Refusing Wet Food - But Begging For it...

[LaylaMittens]

Ever since the last time I traveled and left my cat with a sitter, she has been refusing wet food. It's been about 2 months at this point, and it's either she is eating out of pure need (after a few days wihtout) or I am throwing it away (majority of the time). I used to use Sheba products with no issue, but when she stopped eating those I went to Petco and bought a variety (Tiki, 9 Lives, Purina, Wellness, Science Diet, etc.) thinking she would like AT LEAST ONE, but no. She drinks water, and eats dry food (Science Diet), but she jumps into her cat tree to get her wet food (where I typically fed her in the past) and she'll smell the food, and then jump down and meow like crazy for about 30min. Otherwise, she is behaving like normal, and there is nothing concerning with her litter. I am unsure whether I should keep buying different food until we find the right one, stop all together, or bring her to the vet. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Unless you think the sitter introduced some food that you are not aware of that caused her to not like her 'old' food, she may have just stopped liking what she was eating before (ask the sitter). Otherwise, a few things to try:

• Fancy Feast. Most cats love them and there are lots of options in terms of flavors and textures.
• Adding water to her dry food, mixing it enough to make more of a wet food texture.
• Food toppers - there are a ton on the market, so you just need to look for ones that you think might work for her.

Also, if there have been any meds introduced to her recently, that can cause an aversion to her regular food. That being the case, try these for her meds - separate from her regular food meals:
1.) 'juice' from canned tuna and chicken, and then give her a piece of the meat as a treat afterward
2.) baby food meats (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut)
3.) lickable treats, such as Applaws, Wholehearted, Tiki Cat Stix, Inaba Churu, Vitakraft - just to name a few
4.) Tiki Cat Mousse (which is complete meal, not a treat)

 

[KarenKat]

Is her dry food out most of the time? When we switched Gohan to wet food we had to let him get a bit hungry so he would eat.

 

[LaylaMittens]

Unless you think the sitter introduced some food that you are not aware of that caused her to not like her 'old' food, she may have just stopped liking what she was eating before (ask the sitter). Otherwise, a few things to try:

• Fancy Feast. Most cats love them and there are lots of options in terms of flavors and textures.
• Adding water to her dry food, mixing it enough to make more of a wet food texture.
• Food toppers - there are a ton on the market, so you just need to look for ones that you think might work for her.

Also, if there have been any meds introduced to her recently, that can cause an aversion to her regular food. That being the case, try these for her meds - separate from her regular food meals:
1.) 'juice' from canned tuna and chicken, and then give her a piece of the meat as a treat afterward
2.) baby food meats (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut)
3.) lickable treats, such as Applaws, Wholehearted, Tiki Cat Stix, Inaba Churu, Vitakraft - just to name a few
4.) Tiki Cat Mousse (which is complete meal, not a treat)

Unless you think the sitter introduced some food that you are not aware of that caused her to not like her 'old' food, she may have just stopped liking what she was eating before (ask the sitter). Otherwise, a few things to try:

• Fancy Feast. Most cats love them and there are lots of options in terms of flavors and textures.
• Adding water to her dry food, mixing it enough to make more of a wet food texture.
• Food toppers - there are a ton on the market, so you just need to look for ones that you think might work for her.

Also, if there have been any meds introduced to her recently, that can cause an aversion to her regular food. That being the case, try these for her meds - separate from her regular food meals:
1.) 'juice' from canned tuna and chicken, and then give her a piece of the meat as a treat afterward
2.) baby food meats (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut)
3.) lickable treats, such as Applaws, Wholehearted, Tiki Cat Stix, Inaba Churu, Vitakraft - just to name a few
4.) Tiki Cat Mousse (which is complete meal, not a treat)

Hi - nope, no meds. She just turned 3 and is super healthy and has never been a fussy eater. She used to eat the variety packs from BJs (their brand), but then they stopped carrying them. I switched her to Sheba since then and has been absolutely fine with that up until a few months ago. I will definitely try the food toppers, or even crushing up some of her treats and putting it on the wet food.

 

[LaylaMittens]

Is her dry food out most of the time? When we switched Gohan to wet food we had to let him get a bit hungry so he would eat.

Yes - she typically goes through about 1/3-1/2 dry food every 1.5days. So, if she were hungrier, I would assume she would fly through that faster, but not really. At least she is eating! Its just also hard to tell if she dislikes the dry food and just eats it out of convenience. If only we could read their minds, right?? I just want her to be happy with what she is eating.

 

[KarenKat]

I’m totally with you on wanting them to enjoy their food. I can say after we switched Gohan to all wet food after free feeding dry food his whole life that he seems to have a higher meal satisfaction. It took a really long time to get him used to full meals in one sitting, and taking away available dry food was important to that. Otherwise he would snack a few kibbles at a time and walk away and not be hungry to try wet food.

We did start by feeding him kibble at specific times, so he learned to eat a larger amount at once.

Good luck, they don’t make it easy on us!