Feline Foodie

Rory is the friendliest of The Fur Patrol.  He is a good-natured cat, getting along with everyone both human and feline.  He is also the Official Greeter for my home, spreading love and fur to everyone who visits.

Everyone has their quirks. Rory’s quirk is that he is a fussy eater.  One would expect that Furball, the purebred Maine Coon, would be the fussy eater, but he isn’t.  Instead, he suffers from food allergies.  Cats manifest food allergies in two ways.  One is by a rash on their chins which can also be caused by unwashed food bowls, or they develop an itchy spot on the backs of their necks which they scratch until the hair is gone and the skin is raw.  Furball exhibits the latter which actually makes it easier to spot a food allergy.  One has only to look down at him and see the bare spot on his neck to know that his food isn’t agreeing with him.

It was thanks to Furball’s allergies that I was serving expensive Science Diet food, both canned and dry, when Rory came to live with us.  He seemed to like it but perhaps he was just grateful to have a loving home and playmates to share it with.  The trouble started when Science Diet became too expensive for my budget and I switched to lower cost food. 

The best way to choose a dry food is by looking at the ingredients list.  Pet food manufacturers always list the ingredients in order of amount, with the largest percentage ingredient listed first.  If the list begins with corn, corn gluten or any other non-meat product, it is not good for cats who are pure carnivores.  The best dry foods for them are the ones with the most meat.  The ingredients list should begin with chicken or fish. Several weeks of trials revealed that IAMS Healthy Naturals was the best choice for dry food for The Fur Patrol.  It is all-natural and Furball could tolerate it.

Canned food was a big problem.  I decided to switch to Friskies canned food because Furball’s breeder fed it to their cats.  Breeders are fanatical about food and if Friskies was good enough for a breeder, it was good enough for me.  And inexpensive.  Initially, I bought various seafood flavors of the savory shreds.  I had been feeding The Fur Patrol the equivalent taste and texture Science Diet canned food and thought that it wouldn’t be so much of a change that I would risk food allergies or outright rejection.  Furball and Bandit eagerly scarfed it down but Rory refused to touch it. 

Remembering that Furball’s breeders had told me that he loved the chicken flavored Friskies, I switched to chicken.  Rory still wouldn’t eat it.  In desperation, I tried tender cuts, first in fish and then in chicken.  Every day, Rory would eagerly run to his bowl. Sniffing  the contents, he would give me a reproachful look and then dolefully walk away.  Furball and Bandit eagerly ate what he abandoned.

As a last resort, I literally got down on my knees.  Not to beg, but to reach the bottom shelf at the grocery store where the cans of “classic pate” are stacked.  You know, that icky stuff that looks like Spam but smells ten times worse?  The stuff that your grandmother fed her cats?  I offered The Fur Patrol both seafood and chicken.  Rory passed on the seafood.  When he got to the chicken, he couldn’t get it down fast enough.  Best of all was the way he licked first the bowl and then his chops.  Afterward, with a flick of his tail, he trotted over to the couch for a post-prandial nap.

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