My cat won't eat his food, only gravy, but still acts playful. Why?

Without knowing the age and type of pet, it is difficult to know. I am assuming it is a cat and if she isn't eating than she could have a problem with her teeth, gastrointestinal issue, pancreatitis, infection, endocrine disease, liver/kidney disease. It is continues, she needs to be seen by a vet to determine the cause and treat her problem. Your vet can run lab work and take an -x-ray, if needed, to help diagnose and prescribe medications to help. Hope she starts eating soon,

Personally I have several patients that seem to do well on Fancy Feast. As long as he is maintaining a healthy weight and does not have other health concerns I think it would be fine to continue to offer canned Fancy Feast. The foods without gravy tend to be lower in carbohydrates which might be better nutrition for cats, but again if he seems to be somewhat picky and has been underweight in the past you may want to stick with what he likes. It also might be a good idea to double check with your vet and see if they have other recommendations.

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!

Hello, Cats can be very finicky eaters. Most truly healthy cats with no dental disease will not starve themselves of kibble if left with only that option. However, cats can seriously damage their liver if they go too long without eating, and some cats are both very finicky and very strong willed. You may just have to make your cat his special texture food. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

She may have a tooth ache or ulcers or other painful conditions in her mouth. Get some Fancy Feast canned food for her and feed her that until you can take her to a veterinarian (preferably today) for an exam. She is obviously hungry, so there is a chance that eating hurts her or the food is spoiled (sometimes that is not obvious) or the formulation changed significantly.

It is pretty likely that he has a tooth ache, has severe gingivitis or other problems in his mouth that make eating hard dry food difficult, so he will not eat enough to satisfy his hunger. Keep giving him more wet food and schedule an appointment with your vet for a dental exam. Older kitties often have dental problems and eating with a tooth ache is horrible.

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.