My cat won't eat wet food after her friend died. How can I help her?

Poor Juju. There is a lot of things that can cause these symptoms like an infection somewhere, an upset tummy, parasites, a foreign body that could be causing an obstruction, and much more. I would start by trying to entice her to eat using some plain boiled chicken. If she has any nasal discharge, you may want to try some benadryl in case there is an allergy component. See link below. Unfortunately, if there is something more serious like an obstruction, there isn't a great home remedy for this. So if she isn't improving in the next few days, I would see if you can find a vet that has a first free exam, allows payment plans, or even has care credit that you may be able to apply to. I hope this helps and she starts to feel better soon. https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/cat/benadryl/#!

Hello and thank you for posting your question on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I am sorry Summer is having some eating difficulties. If it was just a few teeth pulled and he still has teeth left, then he may be able to eat the dry food if it has been a while after his dental procedure. He may not want to eat the dry food out of discomfort if the procedure was very recent. If this is the case you may want to try offering the dry food to him. If he has no teeth left or very very few left and wet food is the only option, you may entice him to eat by warming up the wet food and giving it in small manageable amounts so as not to overwhelm him. Feeding the food in a shallow dish or plate will help him eat a littler easier then if the food was in a bowel. I hope this has helped and I wish you and Summer the absolute best!

I hate to hear this is happening to Isabella. This situation can be both frustrating and scary. Cats can become finicky eaters for several reasons: https://www.petcoach.co/article/my-pet-is-a-finicky-eater/ Unfortunately, it's impossible to know if Isabella is sick and if this is the cause of the finicky eating without a veterinary exam. If she is sick, she may be selective about her foods. Think about when you don't feel well. Most people are more willing to eat a warm bowl of soup than a piece of plain dried toast. Pets can be the same way. If she is sick, there is not likely anything you can do to encourage her to eat other foods without addressing the underlying illness. Just like humans, pets can not feel well for many reasons and this could range from intestinal parasites to cancer. In my opinion, your best option is to have her examined by the veterinarian. I agree that the chicken and chicken franks is not nutritionally balanced but if she will not eat any cat food, you don't have any options other trying a homemade diet, canned cat food, freeze dried cat food or raw cat food. You can't force her eat dry cat food and if you can't try different foods, you really don't have any options unfortunately. I will caution you that feeding a home made diet and raw diet is not generally recommended. The vast majority of homemade diets are found to be unbalanced. Balanced homemade diets can be formulated but you will need the help of a veterinarian.Raw diets can contain harmful bacteria to both people and pets. These require special handling. You would want any raw or freeze dried diets to be formulated to meet AAFCO standards and it will say this on the bag. Cats especially need certain amino acids to maintain heart health. Here is some information regarding homemade diets: https://www.petcoach.co/article/homemade-diets/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/homemade-cat-food-recipes-lack-essential-nutrients-finds-new-stud/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/raw-and-homemade-diets-what-you-need-to-know/ If you want to feed a homemade diet, I recommend to connect with your local veterinary community for information regarding local resources. You are certainly welcome to try different types of kibble to see if you can find anything she will eat that is commercially available. Some cats like the food to be switched every few days. You may end up with a lot of cat food however than she will not eat but you don't know until you try. I hope this helps to provide some guidance. Please feel free to post any additional questions.

I'm sorry Lucy isn't doing well at the moment! I would offer her some boiled white meat chicken (no bones) or some really smelly wet food that has been gently heated such as fish or sardine based. You can also try offering her some boiled ground beef. I hope this helps her eat!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! You can try to feed them a different type of canned food or dry food. It is not unusual for cats to at some point get bored of their diet just needing a change to continue to eat well. You may add canned tuna to the food which may increase her appetite. If no improvement is noted after trying this, I would recommend that you have them examined by a veterinarian to make sure that there is nothing else going on. Good luck and have a great day!

She may have a tooth ache or ulcers or other painful conditions in her mouth. Get some Fancy Feast canned food for her and feed her that until you can take her to a veterinarian (preferably today) for an exam. She is obviously hungry, so there is a chance that eating hurts her or the food is spoiled (sometimes that is not obvious) or the formulation changed significantly.

Cats can be very sensitive to changes in their environment and will often display this behavior during times of stress. Considering that Kylie is nine years old and your pit was 14, it would be a major change (assuming they lived together this whole time) for the dog to suddenly be missing from the environment; not to mention how stressful this must have been to you and your family. This could be causing her a fair amount of anxiety/stress. As a vet, I always worry about a medical condition causing this, so the best thing that you can do is take her for a vet exam to ensure there is nothing else wrong with her. If it happens to be stress that's causing her to act like this, then it will take some time before she gets back to normal - sometimes a couple of weeks, sometimes a couple of months. One thing that may help reduce stress is a Feliway pheramone diffuser (can get this at the pet store). These create calming pheramones in the environment, that may help her relax and start acting more normal again. I'm really sorry to hear about the loss of your dog and hope you and Kylie feel better soon.