Transition from Dry Food

[hobo08]

I just went downstairs to find him eating my dogs wet food, he didn't get very much. My dog is being ornery tonight and refused to eat. Now why the heck will he eat that with no pickiness, but not eat more than five bites of what I gave him. The dog food was California Natural Salmon and Sweet Potato. Should I buy the same flavor in the cat wet food?

 

[just mike]

I'm sorry.. I'm not sure I understand why people seem to be so anti-dry.. My cats are absolutely thriving on a "complete" dry, my vet says to stick with it. Nearby I know an 18 year old Maine Coon with what the vet says are the teeth and body of a young adult cat, and he has never had wet.
Perhaps it is to do with international differences, I feel ignorant.

No need to feel ignorant Gothy.  A cat will do fine on an all dry diet if they are drinking plenty of water.  Cats are not wired like dogs and get the majority of their moisture/hydration from ingesting their wet foods.  That said, a dry food high in protein is fine for the cat as long as it is getting plenty of water.  Lack of water on an all dry diet can lead to issues such at UTIs. So if the cats are drinking plenty of water I would not be too concerned with their dry diet as long as the kibble is high in protein.  Beware that dry kibble is calorie dense  and can cause a cat to become overweight quickly if the cat tends to over eat. Which of course can lead to diabetes as well as other issues.

You will find a lot of different opinions in this forum on wet, dry and raw diets for cats.  You need to find what is right for your cats and is within your own budget.  Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition recommends an 80% wet to 20% dry diet.  My four cats get about 60-70% wet to 30-40% dry.  They are all quite healthy.  They are currently on Nutro Natural Choice Indoor formula wet, Nutro Max wet and Nutro Max is the kibble I've been feeding them for years.  They are all thriving.  I also do the absolute wrong thing and free feed the dry kibble.  Thankfully none of my cats over eat so none of them are over weight or have urinary tract issues. Good luck in your quest for the right food but a dry diet is not "poison" as some might lead you to believe.  If it was there would be no dry cat kibble manufactured

 

[ldg]

Mike, the thread has a gap of 7-8 months in it. Gothy hasn't posted on TCS since June 13th. Brandy bumped the thread looking for ideas on how to transition her kitty from dry to wet food.

 

[hobo08]

Hobo finished the little bit of wet food I gave him last night! I will get him transitioned if its the last thing I do LOL Today I bought all 4 flavors of the Earthborn Holistic canned formulas. We shall see what he thinks of one of those this evening.

 

[ldg]

Go Hobo! Aw, that's great! :bigthumb:

 

[brandy rowe]

Sorry for interrupting the thread!

  Thanks Carolina for your notes!  I've been reading this site every day to help me keep motivated and my PATIENCE! It's been 2 weeks tomorrow, and Mario still will not have one bit of the wet food.  But you all are just wonderful support!

GO HOBO!!!

 

[ldg]

:lol3: I was just pointing out to Mike he was replying to someone who's probably not around to see his reply.

Yep, they can really test the patience. :nod: It can get frustrating feeling like you're just throwing away money.... but your patience will pay off!!!!

 

[carolina]

Try Halo Freeze-dry chicken - if they don't have on Petco, get it on Amazon.....
If your kitty has IBD, I have to say, from my own experience, Raw will be your best bet for a healthy life.... There are plenty of cats successfully treated holistically through diet and probiotics only, with no medication at all, once they go on raw - very very often all symptoms disappear, or become very mild :nod:
For my Bugsy for example, it was pretty much immediate results once he went on raw - while on western medicine nothing, and I mean NOTHING else worked.
Right now it seems that he is going through a mild flare - which I believe was possible brought up by stress (I was out on a trip, and he seems to get sick sometimes when I travel), but it is very mild, he doesn't even have diarrhea.
As far as transitioning him from kibbles to raw or wet.... Laurie is right..... Lucky was a complete kibble addict..... Just putting a dollop of the raw on her kibble plate every meal (you have to put him on scheduled feeding first), sprinkled with her favorite treat - Halo Freeze-Dried Chicken, did the trick.... She would lick the halo every time, in the beginning very meticulously, to not get any of the raw..... Then one day, on day 35 - she ate the dollop - the whole entire thing. Guess what? The next day she completely refused kibbles So now it is day 38, just a few days after that first lick, and she is fully on raw
All I did was put a dollop in there, every meal. :nod:
Now I am working on making her eat more per meal, as raw is quite rich - there is no junk in it - it is meat meat and meat - but we are getting there :bigthumb:
Keep going, you are doing a wonderful thing taking your baby off kibbles :nod:

I had to edit this - It seems that it was not a flare - the little booger ate a sharp plastic tag! :wife:
Once that tag passed, his poop immediately went from a hard paste to completely solid, and the blood that he was passing with it, started vanishing - (now old blood).
I will never ever look back from raw - I know it more than likely saved Bugsy's life from a future with possible pancreatitis, or even lymphoma.... IBD never stops at IBD. And Kibbles is about the worst thing you can do for these guys. While raw is not a cure for it - there is no cure, it is by far, the number one tool today that seems to work for the vast majority of cats - if not all of them. Some of them will still need supplements..... But many, many won't.
In Bugsy's case, what was bringing on his inflammation, according to his vet, was the additives in commercial foods - since we did it all - we did the grain free route, dry and wet, the single novel proteins, the hypoallergenics, you name it, we did it. He is absolutely thrilled with his progress

Anyways -
Here is the probiotics he takes it: Proviable-DC - According to both my vets, this is the best available.
This is the Enzymes I am giving all of them now, since they are on raw: Prozyme I can't give you feedback on it yet, as I just started on it, aside that hasn't been any side effects..... and that they can't feel any difference in taste. You can probably get a smaller bottle, as you only use 1/4tsp per cup. If you feed 2oz for example, you only use 1/16th tsp - tiny bit.
Hope this helps

 

[brandy rowe]

Thank you! I wait in vain for the day I can give her raw! I want my little girl to be alive for a long time and I know she won't eating this junk!

I've noticed a big difference lately in her energy level since I've been feeding her "twice" a day.  I had always thought the kibble made her a bit sleepy but lately I am seeing it more.  She goes from about 11am - 9p without any food (just the wet for her to snack on but she won't have that yet).  And when I get home she's ready to play!  She chases the laser and plays with her string.  She has so much more energy!  Usually with the laser she gets tired after the second wind, but now she runs around the house many times over!

At nighttime I feed her little bits throughout the night, and she is soooo sleepy in the morning even though she has slept all night beside me!  She hasn't even bothered to wake me up to feed her in the AM which she has always done before, (maybe because she's not hungry) and now she just watches the bird feeder from my bed with her sleepy eyes half closed instead of chatting with them like usual every morning.  I'm really beginning to think that kibble is terrible for her energy level.

Thanks for the recommendations - I will try those!!