In this article, I won’t talk about cats not adopting wet food in their diet or cats that stop eating food altogether. It’s about cats that suddenly stop eating their favorite wet food. My cat Sophie’s always eaten her dry and wet food every day with no problem since she was a kitten. However, for the past month, she’s been eating her healthy dry food normally, but refusing to eat her favorite wet food and I have been wasting a lot of it every day. That’s why I decided to investigate why she stopped eating her wet food and what to do about it.
The type of wet food I feed my cat
I feed my cat Wellness Healthy Indulgence wet food which comes in pouches with several varieties and flavors. In the beginning, I fed her the Morsels Chicken variety, and later I switched to the Gravies Chicken & Turkey variety which I have been feeding her for the last year.
She has always loved her wet food and has eaten every single piece of it. But lately, she’s been approaching the food, sniffing it, and walking away. This is very strange behavior but not unusual. Actually, I found a thread in the CatSite forum about this problem. I wanted to learn more about why cats do this and why my cat Sophie is doing it. Here’s what I discovered:
Wet food changes once refrigerated, especially the gravy type
Cats in the wild eat their prey when is still warm so the temperature of the food is important. This hasn’t changed and that’s why cats don’t like wet food when it’s too cold. Not only that, the texture, consistency, and aroma of wet food change when is stored in the refrigerator.
I discovered that my cat refuses wet food once it’s refrigerated but she eats it when the pouch has just been opened. Before refrigeration, the gravy is a nice tasty liquid with lots of chicken flavor that my cat loves to lick, which entices her to eat the whole meal. When I get the food out of the refrigerator the gravy becomes thick, not liquid at all. Also, the nice aroma of the wet food seems like it’s gone once refrigerated. My cat sniffs the food and she doesn’t seem to find it attractive and simply walks away.
- Tip #1: Microwave the wet food for about 5 seconds, the consistency won’t be thick and the aroma gets stronger.
- Tip #2: Once you put the wet food in the bowl, store the rest (pouch or can) in a bowl with cold water. If the temperature is too hot, put one ice cube in the water. This will keep the wet food fresh without the need for refrigeration so it won’t lose its texture or aroma. As long as the water temperature is below 70 degrees this trick will work. This tip applies also to any other type of canned food, such as pates or shredded.
Too long eating the same food
Just like humans, cats get bored eating the same food for too long. Cats need some change after a long period of time. Usually, a cat gets bored eating the same food for about a year. So if you’ve been feeding your cat the same food for over a year and he or she stops eating it, you may want to consider changing the brand or variety.
Sometimes not all batches are the same
Sometimes the same exact wet food has a different consistency (and maybe flavor) when switching to a different batch. If you happened to have opened a new batch of canned food or pouch and your cat refuses to eat it, you may want to consider this possibility. Try to get a new can or pouch of wet food and see if this is the case. Also, it could be that the formula’s been changed and we don’t even know it. This is more unusual but it happens. If you have several cats and they all stop eating their regular wet food, most likely the formula has changed.
Licking only the gravy, leaving the rest?
If your cat is only licking the gravy and not chewing on the morsels, it could be related to teeth issues. If you have this suspicion take your cat to a Vet for a checkup to discard this possible health issue.
Another possibility is the type of cat bowl or dish. Sometimes the cat can’t eat the morsels or shreds because they slide as the cat is licking the food or when trying to bite the morsels. The solution is getting a bowl that stops the pieces of meat from sliding around or from spilling out of the bowl while the cat is eating. I was feeding my cat with the CatGuru bowl that comes with a nice base because she needed a wider bowl for whisker sensitivity. But it seems like she stopped eating the morsels and started licking her food instead. So I had to switch to the Yangbaga elevated cat bowl that I was using for water and it worked much better. Now she eats more morsels.
Make your cat miss her wet food for a few days
If your cat gets too spoiled with its everyday food, why not make him miss it a little bit? That’s what I do with my cat Sophie sometimes. I let a couple of days go without giving her wet food (and sometimes up to 4 days) to make her miss it and desire it. Once that short period of time finishes and I put wet food in her bowl, she eats it with more desire than before. However, this trick doesn’t always work.
Put its favorite cat treat in the middle of the wet food
This trick is a winner. If your cat doesn’t feel appealed by his wet food anymore simply put his favorite treats in the middle of the wet food and wait. Your cat will first go for the treats but his following reaction will be eating the whole meal nonstop. You can put one, two, or three treats in its wet food, making sure to stick them inside the food, leaving the top exposed so your cat can smell them.
Enhance the flavor with a nice wet food topper
You can make your cat meal more delicious by adding a nice flavor to it. There are really good cat-wet food toppers such as the Purina Fancy Feast topper. The variety of Light Meat Tuna With a Scallop Topper is one of the best. The good news is that on Chewy you can find all sorts of delicious gravy toppers with fast shipping and 35% off on your first order for new customers, plus 5% off on repeat orders. Visit Chewy and shop all brands and types of toppers.
It’s important to get your cat to eat wet food because it adds the moisture needed to its diet. Only drinking water isn’t enough. So if your cat stopped eating its favorite wet food now you know how to start approaching this issue and solve it. Hopefully, everything will work great and your kitty will start gobbling its wet food again. Good luck!
Update, June 2022
Here I am after almost 2 years since I wrote this article. These tips & tricks helped me a lot at the time and my cat continued to eat her wet food but after almost a year she definitely stopped. After this, I tried Instinct Duck pate formula and she ate it for a while but suddenly she stopped eating this formula too! This is when a long journey started by trying to find tasty and healthy wet cat food for my cat to like and eat. I made some mistakes along the way by getting some brands that had a particular ingredient that was not healthy for cats (Menadione Sodium Bisulfite). Finally, I found a good formula that is healthy and that my cat loves and eats every time I put it on the plate. As I promised you in the comments section that as soon as I find a wet food that is healthy and that my cat likes, I would post it, so here it is. If you want to get this exact wet food formula on Chewy with 35% off on your first Autoship order visit this link. If you want to learn more about this formula, I made a Wellness Healthy Indulgence Tuna & Shrimp wet food review. This is the video of my journey trying to find a wet cat food for Sophie and the brands I tried along the way:
Update April 2023
After almost a year of cat Sophie eating Wellness Healthy Indulgence Shredded Tuna & Shrimp, I switched to a different flavor, of the same brand. So she now eats Wellness Healthy Indulgence Morsels Salmon & Tuna in Savory Sauce and she loves it. She eats all her food leaving the plate clean. She’s been eating this formula for about 2 months and became a little obsessed with it.
This formula also comes in pouches so no possible toxicity with the metal of cans. I found this brand (Wellness Healthy Indulgence) to be the only one my cat really loves, it’s just a matter of switching between flavors after a while, but I am happy I found this formula, and this brand.
Watch my cat loving her food leaving her plate clean!
I hope this helps you to finally finish your research on good wet cat food for your kitty. Good luck!
This cleared up a lot of things but I’m still concerned so might be taking my cat to the vet but not sure if the vets are fully open due to Covid. However, your post somewhat described my cat as well so I want to know how do I make her eat other types of food. She’s very picky and only have chicken or Turkey grilled in gravy from Fancy Feast. Anything else and she won’t eat it. I’m not sure what to do because now she’s stopped eating her wet food altogether and only drinks water and has dry food. Occasionally, she’s going to eat her wet food or maybe once a day. Any suggestions?
Try a different brand of wet food and see if your cat eats it. You may have to go through a trial-and-error process to get the right food for your kitty. Have you tried the pate type of wet food for your cat? I am testing this variety with my cat Sophie and so far it’s been working. One of the suggestions in my article is adding a nice topping for the wet food. This works as well for my cat. Hope that helps!
Thank you Lorena you’re comments are very helpful, I’ll try everything you suggested 🙏
You are welcome Angel :)
My cat has stopped eating wet food. I have paid a small fortune using different types of food. I also noticed that she has lost some weight but keeps eating treats and dry food. She is drinking water and her use of the litter box is normal, I guess. Please give me some suggestions. Thanks you.
Hello Lorie, something is happening with the cat canned food industry because lately cats are not eating their wet food easily and in some cases, they refuse to eat their wet food altogether. My cat has also stopped eating her wet food numerous times and I stopped feeding her wet food for at least a week, then she starts eating again. If I were you I would stop the treats for a little bit until she desires her wet food. All I can say is that finding the right wet food for cats is a challenge. I hope I could help.
I’m noticing this exact same problem. She’ll eat different dry foods but won’t touch the wet food at all, and it’s recent.
There’s definitely something going on with the wet food recipes.
Yes! Our poor kitty won’t eat one of his faves. It looks milky
I noticed my cat was off we food about pandemic time when all the problems
with the infected slaughter houses. It is 3/23 and she still will lick gel and leave all the wet good no matter what the flavor. There is something that
happened to the byproduct used for pet food at the slaughter houses.
My sister has the same issue and her vet told her that temptations cat treats have more nutritional value then most treats
Hi, I used Temptation treats. My cat was very obviously addicted. His behavior changed, he stopped eating completely, spent most of his time in the kitchen screaming for them and was always on the counter opening cupboards looking for them. I tried to wean him off-did not work. I had to throw them out. He suffered for 3 weeks. I began researching and found I was not the only one with a cat that had this horrific problem. There were reports of cats getting sick (UTI, kidney disease, etc.). There is an ingredient that is not listed anywhere. I do not recall the chemical name (this was a couple years ago & sadly, my cat had to be put down). I would recommend researching. Greenies dental treats are no better and my vet explained that they contain nothing that cleans their teeth and recommended staying away from store bought treats entirely.
You is be a good cat parent. Me cat stop eat wet food also. It eat treats and dry over yonder. I also spend lots on many brands and types. It still ain’t help. Cat drink water and eat crunch but no wet food. Hope this helps. Wish you luck with cat I do!
Hello everyone !! OMG ! I’m having the same issue. I thought it was only me. I bumped into this blog. My cat was eating his Fancy Feast Wet food with no problem at all. All the sudden he stopped ! I’ve tried other brands… nothing ! Something is going on with the wet food industry. I hope for all of us sake and for the wellbeing of our furry babies this situation improves … Best to all ! Anagloria, Florida
Just happened with my Low-Key and Sheba wet. Suddenly-one day he ate it the next he just sniffed and walked away Yet his liter mate brother HokusPokus still eats the Sheba wet.
Defo something going on in the wet food industry. They both still eat their dry food and drink plenty of water from their water fountain bowl.
Me to !! He stopped eating on Saturday, still eats his dry food. I’ve bought something different and he had none of it last night had a pouch this evening . Usually he goes bonkers at 6 lol
Any advice would be lovely :)
Bun
My cat is not eating his wet food either do you know why? If so please let me know what to do.
Hi jade, in my article, I explained some tricks to help cats to eat their wet food. Hope that helps.
My kitten has almost stopped eating her wet food, she is about 8months and we have had her for 5 and half months she loved her wet food but beauty touches it now..im not sure if it’s because I live half an hour from a mountain and it’s getting colder ,weather she just doesn’t like it anymore but I also tried another brand with no luck, dental problems.. im worried about her though as she isn’t eating as much but still drinking the same amount
My cat eats his dry food as usual but sporadically eats his Fancy Feast pate. I feed him a lot of the treats. I think he is spoiled now. After reading this thread, maybe I should hold back the treats. I refrigerate open cans but reheat in microwave, up to room temperature. And… the gravy treats….he is like a crack addict…licking his plate every time.
My cats (4) always ate Fancy Feast Tuscany or Primavera chicken or tuna. Would not eat the turkey. They loved the food. Now, all 4 of them smell it and walk away. I could understand if it was just one cat but all four stopped eating the same day. I tried the Sheba and they seem to like it but not love it. I think the Fancy Feast food has changed (not for the better). Try the Sheba portion packs but don’t buy a case at a time. Hope this helps you and kitty.
Steve
Haha wow!! I am having the exact same issue with my cat, Marley! She’s about a year old now. Thanks so much for detailing your experience here. Will try the pouches you recommended too ☺️ cheers, Maddie
Oh my goodness ! Same here. We always get it from chewy and my cat only will like the gravy but won’t eat the shreds anymore. He never does that.
Because of COVID is it possible they have cheapened the foods? My cat went off his sheba wet food pate. He eats one or two bites. He has his purina complete dry food and a fountain. He’s fat and sassy. But not eating the wet food. I thought I was crazy.
Same here, I have a case of the Fancy Feast primivera with beachmel suace from Chewy. That was always the very favorite, Now they wont eat it,, They lick the sauce a little then just leave it, So I got a case of the Fancy Feast Tuscan and they wont eat that either. Same to Meow Mix that they use to love, Right now it is albacore tuna or Chicken breast that is roasted and then the skin and bones removed and chopped. I worry they are not getting the vitamins and minerals they need. They love the Iams dry but both are prone to constipation and wont drink a lot of water, so I cant give them just dry.
Exact same issue- Florentine any brand of fancy feast she will bare minimum lick the gravy, she will not eat the meat. I wonder if they’re using domesticated animal meat and posing it as chicken/turkey/beef? This has been going on since May. She will eat purina kitten dry food, I tried to switch her to the adult dry and she didn’t want that either. She said eats whitefish fancy feast petite portions but doesn’t even finish that. She’s not excited about her cat food and flips the bowl. She just turned a year old in July and I am wasting so much money trying all different brands, sheba, iambs, and Florentine tuna and the petite whitefish is all she will semi-eat. She used to empty her bowl easily??? I don’t know what’s going on but it does have to do with the cat food industry???
I agree with you. My cat used to go crazy for fancy feast chicken & cheese and now she wants nothing to do with it. I’ve also tried many other wet foods and she isn’t interested in any. Only dry food now. She’s 8 and has never had an issue. The more I read these post, the more I feel that there is something going on in the car food industry. You can see it with the slim pickings on the shelves.
I’ve raised every cat I’ve had over the past 40yrs on Friskies canned and Purina dry. I have 2 kittens and 1, 4yr old NONE of them will eat Friskies anymore!!!! I’m mad, Purina changed ingredients to a cheaper can!!!! I called them!!!!
Steve! this just happened to me too… all 3 cats smell it and walk away… they have always eaten Fancy Feast, several types Florentine, Tuscany, Primavera and Gravy lovers were their favs, but poof! they all now just walk away, today is day 2…I had tried Sheba when they were younger, they are only turning 3 yrs old next month, but they didn’t eat it… something does seem to have changed in the fancy feast… guess I’ll be trying new brands to find something they’ll eat… they are eating dry food and treats so I wasn’t thinking health issue as much as behavorial or preference issue…
same here . My cat ignores it still she’s starving then eats it super fast as if to hurry up and get it down. I don’t trust the food since the shortage I think they are using like dead animals or something cats are smart their noses are 13X stronger than a human so usually they are right of somethings off. Anyone have any auggestions? it’s gonna be tough cause my cat is so picky to begin with but i feel like im poisoning my cat or harming her by continually buying fancy feast . Side note i bought wureva brand was expensive and smelled great but my cat knew it was different and wouldn’t even touch it .Help!
Fancy feast is garbage cat food. Please research. The cheeps brands are not healthy or good for your cat.
You are right, Maria. It contains carrageenan and bisulfite menadione, a synthetic source of vitamin K that is toxic for cats.
Try changing it to another kinda meat, my cat does the same he eats chicken and turkey for months and stops eating it all of a sudden. I m not sure but I have read that cats know what protein and and food they need the most, try few cans of salmon, shrimp for few days once that requirement is filled your cat will again start eating the previous food. I hope that works.
These were the only two flavors my car liked too but about a year or so ago he stopped eating the chicken and would only eat the turkey ! I believe they changed the formula. He stopped liking their turkey flavor last month so i started getting the more expensive FF but hes starting to not eat those either
Oh My God, this is exactly my situation. My 1 yr old girl, used to love her Wellness Tuna or Chicken/Turkey pouches but suddenly stopped eating. She eats her dry food though. I liked your food toppers idea and am going to get some tomorrow. Also, going to take an appointment to get her teeth checked. However, if she has teeth or gum issues, she won’t eat her dry food too, right? But she is eating her dry kibbles. I really hope she is back to eating at least one pouch/can of wet food per day.
I hope so too Rinky. If she doesn’t, try with a different brand.
We have two cats and they have both stopped eating their wet food. We have tried 4 different types to no avail, I have tried the treat trick, sometimes works with one of them, but the other is not too bothered with treats. We have tried jelly, gravy, flakes with veg etc, haven’t tried the pate, maybe will give it a go, but have got fed up throwing uneaten bowls away and have pouches of uneaten food!!
Surely they can’t both have developed teeth problems at the same time?
Other than the pate which we will try tomorrow, any other suggestions???
Hi Annette why type of topping have you used so far?
Hi my cat has suddenly stopped eating his sheba chicken flakes in jelly. I opened a new pouch this morning and he sniffed and walked away. There is a very strong smell about it. I’m wondering if there is a problem with it the same as some supermarkets are having problems with chicken.
This is exactly the same for my cat! She loved the last batch but won’t eat it at all mow! I wonder if they have changed it or there has been a bad batch! It’s a box of 40 sachets too 😳
I have 6 cats and always feed hard food and soft. None of them will eat Frisky or Special Kitty ( Walmart brand to save money), I looked closely at Sprcial Kitty food and there is a type of goo on it. I also looked at Friisky. It is always dried out and has little smell ( doesn’t smell like cat food) Been going on for over 2 months. All the food is expensive!! I believe that the companies no longer have our animals in there best interest and are filling the cans with …who knows what. I’m sad and angry.
Me too. I wish there was something I could do. Im not the least bit surprised to find out that the factories are cutting corners to save a buck. Cats aren’t dumb. They have great instincts to tell them ( and us) that there’s something wrong with the food. I’ll start cooking for them instead.
My healthy cat started eating only the jelly and leaving the meat or fish my solution was to use my hand held blender and totally blend the jelly and meat together and it’s working…my other problem was during this hot weather she wasted a lot of food and so my answer to that is to change completely her eating routine to just feeding her when it stared to cool down 8pm thro to 11 pm and she eats her full normal amount with no wasted food…hope this helps someone…
Thanks for your great tips, Barbara!
My 8 yr.old calico Rescue I’ve had going on 21/2 yrs., loved Sheba perfect potions variety pack, salmon, white fish , and tuna. I have tried organic limited ingredient Open Farm, Herring Blend,and also their salmon, excellent . food, very expensive$34.00 12 boxes, I’ve tried Honest kitchen new wet food, shredded. For Sheba both shredded and pate. Now stopped eating it altogether , won’t touch it. Refrigerated leftover, heated for 8 seconds, same thing. Won’t eat it. But will eat some dry food. Maybe 1/2 cup and water . Am worried, this is very sudden. I have worked in rescue for many many years, have a lot of knowledge regarding nutrition of cats and dogs, this is weird??? . Doesn’t seem or act Sick. Just turned off with wet food???? I have become I’m physically challenged , use a W/C, was a Nurse for almost 40 yrs. My catc”Mocha”, cannot be picked up or held, yet layes on top of me at night and sleeps with me, so problem is I have mobility issues and cannot pick her up. How to get her to vet, other than one coming to house. Very very expensive.
I have Gray stray larger Male neutered 2 year old cat, and possibly he’s a Maine Coon. He dislikes every kind of wet cat food. I have spent $$$ to seek what it is he will eat. Fancy Feast like others have stated; he only licks the juice. He doesn’t have any teeth issues. He stalks me throughout the day if he’s not literally lying in the middle of the floor. He has no issue with his dry food. I am so tired of him in my face/space. I love him so much. If I had to describe him, he’d be the cat at the Vets office sitting on the counter and eagerly anxious to meet you. Visitors are always amazed when he appears and begs them to give him some love. He responds to his name instantly, and will follow my suggestion to go out! I think he thinks he’s fenced in our extra large property up here in Maine with a jagged cedar post fence!
Hello Audrey, your cat sounds like a great companion! I would love to have an affectionate cat like him, my Sophie is getting distant now that she’s full grown and she enjoys her privacy. The only time she’s super affectionate is at 6 to 7 am early in the morning if I get up that early. Regarding wet food, some cats just don’t adopt any and it’s a challenge to find the right wet food. Have you tried a different type of texture? shredded, pate?
My cat also stopped eating wet food , usually i giving to her 3 meals 2 wet and 1small dry .and always ate everything last days eating less and less ( only if i open new one eating few) .she puke the dry food that i gave her , i tried to put small pieces of dry food to wet but it doesn’t work.she also doesn’t look sick .i don’t know what to I’m worry should I visit vet??
Hello Zach, if your cat is puking it’s a good idea to take it to the Vet to discard health issues.
I have two cats, one eats anything,the other is picky and having issues with the fancy feast. I honestly think their supply chains are so screwed up because of covid, and these final products have been altered
You may be right Rob, sometimes the same formula doesn’t taste the same between different batches.
This is totally true and so bad lately. Cant get half of the food anymore because its on backorder and I think they are putting inferior ingredients in the food.
I think so to Robin. I hope we can find a good solution and soon. I will keep researching for a better formula for my cat and let you know. But a very interesting fact is that the same exact food my cat has been rejecting for the past weeks, she’s been eating again in the last 5 days lol. It’s Instinct Original Duck Pate. I will cross my fingers that she stays the same and keep eating it.
I am on this site researching because my cat won’t eat her favorite Fancy Feast wet food. I also suspect something is going on with the food due to talking to another person at the store who has three cats having the same sudden issues. I suspect a supplier has been changed or an ingredient has been altered. Frustrating. We are trying Royal Canin for now…but I will re-introduce the cans of FF I have after a time…just to see…
Same here Linda. What once was a clean plate is now just a licked glob of FF pate. But he loves the treats. I explained that FF is pricey so he must eat it..😄
Like everyone else’s comments ditto ditto ditto. I have two cats, one was just at the vets fir an infection and on antibiotics. They have always been picky.
Neither of the. WIll touch their wet food and I have given the. All varieties, very expensive stuff too. Throwing it all out. They’re not eating kibble either. Sometimes don’t even finish treats. I think I may have to take the girl to the vets.
I have (2) 4 month old kittens. All was fine, but now 1 won’t touch her fancy feast and the other 1 eats a tiny bit then throws up. Maybe a bad batch?! 🙁
It could be, it seems like all the wet food formulas have something wrong with it lately. My cat has been rejecting her wet food again. I will keep researching for the best one and let you know.
Did we all order the Fancy Feast from Chewy? Seem Chewy or Fancy Feast owes us a refund or at the least an explaination,
I would say Fancy Feast, I have a feeling they changed their formula. I will contact them and ask. Thanks for your comment.
Even the Friskies Pates are different. They’re very dry now. And my cats wont eat them. They don’t like morsels or shreds, its the texture. They’ll only eat the pates. I have a 9yr old Burmese purebred I adopted when she was weeks old. And I have 1-1/2 year old domestic I adopted last year. They both like the same foods, dry and wet. Food becomes expensive when you order by the case from Chewy, Petco, or Petsmart. And how do tell them you need to return it because the cats wont eat it and you have a few cans missing. I’ve tried they wont take them back.
your kittens may have worms. when my cat was a kitten she vomited after every meal. Vet said it was worms and is very common -almost expected in kittens. Had her dewormed and no more vomiting.
Although now after 5 months of scarfing every type of Nulo wet food.with gusto, she takes a lick or two, walks away, then looks at me like she’s waiting for something better. Guess she’s bored. Never saw it coming.
First of all I love how active these comments are. And yea crazy, my cat stopped eating wet food too. I given him all different textures and brands, he loves the pâté and licks the juices from the gravy ones( leaving the pieces behind). He always eats his wet food even if it’s just half. He stopped 2 days ago and eats the little bit of dry food I give him. I want to go several hours not feeding him, showing him who’s in charge, but he is the MOST annoying when I’m in my deep sleep at 2:30am and won’t stop meowing and putting his paws in my face, please help.
Hi N. Pa, it may sound crazy but my cat was rejecting her wet food for about 3 weeks now and suddenly since 2 days ago she started eating again her wet food, THE SAME ONE!. I couldn’t believe it. The variety she started eating if you are interested in, it’s Instinct Original Pate Duck. I made a review of it a couple of months ago. Check it out https://www.catfooddispensersreviews.com/instinct-original-pate-duck-canned-cat-food-review/ Who knows? your cat may like it. Hope that helps!
I have 3 cats (one 15 year old, one 6 year old and one 4 year old) who have suddenly stopped eating their wet food and the dry food (I mix 3 different dry foods to give them what they need and like). The foods are their favorites (like the dry foods, I give them a mixture of two of their favorite pate and a bit of rinsed tuna on the top). I have several cases of canned foods which they will not eat, but when they tire of what they are currently eating, I may start a type of the other canned food into their rotation. For a couple of years now, they have loved a mixture of 9 Lives Supper Supper and Seafood Feast with some tuna added. It is just strange that they are no longer wanting it although the cans are the same lot number as what they had been eating.
Hello Michael, something’s definitely going on with the wet food recipes. I really hope I can find the cause of it and write an article about it. Thanks for your comment.
Obviously due to supply chain issuses cat food companies have changed their formulas without telling anyone, in the name of greed and corporate profits. My 3 cats have also stopped eating wet food in the last year and I have tried many different brands and flavors. There must be a government agency to contact ( I remember a few years ago several manufacturers were fined for cutting back on taurine ) so who do we all have to call or email to get some action on this.
I also have a older cat who always ate her wet Friskies shreds and cuts but for the past 3 weeks just licking her wet and not eating her dry either. I checked her mouth, no obvious abyss or anything but we are heading to the Vet’s for a check up, also threw up a couple of times which is unusual for her.
I hope these cat and dog food companies haven’t changed something and it is harmful to the animals? i don’t use chewy I buy at the Food Lion, or walmart.
My cat suddenly started eating only half of her usual amount too, and when I give her soupier stuff she drank the liquids and left a lot of meat behind.I tried some ways to ensure she still got enough nutrition
1) Supplement with smaller snack size pouches. Usually tastier as they are more for snacks so may not contain all the nutrients. I give these to her an hour or so after her normal meal if I notice she only ate 1/3 or 1/2 of her usual amount.
2) Cut up the meat into much smaller pieces so when she drinks the soup , she sucks up the meat with it.
3) Let her get hungrier between meals by limiting snacks or dry food availability. This had the least success as I broke down too easy when she started meowing at me and ended up feeding her. Also even if she was hungrier at mealtime, she’d start eating with gusto but stopped as soon as the hunger pangs were satiated
Plus a few other methods such as alternating brands, types of meat, texture (soupy, jelly, etc). The supplements are costing a lot and really hurting my finance, but keeping her healthy and well fed is priority
ps. meant to be a reply to all, clicked wrong
My 2cats always ate fancy feast now they don’t even touch it after they smell it .use they changed the recipe before and I believe they did it again .so I’m gonna try new wet food little by little with toppers . my cats are not sick. Even my bear who eats anything won’t touch fancy feast.
Hello Diane, something’s going on for sure. It can’t be a coincidence that all cats suddenly won’t eat their fav wet food. Hope you have luck with your next strategy. Hugs!
So happy to hear it’s not just my cat who is suddenly turning his nose up at wet foods. I thought maybe it was due to the heat that he just ate less overall, but the dry food he still vacuums up and begs for more. I give him Tiki Cat brand wet foods, the After Dark canned chunk foods and the Tiki Cat broths. I got some Tiki Cat fish flavor canned foods recently to change up his selections and he went bonkers for them. I then started rotating the fish flavors with the After Dark ones. He started with refusing the duck and chicken food, then the duck and chicken broth. I assumed he was rejecting the meat ones due to preferring the fish but he has now added the salmon broth to his list of rejected foods. I agree that something in the formulas likely changed or the quality of meat used has declined, especially since both his first rejected foods were duck. I will check out some other high quality brands then maybe in a couple months try the Tiki Cat flavors he is refusing to see if he is more receptive.
Thank you your information touched one thing that hit me. Th bowels. I put some on a small paper plate and they licked it almost clean. I’ll try another flavor at noon. I have tried almost every brand and flavor only to end up throwing it out. After all this and it was just the bowels.
I am happy I could help Lynn!
Are you talking about the BOWELS (intestines) or BOWLS??????
She refers to the bowl.
Hi Lorena, I noticed a change in the cans. The older cans are aluminum and the newer cans are of a different quality. They are heavier than the old cans. My cat won’t eat the heavier cans, but the same flavor of the older cans (lighter) he will eat. I think the manufacturer is changing the cans because of the can shortages. For some reason my cat dislikes the newer cans. Just a thought…
That could be the answer to our questions. Great catch, Cheryl. If that’s the case, we must feed our cats not only with healthy food, but also food that comes in pouches. Thanks for your comment!
Hi Lauren , my cat has been eating diners wet soup for few years suddenly she stop eating it.
She’s very healthy girl she is 7years old she knows what she likes ,😸
I think somethings not right with the manufacturing .
I’m going to try something else however she is very fussy if she doesn’t like it she won’t eat it.😬
This seems to be a cat food issue with everyone, not with their cats. I’ve tried almost every brand of cat food. Cheap cans and very expensive cans. Both of my cats wont eat anything. Just their dry food. Someone please help to see what is going on. I am spending to much money. Any suggestions. Thanks😊
Hi Lisa,
Wow, there are so many comments on here – negative ones. The dates are all similar. I have 7 cats raised from day 1, mom weaned them at 12 weeks old. That was in May 2021 and they ate the raw cat food diet the mom loved.
That worked until about August 2021. The dates on these posts are seem to start in spring 2021.
I started researching meat recalls, chicken recalls, pork recalls. Around that time many fowl, beef and pork for HUMANS were being recalled. Made me wonder if instead of destroying these poor sick animals, they sold them for cheap to petfood dealers.
Finally went and bought an 18 dollar chicken with gizzards inside. Cooked it slightly (raw food recipes) and they wouldn’t touch it.
I’ve spent thousands on extremely expensive cat food and also the cheap stuff. Finally had to go to cat treats to make sure they had something to eat. And I’ve talked to the main stay pet food company. They swear nothing has changed.
Things have changed. I don’t want to risk my cats lives by putting them outside to see if they catch a mouse.
Good luck to everyone going through this on Lisa’s comment page. Hope we come up with something quick that’s healthy and covers all their bases.
J in So Cal
Meant to say “Lorena’s” comment page. Sorry about that.
Wow I thought that I was the only one going through this. My cat is 7 years old he always loved the shredded tuna and chicken. Now he licks the juice and leaves the food, I only give him a couple of scoops, then one in a half scoops. He eats his crunchy treats or dry food, so I know there’s nothing wrong with his teeth. He doesn’t like pate. Please help. Thank You. Robin
Hello Robin, something’s definitely going on with the cat wet food recipes. The tricks described in my article somehow work, but not if the cat food’s formula was changed to one your cat will dislike no matter what. I don’t know if this is the case with the shredded tuna and chicken formula you feed your cat on a regular basis. I suggest you trying different brands until you find the one your cat will eat. I am sorry I couldn’t help more with this, when cats refuse to eat their food no matter how many tricks you try, it’s time to change their formula.
My cat is doing the same thing. She ate Fancy Feast for years, then suddenly wouldn’t touch it. I have gone through many other brands and flavors and cannot seem to find something she likes. A few she will eat a little bit of it then leave it. Something has to have changed.
I’ve had the same problem! 7 yr old Maine Coon. We used Authority when she was a kitten until discontinued, and now only use Wellness morsels and gravies in chicken/chicken liver, turkey, and chicken and duck… until the one she’d eat was the turkey.
I bought the pouches until they all were used up, and went to cans. Not a problem there for turkey, but she seems to really prefer Schesir over Wellness in general, so I’m probably going to have to get more of that, except I just bought bulk of the Wellness pouches after she polished off the cans!
Something is going on with wet cat food, for SURE, and it’s been like that for about a year now (at least in Canada; not sure about anywhere else). I’ll still try these suggestions but fingers crossed something improves. I’ve also noticed a steady decline in fresh quality for produce at the grocery, so I wonder if there’s a worldwide food issue that is being translated into cat food as well…
Hi Tracey, I hope it works. Thanks for your comment!
My cat has diabetes and only eats wet food that is low in carbs. This obviously lowers the amount of wet food i am able to give him. I am running into the issue of him not eating his wet food after about two weeks of eating it. When i first change it, he eats it quickly and happily, but after about two weeks, he sniffs it and walks away after licking the pate or taking just a few small nibbles. He NEEDS to eat in order to get his insulin. Do i just need to keep buying different food every couple of weeks?
Hello Jordan, you will have to keep trying to test new formulas until your cat eats his food. It’s a real problem but as your cat has diabetes is something you must do. I am sorry about that and good luck!
I can’t remember who suggested it on this feed but my cat suddenly stopped eating her favorite food too. Someone suggested perhaps I got a bad batch and it seems they were right! I opened up a brand new case of her wet food and she ate the whole thing in about 30 seconds!! She has been meowing and talking to me so much, probably saying “Mom, something doesn’t taste right with this batch!” Thank you and best of luck to all you out there with cat eating issues!
I am so happy to hear the good news! It’s so hard to find out what’s wrong with wet food recipes nowadays. You are very welcome!
I tried switching my cat to homemade food when she refused to eat her wet food and threw up canned tuna in water. I’ve tried plain chicken breast poached in water and mashed. No go. I tried poached salmon mashed with cooked sweet potatoes. Ate it once and never again. Will not eat plain poached salmon either. I’m going back to the old method of taking up her bowl at night to see if she will be hungry enough to eat then. She receives necessary meds through her wet food, so I have to solve this. She loves her regular dry food. Poops fine.
Hello Ann, have you tested several different brands and varieties with your cat? Sometimes there’s that one cat food that they will just simply love.
My vet once said, it doesn’t matter much how balanced the meal looks in the bowl, if it doesn’t get in the cat!
My little guy 1.5 years old, is refusing all wet food, but will happily eat dry. This is not my ideal diet, but for now, Dry it is! This will be the first stint of dry food in his life, so he will be ok. I’ll reintroduce wet later. As an FYI, if anyone is feeding dry….look at the bag for calories per/kg or pound. Look at the calories in your canned food. You may be surprised at how little dry food equates to the wet. My guy was eating about 200 cal a day in wet food. That is less than half a cup of dry, so either he is going to get chunky or a bag will last FOREVER!
Hello Bea, in certain cases that’s true, but it will depend on the dry and wet cat food formula. Some wet food formulas are full-on carbs and by-products which makes cats gain weight. Feeding cats a grain-free formula, with whole proteins and a good balance of meats and fats, plus good antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins will prevent cats to gain weight.
I have a cat that only eats salmon wet food. I just found out that salmon should not be given full time. She does eat her dry food. I have tried giving her different wet food but she eats a few bites and walks away. It’s salmon or nothing. Her dry food is chicken and turkey. I’m not sure what to do. It’s driving me crazy.
Hello Karen, unfortunately, salmon or in general fish are really addictive for cats and when they get used to eating this ingredient is really hard to get rid of that habit. It’s like a human trying to get rid of the sugar addiction. A good option is trying to switch to pates with chicken liver, they are really tasty and with a great aroma that could entice your cat to eat. Try this option and see what happens.
I have two siblings who have just started refusing to eat their wet they have been on the same one since May last year when they became adults. Lola has always been fussy but Charlie though a slow eater would come to me asking for his wet food ( I ration dry but feed wet on demand).
It started with a batch of 72 the consistency was different, they walked up to it but wouldn’t touch it. I emailed the manufacturer who assured me that the recipe hadn’t changed but to have 2 cats refuse it means something is wrong. Amazon refunded me and I managed to get a different batch (90 tins) from a supermarket and all seemed well but this weekend first Charlie refused to eat any of it, just licking the gravey and Lola eats a small amount and then walks away. Both cats (indoor only) eat their dry and any dry treats.
I have tried other brands but no luck so far. They do drink water but I know how important it is for them to eat wet food. I live in the UK, does anyone know of a good quality chicken wet food in gravey, their current wet is Lily’s Tasty Cuts in Gravy Chicken. They used to eat pate and meat in jelly as kittens but they turn up their noses as adults.
Hi Tola, I am sorry you are going through this issue with your cats. It’s really hard to find healthy wet food for the cats to eat when they start refusing their normal brand and variety. And the main problem is that manufacturers only sell packages of cans over 12 units or more, so it all goes to waste. Have you tried any of the tricks I mentioned in my article? I will try to find a brand and let you know.
Yes – this exactly!!! My one cat suddenly refused to so much as lick new batches of Friskies. I’ve been going crazy trying buying Friskies wet pate (whitefish or chicken) from chewy, a local target, a local walgreens, a different target…they ALL have a different smell and a gross brown residue on the bottom of the can that was never there before.
Guess what – I had bought some of those combo packs a while back (6-8 months ago) and there was a type (mariners catch) that my cat didn’t like back then…but I just had a flash of inspiration and tried it out and SHE ATE IT IMMEDIATELY. So I call BS on no different recipe, or at the least the quality of the ingredients has plummeted.
Thank you for taking the time to post this article. My cats been eating A nutritionally balanced raw food (chicken,trout,organs,bone etc.)
I finally got her off all the canned foods with high sodium and fillers -and she absolutely loved it.
She wasn’t as itchy …she had lots of energy and her coat was better but it does take a bit of effort (being raw chicken) making sure it’s always cold and every thing I use associated with it -super clean…. it’s easier in the winter to keep cool because my floors are cold but then she just abruptly stopped eating it altogether a few weeks ago and only wants junk food and treats ! Drives me crazy.
I did wait her out and she will lick it off a spoon occasionally so I don’t think they’ve changed the formulation as it’s very simple— but I think she’s figured out there’s always turkey and chicken around when I make soup in the winter! I inherited her at age 5 and I can tell she was fed a lot of crap and treats in the past…
After having many cats over my lifetime I refuse to go back to feeding her junkie canned food (there are quality canned foods out there as well) because in the end it just makes for higher vet bills, in my experience. I think I will see if she misses it. Thanks for the good suggestions.
You are very welcome!
I’m having the same problem. Two cats. One is a bit less fussy than they other, but I’m having trouble finding wet food they will eat. In my opinion, the formulas have changed. That’s the only conclusion I can reach. I’ve tried many different brands. Dry food is fine, but wet food is a guessing game anymore. I have to resort to people tuna in a can sometimes, and only one of them will eat that. This has been ongoing for months.
Thank you for your article. I was starting to go crazy. Our cat only wants to eat fresh canned cat food. Once it turns from pink to brown she turns her nose up. That only take a couple of hours. If they had cans half the size of the smallest ones now that would work. As a result she only eats small portions and then wants to eat every two or three hours. That wastes a lot of food. She is 19 years old and her not eating is a real issue, especially since she has kidney issues and needs to drink a lot of water. I will try your suggestions on keeping the food hot and moist, and maybe try the food toppers. My only other idea is to use real people food like pulled chicken breasts or sliced lunch meats and maybe add gravy. But getting up in the middle of the night to feed the queen of the house has to stop.
I can relate to your issues, Chris. I hope my suggestion works for your kitty.
Googled about wet food issues for this exact reason. If it was just one cat snuffing their beloved Sheba food, I’d think it was a vet issue but it’s both. First it was the Turkey flavor but they ate the rest, now they’re refusing the chicken too and I refuse to leave them with the fish options only. They’ve always gotten wet food for dinner at night though and they’ve eaten this brand and it’s different flavors for about 5 years now so I’m hesitant to completely taken them off it or change but with the prices of everything right now I can’t afford to be throwing money away into food that they’ll just waste. I’m hoping they’re just getting a little bored with it and a little change will help. Thank you for your tricks, I will try them and hopefully pray they will work out or I don’t know what I’m going to do.
Hi Megan, we all are going through the same, I wish you good luck with the tips!
I am desperate for my cat to start eating his wet food again. He always had Sheba and was a bit fussy. but now every day he just licks all the gravy and walks off. He only wants Royal Cannin dry food which i have heard is not good for him. He is very overweight and following me around wanting food. Have spent a fortune on different wet foods lf they are changing the cat foods to save money some thing should be done about it.lts really concerning me
Hi Maureen, that’s happening to all of us, cat owners. We have to spend a lot to find a wet cat food that our cats will love and eat steadily. I kept my cat without wet food for about 2 weeks and yesterday I gave her the same wet food and she ate it. I guess they get bored with the same food and want a change. I hope you can find a good solution for your kitty.
NULO IS A BRAND OUR CAT WAS EATING FOR A LONG TIME, BUT MAKE SURE ITS NOT PATE, YOU KNOW THE KIND THAT LOOKS ALL MASHED UP AN GRINDED TOGETHER, MY CAT HATES THAT KIND, NULO BRAND …SPECIFICALLY THE CAN WIT SKY BLUE ON IT, SALMON AND TURKEY FLAVOR BIT THEY HAVE A BUNCH OF WET FOOD FLAVORS
I am thinking of removing the dry food and then perhaps he will eat the wet food, if that is all there is for him to eat. Do you think this would be okay?
Hi Mary, you can try that, but only for a little while if the wet food doesn’t provide enough proteins.
I typed a comment yesterday about the same issue as everyone else. Is it not going to be posted? I don’t see it. Thank you.
Sorry, Tim, I couldn’t update my site yesterday, but I just posted your question.
I feed 5 feral cats and have done so for over a decade. I’m on a fixed income because of a massive heart attack. I’ve read every single comment in this thread. Ditto with my cats for the last year. These are outside cats who would eat anything and now no wet food brand works. I can’t afford doctor bills for myself much less 5 cats that i would have to trap and transport. Fancy feast medley used to be their favorite. Flavor or cut of meat never mattered. I’ve tried every brand under the sun. You name it and I’ve tried it. What started out as something joyful for me by feeding these outside cats has turned into a nightmare. It’s dry food only for them the last few weeks. I still have wet food on hand but if the cats do anything, it’s licking the gravy only. This has been going on almost a year. I won’t name the company but they are a large one in this market and after I called them, I was told there is a shortage on raw/key ingredients and they are being forced to use alternative sources. I continue to buy wet food knowing they’ll only lick the gravy. I buy the healthiest dry food I can and have fresh water everywhere. After 10 years I know these cats like the back of my hand. They’re miserable and it rents space in my head from the time I wake up until I go to bed. This is a nightmare and yes I’ve tried every suggestion listed. Now what? One of the cats is literally obese now. I’m sure that’s from a diet of mostly just dry food. She also happens to be the oldest. I’m worried sick because there is no answer and yet I continue to buy wet meat, switching brands constantly. What a nightmare. I truly think putting these cats down instead of slowly starving them or making them sick is more humane than what I’m doing and I love these cats more than people. I do not say that lightly. There are no solutions but I’d still be happy to read anyone’s suggestions or comments.
Hi Tim, I am so sorry to hear your story, it’s heartbreaking, not only because of what you are going through but also because of the nightmare of trying to feed the feral cats wet food. I understand how you feel regarding this last situation, the same is happening with my cat and so far she’s still eating the wet food with some changes in her eating habits, but ideally, she should eat wet food every day. I thought about Companies using other ingredients different than the originals due to food shortages in the industry, but what you said confirms my suspicion. I am super busy right now with a project but as soon as I finish I will start researching wet food alternatives for cats, of course, I will try them with my cat and will share the results. Have you tried Wellness Core or Instinct Duck Pate Classic?
From Canada: as Covid started Royal Canin vet products changed can size and the texture changed for adult wet. Then they renamed the line of can products in retail too and of course that started my decline into this screwed up cat food nightmare.
I am glad I read this today, finally! Now I can resume my approach with this in mind.
oh brother. Now I hear Royal Canin is discontinuing our GI fibre dry food.
I’ve tried hard to find a brand of wet food my Henri would eat. Some of the wet food has dye in it and he’s allergic to the dye and patches of his hair were falling out. We are now on Purina one wet food and also Purina one dry food, he never eats a full can and so I do refrigerate and then give it to him so I will try not refrigerating it or warming it and see if that helps because he just stops eating it and I throw it away. He started eating some dry food now🥺. My other cat Figaro only eats dry food.
No idea what is going on with cat food, also I can barely find it in stock even at chewy.
Yep, it seemed like late Summer last year 2021, certain flavors all three of my cats just immediately stopped eating. Now it’s only a few flavors they will eat. It seemed to coincide with the shortages of cat food. They HAD to have changed something, or a flavoring or ingredient they could no longer get possibly so they began substituting something else. Sometimes they will get a foot or two from the bowl and stop in their tracks. It’s like I tried to mix medicine into it, haha. We ALL know how that usually goes.
Having the same problem. Couldn’t find Fancy Feast for months. When it reappeared on shelves in different packaging it no longer appealed to my cats. They definitely changed the food. Having a really hard time finding a wet food they will eat. They were both recently diagnosed with cancer and I somehow feel that Fancy Feast was not the best food for them.
Hi Carole, Fancy Feast has an ingredient that is not good for cats (a synthetic form of vitamin K). I will make a video about it soon.
Update (June 18th, 2022): Hi Carole, this is the video I made about Fancy Feast & other brands, and my journey trying to find a good formula that Sophie will actually eat. Finally, I found one! Check it out https://youtu.be/h8v6CqIDXeI
Thanks too Lorena your Article is very helpful keep it up
I am glad it helps :)
Same here. Found this blog googling “my cat wont eat wet canned food”. My 14 yr old has stopped pretty much eating Friskies. Sometimes she’ll eat a little then doesn’t want it later on in the day. I’ve tried all kinds of expensive brands too same deal. She either doesn’t eat it at all or she’ll eat it the first time I open the can then doesn’t want it later and I’ve tried not on the fridge and in the fridge.. aka cold/warm. Now she’s being picky about the dry food. I’ve taken her to the vet twice over the last year about it and was told she’s basically depressed which I believe is part of it. I had another cat that died of cancer March 2021 and that’s when she started not eating and was doing the most mournful sad meows alot of the time. They did not get along but after months of pallative care and doting on both of them the abrupt changed sparked that behavour. She bounced back but when I had to return to work a few months later 3 weeks after that started the depressed/not eating state again. Now nothing has changed as far as environment the last month or so I’m dealing with the not eating wet food but noticed the same thing going on with the landlord’s barn cats and he said they too are turning their nose up at the friskies. At any rate shes also being picky about dry food and I can’t do anything with gluten. Ironically I now have a gluten intolerancy again.. (had it in 2017). She likes fancy feast dry food but she throws it up so I had to stop and switched to gluten free. She ate some of it …now does not want it. The only thing I’ve found she likes is steak and I’ll try some fresh fish as well as chicken. I’ve wasted so much canned food and dry food and its just upsetting when you can’t figure out what is going on and why they won’t eat. But after reading all these comments it appears something has changed with most wet foods altogether and maybe this had started her depressed behavior…not being satisified with food. We too would feel that way if we had to go on a “diet” and depriving ourselves of what we like. She was checked as a mentioned at the vet btw just earlier this spring. all tests came back fine just as they did the previous 2 times I took her .
Hi Michelle, I hope your cat gets back to loving her food and that you can find one she likes. It’s so sad what’s going on right now. I hope things change.
I am so thankful I have found this site my girl has also started to refuse her wet food. I have spent $780. The past month as she was losing weight I have spend $$$ on all types of wet food trying to get her to eat. If it is the cat food makers that caused this it makes me angry. Thank you again for all the great reviews Sharon and Precious
Hi Sharon, I am happy I can help cat owners in any way, I know firsthand how hard it is. Hope you can find the perfect wet food for your baby.
Stumbled across this site as my 5 year old Siamese abruptly stopped eating wet food. After 3 days I got worried enough to take her to the vets who thought she was constipated and relieved me of £173 to treat it. Got her home and still won’t touch it. I’ve always preferred wet food for the moisture content and helping preventing possible kidney problems, but reluctantly tried her on dry and she is at least eating some of that. It’s most bizarre what is going on with cat food. The prices have shot up but I think the ingredients must also have been changed for it to affect so many of us. Our pets are our family and it’s horrible to struggle to feed them properly.
Hi Maureen, unfortunately, you are right. We have to do our best with our precious pets, but it’s getting hard.
My cat refuses to eat her fancy feast pate chicken
I help what can I do to make her eat
Follow the tips and see what happens.
I found this post as my boy has stopped eating , he is eight months old, he would only eat whiskers kitten food, it had to be pure delight, no other will he touch, he nibbles then walks away, he will eat treats, I hid some in his food, he found them out, then left the rest , I have mixed his biscuits, with the whiskers kitten ones and one year old biscuits, he won’t eat these either now, so off to the shops tomorrow to get the kitten biscuits and hope he eats them, it’s stressing me out him refusing food. I will try a few of the other of your tips, thank you for this site.
You are very welcome, Liane. I hope you can find the trick that will make your cat eat his wet food.
My two cats have always loved Fancy Feast pate chicken and beef flavor but suddenly, neither will eat this wet food. All they eat is dry food. They have always loved their wet food but sniff it and walk away. I know it is important for them to have wet food but I am just throwing it all away every day.
That’s true Susan, I went through the same situation but I finally found a good formula for my cat Sophie. I hope you can find a good wet food formula for your babies.
I have same problem now with my 8 . old female Calico “Mocha”, rescue kitty,has been with me almost 2 1/2 yrs Feeding . Sheba perfect portions shredded and pate salmon, whitefish tuna variety pack from Chewy. Would eat approx. 4 little pks a day (their only 41 k cals per portion. Plus a teeney dry food. Meowed and begged for wet food and wolfed it down. Would feed 1 pk every few hrs. As to not to overload her system. She weighs 11.5 lbs Have used Open farm from Canada, limited ingred. Herring, and their salmon. Very expensive, 12boxes 5.5 ozs are $34,00. Have tried Honest kitchens new Shredded wet food, Turkey and chicken. Just suddenly walked away from wet food entirely a week ago. Will eat some dry and drink water. Have tried honest kitchen Clusters for cats human grade,Avveeno, Open Farm salmon blend dry , excellent and expensive, not supermarket cheap food . I am retired from medicine after 40 yrs., did Aninal rescue work for many years, I am baffled, and don’t understand ??? Have tried heating up food after refrigerated, still turns her nose up at it and won’t eat the wet food, all three varieties, interchanged. What a waste of money.ysing litter box fine, and drinking a little more water because of dry. I know the wet good is much better for cats than dry food.They need meat and moisture, not over processed burnt up little kibbles.which was originally manufactured as a convenience food.
My cat Lulu is now not eating her wet food too. About a week and a half ago she finished her last can of Fussie cat Gold Premium chicken and duck. I had a new case ready to go and gave her the first can out and she wouldn’t eat it. She has done this before when a change of cases. Same exact food mind you, just a different case. I waited a day and opened up another can and again she walked away. I have been trying to get her to eat her favorite food to no avail. I even had some Rachael Ray’s Nutrish Cat Purrcata wet food she used to eat and tried that, but she wouldn’t eat that either. She eats some of her dry food and is drinking water. I would like her to drink more though. She only likes chicken, duck and turkey. I am giving her some of my chicken breast torn up and she eats some of that.
I am sorry to hear that you can’t find wet food for your Lulu that she loves. It’s really hard nowadays. I hope you can find a recipe that your cat will eat happily, good luck.
I have tried EVERYTHING and my cat won’t eat the wet food! The problem is that if I give him too much kibble, he will get diarrhea! If I put a little water in the kibble, this eliminates the diarrhea issue, and it used to work great but now he’s refusing that as well. I’ve tried the topper, I’ve tried treats in the middle, I’ve messed with the temperature, I’ve switched the brands countless times, he won’t touch the wet food and he only wants kibble if it’s completely dry. :'( I’m going to have to take him to the vet at this point, he’s losing weight cause he’s literally starving himself. I gave him some dry food last night and this morning he had diarrhea. I can’t keep giving it to him but he’s on a hunger strike. Why are older cats so finicky! He used to eat everything I gave him and purr while eating.
Hi, I am so sorry to hear that your cat is not eating properly. I totally support your idea to take him to the Vet, it could be something related to his kidneys, I hope that’s not the case. I wish you get only good news from the Vet. Good luck!
My cat stopped eating her favorite Fancy Feast food. For days. I tried a few different flavors thinking she wanted a change. She ate a flavor she previously turned down. I tried giving her the tuna flavor again and she just smelled it and walked away. I picked it up and smelled it and I actually gagged. It smelled like feces. No joke. I opened five more cans and three smelled that way. I was literally gagging. All four cans had the same lot number. The other two cans had a different lot number. One can smelled okay so I gave her some of that and she ate it. The other can was okay. I felt so bad because of all the times she didn’t eat her food I thought she was being picky. Poor Kitty. I don’t think I will be buying Fancy Feast anymore. On to something different. So, please smell your cats food before you give it to them.
That’s a really good advice Vanessa, thank you.
Never feed human food because some cats are smarter then others…my 4 year old female cat is on a food strike and will not eat cheap cat food now( friskies , whiskies) but my 6 year old male will eat anything. Tryed many dry foods and she will not touch, so she is only eating moist now(authority) and stupid temptations treat that I’ve been trying to phase out but used as a experiment to see if she’d eat dry ..yeah she still eat that crap! Before I found authority moist she ate nothing for a day, and it’s super hard having 1 cat that will eat everything and one picky because he will eat everything left out so she doesn’t get a chance! I really think that there is something new in cat and dog food that’s fake or artificial that she can smell just like my dog because I’m on my 4th food switch on my dog too… Kirkland went down hill because all my animals just recently stopped eating both the cat and dog food! My dog got ear infection from it , cats and dog both stopped eating it!
I like your article. I just want to add before letting your (readers) kittens or cat not eat for a day or so talk with your vet. My loved one didn’t feed her kittens (4-month-old and mine is 5 month) so she can cut their nails. I called the vet first and they said the only reason they would fast is if they were prepping an animal for, say, surgery. I rather just cut this nails (or use the other options on this article).
All the best
Carlita
Hi Carlita. My article was only about cats that start refusing to eat their favorite wet food or only eating part of it, but not about cats not eating food at all or not feeding a cat. Under no circumstances any cat should be forced to fast if it’s not instructed by a Vet. Thanks for your comment.
I am one inch from insanity. Your comments have saved my life. One of my cats stopped eating all wet food. Contacted several companies. Some were honest about recipe changes and ingredients. Some wouldn’t admit. Hundreds of dollars, hundreds of cans, 17 brands. Just to know that I am not alone is appreciated. We must boycott to demand non outsourcing of ingredients. Its been months for us. Thankyou for sharing.
Hi Brijane, what you say it’s so true. We all have been going through the same nightmare so here’s our space to share our predicaments in feeding our cats. It is also our space to share good info. It’s my goal to help cat owners in any way I can. I really appreciate our comment, and don’t give up.
Place the leftover food from the can onto a plate and microwave it, the gravy that is in the can still set that can on top of a cup of hot water (not boiling) it will liquidfy again, you can also set that can in the sink and run the warn/hot water around the can, making sure no water gets into the can, and just pour the gravy onto the plate of food, nice and warn with a fresh first opened taste again.
Thanks for your tip, Karen!
First time I see this in my entire life, it is with cheap Friskies wet can, my 2 Kittens refuse to eat it even with treats! Before they were preferring wet food to dry food. If I don’t watch those 2 kittens, they will eat every meat I can have in my plate. But now, no more wet can! just WTF! not 1 kitten, both kittens! What are they putting in those can now? Poison?
Having the same problem as all the posters here. Completely frustrated. Tried almost every brand of shreds/pate out there. Spending a fortune. Kitties barely touch the food. They will eat canned chicken and tuna, except Great Value. I put a plate of Swanson canned chicken and a plate of Great Value canned chicken. Same with the tuna…brand names vs. Great Value. They won’t touch it. So, heads up to people who eat Walmart canned foods.
Thanks for your comment, Donna. My cat is back to loving Wellness Healthy Indulgence, Morsels Salmon & Tuna in Savory Sauce. She licks the plate clean. I thought you may want to try that one.
My 2 have been on almost every wet food brand known. I am SO tired of spending literally hours and tons of money searching for something new to try. They will eat it a few days, then stop, no matter what brand. I have tried switching it up every day or so, and they still refuse it. Why isn’t the cat food industry being investigated? I really don’t know what consumers can do. Some of this stuff cost more than a prime rib! And, I honestly can’t believe any of it is all that healthy.
Hi Mari, have you tried Wellness Healthy Indulgence? My cat is back to eating it again and loving it. The morsel type.
I got 2 barn cats last October, pickiest choosy-beggars on earth. They are happy to eat bugs & mice, but only like absolute shyte tier cat food, possibly because the shelter they were in got them hooked on Purina. They will refuse to eat &Y starve themselves, but continuously scream for something else. We went through months of them rejecting every brand & flavor of wet cat food Mud Bay & Petco, & out of desperation we started buying them the grain-free variants of the worst brands. After 6 month, they both agreed that they liked raw pork (but hate raw catfood), Costco rotisserie chicken (high in salt), cheddar cheese (salty & gives them diarrhea), whole milk (thankfully lactose-free with the sugar filtered out, but will not drink lower fat), toppers (Strictly Inaba Twins, Churu, & Purebites), approximately 2 flavors of Fancy Feast, & Blue Buffalo hairball cereal (& literally no other cereal). We got them to consistently eat these for 3, maybe 4 weeks before they went back to refusing to eat. Before that, 2 weeks of Sheeba in February was the longest they ever stuck to a food. So I have this huge dilemma of them either being the children that will only eat candy & chips, or the children who refuse to eat at all.
Hi Allaiyah, it seems like they got a very specific palate needs due to their feeding habits and the shelter food. This could be a challenge of a kind because the foods you mentioned are not usual for cats to like, and they are not healthy. Try to make your own topper by blending their fav treats with some milk to make a paste that you can put on top of wet food and see if they will start eating. It is worth trying. I hope this trick helps!
I’ve read the majority of posts here and have a couple of thoughts. Note that I’ve gone through all the same with cat rejections, changing brands and/or textures within brands and thrown away SO MUCH cat food, it has really been straining my limited budget! Then my cats will eat something for a short while, (desperation??), then reject it again. Yet this problem CROSSES BRANDS and all the companies deny changing recipes. Some cats are getting sick (mine have had bouts of diarrhea, too). I noticed all this started during the early to mid part of Covid. Let’s face it, most of this cat food is made from ingredients that are coming from China (THE largest cat food ingredient source) and other countries overseas like India and Thailand, (even when they say it’s “made” in the USA). Do you remember when all those cargo ships were backing up, unloaded? Maybe at some point they decided they no longer needed to properly refrigerate these ingredients? Is that possible? Because something literally STINKS here! Another thing I ponder is we all know there was a can shortage. As at least one other person noted, the cats didn’t like the newer thicker cans that were used for a while. But then they stopped eating all these foods, even when they went back to the cans we were used to. Did the metal formulation used for the aluminum cans change? Where do these CANS come from? China? What are they putting in the metal? Petrochemical or heavy metal waste products? Many human food cans are coated on the interior so there is no metal leaching into the food. Are cat food cans coated? If not, perhaps they need to be? Even the tops of the newer plastic containers are often made of some type of aluminum foil material. Could this have something to do with this huge problem? Have any tests been done on the cans themselves? We all know cats are NOT dumb! Food for thought.
Hi Donna, thanks for leaving your thoughts on this. My cat is currently eating Wellness Healthy Indulgence Morsels Salmon & Tuna in savory sauce and she eats every bit of it, it comes in a pouch so she eats one pouch per day. Hope that helps!
Hi Lorena. I did see your post on this brand and am going to try it. If the cans are the problem, hopefully a pouch food will solve that! After doing more research, I found out they do coat those cans, and they may have changed the coating, which they don’t disclose. Thanks for your efforts with this subject, it’s very much appreciated!
You are very welcome, Donna!
I went online to see why my kitty does not want to eat his wet food anymore he may sometimes only luck the gravy..He is having no problem eating anything else..I thought I was going nuts or not making him happy..It’s like sometimes he goes to his plate he wants to eat smell his food and act like he is going to puke or cry in the air while acting like he is chewing like he is losing weight he seems to be hungry..Something is wrong with the food..
I had the same problem, read about baby food Beechnut chicken and broth and turkey and broth, natural ingredients only. He actually eats it, good luck
Hi Rocky, that’s a good tip, I have to try it with my cat. However, cats need certain aminoacids and special vitamins in their diet, if you feed your cat also dry food that cover these nutritional needs it will work well on the long run. Thanks again!
Thank you everyone for you comments and Lorena for this blog! Of course, I am freaking out b/c our new kitten (14 weeks old) is basically not eating most of the wet food we have given her. Right now, I am still trying the high quality brands (Merrick, Blue Ribbon and a couple of others). We have figured out that she likes morsels as opposed to pates. She will eat raw chicken, but will not eat scrambled eggs or tuna in water (first cat I ever had that refused tuna!!). Most of the flavors have been chicken based. I still need to explore duck, liver, etc. BUT – what is maddening is she will eat it one day, but not the next. I have tried microwaving it, waiting until it is room temp., finger feeding her (which sometimes works), she has whisker friendly bowls, etc. It has to be something with the smell of whatever we give her. She so clearly sniffs and decides yes or no. We also add Tomlin supplement gel which she will sometimes lick but not always. She RUNS to the bowl every time and appears hungry, but if it does not pass the sniff test, then forget it. Any ideas other thoughts on why she will eat it one day but not the next, even when warmed up? Or maybe we have to get used to throwing away half of whatever wet food she is given b/c she will not eat it twice. She will eat her dry food (Hill’s Kitten), Chura’s (but that is not food…) and treats, of course, which she has only had once. If I new what smell she found distasteful, I would definitely give it to her!!! She is otherwise healthy, happy and active. I am the one having a nervous breakdown!
Hi Bijou, I understand how you feel because my cat is similar. It takes a lot of patience and money to get the right formula and it seems like they like the unhealthy ones. But I suggest you to try Wellness Healthy Indulgence, especially the ones with salmon or tuna. My cat likes them. I have to switch to other varities on the same brand and she eats without issues until she gets tired of it. Another tip, my cat also sniffs and walks away but when I start playing with her, she suddenly starts eating the food. I suggest you if you want your cat to eat the wet food you just put on the plate that was refused by your cat, start playing with her. My cat loves string and feathers. Hope this helps!
WOW THIS BLOG had the BEST suggestions of all other browsers with the same search ” My cat quit eating wet food” . Mine did just that 8 days ago . It literally happened in a 24 hour span . Initially thought it was because I gave him bit of real tuna (low on mercury) since I needed to trap my outside feral . Thought the tuna somehow made him quit it and started to get worried. On the 5th day of not eating wet food took him to the vet and his blood work was ok. Vet wanted me to give him Hills Z/D sensitive stomach prescription. She explained hydrolyzed protein as their 1st ingredient is a protein broken down that the cat’s immune system does not react in an allergic way. I wasn’t too convinced this was necessary but researched their ingredients. I found out that if cats are allegic they could try 2 types of food before swapping them into prescription. One called 1. LIMITED INGREDIENT FOODS 2. NOVEL FOODS (certain not common animals
NOTE: My cat was used to eating various types/brands of wet food. I would alternate them to meet his caloric average needs of 350 calories of day considering his 10.5 lb
1. Purina Fancy feast usually
2. Wellness Complete Gravies chicken and turkey dinner
3. Wellness Sliced chicken entree
4. Wellness Minced Salmon dinner
DRY FOOD IS Orijen Original flavor. Quite premium dry food with first 5 ingredients coming from real animal . No by-product and or protein-meals. All apparently real animal
Before his wet food strike he started to vomit the wellness brands particularly the salmon flavor.
TESTING NOW
1. the Kitty Kuisine tuna flakes as a topper/treat with the Wellness Gavies Chicken and Turkey as this seems to be the only one from above he will drink the water + topper.
2. He is still eating the dry food but not as eager as before.
3. Yesterday went to Petco to get him a few tester cans of Orijen wet food but these brand only makes Pate and he always has disliked pate. The flavor was Salmon and Tuna . He ran towards it but once I set it on the ground he took off.
4. Also at Petco got him 2 LIMITED INGREDIENT BRANDS called Applaws and Merrick Limited ingredient.
Every time I am testing a new can he seems eager to eat but like others mentioned once laid the cat walks away.
UPCOMING TRIAL TO IMPROVE EATING WILL BE
1. Purchase the Wellness pouches Lorena suggested
2. but other feeding bowls like Yangbaga and Lorde cat bowls
3. Strike the wet food on purpose gradually to put him on dry food few days but also keeping in mind he is not used to eating only dry food and another commenter said their cat got sick on just dry food.
I am impressed with your dedication, I am so happy to see people like you who love their cats so much, I feel the same with my cat. I am always trying to get the best for her according to my possibilities. I am happy you will use some of my suggestions, I am sure they will work for your cat. Regarding leaving your cat a few days without wet food it won’t hurt him, it will just make him miss his wet food more. Thanks for your extensive comment and sorry for the delay with my answer, somehow this comment went to the spam box. Thanks again and best of luck with your cat!