My cat won't eat his wet food anymore!

Hobbs has been getting wet food for years. But in the past few months all he seems to be interested in doing is licking the sauce off the wet food and leaving the rest over. He cries for his wet food, but then won't eat it. I have been giving him 9-lives for a long time, and he only will eat the sliced chicken and beef, but not even that anymore. He also gets Iam's dry but I think he eats it when he is just really hungry.

Can anybody suggest a wet food that he will actually eat?????? I dont care what it costs, as long as he eats it.

The only thing I was thinking was maybe to try another flavour?

I feed Reilly & Sydney Merricks (can be found in most pet nutrition centres) I have found that they have a nice range of flavours, it is kind of pricey $1.70 a can here in Canada but that's a type you could try?

my remy has a sensitive stomach...projectile vomiting cat is NOT fun. I swear by http://www.healthypetnet.com they have awesome wet food. REad the label and compare it. He starts crying to eat as soon as he hears the lid coming off the can. And has never once had a problem with it.

oh yeah i forgot...there is a place on the website, they will send you samples.

kitties can be so persnickety, can't they? Merricks would be a good choice, although mine wouldn't eat it May I also suggest the Meow Mix pouches or cups? Not premium, but way better than 9-lives and all my kittes (13) like it!

The cat we had growing up ate 9 Lives (lived 19 years!) and did the same thing -- lick the gravy, skip the meat.

Why don't you try a "loaf" style wet food instead? I believe Friskies and Fancy Feast make them.

I have two cats that don't really like wet food. I only fed them dry as kittens, I didn't know any better, that is probably why. They will eat a little of the Wellness chicken or turkey, but it is a little pricey and it takes them two days to finish a small can between the two of them. They both love the Meow Mix though. It is fish heavy which isn't the best thing for them but they will eat a lot more of it than any other wet that I have tried.

What brands have you tried? I went through all sorts of brands when I first got my kittens, and although they ate all of them they weren't thrilled with cheaper stuff like Friskies, Iams, etc. I'm guessing they didn't like the taste of the cheaper meat. Have you tried any of the better brands like Nutro, Chicken Soup, etc.? My kittens love Felidae, which is really cheap if you buy it in the 13 oz cans. I gave them their first Meow Mix pouch recently and they love that too, although it's not the best for them.

Maybe he's just sick of eating the same few flavors?

Mine will only eat Friskies canned
The up side though is that I can get a 48 can variety pack at Costco.

thanks for the helpful suggestions!! I have copied all the responses and will go through them one at a time until something works!

my picky wet girls likes so far...

Natures prairie rabbit and the beef cans

meow mix only the pack with fillet meow \\

pro pacs beef

eagle pack the blue and pink labels

nutros veal pate and salmon and shrimp chowder( i would recommend the pouches )

felideas chn one

merricks theyll eat one a week

iams new chn , beef and fish flavors

natural balence salmon

wysongs au jus in chn beef and rabbit

Originally Posted by reddicequeen

my remy has a sensitive stomach...projectile vomiting cat is NOT fun. I swear by http://www.healthypetnet.com they have awesome wet food. REad the label and compare it. He starts crying to eat as soon as he hears the lid coming off the can. And has never once had a problem with it.

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Lucky you! My cats turned up their nose at that food. I do like the ingredients though.

If you have a Trader Joe's near you, you might try their canned food. I recently switched my kitties to that, and Willow will even nudge Odo out of the way for it sometimes.

meow meow said:

The cat we had growing up ate 9 Lives (lived 19 years!) and did the same thing -- lick the gravy, skip the meat.


Why don't you try a "loaf" style wet food instead? I believe Friskies and Fancy Feast make them.

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My cat is just liking the gravy and that's all. Any suggestions.

Try Fancy Feast, but only the Classic. I have read on other threads that often cats will eat FF when nothing else. My Tuff loves it.

There's a lot of new research about cats' diets and nutrition. Our kittens were very sick with an intestinal virus and we've had several appointments with leading vets in the industry. We received some extremely valuable general information on diet. Here's what we've learned: there are two diet epidemics happening right now with cats; obesity and gum disease. Both are caused by high carb diets. Cats are 90% carnivore. All dry food has carbs, that's the only way it can be dry. They found that dry food does nothing for tartar, the cat's tooth punctures and shatters the food before it ever rubs against the tooth. Dry food is a great supplement throughout the day, but look for a low carb dry food, like Royal Canin. If your cat is obease, all wet food is better (if you can). Cats need to eat several times a day, so you might want to check with a professional to find a regimen that works you (something realistic). Many wet foods have a lot of carbs, too, like fancy feast. Carbs are used as filler because it's cheaper to make. Try a high protein brand, like Tiki Cat (or similar). They've found that wet food is better for cats' health all around, including their teeth and gums. Hopefully our expensive vet consults will be helpful to you!

You may try ordering some FortiFlora. You can get it from Amazon. It's a probiotic powder that comes in individual packets, like sugar. You can sprinkle a little on top of the wet or dry food, like seasoning. Cats generally love the taste. If your cat is refusing the food, it might be because it's upsetting him stomach for some reason. A probiotic might help.

That's great to know about the probiotic! I'll definitely try that.

My cat is a gravy licker, who just dosesn't eat much canned food despite my best efforts (i tried hard to give her a healthy and varied diet as a kitten), so i give her occasional cat gravy packets and quality dry food (i rotate natures variety duck, solid gold indigo moon, and canidae pure elements) Fortuantely, my cat enjoys drinking from her cat fountains, so a dry only diet isn't an issue.

my advice is as follows:
-get your ca checked out by your vet, that sort of behavior change may indicate a medical issue...
-get a cat fountain and put purified water in it to improve your cat's hydration, even if they don't eat canned.
-try the ocasional cat gravy treat (fancy feast makes them and my gravy licking cat loves them)
-sicne dry is a bigger part of your cat's diet, try to up the quality (i recomment canidae pure elements and nature's variety instinct, but even taste fo the wild is a huge improvement over iams)
-my cat likes the pride by instinct canned food more than most, so you might try that