Do you feed canned/wet food only?

[proudkittiemom]

well blue, stormie, and bella (when she feels like eatng) eats wet 2 times a day, but dry is always out for them, and the wet food is whiskas but they like variety and change but this has been something they havent gotten sick of yet lol, and meow mix, and fancy feast but i am only feeding them that without wheat glueton to be safe and thats on occasions ahtat they get fancy feast! Tessa eats fancy feast (without wheat glueton of course) and meow mix, so funny because she only likes 2 flavors of course

! Willie eats 1 to 2 times a day and he eats friskies and fancy feast but he pretty much eats everything! Midnight he eats 1-2 times a dday as well and he eats everything lol! Also we have several dry foods left out for each kittie, my 3 have 2 food bowls in my room with dry, and then there is a plate full of dry food downstairs and then in my moms room there is also 2 more small bowls of food and then in my brothers room there is a bowl (midnight, he resides down there {brothers kittie})
Also I dont heat or re use wet food, my kitties want new ones lol

 

[trixie23]

Im noticing my cats are also picky about reheating food! They will tear it up if it is a fresh can and at room temperature, but sometimes when I microwave it for a couple of seconds they dont want to touch it! In situations where it has been heated and they dont want to touch it, they will wait about 15 minutes and then consume some! Sometimes they are ok with my heating it and sometimes not! Picky buggers but understandable! They are on Felidae Chicken and Rice right now!

 

[auntie crazy]

For several weeks, my kittens have been eating a rotation of Merrick and Natural Balance non-fish flavors and Solid Gold's mixed meat flavor for wet food. I split one 5.5 oz can between the three in the morning and another as soon as I get home at night. Then, before I go to bed, I give them about 12 oz of a 50/50 mix of Evo/Raw Instinct kibbles. And I, too, leave the wet food out (though I wince every time I do it and probably won't come the summer heat).

Allen, Rachel and Meghan look so incredibly good and have so much energy that I am awfully reluctant to change this diet by removing the NB flavors. In fact, despite their sly revision of the affected product ingredient lists on the website, I am going to continue feeding the cans I've already purchased. The NB rep told me they tested all their products, not just the suspected ones, so I've decided (though not without some qualms) to trust the remaining foods.

The only change I'm making at this time is adding a few grain-free wet brands (so far Evo and one of Evangers) into the rotation. It's funny, but the more foods I offer them, the more likely they are to eat everything. The Solid Gold was the first flavor they completely finished, but they stopped eating it altogether after I fed it to them three times in a row. Now that I'm feeding over ten different flavors, they eat everything, including the SG. Silly kitties!

 

[jennyjen]

I'm SO relieved to know that I'm not the only one who leaves wet food out for a long period of time.

Well, quick change of plans. I've actually decided to wait a little while to cut out the dry food completely. I was able to last one whole day, lol. I just feel like she has too much going on right now, and I think it would be better to wait until she gets some other issues straightened out. I know her teeth are bothering her, and she's having more frequent difficulty pooping. Plus, I need to start giving her lactulose 3 times a day instead of 2, and I have to give it to her manually to make sure she gets ALL of it.

She's being even MORE finicky about what she eats (I'm amazed that it's even possible), so right now I'm trying to just make sure she eats, period. I know that in the long run, she'd probably be better with wet food only and that it would more than likely help her constipation issues, but she is so stressed out at the moment that trying to phase out dry will probably stress her out even more since she's used to having it readily available. She's scheduled for dental work on the 30th, and she'll be on antibiotics prior to the procedure and pain meds after since they're going to be pulling at least one tooth.

Hopefully she'll be happier once her teeth feel better, and then we can start working on the dietary changes. For some reason I feel like I sound like I'm making excuses, but I really just don't want to overwhelm her with all the stress she's under. What's best for her in the long run might not be what's best for her right now, as right now is already hard enough for her

Honestly, her issues are even stressing ME out so bad that if someone came along and tried to change MY diet, I'd probably beat them severely!

I'm still going to try to get her to eat wet food more often, but I'm going to keep giving her dry food as well for now.

Everyone gave me some great ideas, and I'm really happy I got so many replies!

I've got some new things to try, and maybe we'll have more success once she's feeling better.

Please send good vibes Bailey's way for her dental on the 30th (and also for her chronic poop issues).

Thanks everyone!

 

[catitudes]

Originally Posted by JennyJen

So my questions for those who feed canned food only or mostly canned are:

How many times a day do you feed your cat(s)?

7:00 - 7:30 AM 4 level tablespoons canned
1:00-1:30 PM 4 level tablespoons canned
6:00-6:30 PM 4 level tablespoons canned
11:00 PM 1.5 tablespoon dry food

That's 4 times a day total.

Originally Posted by JennyJen

How long should I leave the canned food out?

The food has disappearred from the plate before I can clean the tablespoon and butter knife I use to measure it out.

Originally Posted by JennyJen

Do you attempt to feed grain-free canned food?

I use low to lower-carb foods, but only because the calories are so high in the grain free foods.

Originally Posted by JennyJen

What are your canned foods of choice?

I had been feeding California Natural Deep Water Fish, California Natural Chicken & Brown Rice, along with Merrick Surf & Turf. I felt the fish content was too high, so I am presently switching the rotation to Natural Balance Venison & Green Pea, Authority Lite, Nutro Maxcat Gourmet Classics Chicken & Oceanfish Lite, along with Petgold Lite Turkey Forumula.

Originally Posted by JennyJen

Am I doing a good thing by switching her to canned food?

I switched my kitty to canned because of his weight issue. It worked, even though he had eaten nothing but dry for the 5 years since he took me on as his slave. My kitty is not a picky eater though and gladly eats his canned meals after 7 seconds in the microwave.