Won't Eat Wet Food! Help!

trixie23

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Recently I decided to switch both of my cats from a strictly dry diet to a wet/dry combo (and then possibly wet all together in the future)! I have a 5 year old male cat and a 7 month old female cat! Both cats were currently eating the Nutro brand dry foods (until I noticed the by-product and corn) now I switched them to Wellness dry food! Here is the problem... I purchased a can of wet food for each cat to try (since neither have ever had wet food before) my kitten LOVED the wet food but my older cat (orange tabby) won't have anything to do with it at all! I've been reading wet food is a better diet choice than a solid dry food diet! How can I get my cat to eat wet food? I tried mixing some in with his dry food and he just won't have it! Maybe it isnt for him? He is very stubborn and I'm not going to force feed him!
 

debskats

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I'll be very interested in seeing the responses here because Katy won't touch wet food either. I've tried different things with her, but she's having none of it!
 
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trixie23

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It is frustrating! Its worry some enough that he is overweight (if you cant tell by the picture) but he is so damned picky! I love him to death but he wont budge, he is disgusted by wet food and even the smell of human food! Im having a hard enough time getting him adjust to the wellness dry food because the pieces are teeny tiny compared to Nutro! Im sure he will adjust over time but I dont see the wet food thing as a possibility!
 

claire1973

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Well I have the opposite!

Humphrey adores wet food and hates dry food!

I do try and add a little dry food as my vet said it was better if they were on dry food completely!!
Not sure if that was a sales pitch for me to buy the vet food!! LOL. However, Humphrey will eat treats that are dry food! I say just keep perserving with a combination of wet/dry and see how it goes.
 

debskats

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Originally Posted by trixie23

It is frustrating! Its worry some enough that he is overweight (if you cant tell by the picture) but he is so damned picky! I love him to death but he wont budge, he is disgusted by wet food and even the smell of human food! Im having a hard enough time getting him adjust to the wellness dry food because the pieces are teeny tiny compared to Nutro! Im sure he will adjust over time but I dont see the wet food thing as a possibility!
Are he and Katy related??? She won't eat "people food" either, not even tuna! She won't even eat dry treats. I've had her since 1995 and in all that time she's only eaten 2 different kinds of dry food, so I can't even get her to switch to a better dry food!!
 
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trixie23

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The vet always tries to pitch Science Diet dry food to us because they are in a contract with them! I haven't heard any negatives about wet food (unless they are low-grade products)! I just wanted to give my kitties the option! In a sense this may be a blessing! My older cat has an eating addiction (he is on portioned meals) and whenever he feels he hasnt had enough food he'll scavange the kitten's dish (which is not good)! By giving the kitten a wet/dry food combo he won't touch her food at all! The other problem is that the kitten likes to share my older cats weight management food with him (leaving him even less of his portion to consume)! Its cute but its hard to know exactly what he has consumed when she sneaks bites out of his dish as well! Ah kitty frustration!
 
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trixie23

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The only people food Tiger has ever consumed was a little ranch dressing that he decided to lick off of my plate and he licked a goldfish cracker! He won't have anything to do with tuna either! You think being such a big boy he consumes people food on a regular basis! He is a dry food fiend! When my bf brought him to live with us he was eating Purina... I wasnt a fan so I switched him to Nutro (which was an adjustment because the pieces are large) and now I mix his Nutro with Wellness until he is use to his soon to be new brand (Wellness that is)! He will eat Whisker Lickins and Purina Cat Food as a treat but I rarely give that stuff to him! He is a tub chub as is!
 

valanhb

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My Trent is the same way. He won't touch wet food at all - any flavor, any brand. Not even kitty-junk-food. He wants to smell everything that my husband and I eat, but he won't eat it. Thankfully, he does drink enough water, and likes his dry food, because that's all he will touch.

Ginger is just plain picky about her wet food. She won't eat any wet food at all except for Iams (that we've found). That's what she was given when she was first brought in off the streets. She will sniff the other stuff but just walks away.

So, I guess the point is that Tiger may just not like wet food at all. Or he may just be super picky about what flavor/brand he likes. It's really up to you to decide how much effort you want to put into trying to find one that he finds palatable.
 

jenny82

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I can't get Emily to eat any wet food either. I have her on a high quality dry food though. I wish they weren't so picky!
 
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trixie23

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My poly is my bf's cat and he says it won't happen! LOL it's a lost cause Im sure!
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by claire1973

!

I do try and add a little dry food as my vet said it was better if they were on dry food completely!!
Yes it is a sales pitch because a wet diet is much, much healthier for the kitty.

When I introduced wet food to our kitties they wouldn't touch it either. I just kept trying different brands and different types (but only the quality foods) until I got to the Merrick's. That is the only food they'll eat and even then they won't touch any of the seafood or fish flavours. If hubby has left a half can sitting on the counter with the lid sitting down in the can, it is not unusual for Bijou to carry the can off the counter, into the living room in his teeth and drop it on the floor by our feet to let us know he wants more.
 

sharky

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What wets have you tried???

Some like shredded : meow mix

some like pate with lots of juice: wysong

some like chunks in gravey : currently I think friskies is avail and whiskas

Brands many pickys will often eat

nutro

blue spa

wysong

merrick

solid gold ( both of mine will eat )

meow mix

pro pac
 

urbantigers

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I'd just keep perservering with different types of wet food. Maybe try them on some tuna or fresh chicken as that will get them used to the texture of moist food if they will eat it. Also try sprinkling some of their favourite dry onto the wet as that might entice them to eat a bit of the wet.

There are some tips on getting cats to eat wet food here

http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitionin...o_Canned_Food_
 

sharky

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Please delete a few Ims ... mine wont go thru
 
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trixie23

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I'll keep trying! I wish he was as thrilled about it as my kitten! I mixed her wet food with dry food to see if she'd try it out! She ate all of the wet food and left the dry pieces behind! I never see my lil one eat so much in one sitting! My fatty turns his nose up at it! LOL that's why I love him because he is so sassy!
 

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Saki is not a big fan of wet food but due to a bout with urinary issues I really would like him to eat it along with his dry. So pretty much I have to mix his RX food with a little bit of venison food and then he will eat it
He does drink a lot of water though so that helps.

I would just keep trying different brands/flavors, he may surprise you one day and like one.
 

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The link that urbantigers gave you is a good one worth reading.

I know it's frustrating, I've been there. All I can say is that patience and persistence are important. Try different flavors, brands and textures. Of course the recall issues limit some choices now and that's a bummer.

I worked on this with my cats for about 6 months before I got serious about it. In the beginning, some of them would just ignore the wet or just take 2 licks and leave. I tried various brands/flavors and had more success that way. I offered it more and more and that helped but I had a few that were still very resistant to the idea of canned food. I really wanted them on a wet diet, so I decided to ditch the dry altogether. That got all of them on board for sure. They really tried my patience but it paid off. I have one that still doesn't care for canned food much, but he likes raw...I don't know if you (and your vet) are open to that or not, but it worked for Beandip.

I don't condone starving a cat to get them to eat it, but a few of mine skipped a meal here and there and I found that they ate at the next meal without a fuss. I feed mine 3 times a day, so they have a chance to be picky if they choose, but the majority of the time none of them skip any meals.

Mixing the dry and wet generally isn't recommended, but when a couple of mine were having some bad kibble cravings, I did resort to pushing 5 or 6 kibbles into the top of their wet food. Surprisingly enough that helped. They dug in to get the kibbles out and kept eating. I only had to do that a few times.

Good luck.
 

jean44

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Cicycat- I'm glad someone else is mixing RX food with Venison and Pea to get a cat to eat it. Eric just went on S/D last Thursday. He refuses to touch it alone. Yesterday I got desperate and mixed it with the wet Venison and Pea. It worked. I know mixing foods is not recommended but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Trixie23, I also know how hard it can be to convince a cat to eat wet food. I went through this in December and January when I gradually switched my cats from all dry to all wet. Fortunately I had only one real holdout. Most accepted it quickly. In January when I made the final switch the dry just disappeared one day. They had no choice but wet. No one missed a meal. Good luck converting your kitty.
 
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trixie23

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Thanks he is having a hard time adjusting from his Nutro dry to Wellness dry! The wellness dry food pieces are freakin teeny tiny and he is having a hard time with it! Poor baby lol its funny watching him try to eat it!
 

sicycat

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Originally Posted by Jean44

Cicycat- I'm glad someone else is mixing RX food with Venison and Pea to get a cat to eat it. Eric just went on S/D last Thursday. He refuses to touch it alone. Yesterday I got desperate and mixed it with the wet Venison and Pea. It worked. I know mixing foods is not recommended but desperate times call for desperate measures.
I totally agree. I also know you are not supposed to but I would rather have him eat it mixed than not eat it at all. He will eat the RX dry food just fine but I really want to be able to get some wet food in him.

When Zoey was on s/d canned she really hated it. I had to do the same thing, mix a little of another food with it and then she ate it. Cats..
 
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