Dry to wet transition issues

[Elvisrocks]

Hi,
I've been transitioning my cat from all dry free fed to mostly wet over the past month due to flutd. She seemed to do okay but now when I put out wet food she ignores it unless I bring her dish to her and coax her to eat. I have been trying to feed her in the same spot and about three times a day but even when she does eat it she doesn't neat it all. It ends up being wet food out alot because she doesn't eat it or only eats a little. I wanted to have scheduled meal times for wet and have a small amount of dry out at night. I have been putting a few pieces of dry on top of the wet to coax her to eat. I'm not sure what to do because I feel like my day revolves around getting her to eat the wet food and I can't do that when someone else is watching her. Do I just completely start over? Any ideas of what to try different? I don't want her to go hungry and she needs the extra fluid from the wet to.preven the flutd from flaring up, thats why I'm so consumed with this!!

 

[Babypaws]

Cats are funny, they get in a routine so easy. I have a 16 year old that was on the border line of kidney problems. Vet said to give her RX food but I couldn’t get her to eat it. tried different brands to no success. So I’ve been feeding her Friskies (filets) and fancy feast. She doesn’t eat very much, about tablespoon-tablespoon and half. I was feeding her around 7 am and then at 1, again around 4 and at 7-8 pm. But it seems better if I skip the 1 feeding and wait til 4, she seems to eat better (more hungry) It’s funny because most times for the night feeding she seems to eat it better after I brush her. The feral cat I have on the porch was going thru a time when she wasn’t hardly eating any wet food but I found she likes fancy feast medleys and seems to eat better if I sit with her. I also don’t leave any dry food out for her like I was doing until bedtime.
can you try eliminating one feeding , maybe that might get her more hungry, don’t leave the dry food out during the day. Believe me, I have thrown out a lot of uneaten food. But it’s getting a little better because I don’t leave much dry food out.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Based on my experience with Feeby (16+ yo) who used to be a dry food only eater/grazer - it would seem some of that grazing habit stayed in place when she converted from dry to canned only. She's been off dry for over a year and still treats canned as she did the dry. Eat a bit, walk away, come back later and eat some more, etc. Unless she absolutely loves the canned food flavor, it may take her at least 4 hours to finish a 3oz can. So, I just leave it out for her as it doesn't hurt to leave canned food out for many hours (I usually go for 8 hours before I toss it). But, I do repeatedly add some water or bone broth to it so that it doesn't get dried out. And, sometimes the bone broth will help entice her to finish the food - more so than the water does.

The other thing you might be facing if your girl is anything like Feeby, is that she has to have her canned food scooped back up into a pile after she has eaten some since she flattens out the food in the dish and won't eat it once it is like that. So, I am repeatedly doing that at the times I add water or bone broth in order to get her to eat it. The other dilemma I face, that you might too, is Feeby is not interested in finishing the last bit of food - it is almost as if she feels like she needs to make sure some is left over for later (only she never really goes back for that last bit). I suspect this is because of the way she handled her dry food. I have found no resolution to either of these issues with her.

If you have to bring her the food so she will eat, I would suggest to you that she really isn't crazy about what you are feeding her. So, you may want to continue testing other foods to see if there is something that strikes her fancy more so than what she eats now.

And, if you have to go away, it might just be that you use timed or motion operated feeders - one for each meal and know that whatever she doesn't eat of each meal is going to be tossed out. In this situation, I would be leaving out extra dry so she always has something to eat. Since you would only do this when you are away for a few days, the extra dry shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Babypinkweeb]

Don't worry, it seems many of the behavior issues are quite common for dry free fed -> wet meal times! I started transitioning my 11 year old cat this year and are on month 3. At first I was worried and wanted to rush him but now it's kind of just normal

My boy only eats a tiny bit each time as well, even if he's super hungry. When I started I had to mix a teaspoon of his wet with his kibble (he only knows licking so pate). Slowly I increased the amount of wet added until he was able to eat about 50/50. Then I stopped mixing it as I noticed he likes to lick up all the wet leaving the dry for later, and that's where we are at the moment. I doubt I can ever get him to full wet as even if he often eats the wet first, as he does not recognize the wet as food until I put kibble on it. Because I include dry, I can save some money so I buy the best wet and dry I can afford, plus he has a water fountain so he should be hydrated

 

[neely]

Here is an Article about transitioning from dry to wet food with a lot of good tips and advice that might be helpful for you:
Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food – TheCatSite Articles

 

[daftcat75]

I recommend grocery store brands like Friskies, Fancy Feast, and Sheba to start. Popular brands are popular with cats. They would not take up grocery store shelf space if that were not the case. It could be that she's slow on the uptake because she just isn't as wild about the food you picked out for her as her dry food. I would also ask your vet for FortiFlora to sprinkle on top of any wet food to give it that dry food flavor that many cats prefer.