Getting a very stubborn cat to eat wet food

[kakers]

Wanted to see if there were any suggestions out there we haven't tried! We have a 13 year old kitty whi has only ever eaten kibble and almost exclusively crunchy treats. Doesn't like wet things and by that I mean even if he got saliva on some kibble he wouldn't touch it. We have found a couple varieties of softer treats he will each but those are rate exceptions.

We've tried many things over the years- putting the kibble on the wet food (won't touch even the kibble cause ya know, its wet.) Same with crunchy treats. Once we got him to lick some wet food by putting catnip in it but that didn't lead to him eating it. We've tried putting small amounts of wet food and lickable treats on his paw so he had to lick it off. No dice. He's not interested in tuna juice either.

I've just accepted he's a kibble only kitty at this point for years BUT we're bringing hjn to the vet next week for what we strongly suspect is dental issues and are wanting to prepare for the strong possibility he may need some teeth extracted. From having other cats in the past who have needed extractions we're aware they're supposed to only get wet food while their gums heal, and I'd like to at least try to get him to eat something wet if we can.

So yeah looking for any additional tricks that may have worked for extra super stubborn cats.

 

[susanm9006]

Does he free feed kibble or only has it at specific meal times? If he is free feeding, that is the first place to make a change to a schedule. Also, how many different wet foods have you tried? They don’t all taste the same to cat and perhaps you just haven’t given him the ones he likes.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Baby food meat - Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut. Adding Forti Flora to any kind of wet food you even think he might be willing to try. Forti Flora could also be used with his dry food and some water to moisten it. It is a flavor enhancer. Human meats cut up into very small pieces - be that turkey, chicken, hamburger, etc. The lack of total nutrition isn't going to be a big issue during his healing process.

Most cats don't even chew dry food so having him eat his own dry food may not even be an issue. However, if he is like my cat, dry food has to be chewed at least to the degree of biting the pieces in half.

Btw, the dry food that has saliva on it, if left out for very long periods of time can collect bacteria and that might be part of the reason he won't eat it that way.

 

[kakers]

Does he free feed kibble or only has it at specific meal times? If he is free feeding, that is the first place to make a change to a schedule. Also, how many different wet foods have you tried? They don’t all taste the same to cat and perhaps you just haven’t given him the ones he likes.

He is meal fed (though gets longer time with his meals than the others because he eats a little, digests, goes back for more.)

We've had a ton of different options for wet food anything from friskies to Tiki Cat etc different flavors different textures. He has acted like he's going to try the other cats wet foods multiple times and the only time he actually seemed he may try some of his own accord was KD (kidney diet) pate with dinner dust sprinkled on top. (Tried putting dinner dust on his kibble to see if he likes that but he wouldn't even touch the kibble with the dust on it )

 

[susanm9006]

I would skinny down his kibble meals and substitute one of them for a wet food meal and leave it out until the next kibble meal before removing it, repeating this for a few days and then cutting out a bit more kibble. You don’t want him starving but you want him hungry enough to try the wet food.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

After his dental he'll be very hungry and so for his first meal he may actually scarf down wet food. After that he may only want his kibble again. If so, I suggest you smash it up into smaller pieces than it normally is and let him eat it. Better than starving, and if it's small enough he won't need to chew it at all and can simply pick it up with his tongue and swallow it. At least that way he'll not starve to death.

The very first cat we had who had a dental only ate dry food, and when he refused anything wet after the dental our Vet said to feed him his kibble even though he'd just had four teeth pulled to previous day! He never had any issues doing that.

 

[kakers]

Baby food meat - Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut. Adding Forti Flora to any kind of wet food you even think he might be willing to try. Forti Flora could also be used with his dry food and some water to moisten it. It is a flavor enhancer. Human meats cut up into very small pieces - be that turkey, chicken, hamburger, etc. The lack of total nutrition isn't going to be a big issue during his healing process.

Most cats don't even chew dry food so having him eat his own dry food may not even be an issue. However, if he is like my cat, dry food has to be chewed at least to the degree of biting the pieces in half.

Btw, the dry food that has saliva on it, if left out for very long periods of time can collect bacteria and that might be part of the reason he won't eat it that way.

Yeah he's definitely a chewer! He crunch crunch crunches on his food and treats. We've tried giving him plain cooked meats before and zero interest. Won't even downside freeze dried anything either so I can't get freeze dried and soften it up with water. He's just the pickiest! I suspect he will also turn his nose up at baby food but we can give it a try.

I can also try fortiflora and see if he's at all interested, I suppose I can try the prescription prebiotic the other cats have to see if that works, too. I may try putting his temptations treats into some wet food, too, see if he'll at least eat the treats out of it.

I would skinny down his kibble meals and substitute one of them for a wet food meal and leave it out until the next kibble meal before removing it, repeating this for a few days and then cutting out a bit more kibble. You don’t want him starving but you want him hungry enough to try the wet food.

Currently he already is pretty hungry cause his teeth (we suspect) are preventing him from eating even enough kibble. We've definitely tried limiting his kibble and offering only wet food before. Doesn't work. We can't really leave wet food out for him unless he was going to be locked in a room by himself, which is stressful for him.

 

[kakers]

After his dental he'll be very hungry and so for his first meal he may actually scarf down wet food. After that he may only want his kibble again. If so, I suggest you smash it up into smaller pieces than it normally is and let him eat it. Better than starving, and if it's small enough he won't need to chew it at all and can simply pick it up with his tongue and swallow it. At least that way he'll not starve to death.

The very first cat we had who had a dental only ate dry food, and when he refused anything wet after the dental our Vet said to feed him his kibble even though he'd just had four teeth pulled to previous day! He never had any issues doing that.

I suspect smashing it may be what it comes down to. He doesn't recognize wet food as food at all at this point. You'd think we were giving him medicine when we offer a lickable treat that's how not interested he is.

 

[maggie101]

When did he last have blood work? Is he acting OK otherwise? My cat eats canned but stopped eating. She would sometimes eat freeze dried treats. Appetite stimulant and fortiflora solved the problem

 

[kakers]

When did he last have blood work? Is he acting OK otherwise? My cat eats canned but stopped eating. She would sometimes eat freeze dried treats. Appetite stimulant and fortiflora solved the problem

He was acting mostly normal until today when he had some other symptoms so we had him seen right away but nothing major. His last blood work was a couple years ago but he'll be in the vet Tuesday to get that done and his teeth checked. None if it is relevant to him not eating wet food, though. He hasn't touched wet food in his whole 13 years.

 

[chelsmarie]

Most cats love those Churu cat treats. I know when my cat is being fussy, if I squeeze some on her food she eats it right up like nothing else.

https://www.chewy.com/inaba-churu-chicken-puree-variety/dp/184457

Also, I’ve had some recent luck with this meal topper..my girl decided she hates regular Fancy Feast after eating it for years. A little sprinkle of this and she’s back to eating.

STELLA & CHEWY'S Marie’s Magical Dinner Dust Cage Free Chicken Recipe Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food Topper, 7-oz bag - Chewy.com

 

[betsygee]

Have you tried sprinkling Fortiflora on the wet food? Most of the cats I’ve had LOVE that stuff.

 

[kakers]

Most cats love those Churu cat treats. I know when my cat is being fussy, if I squeeze some on her food she eats it right up like nothing else.

https://www.chewy.com/inaba-churu-chicken-puree-variety/dp/184457

Also, I’ve had some recent luck with this meal topper..my girl decided she hates regular Fancy Feast after eating it for years. A little sprinkle of this and she’s back to eating.

STELLA & CHEWY'S Marie’s Magical Dinner Dust Cage Free Chicken Recipe Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food Topper, 7-oz bag - Chewy.com

Both great suggestions sadly things we've tried. He once seemed interested in some dinner dusted wet food but when I put some on his kibble to see of he likes the dinner dust he wouldn't touch the kibble and we've tried a few brands of the churu and similar treats. You'd think we were trying to poison him.

I'm thinking maybe crushing up his favorite kibble or temptations treats and putting that on top so it smells like something he loves already. We'll see.

 

[maggie101]

I am so excited! I saw my cat do a good poo! I added fortiflora and an appetite stimulant. Has your cat tried weruva? That's her favorite. She does not like tiki after dark anymore. One reason I feed only wet is dry is bad for a cats teeth. Also weruva is high protein,low carb,low phosphorus. Since my cats are senior that's what I mostly feed them

 

[maggie101]

Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

There are many times when a cat refuse to eat due to change of food, due to health reasons, being fussy or gotten sick of what they have been eating and we try to get them to eat a new food and have problems getting them to eat. I see that there are many threads past and recent on how members...

thecatsite.com

Maybe this will help

 

[maggie101]

Both great suggestions sadly things we've tried. He once seemed interested in some dinner dusted wet food but when I put some on his kibble to see of he likes the dinner dust he wouldn't touch the kibble and we've tried a few brands of the churu and similar treats. You'd think we were trying to poison him.

I'm thinking maybe crushing up his favorite kibble or temptations treats and putting that on top so it smells like something he loves already. We'll see.

Good idea!

 

[maggie101]

Both great suggestions sadly things we've tried. He once seemed interested in some dinner dusted wet food but when I put some on his kibble to see of he likes the dinner dust he wouldn't touch the kibble and we've tried a few brands of the churu and similar treats. You'd think we were trying to poison him.

I'm thinking maybe crushing up his favorite kibble or temptations treats and putting that on top so it smells like something he loves already. We'll see.

Unless I mix in the fortiflora she will just lick the top off. Some cats don't like just licking dust. I also don't give her the whole pack at once

 

[cmshap]

I just wanted to add a link to a similar thread I started a while ago...

Wet/dry food ratio and pooping issues

I ultimately had success getting him to eat mostly wet with some dry. I haven't posted an update on that thread because it just sort of resolved itself.

He was heavily favoring dry food when I made that thread, and I followed some advice from people who responded (like giving dry food only as a special treat, after he ate wet food; also making a game out of it by tossing kibble pieces around the room). But I didn't have to work at it for very long. He just suddenly started gobbling up however much wet food I gave him.

I settled on a 3:1 ratio of wet to dry food because that seems to be the minimum amount of dry where he is pooping regularly and easily.

 

[tyleete]

I have a cat that will only drink the water I put in with the wet food. She leaves the dehydrated mess after. Fin part is, she's diabetic and can only eat certain ones AND she doesn't typically like the sane flavor more than twice in a row. Sometimes she won't even drink it if she doesn't like the flavor this time.
She had a cleaning with one tooth removed. She outright refused the wet food for an actual meal. After 24hrs I talked to her vet about the problem and she said to just feed her the dry.
Luckily, no problems arose from it. Just so you know it can be done, if there's no alternatives. And she only had 1 of her back teeth removed.
Good luck!

 

[kakers]

Wanted to post an update! We're starting to have some very limited success. His dental work is being delayed while we figure out why his liver levels are elevated and in the meantime I've started to work on getting him eating wet food.

The first small success was his being ok with lackable treat in small amounts on his favorite crunchy treats. I've been able to increase it so he gets a small bowl with the lickable treat and some crunchy treats and we eats the lickable while getting at the crunchy treats. Today I then tried some Tiki cat mousse which is not as watery as the lickable treats but still quite soft and he ate a half a pouch with his crunch treats in it! I'm optimistic that I'll be able to fade out the treats as he starts to associate the smell of the wet food itself with food.