Kitten won't eat wet food!

Hello everybody!

I just became a first-time cat owner and completely obsessed with my kitty, Olive. She's a 13 week old British shorthair, is so sweet and is in great health. The only problem is that she refuses to eat wet or soft foods. I have read extensively about the advantages of wet food over dry, but my kitty is set on the dry food. For the moment we are feeding her Merrick "Purrfect Bistro" grain-free dry food for kittens. I figured that as long as she's only eating dry food, it should at least be grain-free. So I tried feeding her wet food and she shows no interest. Even added dry food on top to entice her, but no luck.

Anyway, I was wondering if it would be okay if she doesn't eat wet food? I know she gets so much more water from wet food, but I just can't get her to eat it. My only concern would be her getting a urinary tract infection from low of water intake, although she does drink quite a bit of water. I've just started considering a kitty fountain to make sure she drinks as much as possible (good idea?)

Thanks in advance! 

Elizabeth

Try a few different brands/flavors. . .you just might not have found what she likes yet. And try feeding her on a meal schedule (if you aren't already) instead of leaving food out all the time, and offer the canned food before giving her any dry, because being a bit hungry should help her appetite . Most kittens are open to new things, so if she's this addicted to dry food already, I think you should try to broaden her horizens before she gets older and even more set in her ways.

I was definitely planning on continuing to try different wet foods, and will put her on a schedule to see if that helps. She's been free-feeding up to now, so that could certainly be a problem.

I first found out that she was weird about soft foods when I was buying her treats. We went through about 6 kinds before we found one she liked, and it was a crunchy treat. She had no interest at all in the other soft treats. We finally settled on Spot Ethical "Feline Harvest" salmon-flavored crunchy treats (grain-free). I hope it isn't a texture thing but I'm worried it might be. At first I thought it was about the flavors but she only eats crunchy things!

I have a cat that has a texture problem. The only "wet" food he will eat is Gerber turkey (tried beechnut and that was a no go.) I can on occasion get some royal Canin hypo duck mixed in there. He has a severe allergy to chicken (and venison) and he will not eat any fish at all. So...limited to what he CAN eat.

Good luck on your quest to find a canned food. Might be worth a shot to try some Gerber (stage 2 meat and gravy.)

Thanks, CatPack!

I've tried Wellness CORE, Wellness for kittens, and even some not-so-healthy kinds that I just tried to get her maybe interested in wet food. I will try Gerber! I had never thought of that before, but at this point, it's worth a shot!

Major development!!

My kitty started eating wet food today! I couldn't believe it since it was a food that I had tried before, but I made sure she was a bit hungry first. Since I had some Wellness wet kitten food cans left over, I tried it again and she seems to really enjoy it now! I am thrilled since she seems to have been drinking less water lately and I was concerned. I think I'm still going to get her a water fountain, but this is a huge development!

Thanks for all your help!

Elizabeth

Hunger goes a long way when enticing a cat to eat wet food. Works on us humans too!

You can add water to the canned, but I'm not surprised that she's not drinking as much water as before since she's eating wet. But a fountain is never a bad idea. You may also notice larger/more pee spots in the litter. This is a good thing!

Peaches08 - I had noticed a lack of pee spots and it made me nervous so more would be a great thing!

It's okay to eat dry food till she's drinking enough water!

My cats are also used to dry food but they drink enough water

I suggest that you wait till your kitten grows a bit older cause I once had a kitten and it only liked wet food and some of my kittens liked dry food only so it depends on the cat

But wait till the kittens older if it drinks water then everything would be fine don't worry!

Mishi9 said:

It's okay to eat dry food till she's drinking enough water!

My cats are also used to dry food but they drink enough water

I suggest that you wait till your kitten grows a bit older cause I once had a kitten and it only liked wet food and some of my kittens liked dry food only so it depends on the cat

But wait till the kittens older if it drinks water then everything would be fine don't worry!

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A wet diet is much more healthy than a dry diet for any cat in general, but the OP described signs of possible dehydration so moisture is imperative for this cat.

Thanks guys!

I did finally get her to eat wet food but she doesn't seem to eat a ton of it. The one she ate the most of was more chunky textured than pate textured, so I'm still going to test out a number of different wet foods. I am also going to invest in a water fountain for her, to maximize her hydration level.

Pate is pretty much the "meatiest" out of all the canned foods out there. There are some exceptions such as Tiki Cat's Chicken, which is shredded but I don't think it has enough fat for kittens (and it's pricey too so you'll be feeding a lot and paying a lot).

Very glad that she's eating wet food! I have one cat who will still drink out of the fountain despite eating wet food. I have the Raindrop pet fountain. You can also add a bit of water to her food, especially if she likes gravy. Many of us add a bit of water to pate foods to entice cats - these cats are gravy lovers usually.