Cat Gone Off Wet Food

[greenkitty]

I'm taking Noodle to the vet tomorrow to get her checked out... But she's always been a wet food girl, never fussed about dry food but recently she's not interested in any of her normal wet food and will only eat Lily's Kitchen complete dry food which is really difficult to get hold of round here. She had most of her teeth removed about 2 years ago due to FGS, I can't get a good enough look at her gums to see if they're red so can't see if this the problem but they were fine when they were last checked.

We did have an incident a few weeks ago when Tig chased her into the kitchen, she went to jump onto the side and missed, I was standing right beside the counter and caught her, she was really spooked after this, went off her food. A week of being fussy she was back to normal eating wet food, then ok for about 10 days and then 2 days ago it started again but this time with no seeming cause.

She's ok in herself, playing, purring, wanting attention. Another option is she's feeding elsewhere.

Has anyone elses cat just gone off wet food suddenly?

[Crewella]

No, I've had cats go off their food generally for a couple of days, for various reasons, but never wet food specifically. I can usually get them to eat cooked chicken on 'off' days, even if it's just a few mouthfuls. It seems unlikely that she'd go for dry food if her mouth was sore, doesn't it - but I guess it's possible that she got spooked by something again when you weren't there. Hope she's better soon. xx

[greenkitty]

That's what I thought, if her mouth was sore she wouldn't want to eat anything at all. I can't tempt her with chicken or tuna, tuna she normally loves. I'm leaning towards eating elsewhere or she's associating wet food with something negative..

[Kay]

it could be down to the state of her gums - getting wet food into her mouth might be more difficult than sucking in one biscuit at a time

my Tosker kind of inhales food, because his sinuses are always bunged up, and he will only eat wet food in the form of firm pieces of fish or chicken - he really struggles to get gravy or jelly into his mouth

[greenkitty]

Well we're back from the vet, even more puzzled! Her gums and remaining teeth are in good condition, in fact he said her gums were better than a lot of cats he sees! Her temperature was normal, throat, eyes, ears and nose all normal. He listened to her heart and tummy, both normal. Good feel of bowel and bladder both fine and empty. She'd lost 100g since she was last weighed in January but is still within the normal weight boundaries.

He said it was odd that she wouldn't eat wet but would eat dry, the opposite of what he'd expect but said she may be trying to get some relief from crunching on her gums but then also said he'd expect to see some signs of that on her gums but nothing. Also I don't think she crunches it, like Tosker she just inhales it..

So I'm going to try keeping her in for a few days if she'll tolerate it to rule out feeding elsewhere. A friend has suggested a different shaped bowl so will also try that too. If no improvement in a week or so I'll take her back.

Stumped!

[Crewella]

Well, at least you know she's been checked over and all is well. Maybe she is finding food on her rounds - keep us posted! xx

[Scout Storm]

One of my cats only eats dry food. When she was younger she loved wet food and chicken. Then one day she just stopped eating everything apart from dry food, it is almost like she has some kind of phobia of wet food.
She has not eaten wet food for over 5 years and she is perfectly healthy.

[SarahT1 [PLLE]]

Thinking of you Julia, and your little girl. Their oddities do cause us worry sometimes. Good idea to keep her in, change her routine for a few days, see how she responds. My Lou Lou eats very little wet food, sometimes just a few mouthfuls before she looks at it with disdain and moves away. And when she does eat wet it is only fine, flakey food, never anything resembling chunks or pates. She much prefers dry food and has done since she came to us last May. But with Lou we know that's her preference, so not a worry once we got used to it. Hope Noodle settles soon.

[greenkitty]

We've made a bit of progress since introducing her new bowl!!! She's eating 85% of a tin of Gourmet now plus some dried so steps in the right direction.

The confinement to barracks is not going well, Officer Noodle is most unimpressed at not being allowed out on patrol..

My mum commented yesterday "she is a sensitive little soul isn't she"

[Crewella]

I'm sure Hans Christian Andersen was thinking of cats when he wrote 'The Princess and the Pea'!

Glad her appetite's perked up a bit, for whatever reason - give the prisoner a fuss from me.

[kjdsupin]

My two cats have stopped eating wet food also. About a week ago they decided that they weren't interested in anything they have been eating. I put a small amount of Orijen dry on top of the wet and they gobbled it up. One day, they BOTH stopped eating the wet. I have given them everything. They are know strictly eating the Orijen and my Charlie isn't happy that I don't have any wet that he likes.

This literally happened overnight with them. I wasn't having any problems and then they both just stopped eating wet. Very strange, they are very healthy, happy, active cats.

If anyone else has a possible reason (other than boredom) why they stopped wet food, would be appreciated.

Thank you

[Kay]

my two will eat wet and dry, but do sometimes leave the wet, whereas I can't remember in the past 10 years having to throw out dry food

it's interesting that your two are seemingly acting in concert though, as I find my two like and dislike the same foods - it makes for easier feeding, but I've often wondered if this is a normal situation for when there is more than one cat being regularly fed together