Thoughts on safe treats to encourage cat to eat?

[Bojangles' Mom]

Does anyone have thoughts on safe treats or something to sprinkle on canned food to encourage cats to eat? Bojangles is still transitioning to canned food. Somedays she'll eat really well and others not so much. This is even with the same flavor of food - I do alternate flavors, but one day she'll LOVE a particular flavor and a few days later turn her nose up at it. I can only throw out so much food and of course she needs to eat prior to shot. Any recommendations?

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Mine liked Bonito flakes and PureBites crumbled on top. Also, if you haven't tried it, warm water added to pate and stirred to make a gravy changes the texture to something they sometimes like.

 

[Bojangles' Mom]

Mine liked Bonito flakes and PureBites crumbled on top. Also, if you haven't tried it, warm water added to pate and stirred to make a gravy changes the texture to something they sometimes like.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Many people to see to recommend the bonito flakes. I don't think she's eating as little as it seemed. Most people actually recommend about 1-1.5 cans per day - whereas the directions on the can would indicate she should eat 3-4 cans per day. No way she'd ever eat that much. I'll definitely look into the bonito flakes. Thanks again.

 

[Squeaky and KT (GA)]

Another thing is freeze dried chicken treats - they crumble easily too and are FD friendly. Lots of us seem to think our cats aren't eating enough when in reality they are....we like to see them dive in and finish a 'big plate', warms our 'Mama' hearts.

HUGS!!!!

 

[Bojangles' Mom]

You nailed it! I guess I'm a "helicopter cat mom". Having the Fancy Feast can suggesting she should eat 3-4 cans daily given her weight didn't help one bit. Thanks for the tip on the freeze dried chicken. Heck, she'll be eating better than me before long!

 

[granadilla]

My kitty likes the Pure Bites freeze dried chicken as well. Some people use Fortiflora as a taste enhancer. It didn't work for Marshmallow, but she's a dry food addict and I can't get any wet food into her so don't use that as a barometer.

 

[granadilla]

I thought of something else... I got samples of Young Again Zero Carb dry food and I give them to Marshmallow as treats. If you call the 800 number on the Young Again website, they'll send you a sample or two to try. Then if she likes them, you could buy a small bag of their zero carb kibble and give it to her as treats. (Although of course it would be easier if she likes the Pure Bites or bonito flakes!)

 

[Bojangles' Mom]

Thanks so much, I'll keep that in mind. I did run out at lunch and picked up a bag of bonito flakes and some freeze dried salmon. The chicken looked "iffy" at the store. I'll look into the Pure Bites & Young Again brands. Bobo has always only had dried as well up until now.

 

[Cat Ma]

CJ likes Stella & Chewy's freeze dried food.

 

[Bojangles' Mom]

Thank you so much, I'll check out that food too. I'm thankful to have such wise pet parents to offer advice!

 

[Cat Ma]

Some of the Stella & Chewy's products were recalled as a precaution, like a lot of products, but the Duck Duck Goose is still fine and my cats love it. If you do purchase a Stella & Chewy's product, be sure to check out the list and lot # to make sure the product is safe.

http://www.stellaandchewys.com/stella-chewys-recall-notice/

 

[Terry and Casey]

I had the same problem transitioning to canned. I started crumbling pure bites freeze dried chicken on top of the canned and that helped. I also found that sprinkling Parmesan cheese on top of the food was a hit.

 

[Cat Ma]

Forti Flora is great for weaning kibble addicts off dry food and getting cats to eat. I use it a lot with my cats, especially my finicky civie cat. It is also a probiotic and good for diarrhea.

 

[Bobbie And Bubba]

I thought of something else... I got samples of Young Again Zero Carb dry food and I give them to Marshmallow as treats. If you call the 800 number on the Young Again website, they'll send you a sample or two to try. Then if she likes them, you could buy a small bag of their zero carb kibble and give it to her as treats. (Although of course it would be easier if she likes the Pure Bites or bonito flakes!)

Young Again also makes a bag of zero carb treats. They are actually for dogs, cats and ferrets and all my animals love them. However, I save them for Bubba, my sugar baby as a bag is about 7.99 ( a 6 oz bag, but worth their weight in gold) The owner of Young again suggested to me to crush the kibble and sprinkle it over their wet food as there are animal enzymes in them that the cats go crazy for. That will help with the wet food transition. Now my cats don't even miss dry. The dry kibble companies put those enzymes in the dry food which is why our cats get addicted to it in the first place.......

 

[Bobbie And Bubba]

Young Again also makes a bag of zero carb treats. They are actually for dogs, cats and ferrets and all my animals love them. However, I save them for Bubba, my sugar baby as a bag is about 7.99 ( a 6 oz bag, but worth their weight in gold) The owner of Young again suggested to me to crush the kibble and sprinkle it over their wet food as there are animal enzymes in them that the cats go crazy for. That will help with the wet food transition. Now my cats don't even miss dry. The dry kibble companies put those enzymes in the dry food which is why our cats get addicted to it in the first place.......

I just wanted to be clear about something, crush the Young Again Zero Carb dry kibble and sprinkle over the wet food, not high carb dry.

 

[Bojangles' Mom]

Thanks all. Great advice. I'm going to start pulling up the dry food tonight - she's had less than 1/8th of a cup for the full day, but her numbers were a bit higher this morning, I think because she ate the dry kibble overnight/wee morning hours. I'll see if that improves some of the morning readings.

 

[Laura & Heffernan]

I ordered some Orijen treats--Wild Boar and then I got the Original flavor which have chicken & turkey. They are a soft treat with minimal ingredients (the wild boar have 2 ingredients--wild boar & wild boar liver!) and I can crumble them in to a powder to sprinkle on his food. Heff LOVES them. I also bought Primals freeze dried turkey liver treats. He adores those as well. He got really tired of the pure bites chicken.

 

[Anitafrnhamer]

A tiny bit of grated parmesan cheese like you would use on spaghetti does the trick for us.

 

[Bobbie And Bubba]

Some of the Stella & Chewy's products were recalled as a precaution, like a lot of products, but the Duck Duck Goose is still fine and my cats love it. If you do purchase a Stella & Chewy's product, be sure to check out the list and lot # to make sure the product is safe.

http://www.stellaandchewys.com/stella-chewys-recall-notice/

Thanks so much for posting the recall info on Stella and Chewy, just went to the pantry and pulled mine out to check.

 

[Bojangles' Mom]

Parmesan, wild boar, chicken, salmon, the bonito flakes...maybe not the liver....we may have to start dining off the same plate! She surely will be eating better than I do. Bojangles (and her adopted sister Waimea) thank you for all the helpful and more importantly YUMMY tips.

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

Stella and Chewy's Tum Ticklin' Turkey is my secret weapon against fussy eaters One of mine also likes the Liv-a-Little freeze dried Chicken crumbled on her food. A lot.