Won't Eat Dry Food

After adopting my cat I started out with dry food only. She would eat it but only picked at it, she never seemed to get excited over it.

After the pet food recall settled out I started her on some wet food and she was all over it in a second. Now that she has had the wet food she all but refuses to touch the dry food except when she must be hungry after I am gone at work all day. If I mix dry food into the wet food she makes every effort to eat around it and only eat the wet stuff.

She's about 1.5 years old. When I adopted her she was 8 pounds but judging by her size she main have gained a pound or two since then, but the weight gain was only after she started on the wet food. She has been getting 3 oz of wet food twice a day. She's not even big on eating treats and only wants the wet food.

The dry food I used from the start was Purina One and the wet is Fancy Feast.

Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Well, most catsiters will tell you that the dry food is unneccessary. Some people have a hard time trying to get their dry-food-addicted cats to eat any wet or raw food. I'm not an expert, but I know that dry food has more preservatives, which no one, cat or human, needs at all in their diet. Wet foods have them too but dry foods have more in it to make it last longer. Someone else would have to say whether there is a wet canned/pouch food that has no preservatives at all...I'm not sure but if there is, it would be a higher quality food than the Fancy Feast. Wet food also has more moisture in it which is always a good thing!

Also, there is a myth going around that dry food is better for their teeth...it is not.

Everyone has their methods. I myself try to feed wet food twice a day (but sometimes only once) and leave out dry food in case they get hungry when I'm not home.

In any case, if your cat doesn't like a type of food, why not try another brand?

I have tried a couple others with little success. She tries it because it's a new smell but it fades fast and soon she does not touch it.

My main concern is with my 12 hour work shifts I can only get into a twice a day feeding schedule which she does not seem to like. She is usually getting fidgety around the 8 hour mark on the days I am home but I try to hold out as long as possible to keep the schedule. I try treats to hold her over till meal time but she is eating them less and less and will only go for the wet stuff.

All I really want is something I can leave out during the day I know she will nibble on so she is not holding out for the wet stuff when I get home.

Well this is what I would do. One is move to a higher quality wet and dry food. Wellness makes both a wet and dry food thats good. There is also Merricks, Soild Gold, Eagle Pack, Innova Evo, and many others. Then I would continue like you are now I assume one feeding in the morning of the wet, high quality dry during the day, and one feeding of wet at supper time. Because she may not like the dry brand that you are feeding her.

I don't know if this will help, but I'll share anyway.

When I started my two fur babies on wet food, I had one who ate it all up and one who ate a bit and turned away. I tried Wellness, a variety of flavors, Solid Gold, both flavors, and California Natural, Chicken and Venison flavors.

They absolutely LOVED the Solid Gold tuna. So they're on Solid Gold tuna for breakfast and dinner, with a 1/4 cup for both of California Natural dry during the day.

Merlynn was the picky one who always wanted her dry. NOW, she makes sure I get up at 630am each morning to feed her breakfast and hardly touches the dry.

And actually, Merlynn lost a few ounces (which she needed to do) once I got her on the wet food diet...but for two weeks I had them both stricly on canned only. I can see that sexy little waist again! And the main reason I have them on both canned and bit of dry is because that's what I can afford. I try to feed them the best possible food based on what I can afford.

Good luck!

Well I went through some heartache to break the dry food addiction here. It took a lot of patience and work, but it worked out and I'm very happy with that. Given my feelings and experiences with wet food, I'll find it hard to push for more dry food for your girl. Wet food is far superior to dry.

I think twice a day is fine...and the amount sounds about right. My smaller (8lb) cats eat between 4.5 to 6 ounces of wet per day...that's it.

I would suggest a higher quality food, although since she doesn't eat any dry ....FF is not the worst thing IMO. What I mean is mediocre wet food is better than "good" dry food any day, IMO.

I have noticed that FF doesn't cost much less than some of the better brands. For 50-60 cents a can, I would want something a bit better.

Here's an idea. Since she likes the wet food so much, she probably wouldn't be opposed to eating leftovers. I mean, you could get 5.5oz cans that are more economical. That's a good amount for her per day. I pay about $1 per 5.5oz can for Wellness, Merrick, Natural Balance, etc. You could serve half in the morning, and half in the evening...with better food for the same price. I microwave the food for 7-12 seconds, depends on the food and the amount.

I don't know what to say about the cat not eating dry food, but I will say that my cats only get fed twice a day. Also, I had a vet once tell me that she feeds her cat once a day and that once the food was gone it was gone until the next morning. I don't know if that's a good idea or not, but I wouldn't worry about only being able to feed her twice a day.

Better rejecting dry than rejecting wet, in my opinion.

I would also suggest going to a higher quality wet food. FF tends to cost more because of the "gourmet" size. Try feeding from a 5.5 ounce or larger can. You can refridgerate the "left overs". My 2 cat's eat Innova, Innova Evo, and Wellness canned (occasionally). I get the larger 13 ounce cans, which last for about 2 days. They cost about $1.50 each.

Fancy feast is known for being "kitty crack". It's highly palatable and many cats love it. It's actually great for getting cat's who are sick and not eating, to eat something. It's not the best quality, but others are worse.

You should definetly try to get her on a mostly wet food diet, though. The weight gain is probably because of the ingredients in FF, but not because of the fact it's wet food.

Reasons to feed mostly wet.
1. Cats are obligate carnivores that require a lot of protein in their diet. Animal protein quality in dry food is no where near as good as in canned food. It can't be in order to make the dry hard kibble, as animal proteins are not a very good binding agent. Kibble is comprised mostly of carbohydrates, plant based protein, which a cat can't metabolize very well. They are not designed to eat grains. Cats get their energy from protein and fat and need much more of both than humans do. High quality canned food, by itself, is typically enough to make a cat regain it's normal weight. No need to use a weight control formula, they generally don't work anyway because they are carb based.

2. Cats are descendent from desert creatures, and as such, learned that the only way to get sufficiant amounts of water was in the prey they were eating. They have a very low thirst dry and will not actively seek out water until they are in some stage of dehydration. Dry food contains little to no water, obviously. No matter how much extra water they drink, they cannot make up for the amount they should be having in their diet. Canned food has a high water content, and as such, meets their needs and much more closely mimicks their natural diet. The animals they eat are comprised mostly of water. In fact, all animals are comprised mostly of water, including humans.

3. Dry food does nothing to clean their teeth. When they bite into kibble, it shatters and is swallowed. It does not stay in contact with the teeth long enough to clean it. In the wild, cats chew on chunks of meat and cartilage, which keeps their teeth pretty clean. They do not munch on hard, dry kibble. Neither dry or wet food is responsible for the condition of their teeth.

New grain free dry foods may be a good segway to wet food - Innova Evo, Wellness Core, etc. The low carb level and higher animal proteins can help break a kitty of their dry food addiction. They typically have better ingredients, but since it's still dry food, the thirst issue would still come into play.