Advice on switching from dry food to canned?

mamacat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
1,355
Purraise
3
Location
The beautiful borough of Queens, NYC, NY
Nedicks has just been diagnosed with bladder stones and my vet has advised that by the age of 10 both of our cats should be on a diet of at least 50% canned food (they are both 6 years old now). Right now both get canned food for breakfast, and we free feed kibble (though not in massive quantities) the rest of the day. Unfortunately, I can't get Nedicks to eat more than half a tablespoon of canned in the morning. She likes to graze and so she takes a few bites and walks away, expecting to be able to come back and get more later. The problem is, the second she walks away, Nathan, who inhales his breakfast in about 12 seconds, is at her bowl eating up what she has left.

I have tried picking up the bowl as soon as she walks away and giving it back to her periodicially during the day, but this is really not practical, as I am not always home with her all day, and it really doesn't work that well anyway, since she basically eats one bite at a time. I'm concerned about taking the kibble away altogether, because she'll barely get anything to eat at all then, since Nathan is so aggressive. It doesn't work to put Nathan in another room while I feed her, because she is such a little mother bear, she gets all stressed out about her brother being locked up and just stands there pawing at the door of the room he's in. It also doesn't help to put HER in a closed room during feeding, because she gets freaked out by the confinement and won't eat.
I realize we sort of created this issue with the free feeding, but now that I'm in this pickle, I don't know how to get out of it. Can anyone offer any suggestions? I'm at the end of my rope!
 

plebayo

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Sep 24, 2005
Messages
1,089
Purraise
4
Location
Oregon
Firstly, what kind of canned food are you feeding? Maybe it isn't yummy enough for her.

Secondly, let Nathan eat the rest of the food. I'm sure in a couple of days she'll figure out the dry food is gone and that if she doesn't eat it Nathan will. It IS a big change going from being free fed to have determined feeding times, but she'll figure it out eventually that when it's feeding time, it's time to eat. It also helps if you have a really nice canned food your pets like.
 

mimosa

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Sep 26, 2005
Messages
608
Purraise
37
Location
The Netherlands
Maybe you should try to get her used to a coulpe a day kibble feeding ? No more free feeding ?

If Nedicks is the smaller cat you could use a feeding crate, some kind of container with a hole only big enough for her to pass through, so she is the only one who can get at the food that is in there. Then you can leave it out for her without Nathan eating it.
 
Top