Help!! I NEED Hope to eat dry food!! How do I do it?

I have a problem -

3 cats, three different feeding schedules, and Hope is the most complicated and expensive of them all. She is on 100% wet, and soon that is not going to work out, especially if I go back to my industry, which hopefully is going to happen soon, and that will mean traveling - lots of it.
She will need to go on Dry - there is no way that I can leave her behind depending only on wet food. If they are all on dry and wet, they can go on a couple of days without me, and I can have a neighbor check on them once a day to feed some wet food...
But as it is now she eats 3x a day, only wet, making constant travel impossible.
If I go back to do what I was doing, I will travel 50-60% of my time.
So, with that stated.........................

In a few weeks I am going to a convention to Job hunt, and will be away for 4 days. Ideally I would like to have her eating dry food by then.

Problems - It can not be just any food, like junk food - Like I know she does like Nutro, and Purina and such, but Bugsy is Allergic, so that is not happening; I can not have that in the house...

Today I went to the store and replaced a bag of Orijen 6-Fish for a bag of EVO Herring and Salmon Formula - I can tell you this is a HIGHLY palatable food, as Lucky is extremely finicky, and she was all over it as though I was giving her treats - so was Bugsy... Hope on the other hand... Took one, spit it off.

So, what can I do for her to start eating dry food?

Any ideas, suggestions?

Most people have the opposite dilemna!

When I was trying to get mine to upgrade to a better dry food, I went to a petfood health store and got free sample bags of about 6 flavors. I put them all in separate bowls where I feed the dry food to see which ones they liked. Wellness Core won at the time followed by From's Duck. They wouldn't touch California Natural and a couple of others.

You might want to try to get samples like this, lock Hope in her own room and see which ones she'll eat.

Crossing my fingers that she'll change her mind about dry (you won't hear me say that very often).

Don't have any advice for you. I guess that means the job you wanted and went through all those grueling interviews didn't happen.... If so, I am sorry...

And I know you will find something great soon!!

So I'm guessing you need something that at least doesn't have chicken?

Nature's Variety Prairie has this: http://www.naturesvariety.com/prairie_cat_kibble_lamb

or GO!:

http://www.petcurean.com/index.php?page_id=154

Wellness: http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/cat_w...th_salmon.html

ziwipeak: http://www.ziwipeak.com/nzl/cuisinefamily.shtml well, the cat one is on there somewhere.

felidae: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/p...5Fid=300&Page= sorry, I got lazy...there's the Pet food direct link.

Could you have someone check twice a day while you're away, then she can have two meals of wet per day? I'd want twice daily checks anyway, even if on dry just to check on them and give them attention.

I don't have any suggestions on how to get her to eat the dry food...except maybe mixing some dry into her wet so she gets used to the taste and crunch. But, I'm guessing you've tried that.

If your neighbour could come in twice a day that would be great. But I know that's not always easy to get someone to do. My other thought was maybe you can get one of the automatic pet feeders with multiple compartments and ice packs to keep the wet food cool. Your neighbour would have to be willing to wash and refill the compartments for you each day, but she'd only have to come by once to set it up for the day.

I guess my other thought is if maybe you start skipping a wet meal here or there and see if she "resorts" to eating the dry. If she'd do that, your neighbour could even feed a larger amount of wet once per day and then you would know that if Hope is hungry, she'll nibble on the dry as needed.

I don't have any advice on types of food. I know my girls love Medi-Cal Gastro formula, which I feed as treats. It has chicken, but maybe they have an allergy formula that is just as tasty.

Originally Posted by Momofmany

Most people have the opposite dilemna!

When I was trying to get mine to upgrade to a better dry food, I went to a petfood health store and got free sample bags of about 6 flavors. I put them all in separate bowls where I feed the dry food to see which ones they liked. Wellness Core won at the time followed by From's Duck. They wouldn't touch California Natural and a couple of others.

You might want to try to get samples like this, lock Hope in her own room and see which ones she'll eat.

Crossing my fingers that she'll change her mind about dry (you won't hear me say that very often).

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I know, right?? But it goes back to having a food that works for meowmy too. Her feeding habits, not eating dry, would compromise my work situation - and working in my industry is my passion, and it looks like that is what I am going to be doing, and soon (hopefully... hopefully...... I am working hard at it, and FINALLY there is HOPE!!). I can't just not work because of her, and when I travel, I am either a nervous wreck worried, or she will break my bank with a pet sitter. I no longer have the luxury of my neighbor constantly checking on her - she has Alzheimer's, and is too far gone for me to trust...
She is also getting expensive, and I also refuse to give Hope junk wet food just to keep her on wet... I know people have different opinions on this, but I can't feed my babies junk.
So my girl got to meet meowmy 1/2 way here - While I am home I will give her 2 wet meals, and dry food, all excellent.
On the road, I will have a neighbor come once a day to give both of them wet once a day, and fill in their dry...
This way I know if they don't eat their wet they will have their dry food, and they will be fine... It will be cheaper, easier, and won't give me anxiety every time I am on the road, allowing me to concentrate on my job to bring food to those little faces!

Originally Posted by AddieBee

Don't have any advice for you. I guess that means the job you wanted and went through all those grueling interviews didn't happen.... If so, I am sorry...

And I know you will find something great soon!!

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I hope so too... You know, new year, new hope! I am going to Vegas, for a convention on the Industry I used to work at. There is something on the works, and I will also meet with a lot of companies in there. My face will be back in the market again...
I am hopeful... I can only be hopeful! I want to go back to my industry - that is what I loved doing... So this trip is really promising!

Originally Posted by furryfriends50

So I'm guessing you need something that at least doesn't have chicken?

Nature's Variety Prairie has this: http://www.naturesvariety.com/prairie_cat_kibble_lamb

or GO!:

http://www.petcurean.com/index.php?page_id=154

Wellness: http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/cat_w...th_salmon.html

ziwipeak: http://www.ziwipeak.com/nzl/cuisinefamily.shtml well, the cat one is on there somewhere.

felidae: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/p...5Fid=300&Page= sorry, I got lazy...there's the Pet food direct link.

Click to expand...

Thanks Furry - I got that covered.... Been dealing with Bugsy's allergy for a while... Somehow I have to get Hope to eat the food I have at home, instead of looking for something else. Thanks though.

Originally Posted by missymotus

Could you have someone check twice a day while you're away, then she can have two meals of wet per day? I'd want twice daily checks anyway, even if on dry just to check on them and give them attention.

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Not at this time. I can have my neighbor come to check and play with them, but I can not count on her to feed them - for that I will need to have a sitter to come ONCE a day.
I haven't worked in a LONG time, and it will take a while before putting my finances in order...
She can have two wet meals a day while I am here in addition to dry, but I can not have her depending on dry 100% anymore.
Believe me, I know the story with wet, but things need to work for me too, and this is not working for me....
I need all my cats to eat dry and wet; I will feed them all I can of wet while I am in town, but when I travel I need to rely on dry. For their sake and my sake.

Originally Posted by zoeysmom

I don't have any suggestions on how to get her to eat the dry food...except maybe mixing some dry into her wet so she gets used to the taste and crunch. But, I'm guessing you've tried that.

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Skipping meals won't do it - the girl will go hungry
The above method works... Even if I just use the dry food as a topping - as long as the kibbles are slightly dirty, she will eat them, I don't even need to mix it with the food.
How do I move forward though? Has anybody been successful adding dry food this way?

I have never really had luck on adding wet & dry (and our vet recommends against wetting dry food anyway) - if she doesnt like it she may simply skip meals which is not good and you cant tell if the dry is one they will eat by itself when you dont have someone to mix wet in with it

I actually did have luck with the wet-dry mixing. Like with what icklemiss said, it isn't the best for them, but in your case, as was in mine, it was temporary and worked.

First I did what was suggested and got a bunch of small sample bags from a "quality pet food store" (wellness, Oven baked tradition, california natural, science diet, orijens...maybe a couple others) and tried to figure out which the cat would eat at all. We narrowed it down to science diet and orijens.

Then I completely mixed the wet and dry until she would eat that. Then I did as we do when changing any foods and daily would add more and more dry and less and less wet, until as you mentioned you could do, it was just sprinkled on top of the wet.

After about 3 weeks it got to the point where I could put the dry just beside the wet and she would eat both, and finally just the dry.

Worth a shot!!! Best of Luck!!! (if you are just going for a day or two there are automatic feeders that have ice packs to keep the food fresh and will feed up to 5 meals, or alternativly if you have an automatic feeder you can put half a teaspoon of water in with the wet to keep it fresh, but this would only work for, say a weekend)

Originally Posted by missymotus

Could you have someone check twice a day while you're away, then she can have two meals of wet per day? I'd want twice daily checks anyway, even if on dry just to check on them and give them attention.

Click to expand...

Just another thought, a professional cat sitter might be willing to work out a special rate with you since you would be away so much. It might be worth considering.

By the way, you know we're all dying of curiosity, at least I am, what is your industry??? And good luck! Hope things work out for you!!!

Originally Posted by Shanynne

Just another thought, a professional cat sitter might be willing to work out a special rate with you since you would be away so much. It might be worth considering.

By the way, you know we're all dying of curiosity, at least I am, what is your industry??? And good luck! Hope things work out for you!!!

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Thanks for the idea of a bulk quote. I am firm on her eating wet AND dry, though.
My Industry is Professional Beauty - basically the industry that serves the Beauty Salons, Spas and its professionals... So, no retail...
I was/am a Regional (for the US-Midwest and Southwest) or a National Sales Manager, and dealt with the distributors, who in turn dealt with the salons... I essentially managed Sales Reps and Large accounts... That is the reason for all the traveling - meetings and trade shows.
Be curious no more!

So, just an update -
Hope is eating dry and wet food now. Still in transitioning, so being watched closely, suffered from bit with diarrhea (like in any other transition) so she is getting bene-bac. My biggest concern now is to get her used to look for the food when she is hungry. In other words: She eats it, but doesn't realize that that is a meal, that she is supposed to go to that plate and eat from it when she is hungry... So that is what I am getting her to do it now... Training consists of pretty much getting her good habits broken .
My plan is to do Dry and 3oz of wet/day for both her and Bugsy - that would make my life a LOT easier. It looks like by the time of my next trip, she will be just fine!
Thanks for the tips folks! BTW - what worked was to use the dry food as topping, then just add more to the plate as she finished the wet food... She kept eating... or hand feeding right after wards.
Then doing this with less wet food so she would be a bit hungry, and hand feeding her from a plate next to the wet food plate...
Took patience, but she is getting there