Considering Switching My Cat’s Wet Food To Dry...

Artistwolf

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 13, 2017
Messages
102
Purraise
88
Location
Tennessee
I’ve always been really into the whole “a cat should only eat wet food” thing but before you get a cat... it just all works so well in theory and then your cats come along and throw you a curveball. XD
So right when we got the cats, my parents read something about how cats should have some dry food so I compromised and have them now on Merrick Purrfect Bistro Chicken in the morning and one 3 oz can of whatever food (I like to rotate it; they were on Meow Mix for a while but have appeared to have grown bored of that so now it’s just whatever good quality food is on sale).
This arrangement works perfectly for my cat Salt. He’d eat anything. I swear I can throw a pill into his mouth and he thinks, “oh, food, yum” and swallows it no problem. Haha.
My other cat, Pepper? Well... he’s another story.
He’s never been a big fan of wet food in general but he’s always eaten most of it. I say most because I think he’s only finished all of his food like three times maybe in the seven or eight months we’ve had them. Hence he’s looking really skinny and Salt is looking rather fat.
Now recently it’s gotten worse, to the point that I’ll give him his food and he’ll just sit there and look at it until I add some dry food on top, st which point he’ll slowly approach it and sniff at it suspiciously and try to eat around the wet food. Ugh. So my parents are all like, “This cat drinks a ton of water. He’s like addicted to water. So I don’t see why you can’t just feed him exclusively dry food.” Now I must say they’ve got a point—I’ve never seen a cat so fascinated with playing with and drinking water. My mom jokes that he must be diabetic but I looked that up and he displays no other symptoms—and he’s always been like this.
My dad says that I’m welcome to buy a more expensive dry food in order to feed to him at night while I’d still give Salt his wet food. I honestly hate this idea because if you ask me, wet food is just so much better in so many ways. Of course there’s the option of raw, but I don’t want to make that (don’t really trust myself to and all that) and there’s just no way we could afford the commercial raw food. So I went off to find the best dry cat food with a low carbohydrate level and lots of protein.
I think my best bet is Tiki Cat Carnivore Chicken & Fish, And my dad is okay with that price point for feeding one cat at night.
I’m still not super happy with this so I’d kind of like to hear what you guys think. Should I just keep at it with the wet food, or should I give this a try? Salt might try to steal it but he does that anyway so I’ll just be careful. Anyway. Just wanted a second opinion… thanks in advance!

Edit: forgot to add, we like to keep our wet cat food priced at around 50 cents per 3 oz. Will buy more expensive foods if they're on sale for around this price.
 
Last edited:

Furballsmom

Cat Devotee
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
39,271
Purraise
53,927
Location
Colorado US
Hi - regarding kibble vs wet, the low carb good protein Tiki Cat is a great choice - nicely done. As a matter of fact I'm adding it to my own list :thumbsup:

However, I'd like to suggest that Pepper needs to be taken to a vet, just to be sure there isn't something else going on that's causing his growing reluctance to eat and drinking a lot of water.

One thing you could try is taking half a can of pate style wet food, add a tablespoon of warm-to-hot water to it, stir and see what Pepper thinks of that.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

Artistwolf

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 13, 2017
Messages
102
Purraise
88
Location
Tennessee
Thanks for the input! Glad I made a good choice there :D

He went to the vet with his brother (who was there with an injury) on Monday, and although the vet didn't examine him too closely, he did say that both cats appeared to be very healthy. Pepper's got a very shiny coat and is super active... but I do see your point. I'll see what I can do.

Ooh, that's a good idea! I'll try that next time I feed them. Thank you again!
 

RajaNMizu

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
May 28, 2018
Messages
572
Purraise
1,307
Hi there! My situation is very similar to yours. I have one cat who will eat most anything (Raja) and another who can be difficult (Mizu). Mizu also loves water. (Her name even means water!) After much trial and error and Raja eating a few of Mizu's meals we've found a few wet foods Mizu enjoys however they are not at that price point. One of the things that has helped a lot are the bonito flakes. Yesterday was the first time I tried giving her Canidae rabbit and as expected, she was reluctant to eat it until I added the bonito flakes. She wound up eating almost all of it. Perhaps that will work for your cat.
 

maggiedemi

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
17,104
Purraise
44,385
Gosh, I know how you feel. My cats are the pickiest on the planet. But I hope you keep trying with the wet food. Mine like Sheba Cuts, Fancy Feast, and Friskies. Sheba cuts is 70 cents, but sometimes they have sales and coupons. The other 2 are around 50 cents. If my cats don't get any canned food, they get dried out and the pee problems start. I do feed some dry food too though, I just keep it under half a cup each cat.
 

duckpond

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 13, 2017
Messages
3,905
Purraise
4,346
I feel your pain too! I posted last night about my Itty white cat. she would only eat dry for 3 years, but i still gave her wet 2x a day along with my other 3 who like wet, she would just never touch it.

Finally after 3 years of her refusing all wet she has this last month started eating it. Im very happy.

I will always feed some dry, but i like for all of my cats to eat wet as well. One thing you may try different wet foods when you can find ones in your range.

When you open a can for salt, who likes wet, give a bit of it to pepper, in a separate bowl. If he eats it great, crack open another can for them if needed, if not well then im sure Salt will have no problem coming over to finish the part of the can you gave pepper? So no waste. Then give pepper his dry, if he refuses the wet, while salt is finishing up the wet? This way you can continue to offer pepper wet, but waste less food, and feed pepper his dry so he does not get skinny or sick? will just take more effort on your part, but we do what we have to do :) Hope that made sense...lol just now on first cup of coffee :heartshape:
 

maggiedemi

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
17,104
Purraise
44,385
I thought of one more trick that sometimes works. You can put half of a 3oz can of wet food on a plate side by side with 1/8 cup of dry food (side by side on the same plate). Or take the 1/8 cup dry food, spread it out on the plate and drop the half a can of wet food on top, don't stir together, just drop on top.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

Artistwolf

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 13, 2017
Messages
102
Purraise
88
Location
Tennessee
RajaNMizu RajaNMizu Oh, nice to know I’m not the only one! Raja and Mizu sound adorable :) Great tip! I’ll have to go buy some bonito flakes then and see what Pep thinks of that. Thank you so much!

M maggiedemi Thanks for the ideas! I’ve tried the Sheba pate before and neither cat liked it very much. Last night it was Pure Harmony Grain Free that I tried but they didn’t love that either. I’m thinking they aren’t really a fan of that kind of slimy pate—style.
Funny thing, my cats actually couldn’t care less about catnip—we’ve actually got a catnip plant outside and I’ll pick and crush some catnip leaves and place them in front of the cats and they both just glance at it or sniff it then walk away or look at me like “and this?” Haha.
That’s a pretty good idea!

duckpond duckpond I actually saw that right after I posted my topic! I was going to comment on it but I guess I got distracted, lol. Why do cats have to be so difficult sometimes? Haha. That’s wonderful news that he’s started eating it!
Haha, no, it makes perfect sense xD And it’s a good idea! Thanks!

Ugh, just gave Pepper some Fancy Feast Medley’s white meat chicken Primavera and ge started licking at it and I got all excited until he walked off a minute later having hardly made a dent in it. Put some warm water in it and he still wouldn’t touch it; when I added some dry food he nibble at it a little but still ate hardly anything. It’s rather frustrating... really might have to get him on Tiki while I try to figure something else out.

Here are a couple of above photos... what do you think of Pepper’s weight?
C327CE97-FB3D-4946-9BFE-E0663975250D.jpeg

Here’s Salt, by way of comparison:
51E823C3-F05F-454F-BB9B-657ED9F10F8A.jpeg
 
Last edited:

maggiedemi

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
17,104
Purraise
44,385
That's why I suggested Sheba Cuts, my cats hate the pate too...Maybe try a tablespoon of tuna juice on the wet food? You can even dilute the tuna juice with a little water to make it go further. I keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days. Chunk Light Tuna in water.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #12

Artistwolf

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 13, 2017
Messages
102
Purraise
88
Location
Tennessee
Okay! Makes sense. I’ll see if I can get some of that then.
Tuna juice? That’s an idea. I’ll have to try that. Thanks!
 

Furballsmom

Cat Devotee
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
39,271
Purraise
53,927
Location
Colorado US
Hi! Actually they both look good.
As long as you can feel a thin layer of fat over Peppers ribs when you lightly touch his sides, you and he are just fine :thumbsup: :cloud9:
 

duckpond

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 13, 2017
Messages
3,905
Purraise
4,346
They do both look good. Pepper is a bit on the thin side, but not bad, i just would not want him to loose weight. Salt is just about right too, just would not want him to gain much. Cats are like people, some are naturally thin, some are not. I have from skinny but healthy, to just right, to very good, but wouldn't hurt if lost 1 lb, with my 4. Vet says they are all good, so i don't worry.

I watch mine close, and try to feed wet as much as possible, but i do supplement with dry. I also keep out several bowls of fresh, clean filtered water. I try to keep to the high protein moderate fat and low carb foods. And i get a yearly vet visit. He weighs them well, and does a fitness evaluation. I think this is important to get an unbiased opinion of their overall health and fitness. I have mom eyes :rolleyes:
 

RajaNMizu

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
May 28, 2018
Messages
572
Purraise
1,307
Salt and Pepper both look good to me! (Saying their names puts the song "Push It" in my head though! Lol! Salt and Pepa's here...)
I also thought of something that also might have been useful when moving Mizu away from dry food to wet. I stopped putting dry food out right after she would ignore her wet food. I mean, if I were her and I knew I was going to get what I wanted just by passing up what I didn't want, that was an easy choice. Just wait and kibble will come! Instead, I stretched out her kibble choices. She had some early in the morning and right before bedtime. I wanted to create an appetite while still keeping her fed. So, if she passed up her wet food meal, dry food wasn't coming for a few hours. It took about two weeks for her to start seeing my point of view. Coincidentally, she has been more affectionate and less shy as well in the past week when previously she was more aloof.
 
Top