Wet Food Suggestions for Picky Cat?

I've been trying for almost a year to get my super picky kitty, Jesse, to eat more wet food (I'm sure many here can relate!). I've tried SO many different brands and types/flavors of food (both cheap and expensive stuff) and have wasted a ton of money. He has issues with constipation, so I would really like him to get on wet food completely, but I can barely get him to eat a half of a small 3oz can daily. He's tried Fancy Feast, Friskies, Merrick (which he is sometimes okay with), Nutro Max Cat, Natures Variety, Blue Buffalo, Soulistic, Wellness...and probably many more I can't remember.

The only food I seem to have had any luck with so far is Fancy Feast gravy lovers beef (and only the beef, he seems to prefer it to poultry flavors) - I hate the amount of grain in this but I'll take what I can get. He was eating maybe 3/4 of a small can 1-2 times daily for about a couple weeks, but now refuses to eat it once again and pretty much only licks the gravy, if that. I've had this problem with other foods as well where he'll eat one can and I think he likes it, and then won't touch the next day. So frustrating! I've tried all kinds of toppers - flortiflora, treats, bonita flakes...you name it. He doesn't even like most treats, only Greenies really. I even tried putting some of his dry food on top which I know isn't really suggested, but it didn't work anyway. He eats a pretty healthy dry food - Orijen Regional Red. I give him about 1/4 cup a day (its fairly high calorie). He's not a huge water drinker either (I have a fountain which I don't think he likes, and several bowls of water all over the place). I give him 1/8 tsp of miralax in his wet food as well for his occasional constipation, so getting him to eat wet food is really important.

Anything I can try or give him that I haven't tried yet?   Even though he's a healthy weight (13 lbs last time I took him in), I feel like he doesn't eat enough. Aside from the 1/4 cup of dry, he more or less picks at any wet food I give him (at best - or just flat out ignores it). He meows at me so much when he's hungry and refusing to eat the wet. ugh! Should I just keep persevering with different foods?

I am in the same boat as you. My picky kitty will only take a few bites of canned food. He shares a 3 oz can with our other cat since he only eats a few bites at a time. I have found for him he likes things that are chunky and have gravy. Nutro Max cat went over well this morning. Sheba went well for him the other day. He likes beef and fish over poultry.

I would say go ahead and keep trying different flavors and textures. Cats like variety so maybe he got tired of eating just the one Fancy Feast flavor?

Do you leave the dry food out? If he has dry to much on throughout the day, he will be less inclined to eat the wet. Switching to "meal times" wet food for breakfast and dinner, should mean he's hungrier at those times. Also, try food toppers. Maybe crumble some treats on top, or some bonito flakes. Anything to entice him to eat his wet food. 

It sounds like he would benefit from wet food (as would most cats who aren't already eating it), so it would be good to keep trying.

I wonder if switching to meal times (even if it's meals of dry) might help it along?  That is, if you aren't already feeding his dry that way.  If he has a free feed bowl of dry out, that is the first thing to remove.  Another key to meal time, once you get him a little used to that, is picking up the bowls after a set amount of time.

Then maybe consider trying one meal of dry and one meal of wet a day, something like that, making the dry amount about half what his daily intake should be (which should mean he'll be pretty hungry at the other meal).  The wet food can stay out for hours to see if he decides to eat it.  My cats eat two different foods each day, one in morning and one at night, and although they seem to love them both just fine, I think if I gave them the night food in the morning they would wonder what is up.  Cats are extreme creatures of routine!  And the food is part of that.  Changing the routine takes a fair amount of time and effort (which is why I haven't worked up the strength to get mine more variety than the two foods they've been eating for months.)

You don't want to have him eat too little, this is true, and they can be stubborn about what they will and won't eat!  This is especially true if they know from past experience that you will give in and feed something else. ;-)  Pretty sure they can remember that from day to day.

Try different textures.  This can sometimes be more important than the meat/flavor or brand.  Majority of canned foods are a sort of mince or pate, but you can find some that are sliced, shredded, that sort of thing.  Most cans that have these textures make a note of it on the can.  If it says nothing about the texture, it's reasonable to assume it is more of a pate.  Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen line might be a good one to try.  Try Fowl Ball which is chicken and turkey or The Double Dip which I think is chicken and beef (been a while since I bought that one).  It's a very high quality food, can be pretty expensive although not the most expensive, and the chicken is shredded.

Apparently some cats are such dry kibble addicts that you really need to remove it from their smell range, or else they will know it is still there.  My problem with this extreme is that some cats are so stubborn that they will just refuse to eat and even a couple days of that is dangerous.  I think it's better trying a partial switch before taking this all or nothing one.

Mostly what it takes is perseverance I think, and the will to not give in to the pleading and seemingly starving cat.  He will protest vocally and it'll sound like he's starving and you'll be sad.  But if you are firm with it, he'll probably give in.  Him being a little hungrier than usual will help.  Just that you don't really want to go more than about 24 hours without food, and not multiple days of him only getting half of what he needs.  If you can't get him to eat the wet food before then, you'll probably have to give in to some dry and then go back at it the next day.

Just some thoughts, I really can't speak to the effectiveness, but I do know that lots of people do manage to switch their cats' eating habits.  I had a cat several years ago who ate all dry for years and then I tried to switch her to some wet food, and it did work a little eventually.  The textures helped more than anything, as I recall.  Good luck.

Since he likes the beef flavor, maybe you can add some beef baby food (no onion or garlic) on top of/mixed in with a healthier food.

Weighing him often will help you make sure he's getting enough to eat. If he starts losing weight dramatically, you know you've gone too far with restricting dry food, but until then hunger is going to be the best sauce.

Also, once you've fully transitioned him to wet. You can use his Orijen dry food as treats since he likes them so much. I have heard that greenies can cause intestinal irritation in some animals, so it's best to stay away from them.