transitioning from dry to wet food

I am transitioning my cats from dry not healthy food to wet. I finally got them to eat a decent portion of canned food, and it's the first time I've fed them a not so healthy canned food: Tuna and cheese! I have gone to timed meals and reduced their dry portions. One is more resistant than the other. That was a sample can of Nulo. I haven't been able to just let go and buy canned "junk" food, just to get them on wet food. Would that be the best thing? Get them off their dry food entirely, then slowly work on getting them on more healthy wet food?

I'm not positive which would be the most successful method, but I worry about feeding them fish every single day if it takes a while for them to accept a new flavor. Heavy metal buildup is something you absolutely can't reverse by improving the diet.

This is a detailed guide for transitioning stubborn cats, if it helps: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

Good point, about heavy metal buildup, not being reversible. I have that whole PDF printed out. I know she said she took 3 months to switch her cats. I'll just keep at it. I've been very careful to avoid fish, this is the first time I've ever given them any. Don't know if they had it  before I adopted them, but, can't do anything about that. 

This is a great article about transitioning from kibble. It may take some time, but if you're persistent and creative it IS possible. Congratulations on your progress so far

Be patient, it takes time. Use toppers as much as you can. You might consider switching to a higher quality kibble if your cats become really resistant to wet food and try 1/2 kibble 1/2 wet food until they get happier with the wet food. Also try lots of different brands/textures/flavors. Weruva, tikicat, Nutro natural choice sliced, all good options to entice picky cats. Good luck! 

Thank you! I'm pretty much feeding them half wet half dry, it's getting them to eat the wet at all, they did eat the wet I fed them this AM. I also am working them into a healthier dry food, to use until I can get them completely on wet. They don't seem to like shredded texture that well. I haven't tried a lot of the sliced types. They like pate better, but that is limited. I'll keep at it, I've been buying all kinds, that are reasonably healthy, excluding those that are specifically fish varieties. What have you found works well for toppers?

Walkingrock said:

Thank you! I'm pretty much feeding them half wet half dry, it's getting them to eat the wet at all, they did eat the wet I fed them this AM. I also am working them into a healthier dry food, to use until I can get them completely on wet. They don't seem to like shredded texture that well. I haven't tried a lot of the sliced types. They like pate better, but that is limited. I'll keep at it, I've been buying all kinds, that are reasonably healthy, excluding those that are specifically fish varieties. What have you found works well for toppers?

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Try Merrick pates and nutro natural chunky chicken (it's pate). Most cats like it

bonepicker said:

Try Merrick pates and nutro natural chunky chicken (it's pate). Most cats like it

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These are good suggestions: our cats love Merrick's duck and turkey LID (limited ingredient) pates as well as Nutro Natural Choice (minced chicken, chunky chicken, sliced turkey). They'll also eat Nutro's chunky turkey. Bravo also has a new line of canned foods: some are pates, others are fricassees.

One thing that seemed to help when we took our cats off dry food was to feed it only at night. I gradually reduced the amount and used a small amount as a topper for their last wet food meal of the day. In the end, one happy day, the cats and I forgot about the dry food. It took about a month or so to go from lots of dry food to none. (Our cats were underfed and very hungry when we adopted them but had a definite preference for dry food over wet.)

As for what wet foods to feed while switching them over, it's probably best to do whatever works. Personally, though, I'd try to avoid junkier foods (which I'd probably define as lots of the ones with formed pieces made with meat and wheat gluten, though there are lots of grainfree foods that are pretty high-carb that I'd want to avoid, too) so they don't develop a taste/habit for that. Those foods might be better than a dry food with lots of grains but lots of cats (like ours!) can go from low-quality food to pretty good stuff fast. One food that I think really helped with them was Friskies pates, which they'd been getting at the shelter. I think it made a great transition food.

For our cats, the best toppers are PureBites! They love them and will eat pretty much any leftovers from the refrigerator if I put a little PureBite dust on them. (PureBites are much cheaper in bags labelled for dogs: the treats are bigger but you can just break or crush them.) The cats also love Good Lovin' freeze-dried chicken heart treats; I bought those at Petco. A little bag's not cheap but it doesn't take much to make a dish of cold leftovers smell like feline ambrosia for them.

I do have some PureBites. I'll try the crushing up trick. I'll try those brands you mentioned! Thanks for the info and encouragement! 

You're welcome, @Walkingrock, let us know if the PureBites help!

I tried the PureBites once, but didn't have enough of it really ground to dust. They only ate the large pieces and left the food  , they are however, eating more of the wet food than they have been. Will keep at it. I think I'll need to really dust those PureBites!

One tip I saw (can't remember from who) is to take one Purebite treat in each hand and rub them against each other. The friction reduces them to dust much faster than crumbling them does.

You might find that pulverising a few pieces of kibble makes for an enticing topper. Put some kibble in a plastic baggie, and go to town with a rolling pin (fantastic stress relief too :lol3: ). The resulting dust is perfect for sprinkling onto wet food

That was kinda fun banging it to death with a rolling pin. I put it in a shaker can and put some on their food tonight. Not rush to eat it, we'll see in awhile what's left.

Sometimes it helps to put the dust/debris on top of the food and press it in ever so slightly... Good luck!

They seem to be eating more of the wet than they were! They do like the pate best I believe, and I've been dusting with PureBites dust. I've been decreasing their kibble a little, as they eat more wet. I know it will be a slow process. At least they are now eating some, instead of not touching it! One of my guys is not as fussy, and will eat some of whatever I put down, not all of it if he doesn't really like it. My other guy is the more resistant one. 

Every small victory with this transition is worth celebrating Baby steps are still steps :nod: