We adopted now-3 year old Jackie about 5 weeks ago, and she was on primarily a kibble diet but we really had no insight into what she was eating, or liked eating, or anything. We switched her right away to Orijen kibble (which she liked a lot) to at least give her a "healthier" kibble, and started trying to transition her to wet and raw, first by putting her on scheduled feeding. She did not really appear very food-motivated at all and there was a lot of trial and error to start...she is not at all interested in any of the pates I tried it turns out (not even kitty crack Fancy Feast!), and while she would nibble at some like Weruva Paw Lickin' Chicken she was not enthusiastic...I had to coax her to eat it with crushed treats and/or feeding her from my hand bit by bit. She would eat the Nature's Variety Raw, but there would still need be bribes with crumbled treats to get her to actually finish an entire meal. She is a pretty small cat and could not afford to be losing weight so it was a bit stressful trying to make sure she did eat enough. I threw out/returned a lot! But, I was patient and stuck to it and just bought more brands and flavours and kept trying with bribes and hand feeding. She does drink a lot of water, but I really wanted her on an all wet and raw diet, as my bridge kitties had problems from dry diets.
We spayed her about 3 weeks ago, and then left her about a week later with a 2x a day pet sitter for ten days. I had the pet sitter feed her twice a day (12 hours apart), 1/2 can of wet (or one small can) and then leave her about 1/2 TBSP of her kibble when she left to make up for calories and such knowing (thinking) she would not eat all the wet stuff most of the time. I did not have pet sitter feed raw for convenience of the pet sitter
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Well, something changed while we were away as we got back and apparently Jackie now LOVES her wet food! The pet sitter was like "yeah, she has no problem eating...she liked everything I put down for her!". Maybe due to not having to worry about her hormones from being in heat anymore and having an appetite (she still remains active like a much younger cat), but we got back and now she is officially on an all wet and raw diet with no kibble at all...I guess I have some small bags to donate to the shelter. She still won't eat pate (she kind of looks at it like I would look at a bowl of ice milk if I was wanting ice cream!), but she will eat a variety of shredded/chunks of grain-free Merrick, Weruva/Cats in The Kitchen and Wellness in the canned & pouches, and it turns out she LOVES the Red Dog Blue Kat raw I started feeding her a few days ago in pretty much every variety I have tried so far (they are a Vancouver company). She now actually rushes to her bowl at meal times and is so excited to eat she is climbing up my leg. I do feed her a mix of wet and raw everyday right now.
But, I do have to go from 2x feeding a day to 3 for my sanity....I feed her at 4:30 am when I wake up and before I leave for gym, and again at 4:30/5 pm when I get home from work. But now she starts whining for more food between 10pm and 4:00am, much to the chagrin of my husband who needs his sleep (and I am an early riser but I still need my sleep!)...and she does already get all the calories she is supposed to get apparently and is just being a bit greedy I think. So, I am thinking of feeding her half her daily calories (total of 180/day) still when I get up/before I leave at 4:30 AM to get her through the 12 hour stretch, and then dividing the other half of her daily calories into 2, one at 4:30/5 and one at 10/11 to hopefully get a bit more sleep through the night.
I don't know what happened, but I am happy it did! She was pretty healthy when we got her aside from some ear mites and conjunctivitis, but she is even better now. Her fur is soooo soft (reminds me of my bridge bunny's fur), she is super playful and active, though fortunately just as snuggly.
We spayed her about 3 weeks ago, and then left her about a week later with a 2x a day pet sitter for ten days. I had the pet sitter feed her twice a day (12 hours apart), 1/2 can of wet (or one small can) and then leave her about 1/2 TBSP of her kibble when she left to make up for calories and such knowing (thinking) she would not eat all the wet stuff most of the time. I did not have pet sitter feed raw for convenience of the pet sitter
. Well, something changed while we were away as we got back and apparently Jackie now LOVES her wet food! The pet sitter was like "yeah, she has no problem eating...she liked everything I put down for her!". Maybe due to not having to worry about her hormones from being in heat anymore and having an appetite (she still remains active like a much younger cat), but we got back and now she is officially on an all wet and raw diet with no kibble at all...I guess I have some small bags to donate to the shelter
. She still won't eat pate (she kind of looks at it like I would look at a bowl of ice milk if I was wanting ice cream!), but she will eat a variety of shredded/chunks of grain-free Merrick, Weruva/Cats in The Kitchen and Wellness in the canned & pouches, and it turns out she LOVES the Red Dog Blue Kat raw I started feeding her a few days ago in pretty much every variety I have tried so far (they are a Vancouver company). She now actually rushes to her bowl at meal times and is so excited to eat she is climbing up my leg. I do feed her a mix of wet and raw everyday right now.But, I do have to go from 2x feeding a day to 3 for my sanity....I feed her at 4:30 am when I wake up and before I leave for gym, and again at 4:30/5 pm when I get home from work. But now she starts whining for more food between 10pm and 4:00am, much to the chagrin of my husband who needs his sleep (and I am an early riser but I still need my sleep!)...and she does already get all the calories she is supposed to get apparently and is just being a bit greedy I think
. So, I am thinking of feeding her half her daily calories (total of 180/day) still when I get up/before I leave at 4:30 AM to get her through the 12 hour stretch, and then dividing the other half of her daily calories into 2, one at 4:30/5 and one at 10/11 to hopefully get a bit more sleep through the night. I don't know what happened, but I am happy it did! She was pretty healthy when we got her aside from some ear mites and conjunctivitis, but she is even better now. Her fur is soooo soft (reminds me of my bridge bunny's fur), she is super playful and active, though fortunately just as snuggly.
