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[Elvira 21]

My new rescue young cat wont eat anything solid apart from biscuits she just likes to lick all the gravy..shes super fussy driving me crazy and costing me a fortune and its the waste that bugs coz i buy those felix soup sachets and have to squeeze the gravy out and throw all the e.g tuna away! Grrrr lol she has underlying health issues ive noticed and i dont yet have pet insurance coz the ones that offer full cover coz of this are so expensive..does anyone know whos best please? And also..lol..when i buy those lick e licks which is perfect for her she adores them but i give her 3 or 4 a day is that not healthy..im out of my depth here with her if im honest finding it hard not enjoying it..shes very needy. . Thanks guys

[Mollycat]

Hi and welcome to Cat Chat.

Just ... relax. Millions of cats around the world only ever lick the jelly or gravy and eat little if any of the meat. It may well mean they are not quite getting the perfect balanced nutrition, but many are living healthy lives into a good old age. More millions only ever have dry food, no wet food offered. Despite the scare stories you might have read about dry, it meets regulation standards and despite what fans of raw will tell you, dry food is not killing your cat.

Firstly, relax, but please quit giving her 3 or 4 Lick-e-lix every day, those are treats not food and unless a cat is critically ill or in palliative care feeding that amount instead of food is likely to cause serious deficiencies and health problems. No more than one per day!

Secondly, relax, if she eats dry food and licks the gravy off 2 pouches a day, is not losing weight or constantly hungry, she is probably getting enough calories and doesn't need to be encouraged, and hey Lick-e-lix a packet a day ends up expensive!

Thirdly, relax, I mean literally relax. Your stress will be causing her stress and damaging your relationship with her. No wonder you aren't finding this enjoyable.

What health issues have you noticed? Presumably you have not been to see a vet to discuss your concerns yet but what have you self-diagnosed?

Insurance is not essential. In the short term it can really help if you get a big bill and have no savings, but in the long term insurance companies win and pet owners lose. Insurance works on paying out one half of all premiums collected, so an average person will claim back £50 for every £100 they pay in premiums over the animal's lifetime. Exclusions mean you can pay premiums the cat's whole life only to find when something happens they have a get-out clause. Think carefully before paying for insurance. Think how much you have paid in car insurance over the years, and how much you have had back in claims, and apply the same idea to your pets, only car insurance is a legal requirement but pet insurance is a personal choice.

[Kay]

my 13 year old Penny, who I took in April 2019, has only ever eaten dry food, and just lately will only eat one flavour of one variety of that - she has a Felix soup each evening, and like your cat leaves most of the 'bits', especially of the tuna

and she is the healthiest 13 year old cat I have ever had, and I've had a fair few in my time

so measure out a high quality grain-free good quality dry food each day, and put out fresh water and one soup daily too, and leave it at that

[Joe_Danger]

Some cats like dry food more, some a mix of both, some swear by wet food.
Molly and Kay's posts are spot on, so please don't worry too much about it.
Sometimes a cat changes their preference. Cut down on the treats and just give her dry food.
She which type of dry food she likes, even if it's not the highest quality if she likes it and refuses other more expensive foods it's still cat food and it's still better than treats/table scraps.

I don't know how old your cat is or what underlying health problems she has.
Your post is very confusing and clearly written in a state of stress which I FULLY understand and can relate to, it's exceptionally stressful when our pets aren't doing well, however do try feeding her kitten dry food if she won't take other types of dry food, once she's had a good week or two of eating normally you can start introducing adult cat food SLOWLY.

Now I'm sure the topic of grazing/free feeding vs scheduled feeding confuses you greatly, for example Jackson Galaxy whom I agree with on most things usually is against dry food and free feeding of said dry food, but I personally have always done free feeding with my cats and given them wet food once a day and that has worked great for me. Even my most hyper cat, Spaska knows to sleep through the night, but, that's really up to the cats, some cats overeat and throw up, some know to regulate their food intake. You're going to learn what works and what doesn't with yours as you go.

As for raw, I personally have never tried it, I'm not into cooking myself and many people have not yet their cats have been fine, so don't beat yourself up if you can't do it.
One of my childhood cats, Saw Boss did have a "raw" diet among other things, he was blind due to an injury and my grandpa would hunt birds for him especially in winter, he was a happy and healthy cat until he got out of my grandparents front yard and some literal pyschos killed him.

So yeah we've seen all sorts of habits and ways of feeding cats over the years
first address the health issues, see what they are, give us a good idea of what's going on if you're able so users here can maybe figure out if she refuses food due to the health issues or if it's just her being a picky eater.

If she eats dry food tho, you're good, don't stress over it
Dry food and cat food gravy is perfectly fine
Don't throw away what she doesn't eat, give it to stray cats or something if you have any in your area so that way it won't be a waste of money.