I am wondering if it could be possible to “train” my cat to eat all of her wet food at once, and not to just pick and nibble at it until it is too gross to eat.
Background Information:
Her name is Shadow and she is ~3 years old, 10.2lbs. I have had her since November 2016. She was originally eating Friskie's pate and Kirkland brand dry food, 4 small meals a day (2 of each). She never really finished her wet food and seemed to like the dry more.
I recently moved her to Wellness brand grain-free wet (Chicken and Turkey) and will be moving her to a better grain-free dry food soon. I also halved her dry food portion so she would fill up less on 'junk' and eat more of her wet food. In total she gets about 3.5oz of wet a day, and 1/8 cup dry in the afternoon via automatic feeder when I am at work.
The Issue:
I don't think this could possibly be enough food to satisfy her, but I cannot get her to eat any more? When I put down her wet dinner at 6-7pm, I wave it in front of her a bit, put it down, and she just goes "meh" and continues lounging. Sometimes I pick her up from wherever she is laying and set her in front of her plate saying "look! smell it! eat!" and she just nibbles, nibbles, nibbles... NOT a food motivated kitty.
I have heard of people setting the food down for ~30 minutes, and then taking it away, but I don't know if I could/should do this? I don't know if she will learn to eat all at once or if it would just be cruel to try?
Other mitigating circumstances:
She has just lost a little bit of weight in the months that I have had her... maybe a third of a pound? But I think she is still in a good weight range. She also struggles with anal gland issues and constipation, so getting her to eat more wet food is imperative for me.
Thanks for any advice
Background Information:
Her name is Shadow and she is ~3 years old, 10.2lbs. I have had her since November 2016. She was originally eating Friskie's pate and Kirkland brand dry food, 4 small meals a day (2 of each). She never really finished her wet food and seemed to like the dry more.
I recently moved her to Wellness brand grain-free wet (Chicken and Turkey) and will be moving her to a better grain-free dry food soon. I also halved her dry food portion so she would fill up less on 'junk' and eat more of her wet food. In total she gets about 3.5oz of wet a day, and 1/8 cup dry in the afternoon via automatic feeder when I am at work.
The Issue:
I don't think this could possibly be enough food to satisfy her, but I cannot get her to eat any more? When I put down her wet dinner at 6-7pm, I wave it in front of her a bit, put it down, and she just goes "meh" and continues lounging. Sometimes I pick her up from wherever she is laying and set her in front of her plate saying "look! smell it! eat!" and she just nibbles, nibbles, nibbles... NOT a food motivated kitty.
I have heard of people setting the food down for ~30 minutes, and then taking it away, but I don't know if I could/should do this? I don't know if she will learn to eat all at once or if it would just be cruel to try?
Other mitigating circumstances:
She has just lost a little bit of weight in the months that I have had her... maybe a third of a pound? But I think she is still in a good weight range. She also struggles with anal gland issues and constipation, so getting her to eat more wet food is imperative for me.
Thanks for any advice