyguruella]

My cat is literally so picky! From the first day we got her she refused to eat for 3 days (we took her to the vet nothing was wrong.) She goes on hunger strike all the time. She hates seafood and wouldn’t eat it without having dry food on top. Now she’s refusing to eat her favorite foods without cat soup on it. She isn’t even eating her favorite dry food

[masnakajima]

Very interesting and informative video! I never got why some animal protectors would ask for particular brand and flavor of cat food when asking for donations, since I never had a picky eater cat and never really realized that this might be a thing... until my pets' vet pointed out that she was amazed about how Kitty eats such a wide variety of foods, and how uncommon that was! I adopted her when she was 3 months old, and my cat loving dog Gringo was 5 years old, and when giving the dog food and treats, I usually offer her some too (after researching if it was safe, of course!)... so other than her everyday dry cat food, Kitty also loves wet food (it's her special treat), and also eats cat snacks, some dog treats (when she manages to sneak a bite from Gringo), egg whites, cooked pumpkin and some eventual unflavored popcorn

[vutomi]

If your cat is sick give your cat food with a syringe. Mix the wet food with a little water in a nutribullet. If you cat hasn’t eaten for 1 days rush to the vet first.

[yooperlooper]

We adopted our neighbors kitty after she passed away. Joey has always had bad teeth and he just had major dental work - like almost all his teeth are gone and we found out he has hyperthyroidism too. When we got him he was skinny, not the fault of our neighbor, she was sick so we came over & fed her pets and when we got Joey we fattened him up. Now after the dental surgery (2.5 weeks ago) he's lost a bunch of weight because he's hardly eating so he's not taking his thyroid pills either. I finally started to smash them up in a little blob of butter and smear it on his paw so he'll lick it off. He's always been a dry food eater but now he has to change to wet food . I guess we just have to give his mouth time to heal.

[neadesu]

Great video and great advice! I'll try some of them. I sometimes think my cat has ADD (if its even possibly in cats..), she has a problem concentrating, especially when eating lol. Like she does eat multiple times a day but for a very short amount of time and she'll run away as soon as she sees or hear something interesting. She LOVE and LIVES to play, she is extremely curious. But she eats almost only dry food though I always have wet food available, and I'd prefer her diet to contain of mostly wet food. I do have noticed she does eat wet food if it's room tempered. I have also noticed from this video that my cat is a social eater, she'll run to the food bowl after her daily cuddle. But yeah, I'll defenitely try not having the bowls out the whole day but offer wet food at certain times. 🐈‍⬛

[ailiyaalicia]

amazing video! My cat wouldn’t eat his new chicken wet food, I decided to try to warm it as you mentioned and it worked! the chicken smells like fish now ( similar smell with his previous food) which is great! Thanks for the recommendation!

[razziez]

Hepatic lepidosis brought me here. My cat was lethargic on the 23rd at about 9 at night. Fury was a fat cat but also very strong and playful. 4 years old. He was in his usual sleeping spot, but when one of us looked at him, he seemed dazed. I sat with him, giving him water every 15 to 30 minutes.The water helped him a bunch. Got him to the vet the next morning (24th) at 8, and he had some jaundice during examination inside his ears and on his scalp and on the roof of his mouth. Passed away on the 25th at about 730 in the morning in the vets care. I didn't know until after he passed that he had Hepatic Lapidosis. Cat obesity if as the video implied, seems to be an aggravating factor of this disease. The day we discovered him lethargic, my sister had thought he threw up in her room. She also says she thought he had only been eating less for 2-3 days. If what I think I is accurate is accurate, it means it took 5 or 6 days for him to succumb in total. If your cat is obease, watch them eat every day, and if they appear to go for a while without eating, consider syringe feeding them some wet cat food. Had I known the night before getting to the vet that he had hepatic lipidosis, only a couple of google searches and a talk with my sister away, I would have syringe fed him some wet cat food. Rescued him from a barn as a 5 to 6 week old kitten with an eyeball hanging out. Sad, I only got 4 years with him, but you do what you can with the knowledge you have at the time. Rip Fury 2020-2024

[annag]

Super grateful for this video and all the advice. I have 2 incredibly fussy Arabian Mau rescues I adopted from the UAE 6 months ago and tried everything to get them to eat properly. In the end the fortiflora powder was the miracle I needed, it’s expensive but worth every penny to see them enjoying their meals and they now seem more relaxed too, not to mention not having to waste so much money on uneaten food. Thanks so much 🙏🏻

[melodywitch]

my cat is not supposed to eat dry food. He was a rescue and we got him when he was about 5 months hes current 8 months and our vet advised that a medical problem may have been caused by us feeding dry food. he was getting wet food twice a day with dry food in-between before this as this is what he was fed at his foster home but he stopped eating his wet food almost entirely so we swapped brands a few times and he didnt eat any of them so our vet told us due to medical (we were told he could get liver issues easily) he shouldn't be eating dry food any way so we reduced it slowly eventually stopping all together hoping it would lead to him eating the wet food but sadly it has not. Our vet told us to just keep trying different brands until we find one he likes but at this point we are running out of brands to try. we are also trying toppings on his food but he will dig around for them and not actually eat the food itself. His teeth are fine, hes taking a normal amount of poos, hes playing and cuddly just like normal ECT its just that he only seems to want to eat the dry food and toppings. He is fed on a flat round ceramic dish. we are at a loss TBH.

[itsaaronlolz]

my kitten is about a year old and now he’s eating less. i want him to be a baby forever 🥺🥺