Wet Food Struggle

[missmindy]

I have been trying to transition my cat over to wet food for the past year.I have no idea what she ate before I adopted her, but I'm assuming it was an all dry diet. She is 15 pounds and really needs to lose 3-4 pounds per the vet.

I have tried at least 100 types of canned food-pate, chunky, shredded, cheap, premium, natural-you name it. I've tried topping it with Parmesan, fortiflora, crushed dry, etc. I've served it warm, cold and room temp. The vet suggested we try a prescription food and that was a very expensive flop. I've gone as far as to not let her have any food for 12 hours to try and get her hungry. Still she resists the canned food. I have read the articles posted on other topics regarding transitioning "kibble addicts" to a canned diet. I cave in and give her the dry or else she wouldn't eat at all.

I struggle to get her to eat roughly 1oz of wet a day and it takes several hours of me giving her the dish, her taking a few bites, and then running from me when I try to give it to her again. She is stressed and so am I and I hate seeing her run from me and avoid me. We are going to the vet Monday because I am concerned she isn't getting the right nutrition, but I'm at my wits end with this transition to wet food. She gets a scant half cup of hard food- and is supposed to eat 1.5 oz of wet. Of course this was the plan in July 2014 and the goal was to get to all canned. The only types she will even give a lick to are Sheba and fancy feast-and only the pate which I have to mix with water.

Do some cats just not eat wet food? I would think after 13 months we would have made the transition. I feel badly having her avoid me and frankly I'm throwing out food (and money) more often than not.

 

[2cats4me]

I have been trying to transition my cat over to wet food for the past year.I have no idea what she ate before I adopted her, but I'm assuming it was an all dry diet. She is 15 pounds and really needs to lose 3-4 pounds per the vet.

I have tried at least 100 types of canned food-pate, chunky, shredded, cheap, premium, natural-you name it. I've tried topping it with Parmesan, fortiflora, crushed dry, etc. I've served it warm, cold and room temp. The vet suggested we try a prescription food and that was a very expensive flop. I've gone as far as to not let her have any food for 12 hours to try and get her hungry. Still she resists the canned food. I have read the articles posted on other topics regarding transitioning "kibble addicts" to a canned diet. I cave in and give her the dry or else she wouldn't eat at all.

I struggle to get her to eat roughly 1oz of wet a day and it takes several hours of me giving her the dish, her taking a few bites, and then running from me when I try to give it to her again. She is stressed and so am I and I hate seeing her run from me and avoid me. We are going to the vet Monday because I am concerned she isn't getting the right nutrition, but I'm at my wits end with this transition to wet food. She gets a scant half cup of hard food- and is supposed to eat 1.5 oz of wet. Of course this was the plan in July 2014 and the goal was to get to all canned. The only types she will even give a lick to are Sheba and fancy feast-and only the pate which I have to mix with water.

Do some cats just not eat wet food? I would think after 13 months we would have made the transition. I feel badly having her avoid me and frankly I'm throwing out food (and money) more often than not.

Yes , there are some cats that just do not eat wet food .. Do not beat yourself up over it .  You have tried really hard that is all you can do ..  If all you can get into her is 1 oz of wet food then that is better than none .  For weight loss a low carb wet IS best but it is useless if she refuses to eat .  There are several high protein low carb dry foods that you could try .  Although not as effective as the wet food it is still better than some other carb loaded kibbles .. Don't let yourself and KeKe get so stressed out over it . Take a break and try the wet food thing later on .. 

 

[peterbald love]

I have been trying to transition my cat over to wet food for the past year.I have no idea what she ate before I adopted her, but I'm assuming it was an all dry diet. She is 15 pounds and really needs to lose 3-4 pounds per the vet.

I have tried at least 100 types of canned food-pate, chunky, shredded, cheap, premium, natural-you name it. I've tried topping it with Parmesan, fortiflora, crushed dry, etc. I've served it warm, cold and room temp. The vet suggested we try a prescription food and that was a very expensive flop. I've gone as far as to not let her have any food for 12 hours to try and get her hungry. Still she resists the canned food. I have read the articles posted on other topics regarding transitioning "kibble addicts" to a canned diet. I cave in and give her the dry or else she wouldn't eat at all.

I struggle to get her to eat roughly 1oz of wet a day and it takes several hours of me giving her the dish, her taking a few bites, and then running from me when I try to give it to her again. She is stressed and so am I and I hate seeing her run from me and avoid me. We are going to the vet Monday because I am concerned she isn't getting the right nutrition, but I'm at my wits end with this transition to wet food. She gets a scant half cup of hard food- and is supposed to eat 1.5 oz of wet. Of course this was the plan in July 2014 and the goal was to get to all canned. The only types she will even give a lick to are Sheba and fancy feast-and only the pate which I have to mix with water.

Do some cats just not eat wet food? I would think after 13 months we would have made the transition. I feel badly having her avoid me and frankly I'm throwing out food (and money) more often than not.

Well a cat can also gain weight by eating to much wet food and if your cat needs to loose weight i would put her on a special formula for cats to loose weight.

If she does not eat her wet food try giving her the Fancy Feast or Friskies flakes with gravy. Your cat needs to eat about two 3 oz's per day.

 

[missmindy]

Thanks for the feedback peterbald love unfortunately, the problem is that she will not eat her wet food after a year of trying. I can't get her to eat barely 1/3 of a 3 ounce can-let alone 6 ounces. She just went 15 hours without food and still would only take a few bites after chasing her around. Currently she is hiding from me under the bed.

 

[missmindy]

Thank you 2 2cats4me . I feel awful she is hiding from me over this food transition. She's already had a traumatic past and I hate that she's sees me as an issue now.

 

[2cats4me]

Thank you @2Cats4Me. I feel awful she is hiding from me over this food transition. She's already had a traumatic past and I hate that she's sees me as an issue now.

Yeah , I think that is why it is important to take a step back and relax . The stress alone can cause other issues .. Try the wet food later on ..  

 

[missmindy]

2 2cats4me
I'm going to give her a break until we go to the vet on Monday again. We are both so stressed out. I think she would cry if she could.

 

[2cats4me]

@2Cats4Me
I'm going to give her a break until we go to the vet on Monday again. We are both so stressed out. I think she would cry if she could.

That is good . I am sorry you are both are stressed out . You are a good pet parent and she is lucky to have you ..

Maybe your Vet will have some ideas .. 

 

[nansiludie]

Are you open to feeding raw cat food? There is a Stella and Chewy Freeze-dried food, she may like that one. I've not personally used it but others have. Will she eat a can of tuna fish or maybe a plain boiled chicken breast just to get her used to the texture of regular food. I do think you might want to take a break and feed her the dry for now, its best she eat something than nothing at all. I make my own raw food for my kitties but one of them likes it cooked. I know the struggle of taking a kitty off dry food, it is hard. If you're open to feeding raw, you could try chopping a raw chicken liver and putting it near her and see if she would eat it. I suggest this as just a means of getting her used to the texture of meat instead of kibbles.

 

[lisahe]

I've been reading the posts on this thread and couldn't agree more that it sounds like time for a break from the attempts to feed the cat (what is her name?) wet food. A year is a long time!

I like @2Cats4Me's idea about looking at high-protein, low-carb dry foods, if that's not what you're already feeding the cat. What really inspired me to add a comment, though, was that I'd had similar thoughts as @nansiludie, wondering if the cat might respond to raw food, maybe just as a little treat in the beginning. Stella & Chewy's is a good kind of freeze-dried to try; our cats like Primal, too. (Primal will even send samples, if you ask for them: I think 2Cats4Me got them...) I think nansiludie is on to something by wanting to get the cat used to meat's texture and flavor. Another thing you might try, if you haven't already, would be PureBites treats, which are just plain dried meat that cats go crazy for. Some people use them as toppers; I use them as occasional treats for our cats.

Good luck!

 

[missmindy]

thanks @LisaHE  and @nansiludie  for the ideas!  

KeKe does like cooked chicken, turkey and fish and will gobble it down as a treat if I put it on the floor. That led me a few months ago to try the premium shredded foods like weruva since they looked like just shredded meat and broth, but KeKe just licked the broth off and left the meat behind...

I'm open to having her try the foods everyone suggested after we take a break for a bit.  She's hesitant to even go near her dish right now I've got her so stressed out.  She is not on a low carb dry at the moment like @2Cats4Me  suggested (she's eating IAMS hairball/weight control), but I think that's going to be my next step.  That should be less stressful on her for now!

 

[mingking]

This could be a shot in the dark, but have you tried different plating? Your last comment reminds me of how sometimes if I serve my cat a flavour he doesn't particularly LOVE, he won't eat it right away. He'll sniff at it as if he doesn't know what it is. But then I take some out and put it on the floor and he'll eat it right up. Then realize the food on the floor = the food in the bowl and finally eat. 

Maybe you can try a plate to put her wet food on? 

 

[lisahe]

 
thanks @LisaHE  and @nansiludie  for the ideas!  

KeKe does like cooked chicken, turkey and fish and will gobble it down as a treat if I put it on the floor. That led me a few months ago to try the premium shredded foods like weruva since they looked like just shredded meat and broth, but KeKe just licked the broth off and left the meat behind...

I'm open to having her try the foods everyone suggested after we take a break for a bit.  She's hesitant to even go near her dish right now I've got her so stressed out.  She is not on a low carb dry at the moment like @2Cats4Me  suggested (she's eating IAMS hairball/weight control), but I think that's going to be my next step.  That should be less stressful on her for now!

You're welcome, MissMindy! That's a very hopeful sign that KeKe will eat the plain cooked meats. At least it's a start! If you haven't tried Tiki Cat--which looks closer to "regular" cooked meat than Weruva--that might be worth giving a go, too, after the break. I hope KeKe accepts a new dry food without fuss to get you started!

 
This could be a shot in the dark, but have you tried different plating? Your last comment reminds me of how sometimes if I serve my cat a flavour he doesn't particularly LOVE, he won't eat it right away. He'll sniff at it as if he doesn't know what it is. But then I take some out and put it on the floor and he'll eat it right up. Then realize the food on the floor = the food in the bowl and finally eat. 

Maybe you can try a plate to put her wet food on? 

These are great points! One of our cats is a very quirky eater, too, who has some behaviors similar to mingking's cat: Ireland will sniff, lick, take a small bite, and then come back, sometimes much, much later. Sometimes she carries pieces of food to the floor. (Or the corner of a rug: I was wondering why it was getting spots!) Sometimes she wants to be fed in the middle of the kitchen floor rather than at her place mat. She likes to eat her raw meals alone in a room with a closed door so her sister can't poach her food. Etc.

 

[2cats4me]

@MissMindy  ... How is KeKe doing today ? 

 

[missmindy]

Hi everyone! Thank you ALL for the suggestions. I got KeKe a trial size bag of higher protein dry yesterday to see if she would entertain it even a bit. I was a little hesitant to buy a big bag in case she refused it. It is natures variety instinct with raw bites in it. I was really interested to see what she would do with the bites. She took to the kibble pretty quickly but was a little suspicious of the bites. I think it was because they were pretty large. She did eat them though! What do people think of this food? Now that I know she will try this I'll explore the other brands suggested too!

I do have some tiki cat here that she has snubbed in the past, but I'm going to pull that out again. Maybe I'll just serve it on the tile floor instead of a dish!

Couple questions-would cooked chicken work as a sub for the canned food? In addition to the dry at this point-
Are the Stella and chewy or primal bites on the larger side as well? Maybe she would like them as a topper when we give canned a try again in the future.

 

[2cats4me]

Hi everyone! Thank you ALL for the suggestions. I got KeKe a trial size bag of higher protein dry yesterday to see if she would entertain it even a bit. I was a little hesitant to buy a big bag in case she refused it. It is natures variety instinct with raw bites in it. I was really interested to see what she would do with the bites. She took to the kibble pretty quickly but was a little suspicious of the bites. I think it was because they were pretty large. She did eat them though! What do people think of this food? Now that I know she will try this I'll explore the other brands suggested too!

I do have some tiki cat here that she has snubbed in the past, but I'm going to pull that out again. Maybe I'll just serve it on the tile floor instead of a dish!

Couple questions-would cooked chicken work as a sub for the canned food? In addition to the dry at this point-
Are the Stella and chewy or primal bites on the larger side as well? Maybe she would like them as a topper when we give canned a try again in the future.

Wow , that is awesome that she likes the NV . Yes that is great food ..   

 

[LTS3]

Couple questions-would cooked chicken work as a sub for the canned food? In addition to the dry at this point-
Are the Stella and chewy or primal bites on the larger side as well? Maybe she would like them as a topper when we give canned a try again in the future.

Only if you limit the chicken to less than 10% of the diet to prevent nutritional deficiencies.

Don't feel bad if you cat simply won't eat any canned food despite trying all of the tricks in the book

Some cats are just stubborn and nothing will change their minds about canned food. Dry food can be fed as the sole source of food.

Have you considered home cooked food if your cat will eat cooked chicken? Here is some info: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources

Some freeze dried raw foods are pretty chunky. Stella and Chewy's is marble-sized nuggets and Primal is rectangular blocks.  Nature's Variety Instinct is a bit smaller than Stella and Chewy's. Any freeze dried raw can be easily broken up into smaller pieces.

 

[lisahe]

Like @LTS3, I also wondered about home-cooked chicken for Keke. And who knows, maybe the Tiki will work this time around: our cats are definitely wont to change their minds about foods so maybe Keke will, too. Fingers crossed! But if it doesn't work, well, you can always try again if you have more Tiki around the house. In any case, the NV food is good stuff so you've made a lot of progress there, particularly since she even ate the freeze-dried raw bits.

LTS3 is absolutely right about the freeze-dried raw foods, too: they're very pretty to crumble into whatever size piece or powder you want. I sprinkle some on our cats' raw food: they get rehydrated Primal with a garnish of one or two Stella & Chewy's nuggets crumbled on top. One cat sometimes balks about eating without the garnish. There are fussy cats all around!

I hope the vet appointment goes well on Monday!

 

[missmindy]

So last night KeKe teased for her wet food. I put it on a ceramic plate this time and she ate about half an ounce mixed with water. At this point I will take it!
She seems to be taking to the Instinct as well-I broke up the freeze dried raw pieces and she seems to be enjoying those.
Fingers crossed this will keep up. I will update after her vet appointmen!

 

[lisahe]

So last night KeKe teased for her wet food. I put it on a ceramic plate this time and she ate about half an ounce mixed with water. At this point I will take it!
She seems to be taking to the Instinct as well-I broke up the freeze dried raw pieces and she seems to be enjoying those.
Fingers crossed this will keep up. I will update after her vet appointmen!

That's great on all counts! I hope it keeps up, too. Maybe she'll fall in love with being served wet food on a ceramic plate.