Switching to all wet- Need advice on keeping kitties weight low

[msbedelia]

I'm very disappointed that my kitties didn't seem to want Tiki for their (new) afternoon snack. I will try to feed again at dinner to see if they will finish some of the can I just opened. If not ill be sticking to instinct as their main diet, but boy is it expensive at 2.99 a can.

Hope things are going well for you!

I opened a can of Tiki Cat for the first time last night, somewhat warily because your cats didn't like it and my cats are also still adjusting to a primarily wet food diet. (They still get a little dry during clicker training or occasionally in a puzzle-feeder.) Both of them attacked it like crazy- even Squeak, the more reluctant of the two when it comes to wet- and in spite of having recently gotten some training-related treats (so they couldn't have been THAT hungry). They were equally enthusiastic over breakfast this morning. I guess now I know what an excellent special-occasion and/or bribery food for them is!

 

[laurasorphans]

Glad to hear your kitties liked Tiki Cat! I really like the chicken varieties and now, my kitties do too! I Have been having MUCH better luck. Unforunately my kitties just did NOT like Instinct so I returned all of those except for a few that I plan to mix in on occasion disguised in another food.

Right now my diet plan is this: Tiki Cat as a staple (they eat it almost ALL up now if I put a tiny bit of baby food mixed with water in which I figured is okay as far as fat goes since Tiki cat IS so low in fat). I'm going to keep decreasing the baby food hopefully until they are JUST getting Tiki Cat. 

In addition they do like Wellness Core pretty well so I want them to get that every other day for one meal.

Then I also got Merrick's BG and if they like that that will be another one I feed every other day for one meal or more.

Unfortunately with the instinct, toppers didn't work (I tried all of the ones I could think of and that were mentioned), baby food didn't work, their old food mixed in didn't work, nothing and they just seemed to not like the consistency of it. 

I was of course gradually switching but then unfortunately they started picking around their old food and just licking the gravy. Now they are unsurprisingly having loose stools and someone is having diarrhea (probably chloe) so I'm going to try to keep mixing for longer and I'm thinking if I mix it with the Tiki Cat they will EAT the old food chunks. I've been giving them probiotics and have Flagyl (Metronidazole) on hand but want to give this a day or two to resolve itself once I (hopefully) can get them to successfully eat some of their old diet as well.

My one girl (Issabella) REALLY missed her dry but she really, really seems to have done a 180 and is eating the best out of the two of them now. My other girl (Chloe) will sometimes clean her dish but almost always is at least eating MOST of the food. I am also feeding them three to four times a day now- four because one thing I have been having BIG issues with is them getting into my parent's cat's dry food. My parent's cats are 14 and one has advanced stage lung cancer and while I do not like dry he does not eat much wet and is already so skinny and on his way out I just do not think a transition is good for him at this point- he also gets upset stomaches extremely easily and this one food has been at least keeping him from vomiting multiple times a day so that he is comfortable. To help with my cats getting into their food I have started feeding my parent's kitties their dry two times a day for a half hour and then taking the dry away. Then I have been giving them wet once a day or more although they don't eat much at a time. I am a bit worried that Tyler (the ill one) may loose weight since he usually eats all day long and is just so skinny and towards the end of his life as it is, but I'm not sure what else to do at this point. I would like to try to get him some extra calories by mixing in Nutrical but I worry it will make him vomit and once he starts he just keeps going and it must be so painful for the poor guy.I figured at least with limiting their meal times he will hopefully be more inclined to eat the wet portion of his diet that I have started adding, which has his probiotics in them and such a higher water content.