My Cat Is Finicky & Rejecting Wet Food (kittens, eating, male)

[lottamoxie]

I have been transitioning my cat to a wet food-based diet over the past several months. She was sort of accepting it and doing fairly well on the Trader Joe's Turkey/Giblet canned formula, after rejecting Evo 95%, then rejecting Merrick's and before that some other premium wet. I got her to 80% wet/canned and 20% non-grain kibble.

Lately (the past several days) she has started rejecting the current TJ's wet food and is whiny and complaining, walking around looking disgusted and following me around the kitchen when I'm in there. She loved the wet food last week, but now, no longer.

She wants more kibble (I use 'Taste of the Wild'). I even put some pieces of the kibble on the slightly warm wet food to entice her. FAIL!

She's crying and crying right now. Throwing a kitty temper tantrum.

She is otherwise healthy and active and feisty. She drinks water and eliminates well. She weighs 10 lbs.

I don't want to cater to these tantrums; she is exceptionally adept at displaying her displeasure, as well as vocally expressing it, which she has been doing a lot lately.

EDITED TO ADD: Okay I just opened a fresh can of the TJ's cat food. She ate a couple tablespoons of the frest just-opened with gusto. However, if I refrigerate the leftover wet and serve it to her (warmed to mouse temp), she rejects it. I can't keep opening cans of wet food just so she can have that fresh-just-opened experience...esp when she only eats a few tablespoons at a time, and several hours apart.

[tilli]

Don't think of it as tantrums. Think of it as the final withdrawal stage for a dry food junkie. She is used to free-feeding I assume and needs to get used to eating at mealtimes. If possible try feeding her three divided servings a day until she is used to meals, then transition her to two a day if you prefer. I would put out her entire serving at mealtime and just leave it down. She'll eat a little right away. Then if she comes crying to you later, try leading her to the dish with the rest of her serving and fluffing it up for her with a fork, scrape any dry bits off to the side. Hopefully she'll eat a little more. But don't give her more fresh until the next mealtime, just lead her to the food you already put down. The idea here is to teach her that fresh food comes at mealtimes, so if she wants it fresh she should eat up then. I think she will get it pretty soon, hang in there!

How are you warming the food? If you are using the microwave, try a different approach as some cats despise microwaved food. I use a shallow stainless steel bowl with a rubberized bottom and float it in a couple inches of hot tap water in the sink to take the chill off it, that usually takes about 10 minutes.

Another approach to consider is buying the small cans so that you don't need to put leftovers in the fridge. This costs a little more but I think it's worth it, but not every food is available in the small cans.

[zitsky]

The sentiment seems to be "dry food is bad", "wet food is good", so therefore kitty has to eat wet food, regardless of what their preference is. This is not an argument for one or the other. I have a 5 year old male who will NOT eat wet food and has eaten store brand and then VERY good quality dry food. After 5 years of him turning his nose up at the wet food, I discovered that he did like most kinds of beef wet cat food. He will also eat a small amount of tuna or other fish type wet food. However, he does not eat enough wet food to support his dietary needs.

Don't take this personally, but I think teasing your cat and/or forcing them to eat something they hate is cruel. I'm not suggesting we spoil our cats but the point of having pets is not about us making them do whatever we want. They aren't there for our entertainment. It's a love-hate, give-take relationship. Would it be so bad if your cat had a little dry kibble together with their wet food?

[lottamoxie]

If possible try feeding her three divided servings a day until she is used to meals, then transition her to two a day if you prefer. I would put out her entire serving at mealtime and just leave it down. She'll eat a little right away. Then if she comes crying to you later, try leading her to the dish with the rest of her serving and fluffing it up for her with a fork, scrape any dry bits off to the side.

That's exactly what I've been doing, minus giving her the entire 6oz can at one time.

Sometimes she eats, sometimes she sticks her nose in the air and rejects it all. This morning she happily ate a couple spoonfuls but left the rest of the 2 oz I gave her.

I fluff the food 2 or 3 times a day so no crusty stuff forms, and when she whines and cries I lead her to her bowl.

She *does* have some of her kibble in the closet (which is where she wants the kibble), though a smaller amount than she used to have. Sometimes she eats that and sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes she just whines and whines instead.

I've tried warming the food by microwaving it for 8 seconds. I've also warmed it by adding a little hot water and mixing the food to get it to a warmer temp.

She'll run over and sniff the food, and sometimes she'll eat it but just as often or more she'll reject it.

They say cats won't starve themselves and if they're hungry (enough) they will eat. I just don't want to get into power struggles with her over food. Hence I've been trying to ignore the random whininess, making sure she has fresh and healthy food available at the proper temperature.

At a sturdy 10 lbs she has shown no inclination to starve herself but OMG the whining and vocalizations -- I should rename her "Sara Bernhardt!"

[lottamoxie]

Would it be so bad if your cat had a little dry kibble together with their wet food?

You must not have read my original posting...and certainly not the part where I clearly say she gets kibble, AND I've tried sprinkling some of her kibble on the wet food as well.

My cat gets kibble and has her whole life.

I'm giving her less of the kibble than just keeping a big bowl of it around, but it's there and available most of the time, although in a much smaller quantity.

Note I said I'd been TRANSITIONING her to more wet food, in a greater %, over several months. There are no games being played, she is not being teased or tortured, and I certainly don't think of any animal as there for my entertainment. That's a pretty harsh thing to say and you obviously don't know your audience or you would never direct such a comment towards me.

[Turtleheart558]

Sounds a lot like my cat. She is elderly (16 years old) but she won't eat any 'senior' wet food as it only comes in lamb. One day she will eat up chicken flavor wet food like it's a delicacy and next day she will hate it and demand tuna and the next day she wants a different flavor. It took me a while to catch on that she doesn't want the same thing 2 days in a row and aas long as I mix up the flavors from day to day she will eat the wet food. If I give her a flavor she's not in the mood for she looks at me in disgust and meows for something else. I figured out it's not the food she is finicky about, it's the flavor on any particular day.

[tilli]

That's exactly what I've been doing, minus giving her the entire 6oz can at one time.

Yeh, those are the larger cans. I use the 3oz size for all the foods I feed except Wellness Core since I have no choice. When I give her the Core, I just put down the entire 5.5oz can in the morning and it is breakfast and lunch. But I'm feeding a hungry kitten who's not terribly picky although she doesn't like fish. She actually backs away from tuna like it's scary.

I was eventually able to get my dry junkie onto Natural Balance, the chicken and liver flavor. It has rice in it which I don't like but I think the rice in it might help to ease dry food eaters over since they are used to high carb levels. The chicken liver flavor is much stinkier than the turkey flavor and she ate it with much more enthusiasm.

I've tried warming the food by microwaving it for 8 seconds. I've also warmed it by adding a little hot water and mixing the food to get it to a warmer temp.

Try floating it in hot water as I described above. Some cats don't like that diluted slurry texture of food with hot water mixed in, and as I mentioned some cats just hate microwaved food. They also usually don't need it all the way at mouse body temp but will usually eat it if the fridge chill is knocked off, it will feel lukewarm to your finger.

They say cats won't starve themselves and if they're hungry (enough) they will eat.

I can tell you from experience that is absolutely untrue and a cat WILL starve itself. Especially if someone attempts to cold turkey a real dry food junkie. Usually they get so attached to dry food by being weaned onto it as kittens. They don't recognize canned food as food and will wait for the kibble they are accustomed to. In my case I got to experience this phenomenon when my dry junkie's (Iam's) horrible teeth had to be fixed (which were obviously NOT cleaned by eating kibble, btw) and she was restricted to a soft diet while she healed. She refused to eat any canned or the kibble moistened. This led to a long period of anorexia in which she became nothing but skin and bones. I offered her what seemed like every canned food on the market, baby food, deli meat (Boar's Head rare roast beef was the only thing she would touch, and only in small amounts). I was feeding her small amounts of AD by syringe but she hated the syringe feeding. I was offering her samples of kibble from the high end stores, she ignored them. She wouldn't eat her old kibble - the Iam's that her original vet had recommended. She didn't respond to the appetite stimulating drugs the vet tried, and the vet did not think she would make it. I didn't think she would make it, but I begged her to stay. She spent all her time under the covers in bed.

One day I bought a bag of Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul after hearing some positive reviews and WHEW, she walked up to it and finally started eating again, regained her health and lived several more years. Of course that food seems to have triggered her food allergies (it has several grains in it and is actually not that great a food now that I know better), but that's another story. I am lucky that she had never been fat or she probably would have got fatty liver syndrome. I should have just given her the kibble dry, she swallowed it whole anyways, and better she rip out a stitch or two than not eat at all. If only I had known then.

So never try to force a cat to eat a food it refuses. The only reason I think you should hold firm in this case is because the cat does not refuse the food, she just isn't eating enough at once. I think that appetite training will handle that, and the cat does have access to some kibble so she won't starve. You might want to try a different approach with the kibble. Put down the canned first, leave it down 20 minutes, then put down the kibble portion. To always give her the opportunity to start with the canned when she is hungriest, to form positive associations. Rotating a few treat flavors of canned might interest her too. Most cats have two or three flavors that they love and it takes some experimentation to find them.

I just don't want to get into power struggles with her over food. Hence I've been trying to ignore the random whininess, making sure she has fresh and healthy food available at the proper temperature.

You're close, don't give up. The biggest step is getting them to eat canned at all, so you're 80% through the ordeal.

At a sturdy 10 lbs she has shown no inclination to starve herself but OMG the whining and vocalizations -- I should rename her "Sara Bernhardt!"

Haha! Another idea is that when she comes to you and whines, you could try playing dumb and engaging her in play instead of taking her to the food. The exercise will stimulate her appetite and may help to overcome her finickiness.

[lottamoxie]

Well she doesn't come to me and whine. She stands in the kitchen and whines (and whines and whines LOUD). I've started ignoring that because if she has both fresh wet and kibble available, then there's no reason to complain! And if I respond to her demands then all that's doing is reinforcing that behavior.

She's 17 months old now.

She was introduced to wet food fairly early (maybe 4 months old) but always preferred the kibble. She gets non-grain kibble, always has. 'Taste of the Wild' or Nature's Variety 'Instinct' or a mix of the two.

She hates seafood, esp tuna. Loves chicken or turkey.

She has turned her nose up at raw chicken, raw turkey, raw salmon.

She was begging me for some of my teriyaki chicken and tempura shrimp in dipping sauce yesterday. She got NONE of that! LOL.

I started her on Evo canned kitten/cat then on to Evo 95% chicken/turkey formula. She liked it for awhile...until she didn't...and that was that. Tried Merrick's. Then tried Trader Joe's, which has been the winner, up until last week.

I never let her go a day without eating. I've gone as far as rubbing some of the wet food on her gums and around her mouth and she will eat it and clean herself up and occasionally will even give me that "hey that was tasty!" look. And yes, she does munch on her kibble. As I said, she's never gone a day without eating, to my knowledge.

[greg42]

Try something chunkier, maybe? I've been able to get my cat to eat some wet food (this after many years) but she won't eat anything that's pate glop so far as I can tell, and I've tried many good varieties. It'll make your food cost go up significantly though.

Ideas could include perhaps some varieties of Weruva (would say BFF, which is a lower-cost Weruva, but every one of those has tuna in it), Tiki Cat (this is the only one I can get mine to consistently eat), and a couple varieties of Blue Buffalo (look for "flaked" or "sliced"). There seem to be very few high-quality choices that aren't blended into mush though. Would love to feed my cat Wellness, etc, but she won't eat that stuff. It's a bigger waste to keep trying food she won't eat than to just buy the pricey one she does.

[tilli]

Originally Posted by zitsky

The sentiment seems to be "dry food is bad", "wet food is good", so therefore kitty has to eat wet food, regardless of what their preference is.

Wet food is close to natural prey which is what's really best. Dry food is the furthest thing from what a cat naturally eats. It has terrible effects on feline health - chronic dehydration, diabetes, obesity, kidney failure, tooth decay, stinky stools, the list goes on and on. Cats only prefer kibble when they have been trained onto it - weaning them onto it by moistening it with milk is a common practice. Kibble is sprayed with nasty stuff to make a layer on it that is especially tempting to a cat. It is essentially kitty junk food. It is meat flavored breakfast cereal. Would you allow a child to consume nothing but junk food because that was his preference? We are the humans and it is our responsibility to look out for the cat's best interest.

I have a 5 year old male who will NOT eat wet food and has eaten store brand and then VERY good quality dry food. After 5 years of him turning his nose up at the wet food, I discovered that he did like most kinds of beef wet cat food. He will also eat a small amount of tuna or other fish type wet food. However, he does not eat enough wet food to support his dietary needs.

Some cats are just very strongly attached to that dry food. I don't think anyone should beat themselves up if their cat won't eat canned food, I know just what that is like. I think the fact that you kept trying is great and glad you found a flavor kitty likes. Transitioning can be a long process, you have to stick with it, baby steps. I promise that as the percentage of kibble in the diet decreases you will see the difference in the cat.

Don't take this personally, but I think teasing your cat and/or forcing them to eat something they hate is cruel.

Of course you should not force a cat to eat something it hates. Neither should you allow it to exclusively eat something unhealthy just because they are accustomed to it. Usually the real issue is that the cat does not recognize it as food if it was not offered canned food when it was weaned when food preferences form. I am convinced that eventually every cat can be transitioned to a more species-appropriate diet if you are patient and persistent, but I also recognize that felines can be extraordinarily stubborn and you may be forced to feed them what they will eat even if it isn't the most healthy choice. I think it is important to continue to attempt to transition until transition occurs, and this sometimes happens with startling suddenness after years of resistance. Even if you can never get a cat to completely give up the kibble, the more hydrated food and quality meat protein you can get them to eat, the better.

I'm not suggesting we spoil our cats...

I am! Well not in a 'spoiled brat' kind of way, but in a 'give them the best that you can' kind of way.

...but the point of having pets is not about us making them do whatever we want. They aren't there for our entertainment. It's a love-hate, give-take relationship. Would it be so bad if your cat had a little dry kibble together with their wet food?

I mostly agree with the sentiment, but it's not an equal relationship. Unless your cat hunts prey for itself, you are the one providing the food, and in my opinion you have a duty to help the cat transition to the most appropriate diet you can provide that it will accept. If the way that is done is by letting the cat have a little kibble as a small portion of a diet of mostly more appropriate food - then great! That's much better for the cat than to eat nothing but kibble.

I understand that those who feed dry can be made to feel really defensive when this subject comes up. It hits close to home. We've been trained to think that kibble is not only appropriate, but preferable! I was wracked with guilt when I realized the consequences of blindly feeding what the vet had suggested. My cat suffered a terrible ordeal because of kibble. This one string of dominoes alone cost us thousands in vet bills and it need never have happened. If only that vet who I trusted had considered for a moment that cats are obligate carnivores and had declined to recommend and sell dry kibble. Sadly I now know that you can't trust a vet's recommendation just because they are a vet, especially if it's a product they want to sell you. Even the best vet is ultimately a business person like everyone else and sometimes what is best for the vet's bottom line is not what is best for our pets. We have to look out for our pets because we are the ONLY ones that truly have their best interests at heart. I post about this issue not to berate those who feed kibble, but to hopefully persuade them to begin to transition or to keep trying - while their pets are well. So they never have to live with the consequences of feeding kibble the way I did.