Lily will NOT eat wet food!

[Jem]

I adopted Lily just over a year ago now, and this whole time, I've been trying to get her to eat even a teaspoon of wet food.
She refuses, flat out, will not eat wet food, she has even run away from it if I try to present it to her a second time (after she turns away from it)!

I've tried....
Different flavors, including chicken, turkey, beef, different fish and seafood, duck, mixes/combos of various flavors, ones with liver, ones without and the list goes on...
Different brands including, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Merrick...and a bunch of other brands can't remember as I would only get one at a time...
Different textures like pates, chunks, shredded, stews, ones with gravy, ones with gelatin etc...
I've even offered home made foods to see if that would be an option (chicken, turkey, fish, tuna, beef)...it's a sniff and turn away
I've tried mixing with tuna juice, gravy toppers etc...
Products like Fortiflora
I tried parmesan cheese
mixing with her kibble whole, mixing with her kibble crushed (various amounts of each tried)
topped with her kibble whole, topped with her kibble crushed
Adding cat milk
Different plates and bowls, including different materials
I even tried putting the food on the floor
Feeding by hand, secluding her, staying with her, petting her, talking to her...
Playing with her first

Lily also does not eat ANY treats. I can count on one hand how many times she has eaten a treat over the course of the year we've had her.
She won't drink tuna water, or any lickable treat - She does drink water thankfully!

What's funny is she is not a picky eater, since we've have her she's been on 4 different dry foods, not a single issue with changing them not to mention the different foods I'm sure she ate while at the shelter.

I'm I missing anything about how to get her to eat wet food? The only thing I have not done yet is toss her a hunk of raw meat and see if she goes for it....but I seriously have my doubts that will work.

One thing I will say is that I will not withhold food from her, she is our little rescue that is prone to stress issues and I will not back peddle on the progress we've made with her by causing stress. That mind set may be the issue, because she might just not be hungry enough and knows there is kibble for her but, I have also presented her with the wet food a various times of the day, when she is hungry, but...I digress. I also know from experience that cats can become anorexic simply out of refusal to eat something they don't like so I'm not going there again.

Help?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I wasn't sure if you tried mixing the kibble with just plain water. This wouldn't be altering the flavor as much as adding other items to the kibble. At first, a small bit of water just poured into the dish with the kibble, then the next step would be letting some of the kibble absorb a small amount of the water, and then later on more water absorption until the last step would be mushy kibble? Perhaps if she would start eating the kibble with some water in the same dish, eventually you could convert to replacing water with wet food? You probably already tried the adding water approach, but just in case you didn't...

 

[Jem]

Surprisingly I did not purposefully try that, but at one point one of our kitties spilled some water into the kibble dish and when I came home from work, she was very insistent I follow her downstairs and she sat next to her bowl of, at that point, mushy kibble. We don't keep the water near that or any of the food dishes anymore.

 

[Azazel]

I do think that a big contributor is having kibble available all day. I think you’d have an easier time transitioning to wet food if you got her used to scheduled meals.

 

[SpecterOhPossum]

To get specter to eat something, I find that sticking it on her in some way works. For example, I'll lay a piece of chicken on her tail, she will go to get it off, eat it; then I can offer a bit more.. And more.. Till she's eaten it all. Her tail is a dinner plate at times, yes.

 

[Jem]

I do think that a big contributor is having kibble available all day. I think you’d have an easier time transitioning to wet food if you got her used to scheduled meals

And that's one of the problems. She was in such a terrible state when we got her that she would only ever eat when the house was quiet (she was like that at the shelter also), so we had to just leave it out. I had to count the pieces of kibble at night and in the morning just to make sure she was eating because it hardly looked like she ate anything. She's a better eater now, and has put on some weight, but she still does not eat much in a sitting...and again, we're going back to she always has food so she doesn't need to eat much in a sitting.
I honestly don't know how to transition her to scheduled feedings without risking her health and creating food insecurities again. It took months just for her to feel comfortable eating when we "active" in the house. I'm just scared to disrupt things I guess....

 

[Jem]

To get specter to eat something, I find that sticking it on her in some way works.

I did try that at one point, but we may not have been far enough along with her confidence at the time. She would freak out and run away, flicking her paw (that's where I put it.)
We were also dealing with severe overgrooming to the point where she had open sores, so I did not want to encourage more grooming habits. (I only started with the food on paw thing when the overgrooming was getting better, but it was still a worry for me.)

 

[verna davies]

I had the same problem with my boy, tried every type and make of cat food. Eventually he developed cystitis caused by the dry food creating debris and mucous in his bladder. I had to put him on a urinary food and tried Royal Canin Urinary SO wet morsals in gravy, he loved it. Now he eats 95% wet food. One thing that might work ( although I doubt it by everything you have tried) is sprinkling bonito flakes on some wet.

 

[Jem]

One thing that might work ( although I doubt it by everything you have tried) is sprinkling bonito flakes on some wet.

I forgot about that one! Those are available at pet stores right? I don't need a prescription?

 

[verna davies]

No prescription needed. I got mine from Amazon but you might be able to get some in a shop that caters in chinese cooking.

 

[Azazel]

And that's one of the problems. She was in such a terrible state when we got her that she would only ever eat when the house was quiet (she was like that at the shelter also), so we had to just leave it out. I had to count the pieces of kibble at night and in the morning just to make sure she was eating because it hardly looked like she ate anything. She's a better eater now, and has put on some weight, but she still does not eat much in a sitting...and again, we're going back to she always has food so she doesn't need to eat much in a sitting.
I honestly don't know how to transition her to scheduled feedings without risking her health and creating food insecurities again. It took months just for her to feel comfortable eating when we "active" in the house. I'm just scared to disrupt things I guess....

Would it be possible to maybe start off with lots of meals during the day and leaving a little bit of kibble at night? Like could you do something like 6 small wet meals a day to make her feel secure? What would happen if you took away the dry food for a few hours and then offered wet?

 

[LTS3]

I forgot about that one! Those are available at pet stores right? I don't need a prescription?

Bonito flakes are sold in pet stores as treats. It's not a prescription item. Asian grocery stores sell it, too. It's often used in Japanese cooking. A large bag costs about the same or less than a small container from the pet store.

Cat-Man-Doo is one brand sold in pet stores Bonito

 

[Jem]

Would it be possible to maybe start off with lots of meals during the day and leaving a little bit of kibble at night? Like could you do something like 6 small wet meals a day to make her feel secure? What would happen if you took away the dry food for a few hours and then offered wet?

I would have to try something like that on a weekend or perhaps get started on something like that while on holidays where I would be home throughout the day. I work full time so six meals is pushing it, but I did think of trying to figure out approximately when she goes to eat (during the day) and try to feed her or at least offer her a wet meal according to her snack times (if she has a bit of a schedule that is...). Like if I notice she tends to eat at 7 then again at 9, I can keep the food away starting at 6 and offer a wet meal at 8, and if it's a no go try again at 9. At least it might give me an idea if she may be interested in wet food, if she at least licks at it bit, or at the very least, not run away...she has literally run away from wet food... I'm not sure if that's funny or sad...

 

[Azazel]

I just had a thought... have you tried any freeze dried raw foods? Some of them are also coated with animal digest just like kibble and might seem more familiar for her. I would suggest Northwest Naturals in particular. It comes in small crumbly pieces. Maybe she will eat it rehydrated with water? (I wouldn’t feed freeze dried without rehydrating first).

 

[Jem]

have you tried any freeze dried raw foods?

I have not. I guess it's something I can include in the "get Lily to eat wet food" saga.....If not, Chester an Bynx will enjoy a nice treat...they love the spoils of failed attempts...

 

[Tobermory]

I’ll second A Azazel ’s suggestion about Northwest Naturals freeze-dried food. Iris, my picky eater, loves the turkey variety. Actually, all three flip out over it. I sometimes crumble a bit over food they’re not as enthusiastic about, and they’ll dive right in. (They also love it re-hydrated as a regular meal, but I save that for special occasions since it’s a pricey way to feed three cats.)

Just a thought: You might try it first as a topper for her dry food. Just crumble one of the small nuggets or some of the loose stuff at the bottom of the bag on top. That may sound weird, but if she'll eat it on top of dry food—and gets used to it— that liking might transfer after awhile to wet food.

 

[Tekknowgerl]

Hey there~
Just want to check and see how everything turned out! I just recently adopted a cat! It's been almost a week now and he's doing okay. The folks who brought him to me also included dry kibble. I bought him some canned food and treats. However, he won't eat the canned food! I would love to know what finally worked for you. (the canned food I got was 9 Lives pate' variety)

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi Tekknowgerl ! Have you tried any of the above suggestions? If not, go back through these posts and make a list of them, then start working through the list to see what might work for your guy. What works with one cat won't automatically mean success with another cat. Whatever you do, do it gradually. Cats do better, especially digestively speaking, if their food is changed over the course of a few weeks rather than all at once!

And, don't assume pate won't eventually appeal to him, but there are always canned foods that come in chucks or pieces rather than mushy like pate. There are also ones that have gravy in them too. One of the canned foods that seems to appeal to a broad range of cats is Fancy Feast.

 

[lisahe]

Hi Tekknowgerl ! Have you tried any of the above suggestions? If not, go back through these posts and make a list of them, then start working through the list to see what might work for your guy. What works with one cat won't automatically mean success with another cat. Whatever you do, do it gradually. Cats do better, especially digestively speaking, if their food is changed over the course of a few weeks rather than all at once!

And, don't assume pate won't eventually appeal to him, but there are always canned foods that come in chucks or pieces rather than mushy like pate. There are also ones that have gravy in them too. One of the canned foods that seems to appeal to a broad range of cats is Fancy Feast.

Everything here really fits our experience switching our cats over from dry food to canned when we first adopted them. The gradual approach is good not just from the digestive perspective: it's also good for just getting the cat used to wet food over time. We gradually reduced the amount of dry food, first not leaving it down all the time, then only leaving it out at night, then reducing that amount, then only using it a little, sprinkled on top of the food. And then everybody forgot about dry food! Our cats had been fixated on it -- they waited for it, sometimes not finishing their wet food, even though they came to us skinny and very underfed.

 

[di and bob]

As long as she is drinking plenty I wouldn't fight her on this and stress her out even more. It sounds like you have tried about everything and nothing is going to entice her. There are some very good dry foods out there, do some research and see which ones are the best. cats have been raised for years on nothing but hard food and have been healthy and fine. Not eating wet food does not mean something bad is going to happen. It happens to SOME cats, but not all, the majority are fine. Just make sure she is drinking enough by providing a fountain and having several small bowls of water sitting around to make her check them out.
People, too, have MANY different eating preferences. as long as they eat a balanced diet that gives them the nutrients they need, it doesn't matter what form the food is in. No one should force a vegetarian to eat meat either......