Said It Here

Cheap wet cat food for cats that won't drink water

Finding a low-cost wet food is essential for cats that refuse to drink water and rely entirely on food for hydration. The main challenge is finding budget-friendly options that do not compromise on quality or suffer from inconsistent batches between cans.

Overview
People affected2 accounts across 1 forum
Workarounds found3 items attempted
Community agreement4 total upvotes

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

Found another way around this?

Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.

  1. 1
    Feeding budget-friendly brands like Friskies, Fancy Feast, Kirkland, or Whole Foods cat food
    Did this help you?
  2. 2
    Adding a splash of warm water to the food to increase liquid intake
    Did this help you?
  3. 3
    Trying different types of water fountains
    Did this help you?

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/cats2 people · September 2026

“This cat also refuses to drink water (even in a fountain) so he has to eat wet food for hydration.”source ↗

“Wondering if anyone has any recommendations that might fit this budget without compromising too much on quality?”source ↗

cowboys_love_to_69 · r/cats · 3 upvotes

“I bought Daves because it fit the restrictive needs of my cat, and while it’s mostly fine, the quality is incredibly inconsistent from case to case and even from can to can within a single case.”source ↗

bonsaiaphrodite · r/cats · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised