How To Switch A Dry Food & Fish Addict To Wet Food?

smosmosmo

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Smo is around 5 years old and has been eating only dry food most of her life. When I adopted her last fall I switched to a mixed dry/wet diet, but most days she won't eat more than a couple ounces of wet food. We had a UTI scare recently though, brought on by dehydration, so I want to commit to switching her to mostly wet food.

So far I've been measuring out her dry food but not eliminating it completely so she gets enough calories. I've also mixed her usual dry food with one she doesn't like as much to prevent overeating. She's picky with her wet food but will try most anything as long as it's blended smooth, but here's where we run into another issue - she'll only eat fish-flavored wet food.

I've tried multiple types of poultry and beef-flavored wet foods but she absolutely refuses to eat them, and won't even go near stuff like freeze-dried or cooked chicken. She's not partial to wet food to begin with but will eat some if it contains fish - with any other flavors she flat out refuses to taste it. She is also extremely picky about things being mixed into her wet food, and won't eat the fish-based kind if it's mixed with poultry.

I keep reading that fish is addictive, not healthy for cats, and not good for their urinary tracts and kidneys. It's the only type of wet food she'll touch, though. I try to get around it by buying high-quality wet food and sticking to salmon (she rarely gets tuna), but ideally I want her to be eating fish infrequently. How would I go about doing with with my very picky eater?
 

verna davies

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Change one thing at a time. Try mixing some wet food with the dry, gradually adding more wet until it is more wet than dry. Having accomplished that ( fingers crossed) change from fish to something else gradually. It may take some time but as long as you get the right result it is worth it. Let us know if it works.
 
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