Won’t eat wet food, just licks the gravy

[KarenIrl]

Dot is approx. 6 mth. old, only with us 7 weeks, we don’t have any previous history for her. She loves dry food, I try to buy good quality. She seeks wet food, but only licks off the gravy. Have tried cooking chicken for her, just licks up the liquid. It’s such a waste of the wet food, should I bother offering it any more? How can I persuade her to eat the wet food if offered? She seems to be drinking her water, is urinating regularly too.

 

[game misconduct]

my cat was that way when i first brought her home after adoption. what i did was use pate style wet food and then i would add a spoonful or two of water and mash it all together to make it soupy or gravy like then i gradually left bigger lumps of the pate until now she eats it all she will still always lick off all the gravy first but will come back to finish it later

 

[LTS3]

There are two TCS threads about gravy only lickers and suggestions on how to get the cat to actually eat the food:

Anyone else have an Only-Gravy-Licker?

My guy is about 7-8 months old and doesn't favor wet food as much as dry food. I have him on a grain-free dry food, but just to get some moisture content, I give him whatever wet food he'll eat, which happens to be Whiskas Entrees. I've tried Blue Buffalo, Merrick, Newman's Own, B.F.F...

thecatsite.com

For the gravy lickers

My previous cat, Lady Fat Cat was a gravy licker, my one now is a gravy licker. I've probably tried 90% of all the wet foods. Whats funny my mom is in the same boat her cat right now and the previous one are gravy lickers. Whats even funnier she puts the food out not even touched. Sometimes when...

thecatsite.com

Try pureeing pate food in a blender with a little water (or just mash smooth with a spoon and water) and offer that.

Cooked chicken is fine as a treat but definitely not enough nutritionally for a complete meal unless you add supplements.

 

[Paris Pluto]

I had the same issue with my cats until I introduced them to pate. They'll eat all kinds of pate only but prefer Fancy Feast the most

 

[Suru]

my cat is the same, he only does pate, soup or actual chunks of raw meat. Turns his nose up on everything else in between, like the stuff that you find in "gravy". When I buy chicken thighs I usually get the bone-in-skin-on ones, then I cut out the bones, skin and fat and throw it all in the pressure cooker with just enough water to cover everything. when I'm done, I take out the bones and puree everything else in my Ninja. Then I freeze it on a large baking tray and cut it up into little frozen blocks for storage. I dissolve a little block of this in hot water and then add it to his pates, I guess it must taste fabulous because he loves it!

 

[kittenmittens84]

You could try something in between gravy and pate like a mousse (I think Tiki Cat has mousses?). Or adding water to pate to make it thinner and then gradually adding less over time until she’s just eating regular pate with no water

 

[misty8723]

When we first adopted Cricket, we were told she would never eat wet food. At my obvious dismay, the adoption counselor asked if that was a deal breaker? Well, it wasn't, but I did make it my mission to get her to eat wet food. I tried every brand, flavor, texture, cheap, expensive, etc. and she turned her little nose up to all of it. It wasn't until I got a pouch of Weruva Cats in the Kitchen that she got interested. Mostly she still just licks the gravy, but I'm happy to have gotten her to eat that, and sometimes she does eat the actual food as well. She will eat that one and Weruva Mack Jack and Skip but that's it. She does still get dry food too.

I guess I would say just try different brands and flavors and textures and see if you can come up with something that interests Dot.