Cat Not Eating Dry Food

[Kurai_Sen]

This isn't just another "cat won't eat dry food" threads. I'm very well aware that wet food only diets are considered better here, and I've tried it with my cat, with adverse affects.

I've been prowling this site and many others like this for a long time before I became a member. When we first got our kitten as a spur of the moment decision (not ours), for the first couple of weeks we had to feed him Whiskas because all we had at home were vegetables and he detested them. I then moved him to Royal Canin because my dumb self believed it to be more healthy for him. He spent the new five to six months of his life on Royal Canin dry food, supplemented by wet food of the same.

One day, we ran out of dry food, and I took this opportunity to move him onto wet food only as advised by many on this site and others. I bought the best quality wet food available (Sheba, Applaws and Forza10) to find out what he liked best. Well, he liked the wet food, but his body had a different tale to tell.

He put on weight like anything and became groggy. His poop and pee smelled so bad we had to clean out the litterbox once a week or more frequently with bleach in order to get rid of the smell. Even that wasn't enough at times and we spent fortunes on filters and air fresheners. Whenever I cleaned his litterbox, I'd find the litter having become a sort of grungy paste, and I changed litters a lot believing it to be the cause.

I then decided to switch to Orijen, a decision my cat wasn't happy with, and I observed the changes over a few weeks. His health improved like crazy. Not only did he begin to shed off the extra kilos he'd put on, he became much more active. His litterbox stopped stinking and the grungy paste disappeared, now I realize that was diarrhea. Even our vet remarked on the health bounds he'd made.

He's not the happiest with the dry food after having eaten wet food for weeks, and I understand why, so he generally eats during the day. However, since yesterday the gaps between his meals have widened and I fear for him.

I don't want to shift him to a wet only diet because I'm done with his health being affected by it. Some cats can't do well on those diets and my cat's one of them, so please do not recommend switching him completely to wet food. He still gets it of course, since I know that a fully dry diet isn't the best. We have water bowls throughout the house and he's a good drinker as well, and has no kidney stones in sight, according to the vet.

What can I do to urge him to eat more the food that's the healthiest for him?

 

[lisahe]

It sounds like you have quite a feeding challenge -- I'm sorry to hear about the litter box problems, that's never fun. I have to wonder if there's something specific about those three wet food brands that didn't agree with your cat. Some cats' digestive systems don't respond well if they're moved from one kind of food to another very quickly but weight gain is a little different.

Just to be clear, I think you mean the Orijen when you write "the food that's healthiest for him," right? Also, how much of your cat's diet is currently wet food? And what is your cat's name?

I'm not quite sure what to suggest since feeding problems are usually the opposite -- a cat who's a dry food convert won't eat wet food -- but maybe you could take the opposite approach and try feeding a small dish of dry food with a little wet food on top? (Usually "toppers" are the other way around but...)

Good luck!

 

[Kurai_Sen]

It sounds like you have quite a feeding challenge -- I'm sorry to hear about the litter box problems, that's never fun. I have to wonder if there's something specific about those three wet food brands that didn't agree with your cat. Some cats' digestive systems don't respond well if they're moved from one kind of food to another very quickly but weight gain is a little different.

Just to be clear, I think you mean the Orijen when you write "the food that's healthiest for him," right? Also, how much of your cat's diet is currently wet food? And what is your cat's name?

I'm not quite sure what to suggest since feeding problems are usually the opposite -- a cat who's a dry food convert won't eat wet food -- but maybe you could take the opposite approach and try feeding a small dish of dry food with a little wet food on top? (Usually "toppers" are the other way around but...)

Good luck!

Thanks for the reply!

I've tried more wet food brands as well, all over a period of four to five weeks. Till now, one thing I can decide is that unless my cat has something solid like a dry food, he tends to have motions. He had the same problem when we first got him home at a little over a month or so, he was a stray.

And yeah, Orijen has been the only brand, wet and dry, that has had such amazing results with him. I'd say around 20% of his diet is wet food, he gets motions if its more. And his name's Ryu ^^

Yeah, I've heard quite a lot of that, and I've tried topping. Usually he just gobbles up the wet food and leaves the dry food until he feels hungry again.

 

[Ardina]

That is quite a dilemma! When I was feeding dry, Saipha loved playing "fetch" with her dry food. I'd toss pieces down the hall, she'd chase them down, gobble them up, and race back for the next throw.

Maybe your cat would eat dry more willingly if you turned it into playtime?

 

[Kurai_Sen]

That is quite a dilemma! When I was feeding dry, Saipha loved playing "fetch" with her dry food. I'd toss pieces down the hall, she'd chase them down, gobble them up, and race back for the next throw.

Maybe your cat would eat dry more willingly if you turned it into playtime?

Thanks for the reply!

Hm, I've never tried that before, perhaps I'll give it a try!

 

[lisahe]

That's a good idea to try games with the dry food.

And how strange that all wet foods you've fed at more than about 20% seem to cause problems for Ryu.

His behavior eating the topper is typical: the same thing happens sometimes here, when our pickier cat eats the topper off a food she doesn't really like. I guess the good news is that you've found a decent dry food that agrees with Ryu and are able to feed him some wet food without problems.