Cat will only eat dry food

[Roy Ecoff]

My cat will only eat dry food. She keeps pooping next to the litter box on the floor and through research I figure it is due to her diet causing hard bowel movements that hurt her and thus associating the litter box with pain. I went to the store and bought every type of wet food available. She will not attempt to eat any of them. I am on a tight budget, so experimenting this way is getting outrageous. I need help?

 

[Roy Ecoff]

I do not know where the kitten thread starter came from, but she is 1 year old.

 

[heatherwillard0614]

I do not know where the kitten thread starter came from, but she is 1 year old.

The kitten under your name is due to how long you have been here.
Here is a link to further explain that..

Promotions and Benefits

Wondering about your "cat titles"? These titles are given to our members based on the number of posts they make and how long they've been registered. The longer you stay and post, the higher your rank in our online clowder of cats! (Yes, clowder of cats, Google it :geekcat:) Promotion Ladder...

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[Roy Ecoff]

All these are what I have tried. I have 2 cats, Tom and Crispy. Crispy is the one having issues and the X means she wouldn't even touch the food.

 

[Roy Ecoff]

The kitten under your name is due to how long you have been here.
Here is a link to further explain that..

http://[URL]https://thecatsite.com/threads/promotions-and-benefits.242191/

[/URL]

LOL, I am obviously new

 

[heatherwillard0614]

I can't help much as I'm in the same boat in trying to transition my girl from dry to wet.
The first thing that will help is getting her used to a meal time feeding schedule

Second you want to transition slowly...

Transitioning Dry Food Addicts

his is the hard part. Cats, like children, often resist what is best for them.

www.catsexclusive.com

Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food - TheCatSite

I want my kitties to eat a healthier diet, and I’m ready to go! What’s next? Free-fed kibble eaters are usually nibblers. The very first step is to begin feeding timed meals. For free-fed nibblers, you cannot just pull up the kibble, they need to learn how to eat “meals.” This process is...

thecatsite.com

 

[heatherwillard0614]

I can't find the original thread to this but this is the part that I saved to help me with transitioning my baby girl...
I hope this helps.


《 "Don't give up on wet food! One of our cats was addicted to dry food when we adopted her at age 2 1/2. She's 11 now and her diet is usually about 60-70% wet food and two things that made a huge impact were adding Forti Flora and foods with gravy to various wet foods (among many, MANY, tactics we tried). FeebysOwner also has a great suggestion of using crushed dry food as a topper.

Forti Flora is a mild, single strain probiotic that is frequently used as an attractant. It has a high amount of animal digest and most cats love the smell. We started sprinkling 1/4 - 1/3 of a packet on her wet food and she immediately began eating a lot more wet!" 》

I hope this and the links provided help getting your little one transitioned

 

[heatherwillard0614]

LOL, I am obviously new

WELCOME to TCS everyone here is very kind and very helpful. Any questions you may have a lot of people will try to help. Pictures are always welcome... just saying lol we all love pictures

 

[Roy Ecoff]

I can't find the original thread to this but this is the part that I saved to help me with transitioning my baby girl...
I hope this helps.


《 "Don't give up on wet food! One of our cats was addicted to dry food when we adopted her at age 2 1/2. She's 11 now and her diet is usually about 60-70% wet food and two things that made a huge impact were adding Forti Flora and foods with gravy to various wet foods (among many, MANY, tactics we tried). FeebysOwner also has a great suggestion of using crushed dry food as a topper.

Forti Flora is a mild, single strain probiotic that is frequently used as an attractant. It has a high amount of animal digest and most cats love the smell. We started sprinkling 1/4 - 1/3 of a packet on her wet food and she immediately began eating a lot more wet!" 》

I hope this and the links provided help getting your little one transitioned

Thank you so much. I now know my problem is they graze all day from an automatic feeder. I adopted this because I was out of town a lot and just got lazy. She needs a schedule! Should have been a no brainer.

WELCOME to TCS everyone here is very kind and very helpful. Any questions you may have a lot of people will try to help. Pictures are always welcome... just saying lol we all love pictures

 

[heatherwillard0614]

Thank you so much. I now know my problem is they graze all day from an automatic feeder. I adopted this because I was out of town a lot and just got lazy. She needs a schedule! Should have been a no brainer.

Honestly I didn't realize that either... until someone told me on here. We are all here to help each other along the way with our babies.

It will take time and patience.

If you have anymore questions please don't hesitate to ask. Someone will have some kind of information

 

[Caspers Human]

A cat eating only dry food is not necessarily a bad thing but it's certainly not optimal.
Our eldest cat, Casper, was one that only liked dry food, at first. Our vet told us that a cat shouldn't eat more than 50% dry food. 50/50 wet/dry is the minimum.

After some time, we got Casper eating more canned food by offering him the kind with extra gravy. Turns out Casper's a 'gravy licker'... He licks off all the gravy and leaves the rest. Eventually, by switching up extra gravy with regular canned food, we got him eating wet food most of the time.

We talked to our vet, at length, about Casper's eating habits and how they effect his health in the long term.
One thing is that, if the cat eats only dry food, you have to make sure that you offer plenty of water to make up for the lack of moisture in the food. We offer three or four places around the house for Casper and our younger cat, Elliot, to get water. Both cats are drinking plenty.

The second problem with feeding only dry food is that it contributes to urinary tract problems. If there is too much ash and mineral content in the cat's diet, it contributes to urinary crystals and causes blockages where the cat can't pee. If that happens, you've got an emergency on your hands... obviously.

Eating too much dry food also contributes to harder stools which are harder to pass. As you have noticed, if it becomes too hard for the cat to make a deposit, it could lead to litter box avoidance. As we all know, the solution is to feed less dry food, more wet food and make sure that there is plenty of water available.

Our vet actually pounded her fist on the table and said, "Water! Water! Water!"

Another thing you can do if your cat has hard stools is to put a smidgen of Miralax (laxative) in the food. (Talk to your vet, first, before you do this!)

Miralax is an "osmotic" laxative. It causes more water to be absorbed into the stool, making it softer and easier to pass.
You don't need to use very much. A quarter teaspoon sprinkled onto the cat's dry food and stirred well. You can probably use less. Probably even an eighth.

Miralax might even make the cat thirstier, stimulating it to drink more water, too.

Casper needs to have Miralax in his food because he has a perineal hernia which makes it hard for him to make a deposit. We give him just enough to make it easy for him to go. We watch the litter box so we know whether he needs more or less medicine in his food.

Of course, all of this is done under the advice and supervision of our vet. If you think this is a good idea for your cat, take him to the vet and have him looked over in case there are other problems that make it hard for him to make a deposit. Ask the vet how much Miralax they think your cat might need. (Or whether to give it, at all.)

Certainly keep doing as you have been. Try to entice the cat to eat more wet food and drink more water.

If that doesn't work, get hold of your vet and ask about the Miralax option.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

IF your water bowIs are directIy next to your food bowIs, try moving them a few feet away. This is not aIways a probIem for aII cats, but some cats do not want to drink water out of a dish next to food, because instinct teIIs them that water too near a food source may be contaminated, or that's the thought. When I moved Hek's water bowI just four feet from her food bowI, her water intake tripIed! And her stooIs became softer, as weII. It's a simpIe thing to try, and free! May or may not make a difference with your cat, but...why not try it?

 

[Caspers Human]

Agreed! Absolutely!

Our cats' water and food are in several different places, throughout the house.
Their main food station is in the kitchen but there's another bowl of dry food, available full-time, in one of the upstairs rooms. They drink water from a fishbowl on a table in the kitchen, near the window. There's a watering can, under the plant stand in the living room and another bowl of water, upstairs. Casper also likes to drink water dripping from the bathtub faucet.

We always know when Casper has been drinking from the faucet because he comes out with his head all wet.

There's nothing like being in bed when a cat comes in to snuggle with you and finding out he's sopping wet!

 

[iPappy]

Thank you so much. I now know my problem is they graze all day from an automatic feeder. I adopted this because I was out of town a lot and just got lazy. She needs a schedule! Should have been a no brainer.

No judgment here, sometimes you have no choice and you have to do what you have to do to make sure they have food available when you're not around to feed them.
Are you still out of town a lot, or are you able to start with a feeding schedule?

 

[maggie101]

One of my cats does not like fish. My 3 cats are on a. Timed schedule. My cat Coco only likes pate like ff,sheba,nutro perfect portions,and many others. Maggie likes weruva. Peaches eats fancy feast classic turkey&giblets ff classics beef,and instinct venison. So try different textures,proteins,add freeze dried pure bites toppers. Mix the wet with dry

Welcome to the site!!!!

 

[danteshuman]

Some cats are dry food junkies and you never get them off the dry food. They spray the outside of dry food pellets with animal fat …., think Frosted Flakes for cats. it took me months to get my kitten off dry food (& I never got him off the tuna or fancy feast! ) I feed him 4 mini meals of wet food a day. He still eats some dry food but about 1/16 or a 1.4 cup of dry food every day. (Depending on how much he likes his wet food that day.)

If your cat will only eat dry food, then buy a healthy dry food.

 

[cmshap]

Just want to add a link to a thread in which I discussed my cat's stubborn dry food preference.

Wet/dry food ratio and pooping issues

My cat Willy ate dry food exclusively in the beginning of his life, but it was prescription food and recommended by my vet. He always had gastrointestinal issues and has vomited a lot throughout his life. I switched him to wet food (over time, gradually) in the last few years, and it almost...

thecatsite.com

I can't pinpoint exactly what changed it, but I did follow some advice I was given... that is to make dry food more of a reward only after he made an effort to eat his wet food (as I have to feed him both wet and dry food for his best digestive health).

Also, variety really helps. He didn't like chicken/turkey wet food at first, but now he loves it. And he waffles between preferring cuts vs. pate textures. Whatever you try, I would get a variety if possible. And if she won't eat one kind, don't get rid of it right away; she may like it later.

 

[danteshuman]

Oh yes variety is key. My boy gets about 20 flavors a month. Plus the texture really matters! My boy prefers small chunks in gravy, some cats prefer patte.

 

[cmshap]

Oh yes variety is key. My boy gets about 20 flavors a month. Plus the texture really matters! My boy prefers small chunks in gravy, some cats prefer patte.

And they can go back and forth. My cat preferred the "cuts" texture for quite a while, but then started only licking up the gravy and leaving most of the meat bits.

So I switched to pates, and he would lap them all up.

Every cat person I know struggles with their cats not eating certain foods, and they all inevitably change their minds about what they like.

This all makes sense, I believe, because they are opportunistic predators who definitely don't eat the same thing every day in the wild.