Help with transition

LTS3

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I'm down to the last 3 bags of NV rabbit medallions. Leroy will eat anything so I have no issue with getting him to eat something else. Emma is a problem. I bought the new NV Raw Longevity Raw Bites in rabbit and Vital Essentials rabbit and Primal turkey. I mixed a single NV Raw Bite into a medallion and gave it to Emma. Emma would not touch it. A sprinkle of FortiFlora didn't help. I had to give her half a can of NV beef (one of the last cans of beef I have. It's been discontinued :doh:) for breakfast. I tried the mix again for dinner with FortiFlora and a dollop of hairball gel. She reluctantly ate maybe 90% of that. Any other tips on how to transition her to new food? :help: Emma doesn't eat treats so I don't have that option. I really don't want to keep using FortiFlora.
 

lavishsqualor

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I feel your pain. Really, I do.

Several years ago, when Hare Today had no ground rabbit whatsoever, my lovely female tuxedo cat, Thirteen, began to channel Irom Chanu Samilla. In all seriousness, I had to force feed her or she would have died. I tried absolutely everything, even ground rabbit from other suppliers, and she simply wouldn't have it. My vet came within a hair's breadth of putting in a feeding tube. I tried every food known to man (and cat), and Thirteen would sniff it, look at me quixotically, and then walk away.

The only thing that saved us was Only Natural Pet's Powerpate Rabbit & Pork. When I offered that she sniffed it, sniffed it again . . . and then began chowing down! My point here is that there's going to be something that lovely Emma will eat. Unfortunately, you just have to find it. And that, unfortunately, is a monumental and quite costly task.

Good luck to you!
 

Cheekiezsheek

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I'm down to the last 3 bags of NV rabbit medallions. Leroy will eat anything so I have no issue with getting him to eat something else. Emma is a problem. I bought the new NV Raw Longevity Raw Bites in rabbit and Vital Essentials rabbit and Primal turkey. I mixed a single NV Raw Bite into a medallion and gave it to Emma. Emma would not touch it. A sprinkle of FortiFlora didn't help. I had to give her half a can of NV beef (one of the last cans of beef I have. It's been discontinued :doh:) for breakfast. I tried the mix again for dinner with FortiFlora and a dollop of hairball gel. She reluctantly ate maybe 90% of that. Any other tips on how to transition her to new food? :help: Emma doesn't eat treats so I don't have that option. I really don't want to keep using FortiFlora.
I’m surprised she was reluctant to even the smallest addition of new food. Does she not even take it if it such a tiny bit really mixed in there? That’s what I had to do along with mixing in kibble to get Pumbaa to even touch it. Does she have any preferences for super smelly foods? Dried fish or freeze dried organs/meat? I’ve had great success with solid gold bone broths, they arn’t the best bone broths out there but Pumbaa loves them. Perhaps other liquid toppers like goat milk?
 

lavishsqualor

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What about sprinkling cat nip on the new food? Would that entice her?
 
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LTS3

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Neither of my cats have any reaction to cat nip. Emma will tolerate water in her food but nothing else.
 
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LTS3

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No progress :frustrated: One Raw Bite smushed into a medallion is still a no go unless FortiFlora and hariball gel are mixed in and even then maybe 80% gets eaten. I did find that Emma will eat a Raw Bite or a teeny piece of Vital Essentials if it's mixed with pate canned food. I tried one of Weruva's chunky seafood varieties and that was a no go. I may have to go the pate way to eventually get her to eat a serving of new food. Leroy is happy to eat whatever Emma doesn't eat. I have to cut down his serving sizes a bit so he's not getting too many calories.
 
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LTS3

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Update: dinner tonight was the new Raw Bites. Emma ate dinner somewhat reluctantly even with FortiFlora. Hopefully she won't decide the food is yucky and go on a hunger strike:fear: Leroy is eating Primal. He's a trash can so he eats anything, edible or not :crazy:
 
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