Easiest wet food to switch to from dry?

[laureen227]

Originally Posted by compmom42

I've never even seen some of the brands mentioned here in our stores.

Sometimes I think I would love to go with raw food, but finding a source is tough. My local stores don't seem interested.

Sounds like I'm going to have to do some research.

dotty

i thought it was only smaller places like Denton that had that problem!
the only place i've found pre-made raw is online - & the shipping is OUTRAGEOUS!
i did order samples [most of them free, btw] of several of the grain-frees - but none of my cats liked any of them

they didn't go to waste - the ferals ate them. but i now just look for the best possible kibble [since i have 2 dry only eaters] w/a medium grade wet [since Cable ALWAYS gets the runs if i go too rich on the wet

].
there is a feed store locally that sells Chicken Soup, both kibble & cans... i get the cans for the housecats, kibble for the ferals. i'll also do Authority's kibble for the ferals, & their cans for wet. the Royal Canin seems to be a big kibble winner indoors... & they don't seem to eat as much of it as the other 2 kibbles, either. so as long as i can afford it

i'll keep using that kibble.
indoor cats didn't like the Solid Gold Katz-n-Flocken, either

. ingredients were good - don't know what was off about the taste [since i didn't taste it

]!

 

[boringjen]

As terrible as it sounds, I just stopped offering dry food pretty much cold turkey to get Connie on wet food. I simply became veryveryvery frustrated with her vomiting. She was a total dry addict who puked all the time, even on daily prednisolone.

If she went 18 hours without eating, I'd let her eat approximately 1/4c of dry food, but then continue offering wet food. It took less than 48 hours to get her at least trying it. Within the week, it was like she had never eaten anything else. She hasn't eaten dry food since.

Please note, Connie was not at all overweight when I attempted this, so much less concern about HL. She also has vomited only a handful of times in the several months she's been fed exclusively wet food. She used to vomit, literally, 3-5 times a day when she was on dry food.

I got Connie switched over with Fancy Feast and Friskies. She wouldn't eat any fish-flavors or mushy textures at first, so you might want to try various flavors, textures, etc. Now, the cats aren't big fans of fish-flavored food, but they will eat Wellness' Chicken & Herring and the Turkey & Salmon (or is it trout?) along with their landloving varieties.

 

[cc12]

It is like cracking code.

There are some online companies that offer quality food AND free shipping. I will try to post a link.

Well, looks like the free shipping has ended for the companies I used. I live in a city with a holistic pet store on every corner so I am fortunate.
You may have to ask a store to special order it for you.

 

[ms.blackie]

Well it takes a lot of patience and $ to keep trying different foods.
Here is my advice, By the way, it took a good year and half, to get
her eating canned food everyday, twice a day. Dont give up.
I bought some Brewer's Yeast, it is a powder, found at good drug stores
and health food stores. You can sprinkle a little on top, for some reason
cats like this. You put only out 1 teaspoon of wet and put a few
of their dry pieces on top, sticking up and out. Add a little water mixing
it in the wet, seems to make is more appealing. ALways use a low
flat dish. Try fancy feast brand - mine eats the gourmet chicken
feast, liver and something, yours might like the grilled or not, the morsels
or not, the chunks or not, the pate or not, they have many textures,
which helps you get a idea also. I stick to chicken, liver, turkey, lamb,
venision (natural balance brand). Try putting a small amount on
a spoon and offer to it, yep hand feed them. Mine would eat it off
a spoon, but not in the dish at first. I buy, fancy feast,
wellness is becoming a big hit, Natural balance and others in small amount
the cans in Turkey and chicken pretty much only. You can
also try the kitten version of some brands, I noticed they must be
tastier. Once you get them eating like a fancy feast, which all cats seem to like, you can start adding the mix program of better quality cans.
Only feed your cat twice a day! Put down small amount of dry
in 1 bowl and couple spoons of wet mixed with water in another bowl.
If you leave dry out all the time you
will have no chance of changing, they have to be hungry to try another
texture, wet food. My own cat eats 1/4 Cup dry- I measure it and
about 3-4 oz. wet each day. She has not given up her dry so we compromise. Oh and will your cat say eat like, cooked chicken or turkey
you baked? I think it is a matter of a cat getting used to different
tastes, textures. Good Luck
Brenda
It is worth it in saying this you will be doing a great service to your cat.

 

[tamgirl99]

Thanks for the tips everyone! I actually have some Brewer's Yeast at home so I'll give that a whirl. So far it doesn't seem to be a texture thing for my cat but primarily as smell issue. She will get as close as an inch away from the food to see what it is and immediate puts her nose in the air and makes gag faces and starts smacking her mouth to get the "taste" out. I don't know if it's something they use to preserve all wet food or what. I don't leave dry out all of the time so I will start offering wet mixed with dry first for a while to see if I can get her to actually taste any of it. I'm doubting she will since I tried putting a dab of wet on her favorite treats and she wouldn't touch them.

 

[tamgirl99]

Okay I've come up with an idea! My cat LOVES milk which is why she probably loves queso so much.

Anyway, I just tried opening her cosequin supplement to see if she'd be interested in the flavor of it and of course she sniffed it but wouldn't touch it. Well, I took about a teaspoon of my fat free milk and mixed the cosequin with it and brought it back to her. She lapped it up!

Since I know cow milk isn't the best for cats, I was thinking of trying the cat-sip alternative for cats. As long as she likes that as much, I think slowly mixing that with canned food and gradually increasing the canned over time may actually work. This is along the same lines as adding tuna juice but since she hates tuna I thought this might work as an alternative.

By the way, my cat has never shown any signs of being lactose intolerant. If she doesn't like the catsip (1% milk) I may just continue with the fat-free organic that I buy for myself unless she starts having problems. Any thoughts?

 

[laureen227]

hissy says that goat's milk is better than cow's milk for cats. since you buy organic, i'd be willing to bet that store also sells goat's milk.
she'll probably like the catsip, tho - 4/5 of mine think it's good. but the goat's milk might be less expensive.

 

[tamgirl99]

Originally Posted by laureen227

hissy says that goat's milk is better than cow's milk for cats. since you buy organic, i'd be willing to bet that store also sells goat's milk.
she'll probably like the catsip, tho - 4/5 of mine think it's good. but the goat's milk might be less expensive.

Yes, my plans are to look for goat milk next time I make it to the store. I didn't realize how expensive catsip was until I just went and bought some. Thanks for the tip!