How to get my cat used to mostly dry food?

[danteshuman]

So this is month 4 of me not being able to easily get my cat’s preferred tuna wet food. I’m done. (He wants fancy feast tuna medleys.) Since our world is crazy & not showing signs of getting better I would like to get my cat down from 4 mini wet food meals (1/2 a can) a day to 2 in the next month. Then barring some miracle and his wet food being easy to get I would like to get him down to one meal a day (without digestive issues.)

I know wet food is better and all but I can’t afford to keep buying lots of different brands hoping he will eat something! (I’m on SSI.) At least with dry food I can buy in bulk & know that it is readily accessible.

So can I skip 2 meals a day or should I start real I start real slow with him just missing 1 meal s day? In the past when he pigged out on dry food he got the runs.

 

[strider rose]

slowly take away the wet food so that he will get used to not having it as much ?

 

[Jcatbird]

I would transition slowly to avoid the runs. You know, some pet food companies will send coupons or samples so you can try the other foods out without wasting so much money. Not all companies do it but if you call, text or email you may find some help. (I found that calling worked best, purrsonal touch)! When I was feeding a huge number of ferals a company actually helped with a bunch of coupons. Some for free cans and some for great discounts. They also gave me some for litter and dry when I was socializing the cats for adoption. Some big supply companies have a return policy too.

 

[Telstar]

Dry food is not readily accessible as it was 3 years ago, but at least is cheaper. Do not stock it or buy huge bags because from one day to the next the picky cat may refuse to eat it. I rotate (flavour AND brand) every 2 months. That and 1-2 cans of wet food daily should be ok in the long term.

 

[danteshuman]

He is being so picky he is weaning himself off wet food! it is getting him used to less meals that is tricky. I would prefer he eats mainly wet but with shipping/supply issues I just can’t get the food he wants. I guess I could start feeding him Sheba at every meal & let him wean himself.

He eats Blue Buffalo Wilderness Salmon becuase that is what Nana feeds her cats. It makes his weekend visits easier on his tummy (& I feed her cats more wet when Jackie visits.) Her house is his second home & he likes all the other cats ......, not so much her dogs. I may try going 1/2 other Wilderness flavor and 1/2 Salmon dry food to give him dry food variety Some days he is now eating 1/2 cup dry over his usual 1/16-1/4 cup dry per day.

The good thing about him visiting Nana’s house is he gets to see his brother & if anything happens to (like I’m hospitalized again) he can stay at my mom’s house & be completely fine. So I would prefer he is used to her cat’s dry food to make it easier on his tummy.

 

[cataholic07]

Try different wet food and preferably not only fish. Though cats love fish it can increase the risk of UTIs in some cats. Some cats prefer different textures as well so you can try pate, chunks or shredded. You can try different proteins like rabbit, pork, or venison to see if your cat will like it. Stock up on the ones he likes. I find heating up the food in the microwave for 10 seconds helps my cats to eat, I also add some filtered water to their wet food to make it less thick. Jethro gets purebites salmon and forti flora on his food to get him to eat it. Food toppers are a great way to get cats to eat their food. I would also not recommend going down to 2 meals, no less than 3 meals. The more times fed the healthier it is for cats as it's easier on their tummies. Cats aren't designed to eat large meals like dogs are, they have short digestion tract.

 

[danteshuman]

He is free fed a small amount of dry and has been getting 4 small meals a day. I have tried venison (no), bunny (not really) etc. He hates pate. He will eat turkey gravy lovers or turkey medleys, nibbles on some chicken medleys, eats some fancy feast beef gravy lovers & sometimes likes fancy feast petites beef. However no matter how I push it he really only wants non tuna meals about 1/5 th of the time .... I have been pushing it 2/5ths or 3/5ths of time because of the tuna shortage. Which is why I’m thinking about giving up on the wet food and transitioning him to 1-2 wet food meals a day.

 

[FeebysOwner]

If you must go the route you appear to be headed, perhaps at least see if you can get him to learn to eat the dry food with some water added to it. Maybe you can get 'Nana' to try the same with her cats, since you seem to want to do whatever she does.

I know it is a lot more effort to do anything other than dry, and only set food out when it needs refilled, but that less effort on your part is a lot more effort on the part of the cats' organs, particularly their kidneys. 'Nana' might benefit from knowing that too.

Sorry, don't mean to sound harsh, and I understand the constant visits makes feeding tough. Just trying to find some sort of happy medium for both you, Nana, and the cats!

 

[cataholic07]

He is free fed a small amount of dry and has been getting 4 small meals a day. I have tried venison (no), bunny (not really) etc. He hates pate. He will eat turkey gravy lovers or turkey medleys, nibbles on some chicken medleys, eats some fancy feast beef gravy lovers & sometimes likes fancy feast petites beef. However no matter how I push it he really only wants non tuna meals about 1/5 th of the time .... I have been pushing it 2/5ths or 3/5ths of time because of the tuna shortage. Which is why I’m thinking about giving up on the wet food and transitioning him to 1-2 wet food meals a day.

If he's free-fed the dry he won't want to eat wet food as much. Can you instead give dry food as one of the meals? Is that possible? Or just an even smaller amount of dry left out? Then he might be willing to eat the wet food more. Hmm if he likes gravies have you tried weruva stews, or bff OMG? Rawz, weruva, tika cat has shredded ones that he might like to. My cats are dealing with some health issues (CKD and the other two possible food allergies) so I completely get the stress of finding foods your cat will eat. Jethro has ckd and it was sooo hard to find any food he would eat. We had to settle with adding food toppers to his wet food to get him to eat. Forta flora is the best food topper ever lol. Most cats love it and its a probiotic so it's actually good for them. Something you could try perhaps?

 

[Cat herine]

I don't know if this is feasible, just throwing out ideas I've used - can you very slightly moisten the dry then mix it with whatever wet you're now using? In other words, if you're cutting down on the wet, perhaps mix some of it with dry?
Another option that a few of mine like is mixing dry with chicken broth. Some dig right in, others wait until it's dried out LOL.

You're so right about crazy world now. I was just saying to someone today that you and I can adjust... No meat in the grocery store, or I can't afford it? Then we'll have to adjust (other protein sources, etc)
But our pets...