Harley ate some wet food! I can hardly believe it!

I just had to share this with someone. This evening I called the hubby before I got home and told him not to feed the cats before I got home. I went to the pet store and bought some Friskies canned food in different flavors and a couple cans of the EVO 95% meat.

By the time I got home the cats were all looking at me and ready for some fresh dry food but what I did was pick up the left over dry food and threw it out. Then I opened the EVO and put a few teaspoons in a new bowl and put that down. I tried to entice Harley but he turned his nose up and walked away. Then I opened one of the Frisky's cans, put it on a saucer and he showed no interest. I also sprinkled it with parmesan cheese and even though he acted more interested he still didn't try it.

The other three cats are a little surprised but they eat the wet more willingly. Even they are looking for the dry food but I think they will go more willingly.

The amazing thing is that one of the other cats came in crying to I was going to put more Friskies on the plate because that is the one they had finished and at the last second I decided to try to trick Harley into eating a piece from my hand. He turned his nose up so I got one of his favorite glyco flex treats and put them together. He picked off the treat and left the food. I tried it again and it did that again. On the third try he actually took the treat and the food. I was so excited and encouraged that I then tried just Frisky's and he ate it! Since I was on a roll I just kept feeding him off my fingers and he finished the can. I then went back to the EVO and he even ate a few bites of that! :shock: I would say he ate probably 1/4 of a can of wet food.

I am so excited about it and I was wondering.....should I feed these guys the rest of the dry food I have or just never let them have it again or what? I am just praying he gets better and won't make me continue to feed him by hand but my husband had a crazy thought . We wonder if he has problems bending so low to eat from the floor. I am thinking I might try an elevated dish because he is a big boy. INPUT?

 

:RAHCAT :RAHCAT :RAHCAT

Wonderful news!!
that's usually what it takes, trying a few different varieties and off they go!!
And yup, elevated the dish may help!

 

AWESOME!!!! So happy for you. I can totally relate - Bix held out for MONTHS before I tricked him into it, and now he loves it! Hope the trend continues! It says you just joined by I think I remember your name from the old board, but sorry I don't recall the history. If you are shooting insulin, do you already know to be on the lookout for lower #s, and/or reduce the dose if he will eat the canned regularly? When Bix converted, he went from 4u to 1u in a matter of days, it was a wild & crazy ride during the conversion!!! Once my crowd switched to canned, they just laughed at the dry and wouldn't touch it. I gave mine to a friend who feeds ferals.

party_cat

 

At this point we have not started insulin. The vet and I were going to wait and retest his blood in 10 days to see what his BG looked like with all the food changes. I did post his history earlier today on this page. Now I am not sure what to do but I know I need to get the equip and start tracking his BG.
No I have not been here before, this is my first experience with a diabetic cat.
I have requested the newbie kit and I was going to check tomorrow at Walmart and see about the reli-on tester.

 

Harley has arthritis, right? If so, elevating the dish can help. It didn't work for Angus, he just picked the food out of the dish and dropped it on the floor. But, it is worth a try. Angus had a BG of 400+ when he was diagnosed. Just switching him to the low carb wet dropped him to the 200s. He still needed insulin and his arthritis, I think, was a contributing factor. He stopped needing insulin shortly after we started Adequan for his arthritis.

 

Sorry, guess I'm confused, wouldn't be the first time, LOL. :dizcat

Welcome then, and I'm happy things are going well for Harley! That's great to let the food settle out then without worrying about the insulin dose - it can take a couple days even after they stop eating dry for it to fully clear their system. From what I've read many cats still need insulin at least for a short-time even after a food change, but one step at a time. Tonight is for canned food partying.

 

Given that dry food is a highly inappropriate diet for all cats, I would get it out of their world asap.

Donate it to your local feral cat feeder!

 

Keep the dry food on hand for a while...don't feed it, just seal in an air-tight container and keep it.

Two possible needs for it: 1. Kitties sometimes get the poopies from a SUDDEN change in food...which this is.

2. Need high-carb food on hand to treat hypoglycemia if that happens to Harley when/if he goes on insulin.