I am about at my wit's end -- and a very real deadline -- in trying to transition a 10-year-old cat to Dr. Lisa Pierson's raw food diet from a no-grain canned variety. We started about 3 months ago when 4-year-old New Kitty joined us. She was already on Dr. Pierson's recipe, so I decided to try to move Big Boy there as well. He eats it, but just not very much. He's gone from 16 to 14 lbs in that time and is eating only maybe 1/4 cup of food per day. He was never fat, just big, and now isn't emaciated, but definitely has a thinner silhouette. Aside from the low food intake, he seems his normal self, and he and New Kitty play together almost every day.
New Kitty came from a household where she was #3 of 3 cats and thus became a very fast eater in self-defense. So she's usually done and trying to nose him out of his bowl when he's still getting started. He is standing his ground better so I don't think her pushiness is the main issue. I looks like he just gets bored with his food. We've tried picking it up and putting it down a little later, and sometimes he'll eat more then, but that's not practical in the long run -- and especially not with the cat sitter who can't be here all day waiting for him to eat!
Ideally, I would just try to stick it out and experiment with different ways of making it yummy for him. (Forta Flora doesn't quite do the trick.) But I'm up against a hard deadline: We're leaving on a 3-week trip soon, so I need his eating habits to be stable so the cat sitter can have care without worries.
So, I'm thinking of keeping New Kitty on the raw diet but transitioning Big Boy back to a good high-protein low-carb canned food. (I can always give the Dr. P diet another try after we get back.) But before I give up for now, does anyone have any suggestions for making it tastier, easier to eat, etc.?
Thanks. And thanks from my handsome Big Boy:
New Kitty came from a household where she was #3 of 3 cats and thus became a very fast eater in self-defense. So she's usually done and trying to nose him out of his bowl when he's still getting started. He is standing his ground better so I don't think her pushiness is the main issue. I looks like he just gets bored with his food. We've tried picking it up and putting it down a little later, and sometimes he'll eat more then, but that's not practical in the long run -- and especially not with the cat sitter who can't be here all day waiting for him to eat!
Ideally, I would just try to stick it out and experiment with different ways of making it yummy for him. (Forta Flora doesn't quite do the trick.) But I'm up against a hard deadline: We're leaving on a 3-week trip soon, so I need his eating habits to be stable so the cat sitter can have care without worries.
So, I'm thinking of keeping New Kitty on the raw diet but transitioning Big Boy back to a good high-protein low-carb canned food. (I can always give the Dr. P diet another try after we get back.) But before I give up for now, does anyone have any suggestions for making it tastier, easier to eat, etc.?
Thanks. And thanks from my handsome Big Boy:
