# Licking jelly off food and leaving most of the meat



## GoJo (Nov 23, 2013)

My cat, who is a spritely 20, seems to only really care for the jelly part of her cat food, usually licking it off and leaving most of the meat. She has plaquey teeth, but nothing can really be done about it because she is too old for general anaesthesia; I don't know if that's the cause of this behaviour.

Is there a product like this jelly on its own?

Has anyone else any experience of this? A way round it?


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

My Lacey would do this too. I have taken a fork and mashed it all together. There is one particular flavor on Fancy Feast she likes but it comes in chunks so I mash it with a fork, even adding some warm water. Try making it into a gravy type of mixture with the jelly. That may be easier to eat. Congratulations on having a 20 year old furbaby! Have you had her since she was a kitten?


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## GoJo (Nov 23, 2013)

Thanks, Marcia, I'll give the mashing-up a go. The water sounds like a good idea too, help liquify it.

Yes, I've had her since she was about a month old. I'm about to turn 35 and I got her when I was 14, so she's been around well over half my lifetime! I've got a pic somewhere of her in the palm of my hand around then, I'll upload it if I come across it. Too cute!


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

I read on another post that she likes cooked store bought chicken. Have you tried raw? Try putting some raw chicken in a grinder and see if she will tolerate that, too. 

My Lacey who is the world's pickiest eater and skinny as a rail, will lap the food until it is flat then walk away. I am constantly fluffing it up with a fork just so she will eat more. She initially took to a raw diet, but the past few days has turned up her nose at it for some reason so I've had to resort to the pate canned again. Keep a fork handy for fluffing and mashing. Her teeth may very well be the problem.

I'd love to see a before and after pic!!


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Mixing canned cat food with hot water to make it a warm gruel that she can lap up is an excellent idea. As Marcia noted, however, cats will typically lick all of the moisture out of this "canned food soup", leaving much of the meat in a flat patty at the bottom of the bowl. The way to avoid this is to puree the canned food with a little hot water in a kitchen blender. The blender will thoroughly incorporate the water into the food so that it doesn't separate while the cat is eating. You can play around with the amount of water added when pureeing if your cat demonstrates a preference for thicker or thinner gruel. Start with a thick gruel, but keep it lickable. If your cat has to bite or chew it, she may reject it.

Laurie


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## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

One of my cats does this although it isn't a tooth problem in her case - if I add a couple of treats on top she eats more. She loves raw food and hoe cooked as well.


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## GoJo (Nov 23, 2013)

Thanks for the input, folks.


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

Hi GoJo,
I have a "jelly licker" too! lol My B.B., who is now 14, has ALWAYS licked the jelly and only on occasion has she eaten all of the meat. When she was younger she use to exclusively eat jelly. No gravy. Now, she seems to have broadened her horizons a wee bit to licking gravy too. lol What a nut 

Currently she has plaquey teeth, but that is an issue that has come out of changing her diet. 
B.B. had a 50/50 dry/wet diet all her life and up until this last vet visit she always had excellent dental reports. Six months ago I changed her diet to all wet, last month's vet visit had a shocking dental exam. After the first of the year, I am now looking at a plaque removal visit for her. Oh and of course, because of her age, they will do a full blood panel to make sure she's ok for the anesthesia. (sighs) What's that saying? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
She's back on her 50/50, actually a little less of the wet. She chomps through the dry like she always has.
So, my bloviated reply was to suggest it just may well be her preference as it seems to have been B.B.'s all of her life.


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## GoJo (Nov 23, 2013)

Thanks cat face. It seems to be an age/teeth thing with mine though, as she used to eat the meat when she was younger. She still does, to an extent, but clearly prefers to just lick the jelly off and usually leave most of the meat. I don't really mind as long as she's getting adequately nourished, but it would be nice to be able to just get her piles of the jelly instead of wasting money and meat.


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