How to get a former "Shelter cat" to accept and eat "wet, canned" cat food

[mazie]

I have recently adoped a shelter cat from an Atlanta SPCA shelter. The cats are fed dry cat food and I am having a hard time getting her to eat wet food. Twice a day a put down "Fancy Feast" canned food for her, that is the type of canned food they feed at that shelter on the rare occasions they are fed canned food. Katy will take a few bites and then walk away, not interested. I have had Katy for 2 weeks now. I would love to get her weaned from the dry, but am having a hard time getting her to switch. Any suggestions? As it is, I end up giving the canned food to my ferals outside. Thanks

 

[lisahe]

I have recently adoped a shelter cat from an Atlanta SPCA shelter. The cats are fed dry cat food and I am having a hard time getting her to eat wet food. Twice a day a put down "Fancy Feast" canned food for her, that is the type of canned food they feed at that shelter on the rare occasions they are fed canned food. Katy will take a few bites and then walk away, not interested. I have had Katy for 2 weeks now. I would love to get her weaned from the dry, but am having a hard time getting her to switch. Any suggestions? As it is, I end up giving the canned food to my ferals outside. Thanks

I'd probably try branching out and feeding Katy some other foods, to give her a variety to try. (At least she's taking a few bites... that's a start.) If you're looking for grocery store brands, maybe she'd eat Friskies (the pates are their best foods) or Sheba. One brand that a lot of picky cats seem to love is Nutro Natural Choice (available at Petco and Petsmart). The chunky chicken seems to be a big favorite. (Including for our cats!) Texture is also important: some cats prefer pates, others prefer shreds and "minced" foods.

You could also try crumbling a little dry food on top of the wet food. That helped us a lot when we weaned our cats off dry food. We cut them back on dry food gradually, as we brought in more and more wet food.

Good luck!

 

[catpack]

You'll likely need to try several different wet food brands and textures. Katy may prefer something like Tiki Cat (actual shredded meat), the Pride line made by Nature's Variety (this is a chunky food), or simply a different brand.

My personal cats like Purely Fancy Feast (the trays), BFF (tuna & pumpkin is the fav!), Purina's Muse line and Nature's Variety Instinct.

Among the rescue, the favs are Soulistic (Petco brand), Nature's Variety Instinct and Simply Nourish chicken stew (Petsmart brand).

For my personal cats, I keep a few bags of Stella & Chewy freeze-dried raw food (they like most flavors) and crumble up a few dried pieces to use as a topper for the food.

You could also use freeze-dried chicken, something called Bonita flakes, or even Parmasean cheese sprinkled over the top.

Ultimately, though, most of us that feed canned food have had to do a trial and error of brands/flavors/textures to find something our kitties like.

 

[Columbine]

To start with, you need to get her onto timed feeds. If dry food is always available you'll have a much harder time getting her to switch to wet.

One of the easiest ways to get a cat to switch from kibble is to use toppers on the wet food to make it extra tempting. If she's a real kibble addict, FortiFlora may be your best bet, as it's primarily animal digest - the same stuff kibble is often coated in to make it palatable. You don't need to use the specified quantities - you want it for its flavour, not the probiotic.

Other popular toppers are crumbled Purebites, bonito flakes and finely grated Parmesan, but the list really is endless. If Katy likes it, try it. [article="31138"][/article][article="31129"][/article]

 

[mazie]

Thank you Columbine, Cat Pack and Lisa HE, all good suggestions, gave me alot to go on. I have already tried the Friskies wet food, that is what I feed my ferals, I have tried the pate, shredded, bits, you name it. I will keep trying and incorporate the other ideas you folks have given, the other brands give, sprinkling, etc. Thanks!

 

[2cats4me]

Thank you Columbine, Cat Pack and Lisa HE, all good suggestions, gave me alot to go on. I have already tried the Friskies wet food, that is what I feed my ferals, I have tried the pate, shredded, bits, you name it. I will keep trying and incorporate the other ideas you folks have given, the other brands give, sprinkling, etc. Thank  

Hello , congrats on your new kitty ..  My cats are super picky .. It took me forever to get them eating mostly wet food (appx 80%) plus kibble as a topper . They will only eat the cheaper brands . They like Fancy Feast Classic , Special Kitty but primarily eating Friskies Pate . I do have to feed them a little kibble on top though .  I  think you just have to keep trying different things until you find something that works .

 

[mazie]

You know, 2Cats4Me, you are right, just experiement and find out what works with her. Thanks