Cat Stopped Loving Wet Food

[doug36]

3 year old, fixed male. Very healthy. Huge appetite. We feed dry food (Purina One) in the morning, and a can of Friskies in the evening. He LOVES it all, and always wants more, but we measure his servings, and his weight is stable at 11#. Very suddenly, he has STOPPED eating his canned food. Barely touches it. He doesn't whine for more food. He just mostly ignores it, and wolfs down his dry food in the morning. Not sure what's going on. How unusual is this behavior? We'll probably switch him to 100% dry food as a result.

 

[Kflowers]

First I would switch the timing, wet in the morning, dry at night. I know, but he's a cat.

If he still doesn't like it try a different flavor, they do get tired of the same flavor of wet. Or a different texture. Many cats seem to like one texture - puree, shreds, ground - then not.

check the ingredients on the canned food and see if they changed something. Remember they don't have to put changes on the label for six months after they make the change - this incredibly, unspeakable lax law is supposed to be because of the difficulty in retooling the factory to print the new labels. Like that is harder than changing the receipt.

 

[doug36]

Thank you. He stopped eating his wet food one evening, and repeated that with different flavors on subsequent nights. So I don't think it's the flavor. Interesting about changed ingredients. I doubt it, and they'd have had to do it on many of ther flavors simultaneously, but if they don't have to report changes for 6 months, there is no reason why I would find a label change. Your suggested strategy of just changing the feeding schedule is worth a try.

 

[Kflowers]

Not puree, pate. Sorry. Sounds like you've done almost everything you can. Have you tried the flavors he used to like in a different brand/ manufacturer?

It's hard. Our cat won't eat wet food. She'll look at it and walk away. The dog is always willing to help.

since she won't eat wet, we give her Fromm which is a high protien low carb. She liked Orijen but it was higher carb and she got a little
pudgy.

 

[doug36]

This guy really liked shreds. Did not like pate. Could try a different brand, but those are essentially just different flavors.

We have two cats. This one used to adore wet food, and now turns up his nose at it. Now he'll eat maybe half of it, eventually, but he used to wolf down the whole thing. The other one has never liked wet food that much. She'd eat a tablespoon of it or so, and leave the rest of the can to the other.

What is surprising is how fast he changed. One day he's eating the stuff like there's no tomorrow, and the next day he's starting to ignore it.

I'm a little surprised that he isn't acting hungry, though if I shake the dry food, he'll come running over. It is true that, by volume, wet food is a much less concentrated food source than dry food, but he's still missing out on some nutrition.

 

[Furballsmom]

Interesting about changed ingredients.

I don't doubt one bit that they've done this - pet food manufacturers are doing this all the time lately, sometimes with very bad results, sometimes with the somewhat less dramatic but still worrisome result that the pet stops eating that particular food, variety notwithstanding.

If I were you I'd try other brands, as suggested. It would be extremely beneficial for your cats' health if you can continue to provide wet food

 

[Kflowers]

Different manufacturers use different reciepts. You are right, IMO, most manfacturers use the same receipt over all the brands they produce. So it if is by ABC manufacturer there is a basic taste to it that is different from that by EFG manufacturer. The trick is discovering who makes which brands.

If you don't mind what wet food have you been feeding your cat?

 

[doug36]

As I said, it's just Friskies. But I'm not here to hear preaching about wet food. I've raised many cats on just dry food, and they've lived long, very healthy lives. This is a behavior question.

 

[Kflowers]

I was thinking of giving you the manufacturer and the other manufacturers so you could look around at different foods if you wanted to. As I said, our cat eats dry food, not made by Purina who makes Friskies, so no, I have no desire or need to tell you to give your cat wet food. I simply had the impression that you had enjoyed giving him wet food and would continue if you could find something he liked. My mistake.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I am not sure what exactly you want to accomplish - better nutrition and worried the dry does not suffice entirely? Have you looked at the food chart provided by @LTS3 and @cheeser, to see if that might give you some ideas?

Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

Edited: If the behavior is that he just doesn't like wet food anymore and you are OK with just dry food, then it would appear the answer is: just give him dry food. You can always add some water to the dry and see if he will take it that way. More moisture, but the flavor he likes?

 

[doug36]

Thank you, Kflowers. I'll look around. I was responding to the other poster.
What I'd like to accomplish is making sure my cats get enough water, and wet food is a good way to do that. It's 80% water. Their poop is hard and they strain if they don't get enough liquid. Nutrition-wise, no big deal, for me at least.

 

[maggie101]

My cat Maggie has decided she doesn't like pate anymore so every meal I have to mix in something with shreds or pieces of meat. She used to like beef but no more. I rotate chicken,turkey, and duck. Morsels,shredds,pates. Different brands. Also a big eater.. only eats wet

 

[doug36]

Yes, I can understand changes in appetite. But dramatic changes in appetite in 24 hours is surprising to me. From gobble-gobble for years to ptueeee in one day.

 

[maggie101]

Yep, it can happen. If she doesn't get her topper she will sniff my other cats bowls then leave or just patiently sit in front of her bowl looking at me

 

[Kflowers]

Okay, then let me give you the listing I have for who makes what. Nestle (you can look it up in the Wikipedia too) bought Carnation, who owned Friskies.
Nestle owns- sorry for the spacing, on my notes it's single but here it always doubles.
Nestle

Alpo Chophouse

Beneful,

Busy Bone,

Castor Pollux dry* (recently purchased by Merrick Pet Food – 2018 Merrick purchased by Nestle )
Chew-rific

Chef Michael

Deli-Cat,

Dog Chow,

Fancy Feast,

Friskies, (bought by Nestle in 1985)

Gourmet Gold,

Healthy weight cat food

HiPro,

Kibbles and Chunks,

Kit ‘N Kaboodle,
Purina

Pro Plan
Pet Promise

Merrick

Mighty dog Select

Mon Petit

Organix

TBonz,

Whisker Lickin’s

Whole Earth Farms (Merrick) as of 2015 owned by Purina Nestle



The thing is every time your cat stops eating a food he likes, you might want to check current ownership of the brand. The big corporations sell the brands to each other regularly. I hope this helps

Mars corporation is the other big - lots of brands - manufacturer. It's a little difficult to discover what they make. Here is my most recent list - the list always spaces like this while single spacing else where.

Alley Cat

Authority

Big Red dog food

Berkley Jensen cat food

Blue Buffalo can
Canidae can
Castor Pollux Can

Ceasar

CATSAN®,

CHAPPI®,

CRAVE®

DREAMIES®

Dogswell can

Eukanuba,

FROLIC®

GREENIES®

Iams,

KITEKAT®

Life’s Abundance Can

Nature’s Logic Can
Nature’s Variety can also made by Del Monte

Natura brands (California Natural and Evo),

Nutro – bad UTIs bad

Ol Roy dry

Petcurean can
Pedigree
PERFECT FIT®

PILL POCKETS®

Publix Pet food is made by Mars.

Royal Canin

SHEBA®

SPECIAL KITTY®

TEMPTATIONS®

THE GOODLIFE RECIPE®

WHISKAS®


Smuckers - manufactures

Meow Mix, EverPet

Special Kitty Rachel Ray

Kibbles & Bits Natural Balance

Nine Lives 9lives Milk-Bone,

Pup-Peroni, Gravy Train,

Nature’s Recipe, Canine Carry Outs,

I hope this helps.

 

[Kflowers]

I would also google that particular batch of Friskies (the one he won't eat) with expiration date + reviews and complaints. There may be something wrong with that batch and all the flavors made when it was produced.

 

[doug36]

So, Kflowers, you're suggesting that if I try another brand of wet food, I try another brand that comes from a different manufacturer? I guess that makes sense.

 

[1 bruce 1]

It's a rare thing, but sometimes cans don't get sealed properly in packing and by the time you put it in a dish, it's starting to go off. How long has this been going on? Did the wet food come out of a multi-pack, and if so was it all from the same pack?
Either way, I'd jot down the production/lot number, and keep an ear open, sometimes recalls take months to hit the news (kind of stupid since most of that food has been fed by then). If in a few weeks or months time you hear about the lot of the food he snubbed being recalled for some reason, it might bring this case to a close.
Dry food isn't called "kitty crack" without reason. They spray the food with a very enticing mixture of fats, aromas (handle dry food with your bare hands, then take note how your hand smells/feels a little greasy).
I personally have had cats live to their 20's on dry food alone, but we do like including water in their diets when we can.
It's strange he's done this so abruptly after eating a combination of the two though.
I like K Kflowers suggestion of splitting the wet and dry meals up and seeing his reaction. Might be a good experiment to see if this is a food preference, or behavioral, medical, or.....etc.
I wouldn't panic if he's eating the dry like you say he is, but if he slows down on that, as I'm sure you know a call to the vet is necessary.
Let us know what you find out.

 

[doug36]

I buy the cans individually, off the shelf. Sure, a single can can be defective, but as I said, this happened for TWO cans with different flavors. Our other cat (who doesn't like wet food much, but will eat some) ate just as much out of these cans as she usually does. So I have to believe this is a behavior issue and not a bad food issue.

 

[Furballsmom]

When's the last time you had this cat in to the vet?