How To Get Your Cat To Eat Wet When He Wants Dry

It is commonly known that dry food is convenient for us, harmful for cats. It lacks freshness, vitality and protein and a diet of it can substantially contribute to feline urologic syndrome, skin disorders, arthritis, kidney failure and constipation.

Cats were originally desert animals and their kidneys are designed to be extremely efficient in conserving water. Their diet of prey contained 70 percent body fluids. In kibble there is something like 5 to 10 percent of moisture. A steady diet of kibble will substantially overwork your cat’s kidneys and his health will deteriorate.

But they really like it. It’s a lot like eating fast food – a burger and fries because of the very clever ingredients that go into dry food designed to make cats addicts to the stuff and it can be hard to ween your cat from it. But here’s a trick that works for us, at least a fair portion of the time.

Bijou getting petted before digging in

Eating is (should be) a positive emotional experience so if you can sort of wake up the emotions in your cat at feeding time he may transfer that good feeling to the wet food he is looking at though it was the dry he wanted. Set the bowl in front of your cat, then pet or brush him  – do something you know he likes. My wife gives our Bijou a vigorous petting with the wet food bowl right there and though moments before he was asking for the dry and ignoring the wet, he then digs right in and seems more than content with his meal.We are in the process of eliminating the dry, having learned what we now know but have not completed the process. It is not a good idea to abruptly change your cat’s diet. It needs to be done gradually and this technique of making your cat happy at feeding time really helps.

I tried it myself this evening. I had given Bijou a bowl of wet food about a half hour earlier and he didn’t touch it. He followed me into the kitchen from outside and kept looking up at where the box of dry is and back at me. I planted him in front of his bowl of wet food and gave him a brisk rubdown and sure enough. He is eating the wet as I type. This little technique works.

Bijou after a satisfying meal of wet food