What do you feed your cat if they don't like dry food?

[NorfolkingTime]

I need to change our cat's feeding routine I think.

He's an old rescue cat and doesn't have a great deal of teeth left. I've just been watching him eat his dry food this evening, and he's actually just swallowing it whole

He has a wet food pouch in the morning, and I give him dry in the evening, although he normally leaves some which I leave out for him to pick at throughout the next day (although he never does). He always looks disappointed when I serve it up too.

He loves his wet food, but I'm worried there's not enough goodness in them for his old bones? Are they also too calorific for an old cat who is prone to weight gain? What else can we feed him though, that is nice and soft? What about if I mixed half a pouch with the dry, and did that twice a day?

He's around the 4-5kg mark, but is looking a bit chunky since we hit winter.

Puches are fine. My cat is 17 and eats 3 a day. Won't eat whiskers or felux, only tesco's value

Pouches i meant

show is your cat a big cat?

My last cats used to have one pouch a day, but they were about the size of rabbits! Our current lovely boy is huuuuge in comparison.

Mine have Sheba pouches and dry food. I bulk-buy it from Amazon or whenever it's on offer. I've tried a few different brands but this is the only one both cats will eat all the flavours of.
They have 2 pouches a day each and a handful of biscuits - one is a tiny wee cat (~3 kg) and the other is still a kitten (albeit the same size as the other cat!)

Show - I noticed there was a sign up last week in saying the Tesco Value pouches are being discontinued in February. Might be worth stocking up.

Mine will only eat the Tesco fine flakes, or applaws tins which are 90p each so she's now having more than a couple a week.

If he likes the dry food you could poor boiling water on it to soften it and it makes a gravy. My cat loves this and it's a good way to get extra water in them.

Ours has 4 pouches a day but he's active.

At 17 I think I'd just give him what he likes.

I soften dry food with water for my old lady - 15, only 3 teeth left.

Do you give him senior dried food? The bits are smaller and easier for them too eat! I'd just give him the wet food though if he likes that as I'm a soft touch, I have a 17/18 year old big boy cat and I just feed him what he wants now.

He has senior dry and senior wet, yeah. They are small pieces, and he seems to just pick a load up in his mouth, throw them around his mouth till some fall out, then swallows one biscuit down whole at a time.

Trying to turn them into gravy is a good idea actually. I think I'll try that this evening. He's very very unfussy greedy so it's hard to know if he actually likes the taste of dry or not. He just gets so excited with wet food, and gobbles it up within seconds. Part of me thinks he ought to just be able to enjoy food in his last few years!

I will try the mushed up dry though. Apart from anything else, I've only just bought a new big bag of dried!

Mine won't entertain the idea of mushed up dried food! We tried it when he broke he jaw and he just looked at me as if to say 'why are you those biscuits?'! He's lost a lot of teeth but can still crunch sometimes with the remaining ones, other times they are swallowed whole!

He has senior dried food (I can't see a lot of difference in the size) and adult wet - I don't bother with senior wet as Natures Menu only do one flavour and he's not keen. He has two pouches a day and dry for lunch.

It does make me laugh that our cat can eat a mouse but can't crunch a dry biscuit!

He may hate the idea of mushed up dry. I have never known him to refuse any kind of food though! Will see how he does this evening.

I think I will do half a pouch in morning and half in evening if mushed up dry doesn't work. If he appears massively hungry then I'll up it to two pouches a day. I don't want him gaining any more weight

Have just tried a tiny bit of mushed up dry on him and it's the first thing he's ever turned his nose up to! It does smell quite horrendous - I'm not sure I blame him...

I know he's not a kitten but purina kitten dry food has considerably smaller pieces than normal dry food. Kitten food won't be the best thing for him of course but it's better than eating nothing

Hmm, I think more senior wet food would be better than kitten dry though wouldn't it?

I don't think there is anything wrong with wet food tbh. Better to eat wet food than to not eat anything. I've heard on here that butchers tins of cat food are good and less pricey than pouches. Surely dry food will be more carb filled than wet food and be more likely to make them gain weight?

Yes I read that about dry being more carby, but DP was convinced the cat would get massive if I fed him two wet pouches so I got a bit muddled. I'll have a look at Butchers

My kittens get 2 pouches each a day and a small bowl of dry is left for them to eat as they want. Pouches are more water than anything else

My cat was 5kg in his prime. He isn't now and slowed down a lot but when you stroke him he is so bony . I let him eat as much as he wants.

Thanks spartak, I will do that. Bloody typical. They will probably rebrand, repackage and put 50p on the price

My dog the biggest greediest staffie known to man wouldn't eat dried dog food with water in it to make it soft after she had an operation and the stink was awful!

I plan our meals round the cat so he can have a bit of fresh fish or chicken or beef, not ham too salty!

He was wailing when I cooked liver for the dog yesterday and when I gave him a bit he refused to eat it...the dog was relieved!!