I am in need of advice concerning the feeding of my cats. I have 3, Sammi, a 18 year neutered male, Callie, a 5 year old spayed female, and Kiki, a 5 month old female. They are all fed twice a day. Kiki, was switch over to Royal Canin kitten food from Purina kitten chow, shortly after she arrived here and I have had no problems. Sammie, because of his age, the vet suggested we go with an all canned food diet mixed with water, he has responded well to this although he still likes to munch on dry food. Callie is the one I am concerned about. She is very overweight, at around 19 lbs. Underlying medical issues have been ruled out concerning her weight gain, and the vet believes the cause is hormonal. Our vet had prescribed the Hills feline m/d for her. However, after a year strictly on that food, Callie has not lost any of her weight. This concerns me greatly. In addition, the Hill's foods causes an unpleasant odor to eminate from Callie. She smells just like the food.
Not a pleasant aroma.
Since I have read so much about the benefits of the premium foods, I thought that perhaps switching Callie to Wellness lite, might be better for her. I have tried to do the switch gradually over the pass 3 weeks, mixing the new food with the old, and decreasing the amount of the old food. Each day though, I found that there was less and less food being eaten. Mind you, that Callie has never shown herself to be persnickity about her food before. Previously, bowls were always emptied between feedings. Now we are offering the new food 100%, and Callie just is not interested in it. It has been 3 days, since she has only been offered the Wellness food, and she has not eaten it. Today, she was scavaging the few bits of the old kibble that evidently had fallen out of her bowl. Made me feel really awful for her. She has also taken to helping herself to any of the food that Sammi does not finish.
Obviously the Wellness is not her cup of tea. So what now? Should I continue mixing the old and new food for a while longer, to see if she will start to eat the new food 100%? or would it be better to switch her back to her original food? I had thought that maybe I should try another brand of food, but worry that trying to switch again so soon would not be helpful either. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.
Since I have read so much about the benefits of the premium foods, I thought that perhaps switching Callie to Wellness lite, might be better for her. I have tried to do the switch gradually over the pass 3 weeks, mixing the new food with the old, and decreasing the amount of the old food. Each day though, I found that there was less and less food being eaten. Mind you, that Callie has never shown herself to be persnickity about her food before. Previously, bowls were always emptied between feedings. Now we are offering the new food 100%, and Callie just is not interested in it. It has been 3 days, since she has only been offered the Wellness food, and she has not eaten it. Today, she was scavaging the few bits of the old kibble that evidently had fallen out of her bowl. Made me feel really awful for her. She has also taken to helping herself to any of the food that Sammi does not finish.
Obviously the Wellness is not her cup of tea. So what now? Should I continue mixing the old and new food for a while longer, to see if she will start to eat the new food 100%? or would it be better to switch her back to her original food? I had thought that maybe I should try another brand of food, but worry that trying to switch again so soon would not be helpful either. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.