Background: My three cats have been on a diet of scheduled dry feedings of Simply Nourish (Petsmart brand) since November 2012. Before that, for three or four months they had been on an all-canned diet of low-end brands like Friskies since I couldn't afford the nice stuff anymore. This caused a "dark" period, as I like to call it, of extreme food aggression and behavior issues. The stress of their behavior was too much for me and for my relationship with them, so even though I am pro-wet/pro-raw I switched them to scheduled dry for sanity purposes.
Plan: Weight gain has been a moderate factor since the switch to dry - there has been weight gain but not EXTREME or unsafe gain. Everyone gained about a pound, and only Garfunkel actually needed to (he looks so athletic now, instead of skinny-skinny!). With that in mind, and with funds being more plentiful than they have been previously, I plan to switch to a wet/dry mix with the dry portion being grain-free. To keep the transition simple, I bought grain-free Simply Nourish and started mixing roughly 50/50 and have been doing that about a week.
Question: Thus far no barfing or diarrhea issues, but I noticed that starting with the very first meal they are not as "into" their food as they used to be. I assumed this was because they noticed a difference they weren't used to and were being stubborn and waiting to see if I would give them regular food, and then when I ignored them and went to bed, they would eat overnight. However, it's been a week of mixing now and they are still doing it. They'll eat for a few minutes after I put it down, then walk back into the main room and take baths. When I wake up or get home from work, the food will be gone. Are they still being picky/stubborn, thinking I will give them 100% of the regular kind again? Is the grain-free somehow causing them to become satisfied quicker and not scarf their food immediately? Or did I happen to change their food at the exact moment they decided, for unrelated reasons, to become grazers? LOL!
They did all turn two recently, so technically they are now into "maturity" which may factor into reduced appetite somehow, I suppose. Still, it seems too weird that it would happen with the very first meal of a new food. I'm enjoying the lack of screaming the minute my feet hit the floor (no matter time of day), so I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong!!!! Even so... it's just absurd to see food left in a dish around these parts. Any thoughts?
Plan: Weight gain has been a moderate factor since the switch to dry - there has been weight gain but not EXTREME or unsafe gain. Everyone gained about a pound, and only Garfunkel actually needed to (he looks so athletic now, instead of skinny-skinny!). With that in mind, and with funds being more plentiful than they have been previously, I plan to switch to a wet/dry mix with the dry portion being grain-free. To keep the transition simple, I bought grain-free Simply Nourish and started mixing roughly 50/50 and have been doing that about a week.
Question: Thus far no barfing or diarrhea issues, but I noticed that starting with the very first meal they are not as "into" their food as they used to be. I assumed this was because they noticed a difference they weren't used to and were being stubborn and waiting to see if I would give them regular food, and then when I ignored them and went to bed, they would eat overnight. However, it's been a week of mixing now and they are still doing it. They'll eat for a few minutes after I put it down, then walk back into the main room and take baths. When I wake up or get home from work, the food will be gone. Are they still being picky/stubborn, thinking I will give them 100% of the regular kind again? Is the grain-free somehow causing them to become satisfied quicker and not scarf their food immediately? Or did I happen to change their food at the exact moment they decided, for unrelated reasons, to become grazers? LOL!
They did all turn two recently, so technically they are now into "maturity" which may factor into reduced appetite somehow, I suppose. Still, it seems too weird that it would happen with the very first meal of a new food. I'm enjoying the lack of screaming the minute my feet hit the floor (no matter time of day), so I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong!!!! Even so... it's just absurd to see food left in a dish around these parts. Any thoughts?
