My cat REFUSES to eat wet food

My cat absolutely, positively REFUSES to eat wet food. I've bought a can of every wet food, from the cheap to the pricey for her to try and she always reacts the same way: Sniff, jump back and bolt away as if it's trying to kill her.

I've probably spent hundreds of dollars on wet food trying to find just ONE she would eat. The only thing I've discovered is she really likes tuna. I've almost given up on the wet food. Any ideas???

People who feed dry food, and I am not saying you fall into this category, tend to - in my observations - leave a bowl out all the time and the cat sort of grazes and has no set meal times and there for is never really hungry.  Cats who are fed wet food usually get it for small windows of time at set periods of the day, since leaving out wet food all day invites bacterial growth and food spoilage.  My cats are fed wet food twice a day and look forward to their morning and evening meals with an appetite.  So all I can say in my limited knowledge and experience, is have you considered this?  Do your cats have access to dry food to munch and crunch on all day?  If so, they may simply have no appetite when you present them wet food.
 

The main trick in transitioning is first putting the cats on timed meals. :nod: Even when feeding kibble. The least stressful way to do this is by pulling the free-fed kibble during the day, and leaving a measured amount over night.

Cats that are free-fed usually don't eat enough at one sitting to "do" just 3 meals a day or so, you need to work up to that. It's best to look at your schedule, figure out how many meals you can fit in, take the total daily amount kitty should be eating (including the measured amount you'll leave out to graze on overnight), and start offering the measured amounts at "meal times." :nod:

I found that temperature and texture played big roles in what non-kibble food my cats would eat at first.

But the bottom line is think of it as like a transition to a health food diet for someone that's been eating highly processed, sugary food for a long time. That salad is going to need a lot of dressing, bacon bits and cheese to be appetizing. :lol3: So crush up some kibble, and sprinkle it on top. If she likes tuna, then buy some bonito flakes and powder those on top, etc. Find "toppers" to entice her to try the wet food you want her eating.

Transitions are not so much about finding out what they like and want to eat as to how to get them eating what you want them to eat. Just like when we eat healthier, after a time we come to crave the good food. The same will happen for kitty. :nod:

(I transitioned 8 cats that were free fed kibble to an all canned diet, and then to a raw diet, and the youngest at the time was 4 or 5 years old. So it can be done!!!)

It is true that scheduling meals will help them try new foods.  Hunger (not starving, just hungry) is a good motivator to try new foods.  I'll link a website that has some tips for transitioning picky cats to wet food...

http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Tips for Transitioning PDF 1-14-11.pdf

Oh, and by saying hunger is a good motivator I don't mean you should "tough it out" if they don't eat what you give them at mealtime.  It is dangerous for a cat to go without food.  I just meant that not having food available 24/7 will help them try new foods.  Good luck.

Hmm, I don't free feed her. Maybe giving her a little at a time or mixing it will help.

tigermuma said:

Hmm, I don't free feed her. Maybe giving her a little at a time or mixing it will help.

Click to expand...

Here is an article you might also find useful http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Tips for Transitioning PDF 1-14-11.pdf

Assuming she can't resist diggin into tuna, put tuna in a bowl, then when she is munching drop a wallop of wet in there.

Also you can consider the many high quality tuna/mackeral/sardine based cat foods (complete nutrition).

Check out Weruva and Tiki Cat.

Some have chicken mixed with fish (good idea).

But don't be too suprised, I tried to convert my brothers cat (cohabitating with me at the time) to wet food, and (don't hit me!) we did it by force.

The reason was my cat had 5 teeth extractions, and that was when I took her from a 80% wet diet to 100%.

My brothers cat (sorta feral, around me and my cat) would growl and scarf it down (kinda cute growling as she scarfed),  but we stopped when we noticed she was losing weight.

Good luck!

I feel your pain. I found recently my one kitty was having trouble picking up dry kibbles (guess he lost a couple more teeth), so I decided to start feeding him more wet food. Poor kitty is losing weight, but acting normally. This cat has no rhyme or reason - sometimes I give him a certain brand and he eats the entire can. Other times, the exact same brand and same flavor, he won't even touch it. I feel bad wasting the food, so the dogs end up eating it (because they eat absolutely anything). I have no idea what to do with him - he picks at his kibbles when he has a bowl of perfectly good wet food waiting for him! Never have I seen a cat turn his nose up at wet food. The only thing he has a continued interest in is cow's milk. I know, it's horrible for him. But he needs some kind of nutrition in his body - he won't touch goat's milk either. I tell you, for a stray, he sure is a right picky eater. I might try feeding him dry kitten chow - when my Caspurr was alive and well, she ate kitten chow to put weight on her and for months, my youngest kitty would sneak to her bowl and chow down on it. So if he likes it, I'll feed him that along with dry food.

How old is he? 

Do you have 60$ to spend on a baby scale?  I think its a great tool for kittens and adults and it impresses the vets.  

My old lady goes between 7 and 9 lbs (suffers from heart condition too).

If you want my advice, free feed wet, and put out dry if he rejected the wet food over 8 hours, and be thankfull you got dogs, I have thrown out ALOT of wet food over the years, and expensive stuff.

And if you are willing to feed kitten chow, then you can buy friskies, at wallymart its 45 cents (better than 1.70 avg for high quality)

As far as kitten food, I fed it for many years to my 11 year old (old lady), she was a lean and skinny and HUNGRY bengal.

Also if you got the money, get Nature's variety Lamb cans, it has a whopping 240 calories, and their chicken is high at 190-200 calories.

So again, since your cat will eat wet, put out half a can in morning, and other half at night, give it a few days, he will be good.

If you want to "transition, you can put some kibble next to wet in bowl, give him a decision.

Some-kitties-just-don't-like-wet-food,lol,have-seen-more-than-a-few-posts,on-different-boards,lol.

I-had-one.He-would-not....at-all....,eat-any....,wet-food,.......period,lol.

Kittens-are-sched-fed-from-the-start,weaned-kittens-I-mean,they-eat-in-their-carriers,and-they-don't-know-any-different.

He-just-never-would.He-wanted-his-dry-food,and-I-feed-blue-wilderness,which-he-loved,but-would-not-eat-the-wet.He-knew-sched-feeding,he-knew,thats-it,thats-all-there-is,and-he-still-held-out.Even-tried-letting-him-sit-in-there-with-it-for-almost-an-hour.Nope,he-wasn't-going-to-eat-it.

My-vet-said-stop-stressing-him-out,meals-are-supposed-to-be-a-pleasant-thing,not-a-war.She-said-to-get-the-extra-fluids-in-him,to-mix-1-teaspoon,Gerber-baby-food,chicken-or-turkey-ONLY,with-warm-water,so-its-like-a-broth,and-mix-with-his-dry-food.He-ate-it-in-5-min,and-he-was-happy,no-more-stressing-at-meal-times.