Obligatory “that product is made by Nestle which uses child slaves and kills babies etc” comment
Cats can taste the difference between stale and fresh.
I got a big air-tight container and I open the bag and pour the whole bag straight in there.
It makes a massive difference in smell alone. The cat doesn’t get excited over new bags anymore. I really recommend it.
Me too. But my cat still hates the last few days worth. She eats it because that’s all there is, but half the time, she just pukes a few minutes later. And when I bring home that fresh bag…she can smell it in the cupboard, and refuses to eat the old stuff, altogether.
Maybe it’s because of the brand or something? I get that stupid expensive stuff that makes us less allergic to my cat…
Nah, it’s just how long it takes her to go through a whole bag. Imagine eating the same bag of chips for a month. They just get stale after a while, once the bag is opened.
I agree. The bags we get are now resealable and it makes a huge difference.
If the container is big enough, consider putting the whole bag in there. It keeps it protected from light (if it’s a translucent container) and keeps it even more compact so there’s less airspace around it.
Oh, mine is a heavy, thick, completely opaque container. Good points! I should’ve made them.
(It’s specifically for dog food, but I use it for cat food, and it has a screw on lid.)
And I bet that is understating it a lot, Im sure there are huge differences in flavour
Yeah. Our kitties are always excited when they hear the bag. It’s not hard to imagine why.
Feed your cats wet food if you can afford it. it’s better for them and their kidneys. when they’re older you’ll be glad you did
And if they’ll eat it.
Mine slurps up half of the gravy, and then shows absolutely no interest in the solid food.
He was a rescue, so I didn’t get decide what he got used to eating.
Edit: I was not asking for advice. You are not giving me new ideas. The boy is over 10 years old at this point, the transition to wet food has been attempted a couple times, with veterinary advice.
He was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure in december, when he stopped eating even dry food. He is now on a veterinary diet to extend and make the remainder of his life comfortable. As such even fewer options are available. The wet versions of the special foods were tried, but especially considering his condition, he must eat, and do so regularly.
I was not asking for advice. You are not giving me new ideas.
I tell you I feel this comment. Sums up my experience with Lemmy perfectly. Just unending unasked for advice. This whole website is basically made up of old guys at a bowling alley who try to teach everybody how to bowl against their will.
“Are you at the solutions oriented stage or feelings oriented?”
Try purée. It’s the only kind my cat will eat. It’s a texture thing. She doesn’t know what to do with the big chunks in regular cat food.
Go to a pet store and buy 5 or 10 single serving flavors of decent quality. Might be $10-15 for the experiment to land on something they like. Plan and accept that a lot of it will be thrown out. They also might love it, but not day 2 when refrigerated.
Have you tried a bunch of different brands? I’ve found that my younger cat will eat a mix of any wet with the dry food without any real preference, but my old cat will only eat 2 or 3 kinds of wet food from 2 manufacturers.
Also get them something better than Purina. I’m sure that Purina dry kibble is full of carbohydrates and doesn’t have very much protein if you look at the dry matter basis. If you don’t know what dry matter basis is, you’ve got some homework to do.
Cats actually get some of their moisture from dry food. Old dry food will be more dry.
Oh, yeah, let humans eat ‘from the same 2 month old opened chips bag - it’s literally the same chips bag I’ve now just opened fresh’
I mean the smell is definitely more pugnant, I like to think of it as a newly opened can of coffee, technically the same but the first cup is always the freshest.
how do you know it’s bland, lisa?
You mean you don’t test out the food you are giving them first, what if it tastes bad?
I do.
I mean none of it is good, but there’s cat food that genuinely tastes bad.
Aren’t you a little curious?
Curiosity and lunch sated…
Kibble bags tend to be the best storage space but they need to seal closed. A bag in a sealed container is your best bet for maintaining fresh.
The fats and essential vitamins and nutrients are sprayed onto kibble and that’s the first thing exposed to go bad. A little subtle rancidity is detectable to cats.
If you dump kibble into a plastic pin: thosr rancid fats can leach into the plastic and remain there tainting all subsequent kibble with at least the odor of rancidity.
If a bag sits open unsealed for a week it’ll be stale as all hell and much less healthy.
Oh damn I didn’t know about the plastic container thing. Thankfully I haven’t been doing it too long yet. Only just started my older cat on dry food as she just doesn’t eat enough anymore otherwise.
I have a mason jar vacuum sealer and when I get new dry food, I put it into the big jars and pump out the air, to keep it hopefully fresh and not dry it out. I think it works pretty well, but the cat is never so excited as when there’s a fresh bag.
I also get smaller bags than I used to, so it cycles through a bit faster.
Seems like the cat is out of the bag.
Maybe stop feeding them the same opened bag of cereal that has gone stale 2 months ago.
Maybe feed them real food. Kibble should be abuse.
