Cat won’t eat wet food

[RunkleC]

I have a long haired male cat and he has no interest in wet food, he will only eat dry. I have tried so many different kinds of wet food and he’s not interested. I try to feed him high quality dry such as scrumbles but he only likes things like purina and whiskas biscuits which I know isn’t good for male cats to always be on them. He does drink water but not as much as I’d like him to. I got him some soups and broths to try and up his water intake but they give him an upset stomach. He now has started having problems with hair balls and I read to reduce this or solve it would be to feed a wet food only diet. I have tried and he just doesn’t want to eat it!

Does anyone know of anything else that actually works at reducing hair balls, such as paste/supplements things like that? And also, any ideas how I can get more moisture into him? He does have a very sensitive stomach, almost everything gives him diarrhoea 😔

Have you tried a squirt of lic a lix on the wet food ?

Yeah he will eat a little bit of it when I do that but the lick e lix upsets his stomach 😔

Our boy cat isn’t that fussed about wet food - we’ve gone through all of them from raw ££ stuff to supermarket brands. His best ones are Untamed (only the chicken ones and only in gravy) and Sheba. So we alternate those and he has Royal Canin and Go Cat biscuits (he would not even look at the little Scrumbles balls of dry food!). He does drink though so the vet is happy with this arrangement. On a Sheba wet day he gets RC dry, and Go Cat on an Untamed day - he’d prefer only Go Cat and nothing else but we compromise.

RC do a hairball food (both wet and dry) which you could try, and you can get a hairball paste from the vet which our previous girl really liked. (I’m sure you can probably buy it on Amazon or Pets at Home cheaper.) If you’re worried about water you could poach a chicken breast and try the “broth” from that, or drain a tin of tuna and give him the spring water? Our boy doesn’t love fishy cat food but if I make a tuna sandwich he will try to mug me for it.

I don’t know if this is helpful, but just my experience. I had 2 cats who lived to 15 and 16 and only had dry food until they were older. They didn’t have hairball issues and seems perfectly happy. Also on vet check ups there were no issues. Their water intake was quite good though, and I did have a fountain which they loved.

Thank you, I have just ordered the RC dry hairball food and a water fountain. I will try the chicken broth too, he does love chicken

With the food make sure you just mix a tiny bit in with what he usually has, then gradually up it/scale back the old - then he’s more likely to eat it and also not get an upset tummy with the change. Our fella’s not really interested in his water fountain in the kitchen, but we have a big bowl in the living room he drinks from that I refresh often. (Love having that in there as an ornament, and the water fountain trickling away as kitchen decor 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Hahaha I have various glasses of water around the house as lovely ornaments too 😂
I will gradually introduce it, I’ve tried to gradually introduce him to things in the past but it still gave him runny poo. RC gastro intestinal used to be great but he decided suddenly he doesn’t like it anymore

Excuse my ignorance, but why is it important for them to eat wet food and not just dry? I've been trying to move our year-old cats on to dry only (Hill's Science) as I've been told it's completely balanced and that they then don't pester you so much for human food! I understand they then need plenty of water but are there other issues with a dry-only diet?

I am absolutely not a vet - but I think most cats don’t drink enough and boy cats can be prone to kidney/bladder issues. Moisture from wet food helps.

Our previous girl cat didn’t ever drink water from any legit source provided (she did like a plant pot with rain in, or a puddle on the wheelie bin), and loved her wet food. The vet had no concerns over her waterworks, so as ever YMMV.

I have heard multiple times from different sources that it’s not great for male cats due to urinary crystal/stones which can be fatal. I know cats that have been on dry their whole lives and have been fine, but my cat doesn’t drink much so I’m just aware this can be bad for him, especially with the hair ball issue, a wet diet is better

I had a cat who exclusively ate Applaws dry chicken kibble. He was absolutely fine. Don't force it, there are many complete dry foods.

If I sprinkle a bit of this on uneaten food my cats will eat it.
I can post you a sachet to try if you like?

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/supplements_specialty_cat_food/digestion_supplements/1022677

Oh wow I’d never heard of this before, I’ll have a look, thank you

I feed the wet food first thing in the morning when my boys are hungry and last thing at night mine only likes felix which upsets one of my cats stomachs but I mitigate it with occasionally giving him digestive cat biscuits which has binders in it im yet to find a wet cat food my cat will eat that doesn't give him a runny bum

I thought dry was preferred? I only have my cats wet when they were elderly and couldn’t eat too much dry.

My current cat is the only one out of all the ones I’ve had who will eat wet food. They just drank plenty of water.