Help! My cat won't eat wet food. What can I feed them instead?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Some cats are carbohydrate junkies and just prefer dry over canned food. It is fine for them to eat just dry. But if you want to convert them to canned food then you have to do so gradually. There are benefits to canned food, like more moisture content. If you leave dry food down all the time it is best to do scheduled feedings. So start feeding the dry food to 3-4 meals per day and only leave it down for 20 mins. Make sure you make it known to your cats it is mealtime so they know to eat. Once they have all accepted the new mealtime and eat well then start offering canned food instead of dry. Some may gobble it up right away, others may turn their nose up. Try warming it up. Don't leave it out for more than 20 mins because the flavor changes as it drys out and never serve it cold from the fridge. You can sprinkle a little dry on top of the wet or mix it in, if that works then gradually decrease the amount of dry you use over time. Just be aware cats can not go more than 24 hours with out eating or they can develop serious health issues with their liver. I hope this helps!

Many cats who did not get wet food when they were kittens never will eat wet food. You can continue with a small amount of wet food once daily and cut back on the dry to see if they will eat more when they are hungry. I like giving some wet food as it makes them take in more fluids. Dry is fine just make sure they have access to plenty of fresh water. You can try adding some canned pumpkin also. It will increase their fiber uptake and increase the fluid also. My cat loves it so he gets if with every meal. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for your cats.

Hi there! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! There are a few things you can do to make his food more palatable while he gets used to it. For example, you may add low sodium chicken broth, veterinary approved gravy which you can get at your pet store or pieces of boiled chicken to it. Good luck!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! That is great. Please let us know if you have a particular question so that we can try to understand the issue and address it. We are looking forward to hearing from you. Best of luck!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern! You can add something to the food to entice Noushi more such as tuna water (from canned tuna) and see if she is more enticed by the tuna water to the point where she will eat on her own. Persistence and not catering to her wanting you around while she eats will help. It will take some time but be persistent and it should help. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

First of all, if she has not seen a vet yet this is the first thing you need to do before thinking about giving her different types of food that she might eat, if she isn't eating- she is ill and will need to be diagnosed and most probably medicated in order to get better. Now regarding foods she might want to eat, i would advise to try sardines, boiled chicken, canned tuna and liver pate.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is somewhat expected to some extent though it is important to make sure she is drinking water so she does not get dehydrated. I would encourage her to drink and you may get more than 1 litter box to encourage her to use it. If she does not improve within 2-3 days, have her evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment in case there is something else going on. Best of luck!