My cat has stopped eating wet foods

Question

My almost 2 year old, tortoise shell cat, named Korina, used to eat her wet food really well. She always has fresh water and dry food out for her. She has a set breakfast and dinner time, a pouch in the morning around about 8-9 AM, and at night around about 8-9 PM, and she would nibble dry cat food throughout the day and drink her water. She’s done this her whole life and I have always made sure she wouldn’t get bored of her food by changing it every now and then, and she would love it and eat the whole thing.

Then, all of a sudden, she stopped. I did her one pouch for breakfast and she didn’t even eat half of it. I had to throw it away, then at night she wouldn’t even eat half of it and I had to throw it away as well. I tried that again for a few more days and nothing was working. I even tried leaving one pouch in there for her to eat throughout the day, but again she didn’t even eat half of it. Also, I’ve changed her food up as well to see if that’s the issue - now I have to give her more dry food so she doesn’t starve because she’s won’t eat anything else.

She’s definitely drinking loads more, but she goes to the toilet fine and is popping better as when she was a kitten. She didn’t poop very much, she would only wee all the time, but I don’t know what to do. I still give her a pouch as I can’t just give her dry food as she doesn’t eat much of it and that pouch she is still only eating less than half. I’ve got to take her to the vets next Friday, as she’s booked in to be spayed.

Should I ask them what could be wrong? I’m really worried, and she’s my first fur baby I’ve had her since she was 10 weeks old and I was 16/17, I’m now 18. I’m moving soon and I’m afraid my baby could be ill. She’s definitely lost weight also, but she’s a small cat anyway she’s smaller than normal cats. Someone (when she was eating well and wasn’t even a year old she was 6 months old) said she looked skinny and starved - though I knew that’s not the case as I fed her well and she was the rung of the litter, and even now is a very small cat.

But now she actually is starting to look skinny and I’m worried.

Answer 1

Try not to worry about your cat eating only dry food for now, many cats change their food preferences without anything being wrong. Many cats eat less when it is summer and hot, this changes more in outdoor cats than it does in indoor cats.

If a cat stops eating or starts to hide from you, it can be a sign of illness then you need to go to the vet. If a cat stops eating for more than 24 hours it can get fatty liver syndrome this can be lethal (skinny cats handle this better than large bulky ones).

What you should do is to make a list with all the questions you have for the vet, this is a smart thing to do every time you take the cat to the vet so you do not forget important questions.

If the vet tells you your cat is too skinny, he/she will probably tell you to change to another type of food. You should get your cat dewormed once a year if she lives only indoors and more often if she is an outdoor cat that hunts.

After a cat is spayed/neutered they will often gain some weight and/or get a bit less active. Even if a two year old cat is fully grown, the muscle mass and body will still change a little over time.

Answer 2

I grew up with one cat and one dog, so speaking from my experience, I found that both my cat and my dog fluctuated between wet and dry food. Both indicated they wanted a change by standing near the bowl, scratching, or yowling at me. These are important signs that showed me they were hungry. I would suggest, if you're seeing something similar, to switch to solely dry food.

A serious issue would be if they weren't near their bowl, period. I would see a vet in that case.

I know you said you change food often, so maybe try a new brand.

Another idea is to add water to dry cat food. Wait until the food is mushy and puffy before serving it to the cat. This always worked particularly well with my pets.

For an emergency case only (as in the vet is booked out and it refuses to eat wet, dry, or mushy cat food), purchase some emergency dietary supplements to give to them in the meantime.

White rice also works but without the nutrition; it just gives her something to fill her stomach while you find a new solution, and can soothe her stomach. If she has diarrhea, you can add lean hamburger meat. This may give her digestive tract a break because it is bland and easily digested.

Lastly, adding cooked dry oats to her food is a big help to provide nutrition if she's only eating half her food or less.