Dry food for a cat that doesn't like it?

July 26, 2021 8:44 AM

I have two healthy kittens - but one won't eat *anything* dry. Do you have suggestions for food & treats a cat with this quirk might like to snack on?

I have two young cats - just more than 6 months old that are both happy and healthy... but one of the cats won't eat any dry food. They are eating wet food a few times a day, but sometimes they want a little snack, and I'll give them a handful of dry food. One cat will eat that, but the other won't.

So I am stuck either giving her more wet food, or giving her chewy treats. I don't love this as its more expensive, I have to keep specific treats stocked, wet food goes bad more quickly, etc.

My main question is: do you know any brands that might be more appealing to this kind of pickiness?

(PS I don't think this is a health issue - she's a very happy, well-adjusted cat.)

posted by RajahKing to Pets & Animals (17 answers total)

Churu sticks are kind of like gogurt for cats. They get a little messy but it’s kinda fun and cats get used to them and become daintier over time.

Generally speaking you want to avoid dry kibble for cats anyway. Most of it has low value nutrition for the volume and price. You might look into completely grain free kibbles, look for things for cats on a limited ingredient diet, and see if your fussy eater enjoys those instead? We give this one to our cat with kitty IBS who refuses to eat chicken and goes off his fishy wet food regularly but always eats all his crunchies.
posted by Mizu at 8:56 AM on July 26, 2021 [4 favorites]

They aren't particularly healthy, but I've never met a cat that won't eat a temptations treat.
posted by amycup at 8:56 AM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You can add water to dry food, either just enough to moisten or enough to make a paste. I had a cat who preferred eating it this way too.
posted by notquitemaryann at 8:57 AM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

(and if she doesn't like this particular dry food when it's wet, is there a dry version of the canned food they get, or something similar in flavor according to the label?)
posted by notquitemaryann at 8:59 AM on July 26, 2021

Cats are very idiosyncratic about what types of food they like or don't like. You might try various brands / varieties of dry food, until you find one that your cat will eat. In my experience, most cats actually don't like the high-end, expensive grain-free kibble. For what it's worth, my cats seem to prefer Purina Naturals dry food.
posted by akk2014 at 9:01 AM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Greenies dental treats for cats is worth a try; I don't know what it is but many cats in my experience looooove them
posted by The otter lady at 9:08 AM on July 26, 2021

My cat loved scrambled eggs, cold. YCMV
posted by AugustWest at 9:08 AM on July 26, 2021

If your kitties are 6 months old, they're well-past weaning, but for smaller kittens that we bottle-fed, we weaned them by mixing the KMR with kitten kibble and microwaving it for a few seconds to help mush it up. You could try that if the water-with-kibble doesn't please your kitty.
posted by briank at 9:34 AM on July 26, 2021

If water alone isn't enough to entice your cat, you can try drizzling it with a broth or the juice from a can of tuna fish.

Also, it's very hard to give the best advice without seeing a photo of the cats! Cat tax is due.
posted by hydra77 at 9:35 AM on July 26, 2021 [11 favorites]

Try something like these Vital Cat treats that are made out of freeze dried meat. The amount of carbs (and kibble is mostly carbs) that cats are supposed to have is none amount, so you may please both cats and give them something more healthful.
posted by slkinsey at 10:02 AM on July 26, 2021

You can also soften kibble with salmon oil. Whatever you soften with, you might start with a totally-softened kibble snack and then over time start splitting between softened and crunchy next to it to see if the enticement gets them eating the hard food.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:41 AM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Are you feeding them adult dry food or kitten food? Since they're so young kitten food might be better, the pieces are smaller and it's more dense in calories — which is important for kittens, as they're burning a lot of energy but have small stomachs. The most common one used by kitten rescues I've known is Royal Canin Mom + Babycat. If that doesn't work I'd just give dry food to the one who likes it and an extra feeding of wet food in between regular meals for the other one (or to both of them, because jealousy). Giving lots of treats is probably also fine at this age unless it gives them the runs. I've had bad luck in that respect with treats and kittens, but ymmv!
posted by 100kb at 11:48 AM on July 26, 2021

I have the opposite problem -- cat really doesn't like wet food -- and also she's rather picky about dry. I can't recommend her current dry food, as it's Rx, but another way of tempting (at least my) cat to the bowl is to add bonito flakes.

Also, how my cat ended up on the prescription diet is that I went through a few dry foods trying to find one that appealed to her pickiness, as she was basically just not eating more than a few bits a day and I was really concerned about her health. Unfortunately this process probably stressed her out and contributed to the development of a UTI. My gentle warning is that if she's healthy and happy, consider leaving it be. My cat will now ONLY eat the prescription dry diet and I have some thoughts about that, but I'm grateful that she is at least eating something nowadays.
posted by sm1tten at 11:59 AM on July 26, 2021

My kitten doesn't eat dry food; she waits for me to put down wet food, twice a day, and ignores the dry food her older brother cares so deeply about. She LOOVES Greenies dental treats, though, and, to a lesser extent, Friskies Party Mix.
posted by metonym at 1:06 PM on July 26, 2021

My two cats agree that Friskies Party Mix is the crack cocaine of dry food-like objects, and seems to be delicious enough that one piece of Party Mix on top of a pile of otherwise "meh" kibble is enough to get them eating the kibble.

My cats also love Orijen Cat & Kitten, which seems to be a very high calorie / high fat / low carb food - my cats love it, and get a little chubby on it, but their coats seem very healthy.

In summary, cats are weird :-)
posted by soylent00FF00 at 3:45 PM on July 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

My cats love Diamond Naturals dry food. They make a kitten food.
posted by Oyéah at 4:18 PM on July 27, 2021

At 6 months old, the kittens are old enough to transition to eating a couple of meals a day anyhow. If she's a proper weight and well adjusted, maybe she just doesn't need to be snacking all day? I feed my cats wet food twice a day, and--aside from the occasional sharing a bite of their favorite people foods like chicken or salami--they don't get snacks and I don't usually stock cat treats for them.
posted by drlith at 7:34 PM on July 27, 2021