Hello!
I have a cat that’s been a particular pain to feed. When I first got her, the previous owner had fed dry food with a specific flavor of Friskies wet food. Over the years, I had gotten her to eat a different dry food, but until recently, no other wet food. Late last year I finally found a different canned food she’d eat, but it gave her stomach problems, so I stopped it.
I’ve gotten tons of different wet foods- brands, flavors, textures. I’ve tried sprinkling some chicken food toppers that she still sometimes eat alone, but if I lay out three for her to sniff, she won’t. She’ll just look and leave. I’ve even tried blending a little into the food she liked, but it’s like she immediately smells even the smallest add in. She also won’t eat a soaked version of her dry food, even if it’s broth or water.
I want to feed my cats wet food for a few reasons, but also there have been times when that I have to- for example, she had a tooth that had to be taken out and at that time and needed to for two weeks.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Kenzie,
Thanks for reaching out with your question about your cat.
We know that it can be really hard to get certain cats to eat wet food, some cats are just dry food obsessed! I would definitely persevere with trying to encourage her to eat wet food though as it really adds to their dietary moisture intake and will help with conditions such as kidney disease, diabetes, bladder issues and after dental procedures as in the case of your little cat.
What flavour is her current wet food? Is it in gravy/jelly/mousse/soup? I would try to find a wet food that has similar flavours and textures to her current food as this is what she prefers.
We have a list of wet foods that we recommend here and would be very palatable, it might give you some ideas;
https://cats.com/reviews/best-canned-cat-food
Apart from that, I would try to heat the food up a little bit as cats prefer food at body temperature (natural hunters) and it also helps to increase the smell of the food, which may entice her to eat it.
Cats prefer food bowls that are wide and shallow (so their whiskers don’t hit off the edges of the bowl) so I would also provide food bowls like this to encourage her to eat wet food. Even though she eats her dry food fine and eating in general isn’t an issue, providing her wet food in food bowls like this might help.
If she still won’t eat wet food after all of this, you can do other things to increase her water intake in general. Providing plenty of water bowls around the house (again, wide and shallow dishes) and water fountains will help to encourage drinking.
I hope that helps and if you have any more questions please ask,
Aisling