Getting the last one off dry

katachtig

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After Carly continued to gain weight on the dry "diet" food that the vet recommended, I moved to get everyone on to wet food totally. We now have scheduled feedings with Carly and the kittens doing Wellness wet food only. And my Carly girl has lost 5 ounces over the last 2 months
. (I do know about the recall and have monitored which cans they get.)

My hold out is Lucy. I will put down wet first for her, but she will hold out for only the dry. She is hyperthyroid so I don't want her to go without food. It is a real hassle feeding her because she will only eat a little so over a 2 hour period, we put down the food and watch her eat (otherwise everyone else will try to get the food). She has begun eating more in a single session. The good news is that she is losing weight with the scheduled feedings. At 8 years old, she shouldn't have been gaining weight like she was doing. I have tried different brands and the flortifora without success.

Any suggestions?
 

auntie crazy

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If fortiflora doesn't work, you can try tuna juice, Parmesan cheese, fish food flakes, or freeze-dried 100% meat treats (Stella and Chewy's makes several varieties, as does Whole Life) sprinkled over the food.

Good luck!! You've worked so hard, but there's always one hold-out in every clowder. *shakes head*

AC
 

catsallaround

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Just a thought what about a different canned styles(chunks/shredded then mix that with a quality brand of wet(hey low quality wet food is better imo then high end dry so if its half 9 lives half a top brand wet your still ahead imho) maybe she just dont like it. My friend was surprised I got all mine to eat wellness(to expensive for this many cats but did it as a treat) cause she has a few who hate it.

Have you tried soaking kibble to make it a abit mushy then maybe she will get used to mushy kibble and canned would be not to far off.
 
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katachtig

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Well, she is surprising me. She will now go to Carly's dish after Carly has left it and eat a couple of bites. Won't touch it when I give it to her directly.
 

ldg

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Congratulations!!! And especially congrats on Carly!

We've been switching our gang to scheduled feedings of wet, with mixed results. We have Spooky, Chumley, Billy, Shelly, and Ming Loy on all wet, scheduled feedings.

Lazlo seems to have a problem if his tummy's empty for more than two hours, so I feed him some prescription kibble (they were on c/d) "treats" to prevent him from throwing up bile. (And yes, he meows at me during the night when he needs food, and I reach into a baggie I keep under my pillow and put some kibble out for him. I will be sleep deprived for the rest of Lazlo's life).

Flowerbelle and Tuxie have been our hold outs. Tuxie will eat SOME wet food - but not nearly enough. And Flowerbelle.... she just will NOT eat more than a few bites of anything at any given time.
Same with wet food. She loves it and eats it - but only a few licks of it at a time. I have to keep taking the bowl away from her and then putting it back in front of her.


I love the idea of sprinkling Tuxie's food with stuff! I'm scared of Fortiflora, because any time we've tried it the kitties have had insane diarrhea. But I saw freeze dried shrimp at the pet food store yesterday, and he LOVES shrimp. Maybe that'll help transition him. I've been so scared of him losing weight, but eventually I'm going to just have to buckle down and let him go hungry inbetween meals... I can't think of any other way to get him to eat as much as he needs at meal time.

Flowerbelle... I don't think we'll ever switch to scheduled feedings of anything. She's a skinny little thing and seems to barely eat. (She gets nibbles throughout the night when Lazlo does).

For Tuxie (and maybe Flowerbelle?) maybe I do need to try Friskies for a while.... and maybe "sprinkle" some of his kibble on top of it....

What does Lucy do if you put some kibble on/in the wet food?
 
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katachtig

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I've read that it isn't a good idea to moisten dry food as it will get bacterial contamination.

Lucy will put her nose up at kibble on wet food. I tried the Parmesan and again she wouldn't go near it. I will look for some freeze dried treats but again Lucy is so darn picky that she doesn't like treats.
 
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