I knew AI had quietly become useful in my daily life — but I didn’t expect it to help me crack Stanley’s food drama.
Since we got him at the end of March, I’ve tried everything. All the fancy fresh foods:
If it was fresh, expensive, and highly recommended, I probably ordered it.
Eventually, I landed on Happy Howl, a shelf-stable wet food with better ingredients than typical canned food. Stanley ate it happily for a couple of months. Feeling confident, I bought a full case.
And within days of that case arriving, Stanley decided he was done.
We paused. We retried. Nothing. I’ll likely donate the rest to a local shelter.
Out of desperation, I grabbed Fresh Pet at the grocery store. Stanley loved it — but the quality isn’t great, and after a couple of weeks he was shockingly gassy. Not ideal.
At the same time, I was free-feeding Science Diet Small & Mini Sensitive Stomach and Science Diet Oral Care, thinking that if he didn’t want the fancy stuff, he could eat dry food.
Enter AI (and a Reality Check)
Frustrated, I laid the whole situation out for ChatGPT. Its advice was simple and honestly relieving:
Stop trying so hard.
No more juggling fresh foods. No more expensive, high-maintenance meals. Switch to a high-quality dry food and stick with it.
The recommendation was Farmina N&D Ancestral Grain Chicken & Pomegranate. I had never heard of this brand, but I’ll research.
I was skeptical — it’s “just kibble” — but the nutrition checked out. So I ordered it.
It arrived yesterday. I gave Stanley a few pieces.
He inhaled them.
This morning, I offered a small mix of what he’d been eating (including a little Fresh Pet) plus the new food. Stanley ate all of the Fresh Pet and all of the N&D.
🎉 Woot.
The New Plan
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No more free-feeding
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Two meals a day
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Slow transition off everything else
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Eventually: just the N&D
This is what you get, buddy. Like it or not.
Opinion: Sometimes picky eating isn’t about the food — it’s about too many options. Simpler really can be better.
Where I’m Buying Food Now
I’ve always ordered pet food from Amazon using Subscribe & Save — easy and automatic. But I couldn’t find this specific food there, so I ordered from Chewy.
After doing a quick comparison, Chewy turned out to be cheaper for some pet items, but not all. I’ll keep buying cat food from Amazon, but I’ve moved Stanley’s new food — and a few other items — to Chewy.
I’ve also been using ChatGPT to help build a dental care plan for the cats (especially Puck post-dental) and for Stanley. More on that soon.
If you’ve lived with a picky eater, I’d love to hear what finally worked for you.