I recently posted good news about my 13 year old neutered male cat who is in remission from small cell intestinal lymphoma, and has been for about a year and a half. I am also posting this to the nutrition board because I am not sure where it belongs.
Mr P is doing so well that he has reverted to his bad eating habits from his healthier youth. He has always been notoriously finicky (he won't even touch treats or people food---except inexplicably Cool Whip). For years, his basic diet was low calorie premium dry food with an ocassional (3 times a week) 3-oz can of mid-priced wet food if he felt like it. When he got sick, the vet recommended he go completely to wet food. At first, I fretted over the fact I have two other healthy younger cats that eat both wet and dry food, and was concerned that he would still eat the dry stuff.
To my amazement, as if he knew, he stopped eating the dry food and started eating the wet exclusively, and this lasted for 18 months. I should mention that he is on an appetite stimulant every other day to keep his weight up because he is so finicky. Well, a few weeks ago, I noticed he was refusing the wet food more often than usual, and that the dry food stations were emptying out much more quickly than normal.
Then I realized that he had gone back to the dry food. He seems to be tolerating it, and keeping it down. Today, a Sunday, in order to force him to eat the wet food, which is better for him and in which I can put all kinds of supplements and vitamins, I removed the dry food from the house for all the cats.
Right now, he is sitting there staring at the empty bowl and glaring at me. My hope is that eventually, he will cave in and eat the wet food. Any insights or suggestions? Maybe I should just get rid of dry food altogether for all the cats? The big issue with that is the inconvenience for me.
