Dry food options?
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BJM
Member Since 2010
There are only 2 kibble and 1 freeze-dried available in the US.
Evo Cat and Kitten at specialty pet stores and online, about 8% calories from carbohydrates
Young Again 0 Carb online, about 5% calories from carbohydrates (pricey, but they require less)
Stella and Chewey's freeze-dried at specialty pet stores and online, no crunch, small packets, water may be added to gradually switch to a moist food.
Evo Cat and Kitten at specialty pet stores and online, about 8% calories from carbohydrates
Young Again 0 Carb online, about 5% calories from carbohydrates (pricey, but they require less)
Stella and Chewey's freeze-dried at specialty pet stores and online, no crunch, small packets, water may be added to gradually switch to a moist food.
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SpecklesandMe
Member Since 2015
I had the exact same problem with my cat and had tried on and off to get him to eat some wet food for eight years (the shelter he came from had only fed dry). The vet thought he was the worst dry food addict ever. But when he was diagnosed with diabetes insipidus (water diabetes), it became a vital necessity to get him to eat wet. The process was excruciating and took months, but if you are interested in ideas on how to transition, I'm sure a lot of people can provide suggestions. If not, no worries... just let us know.
SpecklesandMe
Member Since 2015
This is by Lisa Pierson, who is a vet, but it's written for non-diabetic cats: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=3041 With a diabetic cat, I think you would need to have a little less of a "tough love" attitude in terms of some of the things she says about letting them get hungry. (In other words, it's probably not a good idea to be as strict as she is about letting the cat get hungry when they have diabetes, esp if they are on insulin.) Also, please note that if you do get your cat to start eating wet food, you will likely have to adjust the insulin dose. Otherwise, there is a risk of going hypo.
Do you free feed? If you have normal feeding times and do 2-3 meals per day, this will probably work much better. And please don't get discouraged if the below sounds a bit extreme, b/c like I said, my vet had never in 20yrs had a cat as stubborn as mine at switching to wet foods. Major dry food addict! When we first started, my kitty basically did NOT recognize canned food as food or even something edible! Some people also try wetting their cat's normal dry food with water before doing what I've outlined below to see if they'll eat that at first, but mine would not eat his dry food even with a little water (and I was worried about bacterial overgrowth doing that).
First, we went and bought around 30 different brands, flavors, protein levels, etc. of canned food- no joke. Around the times we knew he'd be hungry, we opened several different cans (like 5-7) at once and spread the cans across the floor (I know it's insane). There were pates, chunks in gravy, whole meat pieces in broth, etc. etc. beef, chicken, turkey, multiple types of fish, etc. He did not eat any of them at all. So, if he seemed less disgusted by a certain one (smelled it a little longer, didn't try to cover it up as much, or didn't literally shake his paw at it), we made a note of which it was. After a few days, you end up with a list of like 2-4 that are slightly less revolting to them than the others. Every cat is different (ppl here abbreviate this as ECID)- so your list of possible foods might be bigger or smaller.
Then we bought more of the 2 canned foods he was least averse to, and for his dinner, we started hiding a TINY amount of the wet food in the middle of a mound of dry food at feeding time. By tiny, I mean less than the size of half a pea. Seriously. They can still smell it, so it's best in the very middle of the dry food, all covered up. Very slowly over the course of several weeks, we increased the amount of the wet. If your cat likes Fortiflora or powdered dried liver or bonito flakes, you can coat the wet food in it, or sprinkle the powder on the whole meal as you up the wet food amount. So, while this was happening at dinner time, we were doing something a little different in the mornings for his breakfast.
With my kitty, we routinely feed him breakfast at 6am every morning. So, during the two months that we were trying to switch him, one of us would get up at 5:00-5:30am so that we could offer him wet food while he was hungry, but not delay his normal feeding time if he wasn't going to eat the wet food. So, if he was willing to try the canned food, he got fed early. If not, we would feed him his normal dry food at 6am. (Once you get them eating just wet food, you can slowly transition feeding time back to when you want it to be.) As the amount of wet food we were hiding in his evening meals slowly increased, we became slightly more likely to at least get him to lick the wet food by itself in the mornings.
That was how we spent the 2012 holiday season. LOL But it was worth every minute of waking up early, etc. in the long run b/c of his diabetes insipidus. There were days I thought we would never get him to eat canned food, but after 2 months, he was eating at least some Fancy Feast Beef Gravy Lovers without dry food on it. Now, Gravy Lovers is not a good food for diabetes mellitus cats, but once he was eating that one, it was much easier to transition him to other wet food flavors.
ECID and others on this site probably followed a totally different protocol for doing this. Plus your cat might be less (or more) stubborn than mine. If you are going to try it the way I described here, a good clue on what kinds of flavors your cat might not try as hard to cover up would be if he/she tries to steal certain table scraps differentially (ie, fish, pork ribs, etc.). Mine wasn't into table scraps (except milk)- so we didn't have much of a starting point. But some of canned foods resemble human food, if your cat is into that. I can give some examples of these if you end up needing them.
If you free feed, step one would be to establish routine mealtimes instead. Also, this is all assuming your cat won't go anywhere near wet food to begin with. Others will have good ideas to consider also...
Do you free feed? If you have normal feeding times and do 2-3 meals per day, this will probably work much better. And please don't get discouraged if the below sounds a bit extreme, b/c like I said, my vet had never in 20yrs had a cat as stubborn as mine at switching to wet foods. Major dry food addict! When we first started, my kitty basically did NOT recognize canned food as food or even something edible! Some people also try wetting their cat's normal dry food with water before doing what I've outlined below to see if they'll eat that at first, but mine would not eat his dry food even with a little water (and I was worried about bacterial overgrowth doing that).
First, we went and bought around 30 different brands, flavors, protein levels, etc. of canned food- no joke. Around the times we knew he'd be hungry, we opened several different cans (like 5-7) at once and spread the cans across the floor (I know it's insane). There were pates, chunks in gravy, whole meat pieces in broth, etc. etc. beef, chicken, turkey, multiple types of fish, etc. He did not eat any of them at all. So, if he seemed less disgusted by a certain one (smelled it a little longer, didn't try to cover it up as much, or didn't literally shake his paw at it), we made a note of which it was. After a few days, you end up with a list of like 2-4 that are slightly less revolting to them than the others. Every cat is different (ppl here abbreviate this as ECID)- so your list of possible foods might be bigger or smaller.
Then we bought more of the 2 canned foods he was least averse to, and for his dinner, we started hiding a TINY amount of the wet food in the middle of a mound of dry food at feeding time. By tiny, I mean less than the size of half a pea. Seriously. They can still smell it, so it's best in the very middle of the dry food, all covered up. Very slowly over the course of several weeks, we increased the amount of the wet. If your cat likes Fortiflora or powdered dried liver or bonito flakes, you can coat the wet food in it, or sprinkle the powder on the whole meal as you up the wet food amount. So, while this was happening at dinner time, we were doing something a little different in the mornings for his breakfast.
With my kitty, we routinely feed him breakfast at 6am every morning. So, during the two months that we were trying to switch him, one of us would get up at 5:00-5:30am so that we could offer him wet food while he was hungry, but not delay his normal feeding time if he wasn't going to eat the wet food. So, if he was willing to try the canned food, he got fed early. If not, we would feed him his normal dry food at 6am. (Once you get them eating just wet food, you can slowly transition feeding time back to when you want it to be.) As the amount of wet food we were hiding in his evening meals slowly increased, we became slightly more likely to at least get him to lick the wet food by itself in the mornings.
That was how we spent the 2012 holiday season. LOL But it was worth every minute of waking up early, etc. in the long run b/c of his diabetes insipidus. There were days I thought we would never get him to eat canned food, but after 2 months, he was eating at least some Fancy Feast Beef Gravy Lovers without dry food on it. Now, Gravy Lovers is not a good food for diabetes mellitus cats, but once he was eating that one, it was much easier to transition him to other wet food flavors.
ECID and others on this site probably followed a totally different protocol for doing this. Plus your cat might be less (or more) stubborn than mine. If you are going to try it the way I described here, a good clue on what kinds of flavors your cat might not try as hard to cover up would be if he/she tries to steal certain table scraps differentially (ie, fish, pork ribs, etc.). Mine wasn't into table scraps (except milk)- so we didn't have much of a starting point. But some of canned foods resemble human food, if your cat is into that. I can give some examples of these if you end up needing them.
If you free feed, step one would be to establish routine mealtimes instead. Also, this is all assuming your cat won't go anywhere near wet food to begin with. Others will have good ideas to consider also...
BJM
Member Since 2010
Cat Info has an entire section on transitioning cats to wet food.
Also, instead of plain water being put out, start adding a teaspoon or two of the canned food juice, increasing the amount every few days. (Freeze the canned food into an ice cube tray so it won't spoil!)[
As you increase the food flavoring little by little, you may be able to start adding some solid food well mashed up to it and transition that way.
Also, instead of plain water being put out, start adding a teaspoon or two of the canned food juice, increasing the amount every few days. (Freeze the canned food into an ice cube tray so it won't spoil!)[
As you increase the food flavoring little by little, you may be able to start adding some solid food well mashed up to it and transition that way.
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Melanie and Smokey
Member Since 2010
We brought Sly home as a dry food addict. He was transitioned in one night 
I sprinkled crumbled Stella & Chewy's Tum Ticklin' Turkey over Chicken Wellness watered down a little with warm water and can get just about any cat to switch. If they are tough, I sprinkle some of their dry food into the mix for a while too.
I will also transition them from their old dry to EVO cat and kitten so at least they are eating a lower carb dry until they get off of it.
If you can get them to eat a mixture of wet and dry, at least you are lowering the overall carb content of the meal and increasing the moisture content of the meal. Better than eating dry solo.
Stella's is actually meant to be fed as a re-hydrated wet food so if you don't have a lot of mouths to feed and can afford it, many cats would love for that to be their permanent wet food.
I sprinkled crumbled Stella & Chewy's Tum Ticklin' Turkey over Chicken Wellness watered down a little with warm water and can get just about any cat to switch. If they are tough, I sprinkle some of their dry food into the mix for a while too. I will also transition them from their old dry to EVO cat and kitten so at least they are eating a lower carb dry until they get off of it.
If you can get them to eat a mixture of wet and dry, at least you are lowering the overall carb content of the meal and increasing the moisture content of the meal. Better than eating dry solo.
Stella and Chewy's comes in 12oz bags, not just those small packets. Way more economical; the stuff has gotten expensive since they can't keep up with demand. Our specialty store has always been willing to order the 12oz for me even though they don't stock it (they don't even sell Stella's anymore, but still order it for me), so if anyone shops at a specialty pet food store, ask!
Stella's is actually meant to be fed as a re-hydrated wet food so if you don't have a lot of mouths to feed and can afford it, many cats would love for that to be their permanent wet food.
jane and stewey
Member Since 2014
My baby had never eaten wet food in her life. She was 7 years old when I adopted her. She wasn't too happy about the change either. But, think about it for a moment. Dry food is just that...dry! The protein is not usually meat/fish based. They are carnivores. And, worst of all, the carbohydrate content is high. Wet food is just the opposite. It was a bit testy as we switched over but does well now. However...she still prefers the dry and I must remove her from the kitchen when feeding the non diabetic cats. Good luck from Jane and Stewey
Cat Ma
Member Since 2015
Not all wet food are low carbs. Glad you switched your cat's food from dry to wet. I presume you are feeding Stewey low carb wet food.
SpecklesandMe
Member Since 2015
My kitty didn't like FortiFlora either. ECID, I guess.
SpecklesandMe
Member Since 2015
If you Google transitioning dry food addicted cats to wet food, there are several other sites, besides Lisa Pierson's, that also have good info. Let me know if you want me to send you links, but overall you'll need to adjust your strategy to your cat- some are much more finicky than others! 
BJM
Member Since 2010
Maybe not big enough to feed 15!
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