Hey there,
I have 2 cats, brother and sister who are both about 15 years old. I used to feed them a high quality kibble, but when I started to learn more about raw, I wanted to switch them, gotta get as much kitty love as I can out of them! Anyways, I was reading up on switching older cats and how it can be a bit of a pain in the arse because cats can be quite particular about food and feeding regimes (mine definitely were) and I read to switch them to wet food first (which was easy because they LOVE wet food) and then gradually mix the wet food into some raw and just keep reducing the amout of canned wet and increasing the amount of fresh raw. I have done this and they have been switching over quite well considering how long they were on kibble for and how different raw can be, my only problem is that they won't eat AT ALL if there is none of the canned wet in it. I don't put very much, but they would rather not eat for a day than to eat raw without the mix. I have a dog and I switched him and I had heard a lot that for dogs, not to mix raw and cooked or raw and kibble because it's hard on thier GI tract and I was wondering if it is the same thing for cat?? They only need a teaspoon per meal (I think they just won't eat straight raw because it doesn't smell like anything where as wet food has a very powerful smell) but I don't want to be hurting my cats. I imagine making this transition after 15 years of only eatting kibble is hard enough... Any suggestionns that might make it easier, or is it okay to sort of mix a little in each time??
I have 2 cats, brother and sister who are both about 15 years old. I used to feed them a high quality kibble, but when I started to learn more about raw, I wanted to switch them, gotta get as much kitty love as I can out of them! Anyways, I was reading up on switching older cats and how it can be a bit of a pain in the arse because cats can be quite particular about food and feeding regimes (mine definitely were) and I read to switch them to wet food first (which was easy because they LOVE wet food) and then gradually mix the wet food into some raw and just keep reducing the amout of canned wet and increasing the amount of fresh raw. I have done this and they have been switching over quite well considering how long they were on kibble for and how different raw can be, my only problem is that they won't eat AT ALL if there is none of the canned wet in it. I don't put very much, but they would rather not eat for a day than to eat raw without the mix. I have a dog and I switched him and I had heard a lot that for dogs, not to mix raw and cooked or raw and kibble because it's hard on thier GI tract and I was wondering if it is the same thing for cat?? They only need a teaspoon per meal (I think they just won't eat straight raw because it doesn't smell like anything where as wet food has a very powerful smell) but I don't want to be hurting my cats. I imagine making this transition after 15 years of only eatting kibble is hard enough... Any suggestionns that might make it easier, or is it okay to sort of mix a little in each time??