Cat only eats dry food?

Question

My cat only eats dry food I have tried giving him wet food but he just doesn't like it . What can I give him instead ?

Answer 1

Instead of dry food or instead of canned?

Exclusively dry food diets are not good for cats, especially males as they have a greater propensity to develop urinary problems from a totally dry diet.

I recently had a dry food addict diagnosed with bladder cancer (an aggressive cancer for which there is no treatment). At any rate I will always wonder if Mincho could have avoided this had he eaten food with more moisture.

I deterimined that he would eat no more dry food. He didn't eat much of the wet food (a raw meat diet that I prepare for my other cats) and he did eat some every day so I knew he was OK. Not eating at all for more than 36 hours is very dangerous for a cat.

I'm telling you this because your cat can fast. If you just put down the wet food he will eat some when he is hungry. This is a tough love approach for sure and it took a while before Mincho was eating really well. That means absolutely NO dry food for the two days you offer only the meat.

Get a good canned food. Natural Balance makes quite a variety of canned foods, chicken and liver, turkey and gibblets, an indoor cat type and an "ultra" type. My cats all seem to like these. I do not use the fish as that it not particularly good for cats.

Mincho now eats raw turkey for breakfast and every other day has the raw turkey for dinner. He does not like the raw chicken that I make and he will eat a few bites of it. So on the "chicken" days I supplement with a can of the Natural Balance so he gets plenty of food.

I have seen the Natural Balance canned and dry at our local discount pet store. You might have to look for it in a small, owner-operated pet store.

I think your cat will do better to eat both canned and dry and of course a really high quality food is your best choice. Natural Balance has a good dry food too. I have used their venison and pea, and their chicken and rice formulations.

Cats should not eat one food exclusively all their lives. Single protein foods are the best and the protein should not always be from the same source, such as just chicken.

Answer 2

Well as a person who had a lot of cats growing up they use to love the dry food. So what I did to see which they like better I poured a little bit of water into the dry food and from there on my cats loved the wet food. You can try it if you want and if still nothing happens then stick with dry food cause not all cats are the same.

Answer 3

Dog food is too low in protein and lacks taurine. Taurine is essential to a cat to prevent liver/kidney damage and blindness. Cat food has too much protein for a dog and can cause liver/kidney damage to them. Feed the dog, dog food. Feed the cat, cat food - do NOT let them eat each other's food or you will end up with two very sick pets. Also canned food will not ruin a cat's teeth. Dry food cleans teeth about as well as you eating a hard pretzel. Best diet for a cat is some dry and some canned each day and raw several times a week.

Answer 4

Cats are, by nature, finicky eaters. Not knowing what flavors/brands you've tried, I can't really suggest others.

In general, eating dry food formulated for your cats age/condition is fine, as long as you're feeding him a diet of primarily premium food (i.e., the ones you get at the pet store, not the grocery store for the most part) like Science Diet, etc. However, with a male cat in particular, you must keep a close eye out, because an all-dry diet can up the chances of having urinary problems uncluding crystals -- and this is a serious and painful condition.

It may also be that your kitty doesn't like the brand or flavors you're trying. You could try changing those around to see what he likes. My cats LOVE turkey and tuna, and hate chicken (???) flavored foods. Salmon is on-again, off-again between them. They're all little individuals, so you have to try hit-and-miss since they can't just tell you outright "Mom, I don't like chicken, I want TUNA!!"

You could also give baby food, if necessary. Just make sure you read the ingredients CAREFULLY to ensure that whatever meat flavor you choose doesn't have any type of onion flavoring included (onion powder, onion flakes, etc.). (Onion is very bad for kitties!!)

Good luck!

Answer 5

Let it...Dry food is so much cheaper then Canned anyway. Why would u want to feed it that. Plus it makes their poop smell even worse. Pick a good dry food. If you have Walmart our kitty likes Maxim...The Animal Shelter gave him Wiskers but I don't know how good it is.

Iams is very good from what I hear and you can speak with your vet about a good qaulity food as well. If it is long haired make sure you get something rich in Omega 3 and salmon or get salmon treats as this is supposed to keep their fur nice and soft. Also watch for problems with hairballs as there are foods that will help with those or you can buy paste for their paw, but we found the food was better.

Answer 6

My cats eat dry food exclusively, and are quite healthy. For a treat I occasionally give them canned tuna, but I avoid wet food like the plague because it smells so bad and leaves a crusty mess in the bowl.

Answer 7

What's the problem ? The cat is eating the dry food. Stick with what works. Good luck ! :)

Answer 8

If you have a good dry food they won't need anything else. Soft food makes their teeth go bad quicker too. I know, I had an older cat that had to get all of his teeth pulled because they rotted out from soft food (said the vet).

Answer 9

Keep giving him what he likes, the dry food. Cats don't like change.

Answer 10

I have a cat like this, she only eats dry food too, It just what the kitty likes, They make a cat food ( wet food ) it taste just like the tunafish we eat and thats the only wet food she will eat. its called 9lives tuna select.... Try that she/he might like it! but other than that theres nothing wrong with a dry food eatin kittie!