Transition: but what if he won't eat the old food?

[lueyfufu]

How do you slowly transition Kitty to a new food if he refuses to eat the old food?

We set down a plate with 1/4 portion of new food, and a separate plate with 3/4 portion of old food. He wolfs down the new food and leaves the old food to dry up and eventually end up in the trash.

We've tried putting both on the same plate. (He ate around the old food.) We've tried mixing them. (He refused the mixture altogether.) We've tried presenting each at separate times. (He ate the new & ignored the old.)

All the advice I could find about food transitions only talks about what to do when Kitty doesn't like the new food. But if he doesn't like the OLD food, do you just go full-new and deal with the digestive consequences?

 

[verna davies]

Can you sprinkle some Fortiflora or crumbled treats on top of the old, anything that he really likes. If he wont touch the old I dont think you have any option but to go fully with the new and hope it doesn't upset his tummy.

 

[vansX2]

How do you slowly transition Kitty to a new food if he refuses to eat the old food?

We set down a plate with 1/4 portion of new food, and a separate plate with 3/4 portion of old food. He wolfs down the new food and leaves the old food to dry up and eventually end up in the trash.

We've tried putting both on the same plate. (He ate around the old food.) We've tried mixing them. (He refused the mixture altogether.) We've tried presenting each at separate times. (He ate the new & ignored the old.)

All the advice I could find about food transitions only talks about what to do when Kitty doesn't like the new food. But if he doesn't like the OLD food, do you just go full-new and deal with the digestive consequences?

I guess Kitty's telling you what he will put up with and what he won't. My older cat Black/White "Miles". Will whine when he thinks that his water fountain filter needs changing. My DW understands him better than I. So she will change the filter as soon as he sounds off.

 

[FeebysOwner]

If this is a canned food transition, and the ingredients aren't extraordinarily different, a gradual change might not be as crucial. In addition to the Forti Flora or crumbled treat options, you could try some of the lickable treats that are available as a topper. There are tons to choose from, just do an internet search on 'lickable cat treats' to see your choices.

EDIT: is there any chance this last batch of his old food is 'bad'? You might try getting a few cans from a local pet store to see if he will eat those instead.

 

[lueyfufu]

We'd like to transition from Merrick Backcountry rabbit/gravy pouches to some other canned or wet food. We're trying to at least stay within the same brand for now to hopefully avoid too drastic of a change for his little body.

In the past, I have tried adding a treat he likes as a topper, but that just put him off the treat altogether.

We did try getting pouches from a different batch of food, thinking the other batch might have been bad, but his response was the same. But along those lines, I do wonder with the recent shortages in some of these food flavors like rabbit and beef if the manufacturer has resorted to lesser-quality protein sources in order to get them back on the shelves.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I do wonder with the recent shortages in some of these food flavors like rabbit and beef if the manufacturer has resorted to lesser-quality protein sources in order to get them back on the shelves.

I think from all that I have read, and experienced myself, that is a very good possibility!

 

[Alldara]

I have never done a gradual switch for wet food and never, personally had any issues. (Making this a bit of a bias opinion, for consideration)

If you cat won't eat it, I wouldn't force it. We might not be able to tell if it's gone bad as humans, or the new food might just be more agreeable to his digestive system to begin with. If you aren't notice any issues and he hasn't been eating the old food, he's likely to be fine.

 

[lisahe]

I have never done a gradual switch for wet food and never, personally had any issues. (Making this a bit of a bias opinion, for consideration)

If you cat won't eat it, I wouldn't force it. We might not be able to tell if it's gone bad as humans, or the new food might just be more agreeable to his digestive system to begin with. If you aren't notice any issues and he hasn't been eating the old food, he's likely to be fine.

I agree with Alldara! We also generally just give our cats a small amount of the new food, alone on a plate, to see what happens. When I did recently attempt to do a gradual introduction -- feeding each cat a plate with a little new food and a larger amount of old food -- the cats refused the new food. Even with treats. To borrow Aldara's wording, I wasn't going to force it.

Some cats do apparently need time for their digestive systems to adjust to new foods (or ingredients?) but it seems like most wet foods are fairly interchangeable unless they're radically different.