What do you do when a cat refuses to eat dry cat food?( he will starve himself if thats all i leave out)?

Answer 1

Your cat will not starve himself to death if you only leave out dry cat food. He may act like he will, but that's because he knows he's trained you to give him wet food if he leaves the dry food alone for long enough. I, too, think you should start by mixing wet with the dry and mixing in less and less wet food until all you've got left is dry food. You cannot simply give you cat wet food as that is extremely bad for his teeth. Good luck!

Answer 2

You don't give a lot of information and when you say "he" my answer is that it is best if he eat canned food rather than dry. Dry diets are much too dehydrating for all cats and especially the males who are very prone to develop urinary issues when they eat only dry food.

One large can of good food a day should be enough. Use Natural Balance, Eagle Pack, Solid Gold, Felidae, Nature's Logic, Nature's Organic. See www.petfooddirect.com to view these foods. If they are more expensive than what you are giving now it will pay off in the end with less veterinary expense and believe me urinalyses, expensive special diets, etc. can run into a lot of money.

Dry food is very convenient for people and not a good diet for any cat over time.

Answer 3

Have you considered switching your brand of dry food to a more palatable dry food? Products such as: Wellness, Percise, Nature's Recipe, Petsmart makes a pretty good one called Authority-I would choose a chicken based food, not a lamb based as that is less palatable for cats. You may also try to add some can food to the dry, by either mixing it in or just putting it on top. Good Luck, I have one of those here too!

Answer 4

I agree that your cat will not starve himself. I would try the tuna juice idea using just a very small amount of the tuna juice. Is it just tuna or all seafood? You could also mix a little of the soybean oil from a can of sardines with the new food. Ask the vet for a tube of Nutri cal , it's a vitamin supplement that you can either put in his mouth or on a paw so he licks it off. This will be sure he is getting some nutrients while he is being finicky.

Answer 5

I would probably start mixing dry and wet food. Every day mix in less wet food and more dry. Eventually he will eat it what you give him. He's not gonna starve to death he's just gonna see how long he can wait you out. Don't let him get the best of you!

Answer 6

Believe me, your cat will not allow himself to starve to death. He may not like it but eventually he will eat it. My oldest cat in finniky about the kinds of food I buy and while learning this, she would go on eating strike but eventaully would eat when she got hungry enough. I replaced the food but she had to make do in the meantime. To help get him used to dry food, mix it with the wet food for a bit. Lower the amount of wet mixed with the dry until eventually, you're adding none.

Answer 7

Make sure you only feed him at the same time every day. Usually when he gets up and at bedtime. Mix a little dry with the wet and increase the dry every other day. Sooner or later he will get the message.

Answer 8

You could try mixing dry with warm water or chicken broth, home made first, then wet food mixed.

Answer 9

get wet food instead.