Losing weight & don't want to keep free-feeding

I have a nine month old persian female who weighs about 2,5KG (about 5,5 lbs). As far as I know, that's still underweight. Last time at the vet was about 2-3 months ago when she got spayed. She's always been a picky eater, a slow eater, the smallest of the litter, and a lover of dry food. I think I've posted about this before, but I'm gonna try one more time because it's kind of driving me nuts.

The very first time she went to the vet (within the week of first getting her) they were concerned about her weight because she was underweight. So I got a higher calorie dry food and offered her wet food four times a day. (She was really small and couldnt eat bigger portions) Even then, she'd never finish a dish of wet food. So when I took her for her second shots they said she looked alot better because at that point she'd gained weight from all the dry food she'd been eating. So from then on I switched to Orijen dry food.

I tried all kinds of different wet foods. All different flavours. All different textures. She seemed to prefer paté, but honestly, at this point I'm at a loss and I don't even know anymore.

The past month I started limiting dry food, and honestly, she got even more difficult with food. I put down the dry food from mornings to about 12-1pm. She keeps going back to the bowl and eats about 1/4th of a cup, usually less.  Then around 6pm I'd offer dry food, and before bed (11pm usually) I give her more. She's never excited about the wet food. Up until last week she would at least eat a little bit, but now, most of the time she tries to play a "catch me if you can, I'd rather play, I'm not eating your stupid wet food anyway" kind of game, and runs away. I don't force her so I just make sure she knows I've put it down. Sometimes she'll go see if it's up to her standards, but more often than not, lately, she doesn't even care to taste it unless it's new food. She makes it clear to me that she's gonna wait til morning, when she can eat her dry food.

I weighed her today because I started noticing she looks skinnier when I look at her from top view, and I will probably start leaving out dry food 24/7 again because of it. There's been a shortage of Orijen where I buy it so it's near running out, but I got Applaws Kitten dry food as a substitute for now and she likes that just as much as any other dry food. 

My reason for not wanting to free-feed is that I want her to at least get some moisture out of the food and whatnot.

Can anyone give me tips to try and get her to enjoy wet food, or at least to eat a full meal once a day?

Can you give me a rundown of the wet foods you've tried so far, along with any toppers etc you've tried? It's much easier to make suggestions when I know what you've tried so far

To be honest, in this situation I really wouldn't limit kibble at the moment. The most important thing is to make sure she gets enough calories to grow and thrive. Applaws is a good make, as dry foods go. Another one well worth trying is Purizon (available from Zooplus. I'm happy to (and do) feed either of those foods in preference to Orijen - simply because I prefer to buy European foods over imported American ones (air miles etc)

I understand wanting to move away from free feeding and kibble, at least some of the time, but this is a goal to work towards in the future, rather than something to rush into. Think baby, baby steps in terms of transitioning, and be prepared for it to take time. In the meantime, just focus on making sure she drinks around 1 cup/250mls of fluid a day. This can be plain water, (unseasoned) poaching liquid from poaching chicken etc, tuna water (get tuna canned in spring water, cover it with water at a ratio of around 4:1, let it sit for a few hours, remove the tuna and serve the liquid). This article has tons of ideas for boosting fluid intake [article="30756"][/article]

Thanks for replying, and sorry for the late response. Read it earlier but haven't had time to respond til now.

I started free-feeding again, you're right, I should take babysteps. Haven't been able to take a picture yet but I don't think I would do too much good anyway, considering how much hair she has. Don't think you'd notice unless you see her every day. Your baby is so cute tho, Kat! ^_^ Elfie is really tiny too, so maybe I should just start accepting the fact that she'll always eat less than I think she will.

And I'll definitely try those tricks of increasing her water intake, ty! She drinks a full bowl of water every day as is, but especially towards winter I'll probably invest in a fountain and start doing those tricks with the fish more often!

I think I'll keep worrying about it but since I've tried thinking in babybabysteps I've got more peace of mind

OH! and as for wet foods I've tried... let's see...

Animonda Carny kitten
Lily's Kitchen kitten (she used to love this but I dont know what happened. plus it's super expensive)
Thrive Complete
Almo Nature Daily Mousse (she liked this, anything that is a mousse consistency as she likes to lick things instead of chew)
Applaws Kitten
Schesir kitten
Shinycat
Catessy
Granatapet
Bozita
Feringa
Grau

and moooore, lol. Almost everything decent on Zooplus. Either she likes crapfood like Gourmet, or super expensive food. Anything with a mousse consistency.

Have you tried Catz Finefood, or their new 'Purr' range (limited ingredient, novel protein)? Sometimes unusual flavours can tempt fussy eaters - Asha loves the Kangaroo flavour!

What about Animonda vom Feinsten Adult? That's a really moussey consistency that reminds me of Gormet pates...again - a hit with my Asha

Sheba pates are pretty good, ingredients wise - just meat and minerals. Same goes for the Miamor pates. These might be as tempting as the Gourmet, but without the unwanted carbs

Smilla might be worth a go too.

I apologise if you're tried these already. Just throwing some options out there in case you haven't thought of them yet

Are you able to get Nature's Menu wet food where you are? It's not available through Zooplus, but it might be worth looking for local stockists. Same goes for Meowing Heads wet food (made by a company called Barking Heads).


Having said all of the above, remember that, ultimately, the best food for your cat is the one that she will happily eat. The most wonderful food in the world is useless from inside the tin