My cat will not eat any tinned or wet food

[sailorcat]

My cat socks is so picky! When we first got her we fed her applaws dry food and almo nature tinned food, she used to anticipate when she would get the tinned food and would gobble it up but the last 4 months she has turned her nose up and refuses.
So I brought more brands like canagan, and applaws tinned food I even brought cheaper alternatives like whiskers and hi life but she just won't have them?
I spoke to the vet who asked what dry food she ate and she said applaws was the best and just carry on.

So does anyone else have a cat that only eats dry food?
At the moment I still offer a tin of almo and throw it away every day. I offer her cuts of meat I have cooked and occasionally she will eat but only if it pleases her!

 

[mybabies59]

I have the same issues. Ive tried everything from canned, to raw to you name it. Ive never experienced this with any other cat Ive had. I dont know what to make him try anything.

 

[thegreystalker]

I don't know what to say or how I would handle a cat whom simply refused to eat everything I put in her bowl.  What I can say is that I give my gal a wide variety of brands to keep her interested in her food.  At the shelter where I adopted her, they fed all their "guests" kibble and no wet or canned food.  My gal came home with me with a preference for dry.  In the months since then she has demonstrated that she will eat virtually anything...dry or wet.  Try placing a bit of dry food on top of a small helping of wet food.

 

[mybabies59]

Ill try that. Good idea. First cat I have ever had that is this way.

 

[mistymagicite]

My cat Spunky was the same way, my vet referred to him as a "Crunchy addict" he has recently started eating wet food again thankfully. Sometimes I think it's just their tastes and preferences will change as they get older. If Socks isn't eating wet food though most def place more water bowls around the house so she gets enough water.

 

[missmimz]

Transitioning kibble addicts takes time and patients. Here's some tips. I can tell you that all cats can be transitioned to some kind of wet food, whether its homemade, raw, or canned. Can a cat live a healthy life on all kibble? Maybe. Lots of things are genetics. But your cat has a much higher risk of developing very serious medical issues being fed an only dry food diet.

http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

 

[sailorcat]

Whoops I totally forgot I made this, you know I've tried putting a small amount (tea spoon) in another bowl and she has licked it and a few nights ago she ate it!

I'm just doing this, a spoon every night in a bowl the other side of the kitchen away from her dry food.

Slow progress but it's working!

 

[Anne]

Is there a particular reason that you're trying to switch your cat to eating dry food? About 40% of cat owners here on the forums feed only dry and that's a perfectly ok choice for a healthy cat that prefers dry cat food. As long as you choose quality food and provide free access to water, there is no indication that there's anything wrong with that. Cats that eat dry food only can live to a ripe old age, so I would focus on making sure that you're feeding quality kibble, and preferably a variety of types.

In fact, we have a brand new article posted today where feline specialist Dr. Rachel Boltz discusses these issues - 

 [article="33544"]A Scientific Take On Cat Nutrition By Dr Rachel Boltz​[/article]  

 

[sailorcat]

Is there a particular reason that you're trying to switch your cat to eating dry food? About 40% of cat owners here on the forums feed only dry and that's a perfectly ok choice for a healthy cat that prefers dry cat food. As long as you choose quality food and provide free access to water, there is no indication that there's anything wrong with that. Cats that eat dry food only can live to a ripe old age, so I would focus on making sure that you're feeding quality kibble, and preferably a variety of types.

In fact, we have a brand new article posted today where feline specialist Dr. Rachel Boltz discusses these issues - 
 [article="33544"]​[/article] 

No I'm not trying to switch, I just want to encourage more variety...if this is what she wants I wouldn't change it but I'd like to offer her some wet food.
As I said she used to gobble her wet food up then went off it, I have tried many different brands and I only buy her quality food.
I just wondered if other cats fed the same way

 

[Anne]

I see now, thanks for clarifying. Variety is important. I feed my cat a mix of dry and wet and it took me awhile to find the foods that he actually likes. I adopted him fairly recently at the age of 12 and he's been fed low-quality dry all those years. Fortunately, switching him to good quality dry worked well.

For wet, I found that mixing a spoonful of Fancy Feast (preferably the pate types) with some lukewarm water worked. He laps it up and leaves behind whatever he can't actually drink. It's wasteful but at least I know he's getting plenty of water in and at least some of the nutrients in the food. I call this his "soup" 

 and he's getting it 1-2 times a day. 

As for your question, yes, many cats eat only dry food. As I said, I have data from a survey of more than 2000 site users and 40% of the cats here actually eat only dry. I know you hear many people here who advocate wet-only or even raw/homemade. In fact, less than 2% feed homemade/raw and only 20% feed wet-only. The rest feed a mix of wet and dry. I've discussed this issue recently with several veterinarians who specialize in cats and/or nutrition - Dr. Boltz being one of them - and they all agree that the quality of the food and the way it matches the specific cat's needs is much more important than whether the food is dry or wet (with the exception of certain medical conditions and as long as you provide your cat with free access to water). 

 

[sailorcat]

So after eating a couple of spoonfuls every evening she has now gone off her food again....

She still anticipates getting the wet food but ignores it, so I'm starting a new plan.

I'm going to feed her the wet food only a few evenings a week and see how it goes!