Suddenly not liking their food

We have one 12 year old cat, borderline diabetic controlled by diet, and two half-grown kittens. Until a week ago, had a fourth old cat. Feeding all of them Fancy Feast Classic Pate, all of the chicken and turkey and fish flavors. Started out with some liking fish only, some liking non-fish only, but then they began eating from each other's bowls and it was hard to make sure no one got cheated. So, to simplify things, we now open three cans of different flavors, mash them all together with a little extra water, and then dole it out and disperse bowls. They still constantly switch bowls to see if someone else has something better, but since it all tastes the same no one overeats any one bowl and they all seem to get enough. We order a case of each flavor all at once, then re-stack the cans in the boxes in rotating order, so all we have to do is pick up the next three cans in a row. The food mix is always at least one fish and at least one poultry, with the third can varying between.

Suddenly, NO ONE wants to eat their food. All three of them. It's the same blending we always have done. This has happened once before, went on for almost a week, where they grudgingly eat their meals a while later, after letting it sit for a quite while in protest. It seems like both times this started probably about the time we started new cases of food, I think (we order in so much FF it's hard to track, exactly.)

If one cat went off the food, I'd figure it was the cat. But all three at once? I'm wondering if FF varies some of the ingredients (like I've learned that "liver" can mean ANY kind of liver, not just turkey liver in turkey flavor food, chicken liver in chicken flavor food, nope, it can be a mix of every liver they can get) and so we get batches that they just don't like? Tried to put a beef flavor into the rotation once, and they definitely didn't like eating beef-fish-whatever mix.

So wondering if other people have noticed that their cats go off certain batches of FF? Since our older cat is not insuliin-dependent and going hungry is not a critical situation, our view is "if you don't want to eat, then go hungry til next time, we're not buying new food" and they do indeed decide eating is better than starving after a while. But I think it a bit weird that all three decide the food is no good all at once. Has anyone else seen this?

 

They probably don't like the mixing anymore, serve each flavor separate and see what happens... Cats, what can I say

I will say I used to see differences in FF batches when i was feeding FF. They would like one case but then not another. Later they wouldn't like the case they were liking and I'd feed from the old case and now they liked it. There must be subtle differences in each batch or case that they pick up on.

 

I have had them do that with mixed flavors like that and I don't understand it since whatever is in the can itself is already mixed up who knows what lol like you said liver can be any kind of liver, usually most cat foods have some kind of fish mixed in there, etc.

But yeah they do the same thing, sometimes they don't seem to care that I mixed it all up and sometimes they act like I've committed a crime against nature...and like you said, since it's the both of them I figure it has to be the food is just too weird not that it's an individual cats tastes.

So I only mix two things at a time now, and no more fish because maybe that's just too different than the other stuff? I dunno, but thats what I went with lol also my wife was worried they were getting too much fish because I give them sardines as a treat once in a while.

Years ago a vet advised my wife against too much organ meats , I can't remember why , I want to say too much of one specific vitamin? but I can't remember....anyway, she's still a bit cautious about giving too much of the "liver and.." or "and giblets" varieties because of that reason but they really like those flavors so that's why we were mixing.

 

Two of mine will not eat the FF Turkey and Giblets, even if mixed. My others have no problems. Before the the two would eat the FF T&G just fine.

 

Tried putting the flavors side by side in the bowls once or twice, to see if we could identify the offending food, but with everyone playing musical bowls, it just didn't work. One kitten had been on just salmon, as we suspected that chicken was making her poop unbearably stinky (honestly, you couldn't breathe in the same room, and could smell it throughout the house within one minute), but now I believe it's more the beef/beef liver that is mixed in the "liver" component of the food. Tried giving her just salmon again, now, after using the mixed mash for a while, well, she was having NONE of that, and went off to eat mixed mash, and one of the others snuck over to eat her salmon....sigh.
It's a three ring circus at feeding time, actually a five ring circus because we have 2 dogs, also.

But so it seems a couple others have seen differences between batches? So maybe cats aren't finicky, maybe the cat food makers are irregular, or maybe they do it on purpose to make us buy more an different foods?