Transitioning Luna to raw from canned food

[kittylover23]

Hi all! Before I explain here is a huge update on who Luna is and what my kitties are currently eating.

Cookie and Cuddles are still eating their commercial raw (Nature's Variety) because with school being so hectic, I really can't find the time to make their meals myself, even though I would absolutely love to. They really love their raw, and I rotate proteins so that they have a different protein almost every day of the week. Keeps things interesting! Luna, our current three month old foster kitten, has been eating wet food during her stay with us. I figured that it would be great to have her on a wet diet for now because her potential adopter may not want to feed raw.

WELL...turns out, Luna may become our third cat...(NOT OFFICIAL YET!!)

So, I attempted to introduce her to raw. I put a bowl of Nature's Variety raw chicken in front of her and she looked at me with this face that said "WHERE IS MY WET FOOD, WOMAN?!"

And she refused to eat it. SO, I was wondering if my lovely TCS buddies had some tips for me?

 

[ritz]

Start off slowly, like a piece of raw mixed with whatever she is eating now.  And do it when she is especially hungry.

I am "fostering" Twiddledee, abandoned in January 2012, part of my feral/stay cat colony, I removed him from the colony in early October because he has/had a problem with his paw. First I stopped giving him any dry food after a week, and he didnt' seem to miss the dry although he still acts hungry most of the time.  Now I fed him relatively high quality wet food (Wellness, Core, BG, Soulistic) and Fancy Feast Classic Beef.

Now, I am sneaking in a morsel of raw beef/pork with his wet food and he is eating it. I plan to increase the proportion slowly.  High quality wet food is more expensive than raw.  I would assume he ate the occasional mouse in the wild (no rabbits in the area) or squirrel.

 

[ldg]

Just start slow! If she's eating wet, that makes it a LOT easier. :nod: Mix it in, and slowly increase the amount. You can also use freeze dried meat treats to powder on top as an enticement.

 

[kittylover23]

Thanks guys!

Luna (also known as Looney Tunes :lol3 ate her canned food with a pea sized amount of raw mixed in!!! Woohoo! I'm going to keep going slow and see what happens!

 

[ldg]

At least she isn't fussy enough to walk away from that! Some are - so that's great!