Need new ideas for getting a cat to switch from dry!!!

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rhiannon and shadow (GA)

rhiannon and shadow (GA)

Member Since 2012
I have a friend who hasn't made it to Lalaland because she can't get her cat to give up the dry food.
She has tried everything. The cat is at least now eating Evo. That transition took a couple of months.
She did all the things from Dr. Lisa Pierson's suggestions for transitioning a cat to wet food.

If she shows her cat wet food, it runs away traumatized, just totally freaks out over wet food.
The cat will not eat if there is even a crumb of wet food in it's dry food.

The last bit of success has been to put a small morsel of wet food in it's own bowl in the vicinity of the Evo.
The cat did ignore the wet food and eat the evo . That was progress since the cat didn't run away.

So please, everyone, if you've got something new to try.
Please post it.
 
Have they tried Stella & Chewy's freeze dried raw? It's pricey, but my cats love it as a treat, and sprinkled on top of their canned food.

Your friend can see if her cat will start eating that, dry, then start adding a little water to introduce the cat to liking the wet version of the food.

Hope that helps!

Suze
 
How about this: Open some canned food--Cats here like Fancy Feast Classic flavors a lot & they are low carb-Check the food lists(old and new for carb amounts) http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html
See if your baby will eat any of these, as they seem to love it--
My trick: I put some boiled chicken pieces sticking out of the wet food and as they eat the chicken, they do get some wet food on the ends--It could whet the appetite for wet a little..My cats loved the FF chicken feast classic, some love the FF turkey & giblets, FF beef feast too--there are a lot & cats find them tasty!
I used this when I transitioned my two off the dry food--I cooked the chicken & stuck it in there..
It may take a while to do this-Cats are stubborn, everything is trial & error, & they ae picky picky picky! We have a few othe tricks like sprinkling parmesean cheese on the wet, crushed up freeze dried chcken,
OR!!!! How about crushing the dry food & sprinkling it on the wet food???

Hope one of these helps! Good luck! Welcome to LL!
 
Zener loves Fortiflora (available on amazon.com and at the vet but more expensive) and that helped him transition. Tillie thinks it's disgusting. They both like the freeze dried chicken (dog version is cheaper). How about greenie's pill pockets, duck and pea is more FD friendly (no sugar but has carbs). Dog version is ok, especially as they stopped making the cat version. :roll: Good luck!
Liz
 
Does your friend's cat like human food? What about baby food? Has she tried raw food?

Is there any history attached to this cat? Did she have the cat as a kitten or did she adopt the cat later in it's life. What you're describing sounds like there's a huge negative association with canned food.
 
If canned food freaks the cat out, how about trying raw food? There are some good low carb raw foods out there, from Dr. Lisa's homemade recipie to commerical brands like Nature's Variety and Feline's Pride.

Try Nature's Variety kibble-shaped frozen raw food, Raw Bites: http://www.instinctpetfood.com/instinct ... s-and-cats You could feed it as-is or mix some into canned food. The raw also comes in medallion shapes. The patty shapes are too big for cats (8 oz hamburger-size).

Stella and Chewy's makes a low carb freeze dried raw food for cats that is 100% complete: http://www.stellaandchewys.com/cat-products.php Ideally it should be rehydrated before feeding but it can be fed dry which might trick the cat into thinking that is is dry food.
 
I had a terrible time getting Muffin to eat canned food! I tried every trick in the book, and she just wouldn't fall for any of them. Eventually, she was diagnosed with Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease, and the vet said absolutely NO dry food for a week. So I was feeding her turkey lunch meat and chicken. I started supplementing that by syringe feeding some Wellness, and after a couple of days of that, lo and behold, she was cleaning up the drips off the floor by herself! Then she would lick it out of the syringe by herself, and after a couple more days, she started eating it on her own out of a dish. I still have to water it down almost to syringe consistency for her, but she's been eating it for nearly 2 years now - just one kind, though, Wellness Chicken. Good luck, I know how difficult it can be!
 
A little more history but not much. She has had the cat since about a year old from a shelter. They have been together for almost
9 years.

She has always been frightened of wet food. I don’t know why. Put a snake down in the middle of the room, a rat…whatever… She is ready to rumble. She is not afraid of anything….dogs, people, other animals. But put down wet food, and she runs. I have wracked my brain, but I can’t imagine why this is so.
Click to expand...

The one thing she hasn't tried yet is the fortiflora. So that 's next but still, thoughts are welcome.
 
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