# Won't eat wet food anymore



## Elliecat (Nov 19, 2013)

Hey all, I'm hoping someone can help with this. I've had Ellie since she was 8 weeks old and about 15 ounces (she was half the size of her litter mates, obviously the runt) She used to LOVE wet food and would crawl on my leg for it. Around the time I got Zoey (Ellie turned 9 months I believe) Ellie ended up having health issues (weird hack/cough, chin acne and infection by her lips, all cleared up now with some awesome vets) and after her chin acne thing happened, Ellie stopped eating wet food and I stopped feeding her iams dry food. She won't touch wet food to save my life. Zoey will eat her portion and then eat Ellie's cause Ellie will sniff and walk away. I do feed her dry blue wilderness duck and blue wilderness Rocky Mountain rabbit. And she will occasionally eat zoeys blue wilderness kitten dry food. I felt like Ellie gained weight on iams so I cut the iams out but now she's like lean (not skinny by any means but she's definitely lost the extra fat she gained from iams) 

She used to LOVE blue wilderness duck and she won't touch it anymore. I've tried innova, nutro, all blue buffalo, science diet, friskies fancy feast, Sheba, and the "natural" one I forgot what it's called at petsmart. No dice, today she licked (one lick mind you) a friskies shredded turkey one and walked away. So aggravating because I want her to be healthy and have healthy kidneys!! (I'm paranoid about Ellie because she is literally my soulmate and im ok with being a crazy cat lady at 23 lol  ). 

Zoey is loving all this food btw, she's got a little pouch thing going on for her but she's not fat either but she's SO much heavier than Ellie but she's definitely going to be a tall/big cat, probably double Ellie's size. 

So some facts if that can help as well, Ellie is officially 14 months today. Zoey is around 7/8 months. Both short hair. They always have dry food sitting out and wet food is either in the morning or mid afternoon ish. I prefer sticking with higher quality food for them because they're like my children.

Sorry for the long post but it's so frustrating. Any advice and opinions are greatly appreciated!!!!  thanks guys and ladies !!!


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Hi Elliecat, our little furballs can drive us right out of our minds can't they? 

My cat who used to be pretty indifferent to wet food now seems to prefer it to dry. She has acne too, and it's currently infected, and curiously, I think the preference for wet and the worsening acne might be related. So, the opposite of your Ellie. But maybe it's some association of discomfort while eating? I don't know. 

I'm a bit confused about what foods she was getting before. Did you switch her dry food from Iams to Blue, or was she getting both? If it was a switch, it could be that she's decided the BW dry is tastier than the wet that she was getting. In that case, if you continue to free feed the dry, it's going to be really hard for you to get Ellie to eat wet. She might have become a dry food junkie. I'd decide how much dry she needs, measure it out and not give any more once she eats it. 

I know you probably want to make sure that Zoey eats enough, but since Zoey likes wet food, you could give her more wet and take the dry food away when she's done eating. Some cats can self-regulate, but others don't, and if Zoey's one of these kitties, she could end up being overweight. And trying to get kitties to lose weight is a serious drag. 

One of my cats refuses to eat any more wet food at a certain point of the day, so I feed some dry. But to get her to eat the wet (at dinner), I give very little dry in the morning so that she's good and hungry when it's time for the wet food. You could try that with Ellie. If she's food-motivated, she'll eat the wet if she's hungry enough.


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## TabbCatt (Mar 26, 2014)

Hmmm..I don't know about leaving the dry food out. I think Zoey is old enough to eat twice daily, so it may not be necessary to leave it out anymore. Also, by removing the dry food, it may encourage Ellie to eat the wet food on scheduled times as she's more likely to be hungry. Another thing with the free-feeding of dry--you don't know which cat is consuming how much, nor can you control it. 

So, I'd say try eliminating the dry altogether and see what happens, and continue to provide a variety of different wet foods for them both. Different textures, flavors, brands, etc. If Ellie is still resistant to wet food, some people have used crushed kibble as a "topper" with success, or mixing it into the wet food. 

Another thing that will revv up Ellie's appetite is interactive play! Try using a wand teaser toy like "da bird" that encourages her to run up stairs, onto sofas, on beds, etc, and run her tired for about 15 minutes or she lays on her side. Then you feed her wet food! This routine will get into a cat's natural prey instinct: hunt, catch, kill, eat! She will have positive associations with play/food, and hopefully forget all about her infection/cough with wet food.

Maybe others can also put in their experiences or ideas, too? We want Ellie to love wet foods again!


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## 0ozma (Sep 22, 2012)

I agree on removing the dry food. You can also warm the wet food up a bit to release some scents and flavor. Just very lightly warm, or add warm water to it and stir. 

Personally I can spike my cat's appetite by giving him a treat. If he hasn't ate in a while and food is out, I can give him a treat and without fail he will go eat immediately afterwards. Maybe warm up the wet food, and give her a treat next to the food to start up her appetite


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## Elliecat (Nov 19, 2013)

Thanks for the replies!!

I'm not comfortable with removing dry food from their diets. I work two jobs so it's tricky on keeping up with a set schedule when I don't have one myself. I also just bought them orijen cat&kitten food so they're taking to that well but I still have BW sitting out incase they want the other one. And Ellie totally isn't food motivated. She won't eat human food (cooked chicken or pork) rarely takes treats and has just become overall the oddest cat I've ever dealt with. Zoey will eat whatever I put in front of her pretty much. 

Ellie's cat acne is gone is totally gone  

Ellie is probably 8 lbs and she's VERY active. Zoey is probably around 13 cause she's kinda heavy but they're both slim so I'm not worried about weight with them (they both play and chase each other nonstop). Ellie was the runt of her littler so I'm guessing she's not gonna grow much bigger. But I highly doubt either cat will get overweight. If anything, I'm worried that Ellie is slightly underweight. 

Why can't food be sitting out for them? I don't even eat meals, I snack all day, I'd be grumpy if someone didn't let me eat when I wanted to. 

I did get Ellie to each a slight bit of wellness core kitten the other day. I tried natures variety rabbit canned and they both hate it. I'm also starting to worry that Ellie is getting too thin but I watch her eat when I am home so idk what's going on


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## gizmothecat (Jun 26, 2013)

Augh. Marshall does that to gizmo!! I literally have to guard her eating because marshall inhales his food then runs over to her dish and she let's him...wether she is done or not...grrrrr its sooooo annoying to stand there and make sure she eats what she wants. Gizmo is thin....marshall is not so much. He's not bad...but he has a little pudge

Not sure why she stopped eating dry....maybe a vet visit is in order? Gizmo went through this...and it was hairballs causing her lack of interest in food. I give them both metamucil and hairball gel


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Elliecat, I don't think you need to stop feeding dry. It's not feasible for a lot of people. I give the little bit of dry in the morning, wet at night, then a little dry left out overnight.

What I meant was that if you don't leave dry out between meals, like if you put dry out before you go to work but then pick up whatever Ellie doesn't eat before you leave, she'd be more likely to eat wet when you get back, because she'd be hungry and less picky.

And LOL, I'm a grazer and get grumpy if I don't eat every 2 hours too, so I totally understand what you mean. It's also why I'm willing to feed them a few times a day, rather than just twice. But...that's really us putting our feelings on our kitties.  Cats by nature aren't grazers. 

You said Ellie developed some issues around the time you got Zoey, and that she stopped eating wet at the same time. How does she react to Zoey? Could the changes be stress-related?


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## Elliecat (Nov 19, 2013)

They love each other. Ellie will groom her and then play bite and then they chase each other. They love to do that especially when I'm about to fall asleep 


Gizmothecat, I never meant to write she stopped eating dry if I did (I'm on my phone and it's hard to respond on this) she usually munches on dry food when I get into bed since the food bowls are in my room. Makes me question if she even goes into my room to eat when I'm not there or if I should out food bowls out in the living room too.


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