Switch To Canned Food Only?

[teestro]

I’ve recently been reading a lot about how a wet or raw food only diet is the most optimal for cats, and am thinking of switching my cat to a wet food only diet. He is a picky eater, and normally eats more of his dry than wet. This could possibly be because he may have only been given dry food most of his life- I recently adopted him, and he is most likely between the ages of 5-7. Thus far, I've given him blue buffalo canned food and natural balance. It's not that he does not like them, but I haven't found a brand/flavor that he loves and eats right away. Most of the time, I have to either throw some of it away as well, because it is sitting out for too long. Any suggestions from those of you who may have transitioned their cats to wet-food-only diets? Any picky cat owners, and if so, what brands of food have you used/what was the outcome?

 

[jen]

Definitely a fan of all canned or raw diet. Look for the smaller cans and try a variety. My one cat only likes when there is a bunch of brothy liquid in the food. So I found Iams grain free canned in broth was good for her. The big pet stores have a huge selection you can choose a bunch of the small cans or pouches. Weruva and I think BFF make a pouch food that is very liquidy.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! The Big Guy was mostly kibble, and is picky.
I feed a variety of brands, about 2/3 wet 1/3 dry in a day.
If he gets stubborn about something I want him to eat I'll try topper products, or tuna, tuna juice, fancy feast broth, crumbled favorite treats, purebite treats, in or on the food.
Abound, American journey, Merrick Backcountry, redbarn, luvsome, purevita, and good life kibble are what I have in the cabinet.
For online shopping, Only Natural Pet and the big bad woof are stores that let you purchase small quantities.
Best of luck, and thank you for being such a caring cat person!?

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh, and it is ok to leave wet food out for up to 12 hours.

 

[MissMolly08]

I switched my cat slowly from an all dry diet to an all wet diet. I tried a few different things... offering a little wet on the side of her dry, offering 1 wet meal and 1 dry meal per day etc. until I found what worked best for her. I also had to try different textures/flavors. She will eat pretty much anything in pate form but if I give her "shreds", she just licks the gravy and doesn't eat the meat.
Once I knew what she liked, I dropped the dry completely and offer 2 wet meals per day. She eats Friskies canned right now but has also enjoyed Fancy Feast, Sheba, ProPlan True Nature, Merrick rabbit, Dave's and 4health.

 

[rubysmama]

When the topic of cat food comes up, you can come across people with very strong opinions about the best food for cats. My vet recommends mostly canned food, with dry food used as "treats", so that's how I feed my Ruby.

TCS has several articles on Cat Food & Feeding | TheCatSite

Here are a couple to get you started:
Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food (canned, Raw, Or Homemade)
What Makes The Best Canned Cat Food?

 

[FakeGourmet]

I've only had one cat on an all canned or cooked food diet due to IBD. I do recommend that you learn how to brush your cat's teeth because otherwise the tartar will build up. Vet could see buildup very clearly when we went from a half-and-half dry/canned food diet to the whole canned food or home cooked diet.

 

[Neo_23]

I've only had one cat on an all canned or cooked food diet due to IBD. I do recommend that you learn how to brush your cat's teeth because otherwise the tartar will build up. Vet could see buildup very clearly when we went from a half-and-half dry/canned food diet to the whole canned food or home cooked diet.

Dry food doesn’t clean teeth. You should brush your cat’s teeth regardless of what you’re feeding. Or, give them raw bones to chew.

 

[Neo_23]

I’ve recently been reading a lot about how a wet or raw food only diet is the most optimal for cats, and am thinking of switching my cat to a wet food only diet. He is a picky eater, and normally eats more of his dry than wet. This could possibly be because he may have only been given dry food most of his life- I recently adopted him, and he is most likely between the ages of 5-7. Thus far, I've given him blue buffalo canned food and natural balance. It's not that he does not like them, but I haven't found a brand/flavor that he loves and eats right away. Most of the time, I have to either throw some of it away as well, because it is sitting out for too long. Any suggestions from those of you who may have transitioned their cats to wet-food-only diets? Any picky cat owners, and if so, what brands of food have you used/what was the outcome?

Good choice to go all canned.

How much food do you put out at a time? It’s normal for cats to not eat a large meal at once, they’re designed to eat multiple small meals throughout the day. You can just leave the canned food out for your cat to come back to.

 

[FakeGourmet]

Dry food doesn’t clean teeth.

We disagree. I had visual evidence that taking away dry food made a difference with 3 different cats.

 

[Neo_23]

We disagree. I had visual evidence that taking away dry food made a difference with 3 different cats.

Or maybe it was just time? I don’t think you have sufficient grounds to make causal claims.

 

[lalagimp]

Dry food did squat for my bub's teeth. I would get the sheaths of tartar off with a dental scaler. Then I stopped doing it for a year or two because I lost the tool, and then took him for a professional cleaning at age 8. Fortunately though he will eat anything, so it was really easy getting him off dry when his bladder defected and moving him to cans and raw.

My oldest cat was a stubborn kibble junkie. She's had 6 extractions and wouldn't eat wet food. She did recognise fried chicken and chicken wings as food, so she wasn't hopeless. I put a split dish in her feeder with kibble on one side and wet on the other. After about a week she understood that it was food, too. Wet isn't primary for her, but she'll eat shreds, pate, chunks in gravy.

The girls' food has to be cooked, and they don't like Honest Kitchen dehydrated. I did just get a package of Stella and Chewy Duck Duck Goose to try on the ladies this month. I'm not sure how they'll feel because it's dehydrated raw, but we'll see.

 

[Neo_23]

Let's remember also that tooth decay is fueled by sugar, so high carb diets (aka dry food diets) will contribute more to tooth decay than low carb diets (aka wet food diets).

 

[teestro]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I definitely want to slowly transition him to just wet food. I usually put out maybe a little over a spoon full (not much) three times per day for him. So for a smaller can that’s 3 oz. maybe 1/4 ? Or less- not good with math lol. I’ll keep introducing and see what he enjoys most. He’s actually going to need dental work done later this month, as his previous owner I’m assuming never took care of his teeth. He will most likely need 5 or more extractions but once he is healed, as per my vet, I am going to start brushing his teeth regularly. Right now, she wants me to wait because he may be super resistant due to pain.

 

[10009891]

IAM's food uses "meat by products." This includes but not limited to meat from road kill, zoo animals, and diseased animals in kill shelters.

 

[teestro]

IAM's food uses "meat by products." This includes but not limited to meat from road kill, zoo animals, and diseased animals in kill shelters.

I will certainly not look into that brand then. Thank you. My vet recommended blue buffalo (which I’m giving my cat now) and natural balance. But, I would like to try some more, as he is not super into most of the flavors of tried, in those brands.

 

[EmmiTemmi]

IAM's food uses "meat by products." This includes but not limited to meat from road kill, zoo animals, and diseased animals in kill shelters

The legal definition may include that, but it doesn't mean the company uses it, right? I know no pet food company any of my friends has interned at has ever used diseased/road kill animals in their formulas.

 

[MissMolly08]

IAM's food uses "meat by products." This includes but not limited to meat from road kill, zoo animals, and diseased animals in kill shelters.

Read the AAFCO definition of by products. This is simply not true.

“Meat by-products is the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially de-fatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs. It shall be suitable for use in animal feed. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.”

To put it another way, it is most of the parts of the animal other than the muscle tissue, including the internal organs and bones. It includes some of the parts people eat (such as livers, kidneys and tripe), but also parts that are not typically consumed by humans in the US. Some by-products, like udders and lungs are not deemed "edible" by USDA for human consumption, but they can be perfectly safe and nutritious for animals not inclined to be swayed by the unappealing nature of these parts of animals. As with "meat," unless the by-products are derived from cattle, pigs, sheep or goats, the species must be identified.

The Association of American Feed Control Officials > Consumers > What is in Pet Food

 

[duckpond]

I feed wet and dry, in my opinion it doesn't need to be an all or nothing deal. I feed all the wet they will eat, 2 or 3 times per day, and i do leave out Dr. Elseys dry food, it have very low carbs.

I try to avoid foods with grains, potatoes, peas, and fruits and vegetables as much as possible. Cats need High protein, moderate fat, and low carbs. I will not feed foods that have Carrageenan, Agar-Agar, or spinach in them. Im not a big fan of meat by products, but honestly i would rather have that in my cat food than a lot of plant material.

My guys are fond of most Weruva flavors, Tiki Cat, Against the grain, some of the Fussie cat supper premium flavors, some almo nature, some American journey, nutro minced chicken and sliced turkey, and the nulo minced flavors. some of the fancy feast classics and the kitchen selects from tractor supply, but only the chicken flavor pate. These are just some that work for us, my guys normally are not big fans of pate. Try different brands, proteins, and types of food, im sure you will find some your guy like

 

[glassgoblin]

I'm trying to transition my kitty to mostly wet now too; we've been working with the pancreatitis but niew she was diagnosed with diabetes yesterday. She have never eaten more than one can in a 24hr period though and usually less. She likes crunchy food and treats, or only pate type wet foods- nothing chewy. One of our problems is that she is refusing the eat the food she had been loving until yesterday and the Royal canin glycobalance the vet gave us is making her puke as she is eating.