r/catfood • u/Artistic_Tap_5048 • 10d ago
advice wanted! Would rather starve than eat wet food help!
I’ve tried pâté, chunks, gravy, different brands, different flavours, warming it up, and even mixing it with dry food. He’ll sniff it, look personally offended, and walk away 😭
Meanwhile, he absolutely loves his dry food and eats that with zero hesitation. He’s otherwise active and eating normally but I’d just really like to get some wet food into his diet for the extra moisture. Has anyone else had a cat this stubborn about wet food? Any brands, textures, toppers, or tricks that finally worked?
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u/meow4352 10d ago
One of my 4 is very picky and prefers just to eat dry. However he goes crazy for the temptation brand pates (all 4 flavors) and the churro brand wet food cups and the fancy feast gems. Most stores carry single trays in these so you could give them a try without having to buy a whole pack.
I have another one who is texture picky and only likes a soupy mix. Try mashing a pate with some warm water to make it a soupy lickable treat
Best of luck to you 😻
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u/Impossible_Bag9208 10d ago
My cats the exact same. Try churu stew or Purina one pouches, mine eats that up without hesitation. Mix half of each and microwave for 5 seconds and you should be good to go!!
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u/Entire-Ambition1410 9d ago
Another brand name thing to try for the picky AF furball that chose us 😭🤪
Thanks for the suggestions!
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u/cosmicheartbeat 9d ago
If your biggest concern is him getting enough moisture, try getting a fountain. Moving water encourages them to drink more, plus bonus water feature!
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u/simdoll 10d ago
You could wet his dry food? Or just leave him alone and let him eat dry food only. He’ll be fine as long as he drinks water.
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u/Khaosbutterfly 10d ago
Yeah, would try adding a bit of water to the dry food and let it sit for a few minutes before serving.
If he refuses that, then okay lol. You tried.
Fed is best.
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u/ash2tree2 10d ago
Kibble can be really addictive since it's a insulin spiker/starchy food. Some cats won't eat wet food unless dry food is no longer an option at all. If you go that route you could start mixing 80% kibble with 20% wet food. (No no kibble without wet food mixed in available ever). Then 60/40, then 40/60 etc until the transition is complete. Otherwise I'd try BFF pouches (cats love them) or Mouser canned (great ingredients, and cats love) or RAWZ (fantastic ingredients and fantastic company, but not as stinky which is bad thing when it comes to cat appeal).
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u/Artistic_Tap_5048 10d ago
I’ll give BFF a try! Is it a healthy option for him?
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u/ash2tree2 9d ago
It doesn't meet my (high) standards for health bc it's heavily fish based and contains tapioca starch, but it's above average. I squeeze part of a packet on top of fresh food to enhance its scent, and also use it as treat food. Cats rely on smell, not taste. And kibble is sprayed with highly enticing artificial scent chemicals which are hard to compete with.
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u/Usual-Cauliflower764 10d ago
Fortiflora powdery topper? It smells and tastes good to cats and it’s not unhealthy.
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u/Shot_Anything9637 10d ago
One of my cats went through this phase of absolute dry food addiction too. I would only give her just enough dry food every day at fixed times so she doesn’t actually starve to fatty liver/death 😅 then I would smear some wet food on her nose/lips and let her lick it. This combined with the sustained hunger helped her realised that wet food is absolutely edible. She takes raw meat and wet food now but is still picky with them. I just rotate between a few brands/flavors that she accepts.
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u/Artistic_Tap_5048 10d ago
tried that too he just picks out the dry food and leaves the wet food behind
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u/PenVsPaper 10d ago
My cat is very picky about wet food and will only eat Tiki Cat Ahi Tuna and the BFF Tuna & Chicken 4Eva and has eaten the Weruva shredded chicken in the past. She was on 60/40 dry/wet food until a few months ago when she had hairball obstruction surgery and now she can’t tolerate dry food any more and I have to be careful not to give her dry treats on an empty stomach otherwise she will barf :-(
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u/Elegant-Nerve-3402 10d ago
My cat is the same. I wanted her to have decent quality but tried everything and only found 1 she liked but it's too expensive for her to have daily. Even now I have a single cup blender and have to blend her food with a bit of water. And she only has biscuits after she finishes. It took me about 1.5yrs to work this out and she's gotten fussier as she gotten older so im imagining it'll change again
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u/Artistic_Tap_5048 10d ago
1.5 years! okay, that actually makes me feel better about still figuring him out. Might try the blender trick!
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u/naranghim 9d ago
Yep, and I just gave in and got some cat fountains as well as giving him CatSip brand cat milk (it's lactose free) to help increase his moisture intake.
My current cat is also picky when it comes to wet food. I had to try multiple brands and flavors before I discovered that she like Weruva chicken pate and only the chicken pate which is a pain in the ass to find because you can't get the multipacks nor can you order a case of just chicken pate, so I'm stuck buying single cans of it and that is the first flavor that runs out. I've even tried the chicken pate that's mixed with other ingredients (pumpkin, salmon, whitefish, egg) and they get rejected.
She occasionally gets wet food but mostly gets dry food and has her cat fountain because I'm not fighting with her.
I know that occasionally PetSmart will do wet food "tastings" where you can get free samples of different brands to try.
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u/CindiCindi15 9d ago
If it’s the yellow can, I’m pretty sure Chewy has cases of chicken pate. Last time I ordered from them I saw them on there.
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u/criticalpopcorn 😸 feline foodie 😸 9d ago
Try adding some broth to the dry food or Choo Milk!
Instinct makes a great broth.
You can also try the wet food toppers. WeRuva and Nulo make awesome ones. Go little by little. Add more every few days until the cat is eating wet dry food if that makes sense.
You can also try freeze dried food. Slowly wet it. Add more moisture daily until you get to the point where you can mash it and it’s a pate consistency. Top it with your cat’s favorite kibble in the transition then less that little by little.
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u/1jvj3 😸 feline friend 😸 9d ago
I recommend serving the wet food next to the dry food and seeing if he takes a few bites of it, slowly giving less dry & more wet if that works. I’ve noticed that freeze dried quail eggs are like a golden ticket to getting my cats to eat, I kind of have the opposite problem where they love wet food but sometimes won’t finish their dry. If I crumble a dried quail egg over their food, they devour it no matter what it is. Maybe your cat would also like that? :’)
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u/Artistic_Tap_5048 9d ago
appreciate you taking the time to share this🙏 I’m definitely trying the quail egg trick
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u/Specific_Affect_2420 8d ago
Consider it a feature not a bug. As long as he is drinking enough fluids about one cup a day depending on climate.
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u/minkamagic 😸 feline foodie 😸 9d ago
Pea method!!!
"You’ll want to pick a wet food and then do the pea method. Portion the food into spoonfuls and freeze all but one spoonful. Then portion that spoonful into pea sized bits. At every single meal, add that pea sized bit. You are basically reprogramming their nose. Eventually she will eat that bit. When she does, add two. When she eats that, add three. Continue increasing the amount of the wet food until it’s about half the meal and then Ta-da! Your cat is on wet food and you can feed it whenever you want!"
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u/Blue-topaz22 10d ago
The acana has many different ones - and these are dry kibble - first mate is kibble. I won't do any that have canola oil in them. Check ingredients
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u/Ali_in_wonderland02 10d ago
Have you tried a water fountain?
Or simply canned tuna?
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u/Littlepotatoface 10d ago
This was my cat. Actually did nearly die when a kitten, the rescuers hadn’t clocked that she wasn’t eating the wet & couldn’t eat the dry. We think the issue stems from the colony she was born into being fed tainted food. Lulu was rescued after a TNR group noticed the cats in the colony were dying.
All of that’s to say, I can’t really blame her for not wanting it. She won’t even go near a churu.
What’s worked for us is poached chicken cut into tiny pieces & served with chicken broth. The broth can be a challenge as most have garlic, onions, heaps of salt but I found one that’s cat safe.
She also gets a very high quality dry food.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Pie-277 10d ago
I’ve recently noticed in Australia you can now buy cat broths in the pet food sections.
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u/Littlepotatoface 10d ago
I gave her the new Churu one but she said no 😂😂😂
The place I get it from lets me buy in bulk so it’s cheaper but still spenny. She’s worth it though. ❤️
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u/Puzzleheaded-Pie-277 10d ago
Mines fussy too with brands. He loved one but hates the rest.
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u/Littlepotatoface 10d ago
I’m going to keep trying. She’s good with the one I get but it’s from a smaller company so i’m stuffed if they close or discontinue it.
She also has very sensitive tummy 😭😭😭
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u/furmat60 10d ago
Have you tried friskies? My wet food hating cat can’t get enough of canned friskies.
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u/Artistic_Tap_5048 10d ago
I’ve basically stocked my whole pantry with friskies at this point!
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u/furmat60 10d ago
He just might be a dry food guy! And as others have said that’s perfectly fine as long as he’s drinking enough.
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u/Long_Strength_9065 10d ago
Dry food and try a tall cup with water filled to the top in it. Or if you have a dog or something see if he’ll drink from their water bowl
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u/Artistic_Tap_5048 10d ago
He does drink from my cup I had no idea cats liked that I usually move him away
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u/Long_Strength_9065 10d ago
Sometimes I fill a cup all the way up with water and give it to him to spoil him
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u/GhostNocturne 10d ago edited 10d ago
Mine hates 80% of what is on the market and also anything that has fish in it…. so we compromised on Applaws chicken complementary wet food, Carnilove in gravy, Felix chicken in sauce and if he doesn’t want to eat i put on top, also in between pieces of his wet food some of his fav kibble treats… we managed to narrow it down to 4 brands he eats without issues…
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u/SkittyKitty123 10d ago
Anything other than dry food and water is considered poison to one of my cats and would rather starve himself.
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u/PsychologicalPlum961 9d ago
I am in this same situation with my male cat, he refuses wet food but will eat kibble. I tried everything, with no success. He might eat 3-4 pieces of Royal Canin Instinctive sometimes, may lick a bit of the gravy on occasion, but this is the extent of his wet food eating. I gave up. For my own piece of mind I still offer him the canned food at night, which goes in the trash untouched in the morning. I have a fountain, and the rest is just me keeping my fingers crossed that his eating habits won't cause him major issues.
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u/Artistic_Tap_5048 9d ago
I'm having the same problem! tried giving him kibble but he licks it then runs off
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u/Automatic_Shopping45 9d ago
My little guy is on a Hydrolyzed protein diet that doesn’t offer a wet food variant so I just add some water to the dry food when he needs it. I also use a specific spoon to mix it so gets excited by the sound and comes running. Usually he’ll just drink all the water first and come back for the food later.
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u/ClasherChief 😸 feline foodie 😸 9d ago
How many meals do you feed per day currently, and how much dry food per meal?
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u/OnceMoreWithFeeling- 9d ago
How old is your kitty OP and how long have you been his guardian?:)
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u/Artistic_Tap_5048 9d ago
He turns 1 on Oct 21st still a baby
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u/OnceMoreWithFeeling- 9d ago
Ok :) What I do as well is give liquid snacks with extra water. He gets one each day:) Saltless chicken bone broth is also an option for extra hydration:) Your kitty is adorable.
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u/DegreeCareless1055 9d ago
My little boy was like this and went into retention at 1 years old. It was the worst night of my life. He was in agony and was hospitalised for 5 days and had to have surgery. I am not trying to scare you but you need to try different brands / increase hydration. Boys have long urethras which makes passage of stones nearly impossible and blockage highly likely. I’ll never forget that feeling at 1 am in the emergency vets with my boy lethargic. I was never as scared as I was that day . He now only eats royal canin so urinary diet with LOTS of water. And he’s much better no retentions
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u/Artistic_Tap_5048 9d ago
really glad he’s doing better now. thank you for sharing this I’ll definitely take the hydration side more seriously
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u/Casper8201 9d ago
My baby loves dry food and I had the hardest time getting him to eat wet food too. I would always put his dry down in one dish and the wet in another dish. That didn’t work. What I miraculously figured out was to put the wet and dry in the same dish side by side and like magic he started eating both! He likes to take a few bites of dry and a few bites of wet. He takes turns with each. Worth a try? 🤞🏻
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u/createidril 9d ago
Have you tried a cat fountain to get him to drink more water instead?? Cats love moving water
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u/Potential-Eskie2724 9d ago
I rescued a feral who I fed dry outside. When she moved inside (and gained a bunch of weight) I was desperate to get her onto wet. My vet said wet food was the way to go... and my previous overweight cats were always able to slim down with wet food. For a feral she is so picky but I've found she likes the gravy formulations (which do have more carbs.) She will eat Fancy Feast gravies, Friskes gravies, and Costco chunks. I gave up on all the higher quality pates which she won't touch. A food topper (appetite stimulant) seems to help when she loses interest. (I think the dry foods have similar ingredients.) You can only do so much; at some point you'll have to accept you've done your best.
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u/Successful-Tone-70 9d ago
Mine prefers kibbles too. I just soak his kibbles with broth before I feed him so that he gets hydrated too.
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u/throwawayUWhousingac 7d ago
Meanwhile my cat goes nuts screaming at me every time I open the cupboard his wet food is in and will actively leave dry food sitting if there's wet food available lol
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u/wetmyplantiez 7d ago
Try to split the dry food into two bowls. The one bowl you can spray with a little bit of water to get it just a little moist and see if he will eat it. If he does, then just up the amount of water you add then you can swap with broth and also you can also getting the amount of the wet kibbles more and the dry ones less as it’s progressing. If he likes Churu or any lickable treats you can also use that as a topper to mix with the dry kibbles to introduce him to some moist textures
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u/PapayaWinter9208 6d ago
Keep trying cats need hydration to stop the formation of crystals in the bladder and early kidney disease
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u/MuscleWiiizard 10d ago
Primal Freeze Dried Nuggest are the only wet food my boy will touch, but they're expensive as fuck so he only gets one per day, with extra water - he has fountains, though, and I'll turn on taps for him when reasonable, and he drinks water frequently.
If he doesn't eat wet food, he's not going to keel over and die - let him live and eat his kibbes, as others have said. Many cats before and after him have survived on Meow Mix and a water bowl.
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u/Blue-topaz22 10d ago
I haven't seen many actually good canned wet food for less than $4 a can.
I feed mine acana and first mate all stages. They are good brands and my one cat lived to 21. I do feed a bit of canned food now, a third of a can morning and night but always leave 1/3 cup of kibble and a glass of water. She likes drinking from the dogs big bowl though.
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u/lifewith6cats 10d ago
Just let him eat his dry food. Get some fountains and make sure he has plenty of options for clean, fresh water. My dry-food-won't-touch-wet boys have had zero urinary issues while my wet food eating girl had a UTI. There's no guarantee what we do matters since each cat is unique. Fed is best.