Frustrating

[Emthecatwoman]

I'm new to cooking meals for my 13 year old kitty. She has been on dry food her whole life and we are ready to commit to a healthier lifestyle for her. The problem is, everything I've made (several variations of chicken, turkey, beef, fish with squash and greens) she will smell and run away. I've tried sprinkles of her dry food mixed in and she will literally starve all day until I give in and give her her food. Any recommendations on how to get her more interested? Much appreciated

 

[mani]

Making a good, balanced diet for cats is a very fine balance, and then to find something she will eat along with it is not at all easy.
You have a 13 year old who has been on dry food and it's all she knows. Have you tried introducing some quality commercial wet food first, with some of the dry? Many cats take a long time to adjust to home prepared/raw food and your girl is not even used to the texture/moisture content.

 

[maggie101]

If it's raw,not all cats like it. One of my cats does,other 2 do not. So I by canned meat

 

[Maurey]

What, specifically, are you trying to feed her? Unless you’re using something like EZcomplete (or other mix of supplements), it doesn’t sound like a complete diet. Cats don’t need vegetables, either, though you may wish to add a small amount of squash or pumpkin purée into one meal a day for fibre. Fish isn’t a complete diet for cats, and can cause reliance, so I’d suggest staying away from it, at least until she’s eating other proteins well.
I agree with mani , you’d be best off transitioning away from dry food to a high quality wet food, first. You may want to try shreds over pate, to start with, as the texture may be more familiar. Transitioning kibble addicts can be a task and a half, just keep at it, slowly and surely. You want to completely phase out dry food before trying homemade, whether cooked or raw. Unless you’re using a pre-made supplement to make your food nutritionally complete, I’d highly recommend doing more research before going down that avenue. I’m pro raw and homemade, but only if it’s done carefully, or you could end up doing more harm than good, sadly.

 

[zoes]

Going from kibble to a home made diet is a big leap - I'd try an intermediary step of cheap wet cat food, followed by better quality wet cat food, and finally home made diet (which I agree with Maurey's comment, you may want to revisit your recipe, as it doesn't sound quite right to me.)

But even switching from kibble to cheap wet cat food is not always easy. I managed to do it with THREE cats, two of them well in their teens, with surprisingly minimal food waste or fuss. Perhaps my method will help you, so here it is:

First, figure out the bare minimum of calories your cat needs to give. There's a calculator online somewhere. Take her daily caloric needs and feed her about 75% of it, in two meals, in kibble.

Also, stock up on a variety of small cans of cat food. Get a bit of everything - various proteins, price points, muscle/organ meat, kitten and senior formulas, etc. Patés, strips in gravy, chunks, dehydrated foods (that you mix with water). Even some pre-made frozen raw formulas which my cats took to more quickly than I had expected. And get one of those silicone lids to store in the fridge - super handy for this!

Each time you feed her kibble, offer her a small portion of wet food beside it. After she eats the kibble, she MAY sniff or taste the wet food. She may leave and come back and then sniff it. That's fine - I leave out wet food for up to 12 hours.

If she goes into the kitchen and asks for food, but it's not time for her kibble, offer her a small portion of wet food.

Offer a variety of wet foods - try different temps (warm, room temp, chilled), different toppers, try mixing in warm water or tuna water etc. Pay attention to what she's more interested in - my cats preferred cheap, red meat based paté at first.

The goal of this phase is to keep your cat from starving, to keep you from stressing, and to give them opportunities to associate wet food with meal time, and to keep her HUNGRY.

Although some cats will stubbornly starve themselves into fatty liver disease in a matter of a couple of days, few cats will go hungry indefinitely when a wide variety of food is available to them. Eventually, she will eat the wet food. For my cats it took about 3 days before they started paying attention to the wet food, and maybe another week before they were eating it.

When she does, after a time (a week or two) start to increase wet food and decrease dry food. When she's exclusively on wet food, do the same transition to an appropriate home-made, supplemented diet.

 

[Emthecatwoman]

Going from kibble to a home made diet is a big leap - I'd try an intermediary step of cheap wet cat food, followed by better quality wet cat food, and finally home made diet (which I agree with Maurey's comment, you may want to revisit your recipe, as it doesn't sound quite right to me.)

But even switching from kibble to cheap wet cat food is not always easy. I managed to do it with THREE cats, two of them well in their teens, with surprisingly minimal food waste or fuss. Perhaps my method will help you, so here it is:

First, figure out the bare minimum of calories your cat needs to give. There's a calculator online somewhere. Take her daily caloric needs and feed her about 75% of it, in two meals, in kibble.

Also, stock up on a variety of small cans of cat food. Get a bit of everything - various proteins, price points, muscle/organ meat, kitten and senior formulas, etc. Patés, strips in gravy, chunks, dehydrated foods (that you mix with water). Even some pre-made frozen raw formulas which my cats took to more quickly than I had expected. And get one of those silicone lids to store in the fridge - super handy for this!

Each time you feed her kibble, offer her a small portion of wet food beside it. After she eats the kibble, she MAY sniff or taste the wet food. She may leave and come back and then sniff it. That's fine - I leave out wet food for up to 12 hours.

If she goes into the kitchen and asks for food, but it's not time for her kibble, offer her a small portion of wet food.

Offer a variety of wet foods - try different temps (warm, room temp, chilled), different toppers, try mixing in warm water or tuna water etc. Pay attention to what she's more interested in - my cats preferred cheap, red meat based paté at first.

The goal of this phase is to keep your cat from starving, to keep you from stressing, and to give them opportunities to associate wet food with meal time, and to keep her HUNGRY.

Although some cats will stubbornly starve themselves into fatty liver disease in a matter of a couple of days, few cats will go hungry indefinitely when a wide variety of food is available to them. Eventually, she will eat the wet food. For my cats it took about 3 days before they started paying attention to the wet food, and maybe another week before they were eating it.

When she does, after a time (a week or two) start to increase wet food and decrease dry food. When she's exclusively on wet food, do the same transition to an appropriate home-made, supplemented diet.

Thank you! This is very helpful