Cat has recently been switched to new kidney friendly diet - when I give her the wet sachets she tends to lick the gravy but leave the actual food! Sometimes she'll go back and eat some - other times she leaves it.

Any ideas?!

Mine do that with any wet food I give them. They usually only get dry food, so it's not that often.

So I mash it all up with a potato ricer first.

I don't think its uncommon - we frequently find dishes of bone-dry "meat" after one of ours sucks all the jelly or gravy off, then spits out what remains.

Having recently looked at the ingredients behind even "hi end" cat foods (Iams, etc) I can't really blame her. But neither cat will eat the good stuff (with >50% meat/fish) (they'll happily eat cooked seafood, but that's not a balanced diet!)

A couple of my cats do that as well.

It's a bit like I was when I was a kid.. I'd eat the gravy and leave the brown meat off the chicken

My crf cat is doing the same. He used to do it a certain amount before he was diagnosed but it is now a greater concern as he is losing weight.The kidney failure does make him dehydrated so that might be a factor. I am trying out a variety of kidney foods including the pate type but Fizzbin's potato ricer sounds like a good idea. May be worth keeping an eye on your cat's weight.

Mine both do that if its in gravy. Can only give them food in jelly and even then they still leave some lumps of meat but not as many.

My cat does this gravy-licking so I try roughly mashing the food and then he'll sometimes eat it all. He doesn't seem to like large lumps of food and yet he will not eat the pate-style food. Not keen on jellied food either. He's a real girl's blouse about it . He does have Applaws dry food available which he nibbles at when desperate.

He will sometimes throw his food up afterwards....is this because he's eaten too fast? I have always had dogs before so I'm used to a pet wolfing down food. Any food.

I'd better add that if you use my method, make sure you use a large bowl to collect the mashed up food in because it has a tendency to squirt out the sides.

Once the jelly or gravy has been licked off, about 90% of what's left can be eaten by a vegetarian, so it's not surprising many cats leave the so-called meat. :sleep:

Try mashing the food up well and even mixing in biscuits, it sometimes works for us.

I always try to buy cat food with high actual meat levels and never buy anything that includes cereals, as I know that cats are obligate carnivores (unlike dogs who can eat anything).
This doesn't seem to help with the darn cat's eating preferences
Try, try again I suppose.........

Just to clarify this is Hill KD prescription diet - she's tied into this sort of food now

I am continually topping up my very vocal cat's food - and it drives me mad. When I got him from Cat Rescue - I was told he only ate the most expensive organic food. Hah! After months of trying him on everything (and passing the spares on to my daughter) he finally condescended to accept Felix with jelly.

But all he does is lick off the jelly and leave the meat. His life's occupation when not sleeping is eating - and yowling for top ups. And I am not kidding - he will sit a few feet away from me and complain for hours - or until my nerve gives in.

I sometimes mix in a little dry food, but as I've never seen him drink either - I reckon he needs the jelly for liquid. He is also a fat guy on tiny legs - perhaps not surprisingly.

My beast has decided he's not keen on the pate type today Vet has said that above all they have to eat so if it is a choice between non-diet food and not eating I can mix in a bit of non-diet food, preferably something low in phosphorus.

Do you keep the water dish right next to the food? We moved our cats water dish to the hallway ( food in the kitchen ) and he's been drinking regularly ever since. Apparently lions don't eat near a water source because eating and drinking is two seperate things.

But yes, cats who eat wet food rather than dry require less water generally.