Why is my cat only licking wet food gravy and not eating dry?

You can try some other type of canned food. Sometimes their tastes change and they decided they don't like what they had before. Cats can be picky. The other way to increase water consumption is to get a drinking fountain. Many cats like to drink from running water and will actually drink more if running water is constantly available. I would suggest you try this. Petco (or any large pet store) has a wide variety or drinking fountains: https://www.petco.com/shop/SearchDisplay?categoryId=&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&sType=SimpleSearch&resultCatEntryType=2&showResultsPage=true&searchSource=Q&pageView=&beginIndex=0&pageSize=24&fromPageValue=search&searchTerm=drinking+fountain Hope this helps. Best wishes!

I don't know if I would be necessarily worried but maybe a bit concerned. She may have a dental problem that is causing the issue. I suggest you get her to the vet for an exam to check her mouth thoroughly to be on the safe side.

Drinking a lot more means that she is also urinating a lot more. This is called Polydipsia and polyuria or PU PD. There are various reasons for PU PD and they need to be investigated by a veterinarian, especially in an older cat. Blood work can rule out any of those. 1) diabetes---a urinalysis and blood test will be able to rule it in or out. Diabetes is usually treated with diet and insulin. Weight loss is a cardinal sign. 2) Kidney disease, treated with diet and supportive treatment 3)diabetes insipidus, usually tested with a water deprivation test and treated with a medication called Minirin. You will need to make an appointment with your vet for an exam and blood tests. I am sure your vet will find the cause of the PU PD. Apart from that feeding your kitty pate-style wet food is usually better than the food with gravy as cats tend to lick the gravy off, which they cannot do with pate style wet food.

Patty could be licking her dry food to get it moist before eating it because she is having dental problems and it may hurt to eat dry food. These dental problems could be gingivitis, a tooth root abscess, or a broken tooth. I recommend taking Patty into your vet for a health exam. Your vet can check out her mouth and determine if there is a dental problem causing this behavior. If there is a dental issue, she will need a cleaning, scaling, and polishing, plus any broken teeth may need to be removed. I would take her into your vet today or tomorrow. In the meantime, try soaking her food with low sodium beef or chicken broth to see if that helps her eat.

Cats may not eat due to many conditions including bacterial over growth, parasites, viral infection, bad teeth, severe gingivitis or other even organ diseases. If the not eating has continued beyond 24 hours, I recommend to have her examined by the veterinarian. Since there are so many conditions, the doctor will preform a physical exam to start figuring out the cause. Make sure to bring in a sample of fresh stool. The doctor will check her for parasites and bacterial over growth. Many times a bland diet (you can try boiled white meat chicken and plain boiled white rice) can help and then a slow, gradual introduction to the normal food can be done. A good diet in general is Royal Canin. It is low residue and highly digestible. I hope your kitty starts feeling better quickly! Please feel free to post any additional questions!

Try feeding Dante Fancy Feast or any other good canned food that is prepared "PATE style". Most cats will eat that. Unfortunately most cast will actually just lick the gravy off the other styles. You can also warm up the pate style food to make it more aromatic. I also suggest you take Dante to your vet for an exam. He may have problems with his teeth and eating might hurt.

Poor Charlie! He could have a problem with his teeth or he might have an infection or parasite making him not want to eat. Since it has been going on for a couple days, he really should be examined by a vet to determine the cause and treat. Your vet can run some lab-work, if needed, to help diagnose and then prescribe medications to treat. Hope he feels better soon!