If your cat won't eat canned food...

...but your vet has recommended it, try mushing in a few bonito flakes! Right now I'm using Pet Gold, just because I spotted it in the store, but I just ordered some Kitty Kaviar brand because it comes in a bigger container. I swear, it's Kitty Krack. My little gourmand turned up his nose at anything but kibble after I put medicine in some Fancy Feast for him - after that, anything that came from a can was suspect. But when I mash in a few bonito flakes, his tongue is in that bowl lickety-split! Lapping up a bit of extra water with his food (and Cosequin, and Petromalt, neither of which mixes handily into dry food either. But you don't have to tell him that.)

Love, Columbine

I'm intrigued - what are Bonito flakes, please? I don't think I've seen those here in Australia. Is it a breakfast cereal (as in ...cornflakes) or is it a gravy mix (what we would call gravy granules)?

I mash a tiny bit of creamed sweetcorn and steamed pumpkin into my girls' food. It adds fibre and nutrients that might not be in the canned food and is good for kidney cats, which my eldest is. It makes the food go further too which is good because I can buy them the gourmet varieties that they enjoy. They really like Fancy Feast Royale, the duck one is a favourite. :p

Bonito flakes are dried fish, shaved paper-thin. It's Japanese - but if you're buying it in a Japanese store, make sure you get it without sugar or salt, as some do have those added. The ones marketed specifically as cat treats are just fish. Concentrated fish.

Love, Columbine

Interesting sounding item.

I've also found that heating up canned cat food works sometimes also. Seems if it's really stinky it stimulates the cats desire to eat. We had to do that with Dusty for a time when she was sick back in '97 and wouldn't eat. Warming her food up did help until she got back into eating again. Might be worth a try also.

Bonito flakes are a life saver!! They helped me get my cat back on food after a bout of hepatic lipidosis.

Just an update - I was mashing Petromalt into Smudge's food because he wouldn't take it any other way. Bad idea - the petroleum kept him from being able to absorb vitamins A & D, and he got huge eczematous lesions on his neck. Luckily, since then I've found an anti-hairball treat (Purina Pro Plan) that he actually likes that I can feed him BETWEEN MEALS - that's the important part! And he's getting extra "Kitty Treat" (his 3V Caps, which contain mostly yummy stinky fish oil) to help heal up the itchy ouchies.

He also seems to like his food really wet and mooshy (his tongue's not really very sandpapery; it's quite soft and tickly, so maybe it's hard for him to pick up food) so I'm crumbling a couple of Hugs & Kisses treats into the bowl and using that and water as a gravy base to mix all the other goodies into. It's a hit - but really, mostly because of those bonito flakes! Nothing like Low Tide Gravy to get his appetite up!

Love, Columbine

Where does one buy bonito flakes?

My cat will not longer eat wet food either since I tried putting some medicine in it a few years back. It's amazing how they sense these things!

You can buy bonita flakes on line or most pet stores carry it - PetCo, PetSmart and the like. Make a few phone calls, or google it.

Google Kitty Kaviar - that's a popular brand, although I started out with Pet Gold brand just because I saw it in the pet supply store.

Love, Columbine