how do i get my cats to like healthy better food?

When i bought evo the chicken&turkey that time they both ate it all, but when i ordered the 13.5 oz from chewy they didn't ate much and treat it like poo. I tried wellness and blue but i can't afford blue cause they don't carry them in 13.5 oz can  . How can i get them to eat their food? I tried tricking them by grinding their friskies food i get about 6 pieces and use this pestle thing. they ate a bit just not alot. I tried halfing purina and their healthy food they did gobble it most of it. I find this frustrating. I wanted to try not to use friskies or purina wet food mix in. How long does this take? they do like blue buffolo dry food but they won't eat it with the wet when i did the same trick.

Try doing it slowly. Give them 90% what they like with just a little new mixed in for a few days. Gradually increase the amount of healthy food. Or try a topper like a tiny sprinkle of parmesean cheese.

I was doing 70 good food to 30 junky type food they ate most of it that way but this is frsutrating i don't want them to develop problems on junk food one of my cat had just recovered from bladder infection

The standard suggestion is to put a little bit with their current wet and then graduually increase it until it's 100% of the new. That didn't work for me. My cat hated Evo, and nothing I did would make her eat it. I have had more success with Nature's Variety Instinct and Hounds & Gatos. However, I did have to mix it with water to make a gravy, and sometimes I used toppers - freeze dried meats, dried shrimp and bonito flakes. It's frustrating that she doesn't seem to like the better canned foods, one of the reasons I switched to raw.

i like to do raw but i'm still researching and i dont' know whre to get the supplements or if there is already mix supplements, I'm still researching as its new i never made raw i like to eventually do it though.

Candie said:

i like to do raw but i'm still researching and i dont' know whre to get the supplements or if there is already mix supplements, I'm still researching as its new i never made raw i like to eventually do it though.

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Have you checked out the links in the raw forum sticky? I'm not as experienced as the other raw feeders and my cats don't get a whole lot of variety, but my cats are WAY healthier on raw than anything else I've done. I can't imagine feeding a cat any other way now!

Candie said:

i like to do raw but i'm still researching and i dont' know whre to get the supplements or if there is already mix supplements, I'm still researching as its new i never made raw i like to eventually do it though.

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Look into Alnutrin if you need a pre-mixed suppplement.

well i'm still researching, i would like to get premix but i rather get it from something official like i ordered before like for example chewy or amazon. I don't know if i'm good at feeding raw this will be new to me i know i need a meat grinder. But i'm clueless when it comes to it even reading i don't know how to do it and afraid to kill my cats in the process =(. I wish there was other ways to get my cat to eat healthy food the one i have right now but whatever is in this healthy stuff its making them turn their nose away.

Have you looked at www.catinfo.org? It has great info on healthy feeding for cats.

I have looked at catinfo just  i find it so confusing still

I like to get premix cause i'm bad at mixing those stuff and afraid i will screw up

and i read some heat it up in the oven just don't know how long i'm worried about bacteria mostly

smitten4kittens said:

Have you looked at www.catinfo.org? It has great info on healthy feeding for cats.

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I use her chicken thighs recipe. I chunk about half of the meat.

I started raw by using premixes first (grinder was on backorder). It can be done! There's also the frankenprey option.

Candie said:

I have looked at catinfo just  i find it so confusing still
I like to get premix cause i'm bad at mixing those stuff and afraid i will screw up
and i read some heat it up in the oven just don't know how long i'm worried about bacteria mostly

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Salmonella dies at a low heat, so it doesn't take long. Most here do not sear it first.

do you know how long to cook it for so it can stay raw? and the preheat temperature, the thing that confuses me is the eggs. I read that it says use yolk raw but cook white slightly so clueless on how slightly I may chop it up and give it to them but does it matter since i have no grinder means i can't give them bones.

Candie said:

do you know how long to cook it for so it can stay raw? and the preheat temperature, the thing that confuses me is the eggs. I read that it says use yolk raw but cook white slightly so clueless on how slightly I may chop it up and give it to them but does it matter since i have no grinder means i can't give them bones.

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I preheat the oven to 550 and sear the thighs for about 5 minutes. Just enough to barely turn the skin a very pale yellow.

I put raw yolks in, but don't bother with the whites. I'm just too lazy.

I get the supplements from www.iherb.com. If you use a premix with a calcium source already in it (alnutrin has one), then all you need to add is the meat.

alnutrin does seem nice just i don't know about this raw diet stuff even if i did some research. I am wondering if fortiflore  i think its called that would help cats eat their food?

Other "Toppers" that work well for my Kitties:

Chicken Breast

Tuna (only occasionally and a small amount - or just the water it is packed in)

Bonito Flakes (Human grade from Asian store)

Brewer's Yeast - Debittered (I use Solgar for humans)

Spirulina (I crush Now tablets, or throw some in the little blender thingie and store it in a small supplement bottle)

Hang in there - they will get used to the good food eventually!  

maybe i'm unpatient lol they have started this about 2-3 weeks ago  i think. I don't want to buy anymore cheapo cans but i don't mind buying cheapo food to sprinkle on top of them. i'll try some of those I know they have one flavor they like it isn't pate but it is expensive for 2 cats now if they come in 13 oz cans that will be perfect but evo is in my budget right now I could try felidae just don't know how great it is compared to evo.

Another pre-mixed supplement option is Wysong Call of the Wild which you can get from chewy.com. It's very easy to use, 1tsp per 3 oz of meat. You don't need a grinder or have to worry about bones or organs. Just chop up some meat of your choice, raw or cooked, sprinkle on the appropriate amount of COTW and serve. You will need a kitchen scale because you need to weigh the meat in order to know how much COTW to use.

thanks i will right that down i may try that later though once i get my hand on a scale don't know how much it can make though but hope that is enough to amke alot for 2 cats a month

Another option for raw if you are not comfortable making your own would be to buy commercial made raw. You could start with that and work up to making your own if you wanted. It is as simple to feed as canned, you just have to make sure to thaw enough for the day the night before. If you wanted you could start a thread in the raw forum forum with any other questions you might have.