My 14 year old cat mostly only likes wet food, and she only really likes to lick the sauce. She doesn’t have any tooth pain, so that’s not it. I’ve been told by some other cat owners that their older cats mostly only like to lick, too.
Is there a cat food that is mostly sauce?
Could you puree some (maybe add some liquid, too) and see if she eats more of it?
Baby food? My cats are dry food girls, but I ran out at a point and dug up a can from a cupboard. They licked it only, and I had to throw the remainder away, about half the can. One of mine is 17, the other about 5.
I’ve tried pureeing some canned food and adding a bit more water, and she licks some of it, but then starts meowing for something else.
H found some Friskies “Saucesations” which has more sauce, and she licks up all the sauce, leaving the food part. She can’t be getting enough real food or calories from the sauce…so she wants another can.
When I was in the cat food aisle another lady told me she has the same issue with her older cat.
I have tried baby food, but she’s not interested.
Our cat had very little appetite in her older years (she made it to almost 22 but we spent probably the last 7 or 8 years trying to get her to eat enough). Her vet advised us to make sure the majority of her diet was cat food because of necessary nutrients. So baby food is not really the best answer. We couldn’t find any true cat food that was mostly sauce; all that we found like that were treats without all the nutrients and specifically stating it was not intended as the sole diet.
Some ideas in addition to pureeing the food - warm it to create a more enticing odor. Put the food dish on a raised level so she doesn’t have to bend her head down to the floor; maybe she’s having some mobility issues and is finding it hard to get her mouth down to the food but her tongue reaches. Cuddle her and feed her small amounts by hand.
I assume your girl has been checked by her doctor for mouth or gum issues other than dental.
Dog person here, but I have a senior that is finicky and I worry about her getting proper nutrition.
Have you tried The Honest Kitchen Bone Broth?
When I saw the title of this thread, I thought “lick the sauce” was a secret code for some deviant behavior.
My 14 y/o cat does the same. But eventually, she gets hungry enough and finishes it.
OMG, I feel your pain. My feral kitty isn’t old but adopted us when he was about 6 months old. He’s about 4 now. Right from the get go he would only lick the sauce and wasn’t getting enough to eat. My vet is pro-canned, anti-dry and insisted we find something he would eat. I tried everything! The expensive cat foods, baby food, making my own cat food from chicken and then from tuna. Nothing worked. I found Delectable Delights at the store, its a bisque in a pouch. $1.10/very small pouch. Cat loves it. Eats 2/day, yup that’s $2.20/day plus treats plus dry food, he’s an expensive adoptee. Biggest problem is that the store continuously runs out, I sometimes have to go to 2 or 3 stores to find it. Walmart carries it but we don’t have one close by. Puritans Pride has become my go-to online and I now order a month at a time. PIA but we love him.
^^^Try Amazon.
Yes to Amazon or Chewy.
Have you tried any of the broth foods mixed with regular cat food? They might have sauce-like texture:
https://www.chewy.com/s?query=broth+cat+food&nav-submit-button=
I found Weruva has a lot of choices that have sauce. It was the only food i could get my kitty to eat when he had cancer.
This was a huge problem for my 14 yo Siamese. He stopped eating so we tried soft food. He would only lick.
I tried mixing water, broth, purée. No sauce, no eat. We tried appetite stimulants. Nothing. It was his time, even though he was only 14.
Is kitty losing weight? You could try an appetite stimulant with the saucy Weruva. Some of the fancy feasts have a lot of sauce.
Mine eats canned cat food mixed with hot water to make it the consistency of a thick milkshake.
@VeryHappy : “When I saw the title of this thread, I thought “lick the sauce” was a secret code for some deviant behavior.”
You and I both. Using my still-in-place '60s lingo, I thought “older cats who lick the sauce” was entirely a racy entry.
Cat isn’t losing weight, but she’s not very active, either. Just walks around a bit each day, but mostly sits at the window and looks out at birds.
I’ve never seen that Fancy Feast broths! I will look for that!
Oh those darn cats. I had one that only ate Costco brand dry kibble. Not tempted by any other foods, so when she got ill, feeding her was a huge issue. The current cats will eat the can the food came out of if I let them! 
Two dumpster kitties and a cat hoarder kitty.
I have a food hoarder too. She hides kibble everywhere too. We call them Armageddon crunchies, just in case…
Fancy Feast broths are one of the products that don’t contain essential nutrients. In particular cats need taurine in their daily diet. Fancy Feast’s web site says: