Ollie is between 6-7 years old. He weighs about 14 lbs and is a BIG boy! Not just overweight but big and long in general. He was fed trash dry food (Meow Mix in the beginning and Kit n Kaboodle) his entire life. As in my previous post he was abandoned and probably went 2-3 days without food. You can tell he lost weight even though he is still so chunky. lol He loves his Tiki Cat Born Carnivore Chicken Luau dry food. But I cannot get him to eat more than a nibble of wet food. I have tried FF classic pate in chicken and Tiny Tiger pate in chicken and turkey. He drinks water from his fountain so no concerns about dehydration. Are there wet foods that are not pate that I should try? Or different brands that may be more enticing? I wanted to stay in an affordable range with the wet food but at this point I am willing to try anything to get him to eat wet food.
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
I need suggestions on how to get a cat to eat wet food
- Thread starter livismom1
- Start Date
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2020
- Messages
- 12
- Purraise
- 19
Is there a reason he needs wet food? Most cats do well on dry food. My cats seem to love the chunks/shredded meat with gravy canned foods (as a treat) over the pate canned food. I usually just give dry food and will occasionally spoil them with something extra like the canned stuff for Holidays.
Every cat has different likes and dislikes when it comes to wet food. it's just a matter of finding out what they are. Not always an easy task. With my crew (four when we converted from dry to wet), I finally found something that worked and that was Soulistic, Petco's house brand. They have all kinds of different textures and flavors. Pate, shreds, chunks, in broth, in gravy, etc. They are manufactured by the same folks of manufacture Weruva, which most people consider a very good brand. Anyway, if you have a Petco in your area, you might check that out. In the meantime, here an article that might help you with the transition:
Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food
BTW, I personally think wet food is much better for cats. I say this after having three cats develop kidney disease while being fed dry food only. Now that we've switched over to wet food only, I'm hoping I've changed that trend. So far so good.
Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food
BTW, I personally think wet food is much better for cats. I say this after having three cats develop kidney disease while being fed dry food only. Now that we've switched over to wet food only, I'm hoping I've changed that trend. So far so good.
Most TCS members will disagree about cats not needing wet food and that dry food is perfectly fine
Texture foods might be more appealing. Things in shreds, chunks, gravy, etc. Weruva is a good one but tends to be pricey but the company makes the lesser expensive and similar brand Soulistic. Tiki Cat is another brand. Fancy Feast has texture foods in gravy. Have you tried those?
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #5
I have not tried anything except pates because it is so overwhelming trying to figure out what is good and what is unhealthy. Another issue is that he was always free fed so he only takes a bite at a time and grazes all day and night. I will look into Weruva. When I had cats years ago they ate Wellness Core and Natural Balance wet and dry. But I don't know if they are still considered good brands.Most TCS members will disagree about cats not needing wet food and that dry food is perfectly fine
Texture foods might be more appealing. Things in shreds, chunks, gravy, etc. Weruva is a good one but tends to be pricey but the company makes the lesser expensive and similar brand Soulistic. Tiki Cat is another brand. Fancy Feast has texture foods in gravy. Have you tried those?
Also...how long is it safe to leave wet food out before it goes bad? And does the room temp affect that? It is freaking hot here. Gotta love old houses with no insulation to keep the hot and old out!
Sprinkle a little of the dry that your cat likes on the wet. Mingo isn't a fan of pate, and this always works for him. Also try the FF grilled type. My two like that the best.
Canned / wet food is a cooked product so it can be left out all day. In hot weather, it's a good idea to remove uneaten canned food after a few hours. You don't want to attract pests. Offer a small amount of canned food to your cat with meals to get him to associate it with food and maybe give it a try.
Weruva is a good brand as well as Soulistic and Tiki Cat. Rawz is one of the higher quality brands that comes in pate and textures but the brand is pricey.
Grains, veggies, gums, and other fillers don't belong in cat food but it's hard to find a brand that has no fillers and is also affordable. You just feed the highest quality food you can afford and the cat will eat.
Weruva is a good brand as well as Soulistic and Tiki Cat. Rawz is one of the higher quality brands that comes in pate and textures but the brand is pricey.
Grains, veggies, gums, and other fillers don't belong in cat food but it's hard to find a brand that has no fillers and is also affordable. You just feed the highest quality food you can afford and the cat will eat.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #8
Well, I tried to locate a store to buy Rawz. The closest one is 400 miles away.
With Mia, I dabbed some of the juice on her nose and it kind of clicked that "Hey, this tastes good." and she started eating more. She seemed to be used to dry food when we adopted her, or at least she SEEMED to be, no idea if she was, but it took a bit to really get her eating the wet food and after a few times of just kind of tricking her into eating some by dabbing it on her nose, she started eating it.
Had to just keep putting it down for Sammy while mixing in some of his dry. Eventually we were able to stop putting dry in his food and now he's fine eating just the wet.
We started weening them off dry food because I felt like Sammy was just doing nothing but gaining weight on the dry food and the control was just better with the wet,so over all I know it was the right choice to make but yeah, was not easy to get him to start eating it. Had to just keep mixing less and less dry food in until finally he was happy eating just the wet food.
Jasper is a pig and will eat anything so didn't have an issue with transferring him over to wet from dry and Isabel has no teeth so she's kind of used to wet food lol
Had to just keep putting it down for Sammy while mixing in some of his dry. Eventually we were able to stop putting dry in his food and now he's fine eating just the wet.
We started weening them off dry food because I felt like Sammy was just doing nothing but gaining weight on the dry food and the control was just better with the wet,so over all I know it was the right choice to make but yeah, was not easy to get him to start eating it. Had to just keep mixing less and less dry food in until finally he was happy eating just the wet food.
Jasper is a pig and will eat anything so didn't have an issue with transferring him over to wet from dry and Isabel has no teeth so she's kind of used to wet food lol
Rawz is sold on a few pet supply web sites. The Rawz web site has a list: RAWZ | Where to Buy Scroll down the page a bit for the list of authorized online retailers.
You could try crushing some of the kibble into crumbs and sprinkle the crumbs onto the wet food. I've had success with this in the past (and bashing a plastic baggie of kibble with a rolling pin is a great way to get out frustrations 
). I took it a step further when I was trying to transition to raw feeding, and made little pea sized balls of food that I rolled in kibble crumbs. Gross to do, but it can be a good stepping-stone. With this, gradually increase the size of the food balls (so the wet food:crumb ratio is higher) until he's happily eating the wet food on its own.
Another option is crumbled freeze dried meat treats (such as Purebites).
You could also try a little Purina FortiFlora as a topper. Its primary (inactive) ingredient is the same stuff kibble is sprayed with to make it extra stinky and yummy. You don't need to worry about giving the full 'dose' as you want it for flavour rather than its probiotic.
Another topper worth trying is a little canned tuna (in water, NOT in brine or oil). Tuna water can also work well.
Warming food is another strategy. Kibble is very stinky (it has to be to be appetising), so anything you can do to boost the smell factor is worth a try. Yes, it does smell bad to us, but its worth a try. I usually warm food by adding a little water from a freshly boiled kettle. That's a win-win, as you get warm, stinky food that going to be extra hydrating (always a good thing ).
Transitioning Ollie to timed meals will also help, both with weight management and with the switch to wet food. He really doesn't have much incentive to eat the wet food whilst he can fill up on kibble any time he wants!
). I took it a step further when I was trying to transition to raw feeding, and made little pea sized balls of food that I rolled in kibble crumbs. Gross to do, but it can be a good stepping-stone. With this, gradually increase the size of the food balls (so the wet food:crumb ratio is higher) until he's happily eating the wet food on its own.Another option is crumbled freeze dried meat treats (such as Purebites).
You could also try a little Purina FortiFlora as a topper. Its primary (inactive) ingredient is the same stuff kibble is sprayed with to make it extra stinky and yummy. You don't need to worry about giving the full 'dose' as you want it for flavour rather than its probiotic.
Another topper worth trying is a little canned tuna (in water, NOT in brine or oil). Tuna water can also work well.
Warming food is another strategy. Kibble is very stinky (it has to be to be appetising), so anything you can do to boost the smell factor is worth a try. Yes, it does smell bad to us, but its worth a try. I usually warm food by adding a little water from a freshly boiled kettle. That's a win-win, as you get warm, stinky food that going to be extra hydrating (always a good thing
).Transitioning Ollie to timed meals will also help, both with weight management and with the switch to wet food. He really doesn't have much incentive to eat the wet food whilst he can fill up on kibble any time he wants!
