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Gravy lover cats?
- Thread starter lucyrima
- Start Date
Hi! Are you looking for ways to add moisture and make the food have a more gravy-like consistency, or is it an issue that your cat is only licking the gravy and not eating the food? Or ...
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
Good question... Been buying food 'with/in gravy' food which he eats but too often licks and leaves at least some if not all meat bits, and have also trickled water drops into slits in pate food which he may eat some or all of... but he doesn't hover on or drink much water otherwise, so I don't know if I'm just a sucker-in-training or seeing a problem I'm not aware of yet... I thought he was hyperthyroid for months prior to gravy craze, tho' tests didn't, so that might be off the table - asked vet if I should let him back on some canned fishy food (been off for a long time) as the problem seems to be a gravy one and not necessarily HT. Any ideas?
My cat always laps up the gravy first, and leaves most of the meat bits. He will come back to his food later, and will eat them if they are still moist, but they dry out really fast when the gravy is gone.
What I do is mix the leftover bits into some pate food (I use my fingers and really mash it up into a consistent texture), then microwave the whole thing to soften up the meat bits (5 seconds at a time, checking temperature with my fingers before serving). He eats that right up.
You might want to try microwaving a whole portion from the start and serving it warm. My cat loves when his wet food is warmed. See if your cat will eat the meat bits at all after the whole serving is warmed.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #5
Thanks... good ideas, but I nuke food only if it's too hard to start with... if I did it for coldness, every meal would need it (already started cans from fridge), tho' I have on occasion touched the can bottoms to recently heated stovetop elements. I also don't use my hands in his food as I don't want to introduce any people germs or have to wash hands afterward... Thing is, this is a very recent issue - he's 16 and never had a 'gravy' problem til very recently and I'm more concerned now about what it means (if anything) than what to do re saving the 'bits' - I just put more gravy on them - and whether it portends more serious stuff than just a brand new gravy appetite.
Hmm... for a cat of that age, there might be some mouth-related issue that makes him find it easier to just lick up the gravy and not chew the meat. Not that the meat bits in wet food are hard to chew. But it's theoretically possible he has some sensitivity going on in his teeth/gums.
A hyper-T kitty will typically have be ravenous yet will be losing weight.
It sounds like you're doing a rotational menu of different brands and varieties, if your vet agrees I think you could add some fish back in.
It sounds like you're doing a rotational menu of different brands and varieties, if your vet agrees I think you could add some fish back in.
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- #8
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #9
To FBM - thank you. He's mostly had small Fancy F. pates with water drops and/or gravy on top, plus Whiskas chicken/turkey in gravy, plus 2 little cans of ? bits in gravy, but so not a big deal, but have been so careful re fish for a long time... will see what the vet says tho' I think you're probably right. I just don't want to do it yet til I figure out if the gravy thing is just a new and harmless one or something else.
