Feeding 8 mo old, wet/dry, quantity

[fusion]

We adopted Emma almost a week ago. She's about 8 months old and weighs about 7.6 lbs.

She does not eat very much and what she does eat is almost all dry.

I've fed her the dry they gave us and Evo - she eats both. For wet, I tried the Triumph they gave us, Evo 95% and Wellness. She nibbles on dry throughout the day, eating about 1/4 or 1/2 a cup total. She tries wet when I put it out, but only licks off a bit and then no more. She drinks water.

Her behavior seems perfectly normal. After a day or two of excreting a very small amount of loose stool, she's producing more normal looking stool.

She sneezes every few hours. I'm guessing it's a normal adoption center cold (even though she was only in the adoption center a week or two). We have a vet appointment scheduled for next week.

1) Any suggestions for getting her to eat more?

2) Any suggestions for getting her to eat wet? I'm hesitant to take away the dry, for fear she will eat even less

3) I plan to go today to get a variety of flavors and brands. Should I stick to good stuff? I'm concerned that if I feed her Fancy Feast she won't eat other wet (on the other hand, even Fancy Feast is better than dry).

4) Am I worrying too much given the short amount of time we have her?

[fusion]

eating about 1/4 or 1/2 a cup total

That should be "about 1/4 cup total"

[Tylt33]

I would try a variety of wet foods, keeping in mind that "good" brands are preferable most of the time, but at the end of the day, you want her to be eating something. Have you tried mixing her wet food with dry or heating up her canned food? And yes, you have only had her for a short amount of time. It doesn't sound like she is emaciated. Her stool should firm up as she transitions to getting used to wet food.

[fusion]

I tried warming her canned food, which didn't help. I'll try mixing wet and dry and see what that does.

We'll see how she likes other flavors and brands. If I run through good stuff without success, I suppose it's time for Fancy Feast and the like.

[MowMow]

Be sure not to leave the wet and dry mixed together out for any length of time. Dry cat food is not meant to get wet and it spoils VERY quickly.

You said she licks at the wet? Try adding enough water to make it into a thick pancake batter consistency. That will allow her to lap it up instead of biting chunks out of it. Both of mine prefer their wet that way.

[fusion]

Originally Posted by MowMow

Be sure not to leave the wet and dry mixed together out for any length of time. Dry cat food is not meant to get wet and it spoils VERY quickly.

That's good to know. About how long would you leave it out?

She did seem to find the mixture appealing, but I couldn't really tell how much she ate.

Originally Posted by MowMow

You said she licks at the wet? Try adding enough water to make it into a thick pancake batter consistency. That will allow her to lap it up instead of biting chunks out of it. Both of mine prefer their wet that way.

She eats some when I first put it out, then no more. After it's been out a bit and starts to dry, I usually add water and mix well, but that doesn't induce her to eat more.

She did eat some wet plus dry when I put it out about an hour ago, then ignored it.

I'll try mixing in more water when I next put out some wet.