Adding Wet Food And Play

[Lunabean]

I’m not positive if this should go under behavior or nutrition so I’m going to put it here. So I am in the process of incorporating wet food in my cats diet for the first time. She had previously been on only dry food and free fed. I am cutting how much food she is free fed to measure out to be half of what she should get and giving her the other half of her food as canned wet. She despite being fully grown desire to play is off the charts even if I play with her for 2-3 hours total over the course of the day. Since she is going to be on a feeding schedule for the first time I was wondering if playing with her right before feeding time would help sate her desire to hunt and maybe help calm her down since she can “hunt” and then satisfy her hunger right after.

 

[Neo_23]

Yes, I think that's a great idea.
The typical routine for cats in the wild would be something like hunt, eat, groom, sleep (and poop/pee somewhere in between). I always try to play with my girl before feeding time and I find that usually after playing she will eat her whole meal and then pass out after grooming.

It's great that she has tons of energy for play too.

 

[tabbytom]

Yes, I agree with Neo_23 , play time before food. I always play with my boy before each meal. I make him hunt, chase and catch. After a few of those combinations, he’ll just walk right up to me and ask for food and after that, it’s grooming time and he’ll take a nap.

It’s a transition period for your kitty and it may take awhile for her to get used to wet food and schedule feeding and also adjustments to her system and she might have soft stools during and after the change of dry to wet food till her system is fully adjusted, her stools will be normal again but not dry and hard as compared to when she’s on free fed dry food.