not understanding

[meblack]

i dont know what im doing wrong
i have a healthy 8 year old spayed cat
good body condition good weight

i feed both wet and dry
i personally dont believe
in feeding just wet food
but i read that they dont drink
alot and to add a tbsp of wet food to their
diet of dry food
so i did that
then she began not eating the dry food
and trying to live on that 1 tbsp a day
and has began taking an interest in things she
never bothered with like garbage bags
and crumbs off the floor and even dust pieces
so i began adding more wet food and
added it to twice a day
it went ok for a few days

now shes just licking the juice off and
i throw the pieces away
she yells all day for food sits by the fridge
her teeth are fine its not that
and i clean out 2 to 3 pee lumps a day and a
poo lump at least every other day

shes still active bright eyes cleaning herself
not losing weight
and she wakes me around 4 to eat
but i dont until at least 6
and feed again by 5pm
during all this time she has free choice dry food

im buying the best canned food i can get and a low grain dry food

idk what the heck im doing wrong
can she live off this much food
am i just worrying for nothing

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. There are some cats that once they decide they like wet food better than dry food will do what your cat is doing. She is probably hungry but just no longer really wants the dry food and is willing to try to seek out other food sources if she can find them.

I suppose you could try to add enough water to the dry food to make it more like wet food in terms of texture and moisture - just to see what she does. Or, you may have to give her wet food only for a while and see what happens. Not sure what your reasoning is for not believing in feeding just wet, but you may have to reconsider. There really aren't any nutritional/health benefits for feeding cat dry food at all - especially if/when they no longer want it.

Lastly, you could assume something is wrong with the bag of dry food - old/stale/etc. - and buy another bag to see if that might be the issue, but you stand the chance of wasting your money on it.

 

[Timewarpcat]

At some point you just have to accept that the best food for a cat is what it will eat. It's the same problem when you have a sick cat and it won't eat the prescription diet.

One of my cats eats anything, the other 2 prefer dry kibble, but over the months, they have been eating more wet food because it's there. Catz!

 

[verna davies]

Cat are fussy, one day they love a particular type of food the next they hate it. Whatever you cat will readily eat, just feed it to her. You are not doing anything wrong, as said above....Catz!!

 

[meblack]

so i will just keep giving her the wet
i dont mind if thats what she wants
im open to change my beliefs

i do have to switch around from friskies wet
and the fancy feast wet as sometimes 1 or the other
just isnt available
i guess on the non fancy feast days she just
chooses to be hungry
i dont really feel safe not having some dry
down for her as maybe she will eat something
on non fancy feast days
if not well all we can do is
make sure nothings wrong and offer
them food

thankyou for all the replies

 

[FeebysOwner]

If you can, look around for other wet foods that are similar to the Fancy Feast you buy her, since it would seem she prefers those to the Friskies. Tiny Tiger, sold by Chewy.com, is supposed to be a lot like FF. I imagine Chewy would likely be happy to send you some samples so that you don't have to buy a whole case while you are experimenting. Some local pet stores sell by the can (vs. a whole case), which would let you experiment with other brands too.

 

[Timewarpcat]

My fussies want fancy feast a lot but some friskies is ok Certain flavors

 

[maggie101]

i dont know what im doing wrong
i have a healthy 8 year old spayed cat
good body condition good weight

i feed both wet and dry
i personally dont believe
in feeding just wet food
but i read that they dont drink
alot and to add a tbsp of wet food to their
diet of dry food
so i did that
then she began not eating the dry food
and trying to live on that 1 tbsp a day
and has began taking an interest in things she
never bothered with like garbage bags
and crumbs off the floor and even dust pieces
so i began adding more wet food and
added it to twice a day
it went ok for a few days

now shes just licking the juice off and
i throw the pieces away
she yells all day for food sits by the fridge
her teeth are fine its not that
and i clean out 2 to 3 pee lumps a day and a
poo lump at least every other day

shes still active bright eyes cleaning herself
not losing weight
and she wakes me around 4 to eat
but i dont until at least 6
and feed again by 5pm
during all this time she has free choice dry food

im buying the best canned food i can get and a low grain dry food

idk what the heck im doing wrong
can she live off this much food
am i just worrying for nothing

I have a cat that likes pate only and a cat that has to have pate with pieces of meat so she likes weruva steak frites and instinct venison which is very expensivensive. Sometimes she won't eat til I mix in freeze dried treats Peaches likes wellness core hearty cuts in gravy,ff,and nutro perfect portions

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

now shes just licking the juice off and
i throw the pieces away
she yells all day for food sits by the fridge

Try feeding her some pate versus food that is in gravy. Since it doesn't have chunks of meat, she can't really just lick off the gravy. If she doesn't like the pate, perhaps try mixing some of her favorite wet food with some pate. (Fancy Feast Classics or Gourmet style are pates) I have one guy who likes the "cuts", but for some reason has a hard time licking them up so I do mix them with pates and it does make it easier for him to eat.

 

[meblack]

i can only afford one can of fancy feast a day
and free choice dry food
but 1 can doesnt seem enough
i tried buying a different brand that comes in a
bigger can but she wont go near it
at first i was only feeding a few tbsp a day
with free choice dry
but increased it to 1 whole can
i dont even like using wet food but she seems to like it
and now its never enough
i would feed more than 1 can
but ive taken serious food cuts for myself just to be able
to give her a whole can every day
and she does have a high cost premium low grain dry food
whenever she wants it which she ignores
plus she wakes me starting at 4am and wont let
me get back to sleep til i feed her
then she starts again by noon
im feeding her at 4pm
idk what to do
cats are supposed to be fun

 

[maggiedemi]

What brand of dry food are you feeding? My cats won't eat anything besides Purina Cat Chow Complete and Purina One. I gave up trying to switch to anything else, it's a waste of money throwing it away. They eat Friskies for canned food.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Try mixing water with the dry and adding that as another meal on top of the 1 can of wet food and her free choice dry. That would give her more to eat, but not cause you to buy more wet food, and perhaps the dry/water mixture will be something she would like. You might need to feed her more often, with lesser amounts, or give her a small portion of wet or the dry/water mixture later at night so she doesn't get hungry as soon in the morning.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

You might need to feed her more often, with lesser amounts, or give her a small portion of wet or the dry/water mixture later at night so she doesn't get hungry as soon in the morning.

I think feeding her right before bedtime is a good idea since she is waking you up at 4 a.m. It doesn't even have to be a full meal, but could be.

Are you saying that now she isn't even eating her high quality dry food? If not, then I would switch the dry to something else, maybe even something less expensive so you can afford more wet food, since that's what she seems to like.

I know cats can be very frustrating when it comes to eating. One of mine is such a pleasure because when I'm preparing his food, he sits there just waiting, sometimes head bumping my legs, then dives right in and cleans his bowl. The other is a complete pain in the butt. It takes so much cajoling and begging on my part to TRY to get him to eat . Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. I even took him in for an ultrasound to make sure nothing was wrong because this has been going on for so long. Nothing. But other than his lack of eating, he's so much fun! Makes us laugh constantly with his antics, which is a good thing. I keep telling him it's a good thing he's so cute or he'd be out on the street (of course, he knows I'm just kidding )

 

[meblack]

What brand of dry food are you feeding? My cats won't eat anything besides Purina Cat Chow Complete and Purina One. I gave up trying to switch to anything else, it's a waste of money throwing it away. They eat Friskies for canned food.

i buy Go no grain (40 percent protein)
and i share a huge bag with a family member
the bigger bag is very economical

i did try another brand a few years ago
that she did like but it kept having recalls
and i didnt like that they called it no grain
and had grain in the ingredients list

cats are obligate
and need a higher protein
so ive read
which was one reason i was against wet
because its only 10 percent protein

 

[meblack]

I think feeding her right before bedtime is a good idea since she is waking you up at 4 a.m. It doesn't even have to be a full meal, but could be.

Are you saying that now she isn't even eating her high quality dry food? If not, then I would switch the dry to something else, maybe even something less expensive so you can afford more wet food, since that's what she seems to like.

I know cats can be very frustrating when it comes to eating. One of mine is such a pleasure because when I'm preparing his food, he sits there just waiting, sometimes head bumping my legs, then dives right in and cleans his bowl. The other is a complete pain in the butt. It takes so much cajoling and begging on my part to TRY to get him to eat . Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. I even took him in for an ultrasound to make sure nothing was wrong because this has been going on for so long. Nothing. But other than his lack of eating, he's so much fun! Makes us laugh constantly with his antics, which is a good thing. I keep telling him it's a good thing he's so cute or he'd be out on the street (of course, he knows I'm just kidding )

i saw her a few bites a few days ago
of her dry food

 

[meblack]

Try mixing water with the dry and adding that as another meal on top of the 1 can of wet food and her free choice dry. That would give her more to eat, but not cause you to buy more wet food, and perhaps the dry/water mixture will be something she would like. You might need to feed her more often, with lesser amounts, or give her a small portion of wet or the dry/water mixture later at night so she doesn't get hungry as soon in the morning.

i might try this

 

[meblack]

Try feeding her some pate versus food that is in gravy. Since it doesn't have chunks of meat, she can't really just lick off the gravy. If she doesn't like the pate, perhaps try mixing some of her favorite wet food with some pate. (Fancy Feast Classics or Gourmet style are pates) I have one guy who likes the "cuts", but for some reason has a hard time licking them up so I do mix them with pates and it does make it easier for him to eat.

i was actually surprised one day
that she did eat a pate i had accidently bought
i could try this too

 

[meblack]

thankyou
i have so many great ideas to try now

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

As far as dry food having more protein than wet food, that is incorrect as the what they are showing is "guaranteed analysis" and you need to figure out the protein on a dry matter basis. Then you are comparing apples to apples. Here's an article that helps explain that:

How To Compare Cat Foods & Calculate Carbs [Dry Matter Basis] - TheCatSite

Pet food labels report the nutrient content of their products using the Guaranteed Analysis. These contents are listed in terms of minimums and maximums, which are, by definition, inaccurate. For instance, if the guaranteed analysis lists a minimum of 10% protein, it may well contain much more...

thecatsite.com

 

[FeebysOwner]

i have so many great ideas to try now

Good luck - and keep us posted!