Addicted to crunch

[jmorrellbellai]

I am trying so hard to increase moisture in my cats' diets. Bambi will eat absolutely anything (and try to steal her sister's if I don't seperate them).
Piper is a kibble/crunch addict. She will eat little bits of wet food. Royal canin adult instinctive slices is the only one she is consistent with. However, she won't eat nearly enough wet food to meet her calorie requirements.
She tends to hold our for kibble (really air dried Ziwi), and is absolutely crazy for anything crunchy.
I'm wondering if I need to cut out dry completely and go with a "food is wet" montra....I just feel bad because she loves her crunch so much. Maybe feeding her crunchy treats at a specific time of day would help, so she only expects them then?
We have tried playtime before feeding. It's difficult to feed only at mealtimes because if she doesn't eat in the morning I don't want to leave her with nothing all day (terrified of fatty liver!) I also can't leave unlimited wet food out in their SureFeed covered wet food feeder or Bambi will gorge and barf.
Mostly just a rant but any suggestions greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Jasmine

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
I was thinking that a microchip feeder might help, but that still leaves you with the original issue of getting her eating more canned.

However, have you tried adding a little water to her kibble? This can't be left out for very long due to too much bacterial growth (wet kibble is different in that regard from canned food).

 

[Alldara]

I did like the tips here: Transitioning Dry Food Addicts

but honestly I found that if I just give Calcifer a cronchy something (1 or two kibbles) he will give in and eat the wet after. Like wanting some crackers with dinner or something I dunno. he will cry and refuse the food and then I just set two beside it, he eats the dry and then suddenly the wet food is fine.

 

[FeebysOwner]

You could also try adding some kibble (whole pieces or broken up a bit) on top of the wet food and see if that would help to get her eating the wet food even after the dry pieces are gone.

 

[di and bob]

there are a lot of good quality, grain free dry food out there, i give my cats both. I can only get away once in a while overnight, so knowing they have something to eat helps too. The only thing you have to eb sure of is plenty of water around to tempt them. I set bowls in several places and they always check them out thinking there is food, (they are chowhounds) then drink anyway.

 

[cejhome]

We had a cat that wouldn't eat wet at all. I added water to the dish (not on top of the food). She would drink up all the the water, then eat her crunchies. It was almost like she knew if she didn't drink the water, then her precious crunchies would get soggy. I gave her multiple small meals a day to make sure she got enough water. Fortunately, she also liked drinking out of coffee mugs, so she had "her" mugs stationed around the house.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

All of the above are good ideas. You could also try adding water to the WET food to ensure she is well hydrated. That's what I do. I add at least 1 tablespoon to each meal, and depending on which type of wet food, sometimes I add even more. If it's a pate, then I blend it up with a spoon, if a gravy style,then I just surround it with water but don't mix it up.

 

[Furballsmom]

she also liked drinking out of coffee mugs,

 

[lisahe]

All of the above are good ideas. You could also try adding water to the WET food to ensure she is well hydrated. That's what I do. I add at least 1 tablespoon to each meal, and depending on which type of wet food, sometimes I add even more. If it's a pate, then I blend it up with a spoon, if a gravy style,then I just surround it with water but don't mix it up.

This is basically what I do for one of our cats: she eats much better when there's a significant amount of dry food on her wet food. This after our careful work nine years ago taking the cats off dry food!

Fortunately, Ireland loves Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein chicken food, which has no fillers, so lower carbs than even most wet foods. It's very calorie dense, which also makes it especially for Ireland, who has never been a big eater. (Dr. E's other dry foods have chickpeas so I won't feed those.)

 

[jmorrellbellai]

Thank you for all the great suggestions friends! Cejhome, that is too funny!! We have tried the wet kibble and she will eat it if really hungry, but doesn't eat it as readily as canned food even. Lots of water glasses around the house but Bambi has started gaurding them Piper now has a new safe spot we made for her where we close Bambi out while she eats. And more water spots. Ohhh cats.

 

[r-kins]

We had a cat that wouldn't eat wet at all. I added water to the dish (not on top of the food). She would drink up all the the water, then eat her crunchies. It was almost like she knew if she didn't drink the water, then her precious crunchies would get soggy. I gave her multiple small meals a day to make sure she got enough water. Fortunately, she also liked drinking out of coffee mugs, so she had "her" mugs stationed around the house.

My sister's cat took a liking to the collectible Starbucks mugs from around the world so they had them all over for a single cat to get her to drink more.