Why Your Cat Won’t Eat: Causes, Risks & Tips for Changing Their Food

If your cat won´t eat or shows a loss of appetite, this can quickly become a cause for concern. Many cats are fussy eaters, if they suddenly refuse their usual food, or reject new varieties – this behaviour could be both instinctive or due to health-related reasons.

In this guide, we explain why cats can be picky, the risks of food refusal, when a cat stops eating, and how you can gradually accustom your cat to healthy feeding. With patience and the right strategies, even the fussiest cat can adapt to a new diet.

Cat refuses food for health reasons

It is important to distinguish when a cat refuses food: is it simply a picky eater that only eats certain types of food, or has it changed its eating behaviour and suddenly refuses food altogether?

While “bad” eating behaviour is relatively common in cats, sudden, total refusal to eat or long-term refusal to eat should always be taken seriously and checked by a veterinarian. 

Health reasons for food refusal in cats

If cats suddenly stop eating or do so for a prolonged period, this can be a health-related warning signal that should never be ignored. Possible health-related causes include:

• Digestive problems: Many cats refuse food when they feel nauseous – unfortunately, this is often only noticeable externally once the cat is already quite unwell. Conditions such as gastritis, intestinal blockage, inflammation of the liver or pancreatitis can greatly reduce a cat's appetite.
• Kidney or liver disease: Chronic kidney insufficiency or liver diseases often come with nausea, bad breath and loss of appetite. Especially for older cats these diseases can be the reason why a cat suddenly stops eating.
• Infections or systemic diseases: Viral infections (cat flu, feline leukaemia) or bacterial illnesses can cause fever and loss of appetite in cats. Parasite infestations can also affect a cat's appetite.
• Pain or discomfort due to other illnesses: As cats tend to hide pain, food refusal in cats is often the first visible sign that something is wrong. Conditions such as arthritis, heart problems or tumours can cause general discomfort.
• Dental and oral problems: Tartar, gum inflammation or tooth fractures can be painful. Ulcers and infections in the mouth can also lead to loss of appetite in cats.

Risks of food refusal in cats – what happens when a cat won´t eat  

Cats are carnivores with a very specialised metabolism. In the wild, they would hunt regularly and eat several small meals a day to maintain a constant supply of energy. If they do not get enough energy from food, the body quickly draws on its own fat reserves. In the process, large amounts of fat are transported to the liver, where they disrupt the normal fat metabolism. This can lead to deposits and swelling in the liver cells, resulting in what is known as fatty liver disease or fatty liver syndrome. Fatty liver disease (also known as hepatic lipidosis in cats) can be fatal if not treated quickly. 

Hepatic lipidosis can affect cats of any age but occurs especially in overweight cats, as they have more body fat to break down and are prone to insulin resistance.

As a guideline for orientation: Healthy, adult cats should not go without food for more than 24 hours. For young, elderly, sick, or overweight cats, the risk arises much sooner.

If your cat suddenly refuses food or does not eat for an extended period without an obvious reason, a veterinarian should be consulted to determine whether health issues are the cause for the cat’s refusal to eat.

Cat won't eat – behavioural reasons for food refusal in cats

Even in the womb, kittens learn what their mother eats and what she does not eat. After birth, this taste education continues - young cats learn flavours and textures and usually remain loyal to them throughout life. 

This behaviour, also called "neophobic food preference", has an evolutionary background and serves as protection against dangers in the wild. Cats are naturally cautious and very sceptical of new foods. Reasons include:

• Protection against poisoning: Anything unfamiliar in the wild could be potentially toxic. An animal that eats new things without hesitation has a higher risk of falling ill or dying; neophobia reduces this risk. 
• Learned, safe food sources: Between 4-7 weeks of age, kittens learn by observing their mother and tasting for themselves which food is safe. These early experiences usually shape their lifelong acceptance of food.
• Combination of instinct and experience: Cats remember food that they have eaten frequently without negative effects as “safe”. New food must first be "tested" and this often happens hesitantly and only in tiny amounts.
• Taste-conditioned aversion: If a cat has a negative experience after eating a certain meal (e.g., stomachache or vomiting), it may associate the food with the unpleasant experience, even if the food was not the cause for the experience. Even a single negative incident, such as to be startled by something while eating, can lead to permanent food refusal. This is why many cats develop an aversion to their favourite food after an illness or medical treatment.

Refusal to eat is more common in domestic cats than in outdoor cats

Indoor cats are more "picky" and vehemently refuse new foods, as they are often kept in a controlled environment from kittenhood onwards, where humans determine what food they get to know. If the mother cat does not bring home a variety of prey and the food given to the mother cat and her kittens always remains the same, the kittens may never learn to give new things a chance and accept new foods.

When raising kittens, it is important that both the mother and kittens experience variety: different textures, flavours, protein sources, wet food, BARF and also dry food & snacks in appropriate amounts. This helps form positive associations and can prevent problems later on if, for example, the food has to be changed due to illnesses such as allergies or similar conditions.

Cat won´t eat: patience pays off

Being a fussy eater is in a cat´s gene and is often reinforced by the controlled environment that we humans create when raising kittens. However, even if your cat is picky, switching to a natural, healthy diet such as Felins Plus® is worth it. Patience and consistency are key: gradual introduction of new food will usually succeed. 

Expect resistance – it is in a cat´s nature. Cats easily master the proverbial "puppy dog eyes" – and if that does not work, they resort to an impressive repertoire of facial expressions, vocalisations and dramatic behaviours to get back their usual food, and most of the time they get their way. As a cat owner, you know best how persuasive your cat can be and how often you have given up at this point and thought that changing your cat's diet will never work – patience and consistency are essential.

What to do if your cat won't eat – tips for changing your cat's diet

Due to the special characteristics of cats mentioned above, two methods have proven successful when changing a cat's diet: 

Two-bowl-method: Offer a second food bowl with new food

With this method, you continue to feed your cat its familiar food, but place another bowl next to it and fill it with a small amount of the new food. Your cat will most likely ignore this bowl at first, but it will notice the smell of the new food while eating and can slowly get used to it and develop a positive association with this smell. Depending on how your cat was socialised in its youth, it may take some time before it is ready to try the new food.

Gradual-introduction-method: Introducing new food in tiny steps

With this method, you mix the old food with the new food. However, you only use a tiny amount of the new food at the beginning and reduce the old food by this amount. If your cat eats this mixture well, you can increase the amount of new food. Depending on your cat's character, it may take 2-4 weeks to gradually increase the amount of new food while reducing the amount of old food until you no longer need the old food at all.

As you only need a small amount of the new food at the beginning with both options, we recommend freezing the new food in small ice cube trays and only thawing one ice cube at a time to avoid wasting food.

Further tips on changing your cat's food

Feed your cat in a quiet, stress-free environment, and if you feed several cats, then feed them separately, as this may otherwise cause stress among the cats.

Our Felins Plus® Chicken Mousse is characterised by a particularly creamy and delicate consistency that many cats find very appealing. Especially when switching your cat to natural cat food for the first time, such as Felins Plus®, it can be helpful to start with our chicken mousse or mix it in small amounts with the old food to increase food acceptance.

Salmon oil, fish, whole goat's milk powder or coconut oil can also increase your cat's acceptance of the food when changing its diet.

You can warm the food slightly (to a maximum of 38°C) so that it mimics freshly caught prey. Many cats refuse food when it comes straight out of the fridge.

It is best to feed your cat several small, fresh meals a day, as this corresponds to their natural eating behaviour – in the wild, they would hunt several times a day.

These are just a few examples of how to successfully change the diet of your cat. You know your cat best, so decide which of these tips is most likely to work for your cat and try that one first. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our team of experts.

Setting up the feeding area correctly – an underestimated factor influencing cats' eating behaviour

Cats vary greatly when it comes to their personal preferences regarding their feeding area. Use ceramic or similar bowls, avoid plastic and keep food and litter separately. In addition, many cats prefer to have a choice of drinking options rather than just a water bowl located in the immediate vicinity of their food bowl.

In addition to these basic recommendations for setting up the right feeding area for your cat, there are other factors that influence whether and how much your cat likes to use the feeding area.

Why your cat won´t eat when it does not like the feeding place

“Bad” eating behaviour is relatively common in cats and it can have various causes, but one of these causes is unfortunately often overlooked or underestimated: the cat won't eat because its feeding area does not meet its needs. There are various possible triggers for this:

Traumatic experiences: Cats that have had bad experiences with eating – for example, because they were poorly kept, there were fights over food or they lived on the streets – are very careful about where their feeding area is located. Some cats prefer "open space", i.e. a feeding area that offers them escape routes in every direction. Other cats prefer high or elevated positions when eating, as this allows them to better survey their surroundings. Of course, there are also cats that prefer a hiding place so they can eat in peace. You know your cat and its history best – feel free to try out different feeding locations to find out which one your cat prefers.

Whisker stress (“Whisker Fatigue”): Whiskers are an important sensory organ for cats. They are primarily used for orientation, especially in dark environments, and are important for tracking prey when hunting. Their position also indicates the cat's mood. They are connected to many nerve endings and are therefore extremely sensitive (cats can use them to detect air currents and thus track the movement of their prey). If the whiskers constantly bump against the edge of the bowl when eating or drinking because the bowl is too deep or too narrow, this can cause overstimulation, which can cause stress in cats. This can lead to anxious or aggressive behaviour at the bowl, the cat may refuse to eat or drink altogether, or it may start fishing the food out of the bowl to scatter it on the floor and eat it there. Flat, wide food- and water bowls are more suitable for cats that suffer from whisker stress, as the cat cannot bump its whiskers against the edge of the bowl so easily.

Breed-specific characteristics: Brachycephalic cats such as Scottish Folds or Persians are characterised by a shortened skull shape, which can be associated with respiratory, eye and dental problems. The rather round skull shape, small mouth and shortened nose make the face look "squashed". In order to eat food from a bowl, these cats usually have to get their noses very close to the food, sometimes making contact between the food and their noses unavoidable. This is already unpleasant with dry food – but with wet food, it is of course even more critical. The deeper or narrower the bowl, the greater the challenge for the cat. This can be compounded by breathing and dental problems, which can make eating even more difficult. For this reason, brachycephalic breeds of cats often fish their food out of the bowl and eat it on the floor, which is why flat, wide food and water bowls are more suitable for them, especially if they are slightly elevated and, ideally, even slightly tilted.