Making Switches To Food?

[Dags]

Are cats the same as dogs where you have to introduce new food slowly mixing it in with the old?
If so why is that?

Does anyone do like a bowl of dry food and a small plate of wet? can a wet be mixed with a dry?

Thanks

 

[duckpond]

Many people say they do need to introduce new food for cats slowly, mix a little new with the old and gradually increase the new over a week or two. However with my cats i don't normally find that works well. I try to only buy 3 or so cans of a new food, they often wont eat it the first time, but by the 3rd can if they will ever eat it they do. Many cats do not like change And some cats can have a sensitive tummy with new food, thankfully mine do not.

You can mix wet and dry, but as i understand you will need to do this as a meal, not leave it out. the wet mixed with the dry can cause bacteria to develop rather rapidly. so if i did that i would pick it up and throw away after 30 min or so. I feed wet and dry, separate. I put out 2 3 oz cans split between 4 cats in the morning, and again in the evening. wet by itself i don't have a problem leaving out until i get home at lunch, its normally all eaten by then, and the evening i pick it up before bed. I do leave out Dr. Elsey's or occasionally another dry, such as farmina at all times. Some have a problem free feeding dry, but i have found with a high protein, low carb food that my cats do not over eat, they just seem to like to nibble little bits throughout the day, and night lol. If i were feeding a higher carb dry, or had an over eater, i would feed a few small meals of dry as well, rather than free feed. Fat cats are not healthy. Just what works for us.

 

[kat hamlin]

I generally recommend mixing in the old dry food with the new dry food, to slowly acclimate the digestion system to a new food source. However, some cats, as with some dogs, will pick out the food they want and leave the one they don't, which defeats the purpose. Hopefully this is the new food, but in the end the result is the same--they switch cold turkey. There may be some digestive upset while the cat's system adjusts its beneficial bacterial flora to meet the digestive needs. Probiotics such as Benebac or Fortiflora can be useful during this time.
I leave out a dry food for nibbling throughout the day and feed wet food only at a specified time. I do not like the idea of leaving out wet food, especially in the summer, although I have seen studies that say that it remains safely edible for 8-12 hours, just sitting out. But with the number of cats in my house, I have a hard time imagining anyone leaving wet food out for that long! It would be gobbled up!
I do not mix wet with dry for the same reason--I'd be throwing out the dry and wasting it if the wet weren't eaten. Even if the wet were eaten (I can imagine my cats going in and licking it off the kibbles) then dry pieces have all been licked, and that's just gross. From a human standpoint, at least. The only time I mix wet and dry is when weaning small kittens onto the idea of chewing food.
Some cats cannot be free-fed as they will overeat. If you have just one or two cats, I recommend setting meal times for the dry food as well--or at least not refilling the bowl all the time whenever it is empty. Measured intake is desirable for a healthy weight and also so you can tell how much your kitties are eating. It just isn't feasible for my household because of the number of kitties eating.
Let's say you have one cat, and the recommended serving of dry food is probably around...1/2 cup? per day? I don't know off hand. But pretend. You can divide that recommended serving up into two or three meals throughout the day. It doesn't matter if kitty doesn't eat it all at once, but it only gets doled out at "meal times". This controls how much food kitty is getting and will help maintain a healthy weight by preventing overeating. Having a full bowl, all the time, for one cat may lead to a fatty catty, which is not healthy.
A caveat--start this pattern early on, because otherwise cats will become accustomed to full bowls at all times, and they will develop the pickiness where "oh there are five kibbles missing from my bowl, human slave needs to refill it NOW!" Fresh water should always be available. For kittens, you may be feeding a good bit more, and more frequently, than for adults as they have greater caloric needs.
The other reason meals are better than free-feeding is let's say my kitty needs emergency surgery, I can know with pretty decent precision how much he's eaten and when. Takes the guesswork out of the picture for vet about whether they need to induce vomiting before anesthesia, or expect vomiting during induction, or know that tummy is mostly empty. Your vet also appreciates knowing to a greater degree how much your cat is eating, and it's easier for you to see a potential problem developing if your cat stops eating, or starts eating less.

 

[Dags]

thanks for the replies