- Joined
- Mar 22, 2013
- Messages
- 7
- Purraise
- 1
Hi! I'm new here. First, my apologies -- this will be long. Second, thanks so much to everyone here -- I lurked for a while and, thanks in large part to what I've read here, I've managed, in two weeks, to move three of my four cats off their dry food, to the Merrick Cowboy Cookout. They love this stuff to the point where they now ignore the dry food I put out for the remaining holdout. Speaking of which:
Smudge, my overweight tabby, is 14 years old, she's never responded well to change in general, and because I've failed her miserably, she's 19 pounds. (She's three pounds less than her heaviest weight a couple of years ago, but still.)
She also hates the Cowboy Cookout food that the other three love.
Since she's always eaten chicken-based dry food, I decided to try giving her the Grammy's Pot Pie flavor. In the beginning she wouldn't eat her dry food if her dish was even near a dish of the canned food, but after a couple of days I was able to put her dry food in the same dish with some of the Grammy's Pot Pie food. At first I was encouraged, but we've gone no further in the past week and a half. She's more or less okay with the canned being in the same bowl with her kibble, but if she accidentally gets a taste of the canned she'll stop eating and walk away.
I'm wondering if she just doesn't like the Merrick food. How can you tell when a cat is resisting something because she hates the change, and when she's resisting because she simply hates this particular food?
I know there are higher-quality brands out there than Purina, but the Pro Plan Urinary Tract Health Chicken Entree in Gravy looks okay on the Catinfo chart (she had a UTI last month, which prompted my wanting to switch all four to canned). Also, I keep reading that the worst canned is better than the best dry food. Am I giving up too soon on the Merrick food if I try the Pro Plan? Any reason I shouldn't try giving her that instead?
(Yeah, I tend to overthink things.)
Smudge, my overweight tabby, is 14 years old, she's never responded well to change in general, and because I've failed her miserably, she's 19 pounds. (She's three pounds less than her heaviest weight a couple of years ago, but still.)
She also hates the Cowboy Cookout food that the other three love.
Since she's always eaten chicken-based dry food, I decided to try giving her the Grammy's Pot Pie flavor. In the beginning she wouldn't eat her dry food if her dish was even near a dish of the canned food, but after a couple of days I was able to put her dry food in the same dish with some of the Grammy's Pot Pie food. At first I was encouraged, but we've gone no further in the past week and a half. She's more or less okay with the canned being in the same bowl with her kibble, but if she accidentally gets a taste of the canned she'll stop eating and walk away.
I'm wondering if she just doesn't like the Merrick food. How can you tell when a cat is resisting something because she hates the change, and when she's resisting because she simply hates this particular food?
I know there are higher-quality brands out there than Purina, but the Pro Plan Urinary Tract Health Chicken Entree in Gravy looks okay on the Catinfo chart (she had a UTI last month, which prompted my wanting to switch all four to canned). Also, I keep reading that the worst canned is better than the best dry food. Am I giving up too soon on the Merrick food if I try the Pro Plan? Any reason I shouldn't try giving her that instead?
(Yeah, I tend to overthink things.)