Trying to feed wet

Honorarykeeperofcats

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I finally made the decision to introduce wet because I know cats need proper moisture and a dry food can not supply that - I have 3 cats - I put down two 3 ounce cans of wet food a couple hours ago and they all ate a small amount over two or three times - there is probably half a 3 oz can left on the plate. My plan is if I can get them switched completely to wet food I will feed Ziwi Peak mackerel and lamb or alternate proteins
 

danteshuman

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Well a few things:

cats are grazers. The most I plan on one cat eating in one setting is 1/2 a 3 oz can. Usually they eat 1/3 of a can.

Next I could only get my twerp to eat wet if it had tuna in it. 🤦🏻‍♀️ So avoid fish if you can.

You can try toppers like shredded dried tuna or dried shrimp or forti flora.

I finally gave up on my fish addict and settled on feeding him 3 mini meals a day & unlimited dry food. He eats 1/16-1/4 cup dry and about 1.5 cans of wet a day (that he leaves leftovers of.) I get him to eat beef or turkey twice a week for variety but the rest is tuna and ****, tuna and chicken, tuna and beef ....... etc.

Go really slow. Cats hate change. It took me 6 months to get Jackie on mostly wet, 2 years of fighting him (even taking away his dry food for 12 hours to try to get him to eat healthy fish free wet food) until I finally surrendered. If your house is at room temperature & you feed them on non paper plate , you can safely leave out their wet food for up to 12 hours. You might want to add some water to it if you are going to leave it out a long time. Your cats will nibble & come back to it.

When I was trying to get Jackie on mainly wet I fed him his dry food in a puzzle feeder. It was just messy so I went back to his small bowl of dry food. You can also try only giving your cats a nibble of dry food 1 tablespoon at a time to wean them off of it.

Good luck, hang in there!
 
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Honorarykeeperofcats

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Alas, feeding wet is a lot harder than one would think, especially when they are used to kibble. I’ll keep trying but I bought fountains for them so I don’t feel too bad about feeding farmina prime varieties mainly
 

BellaGooch

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Alas, feeding wet is a lot harder than one would think, especially when they are used to kibble. I’ll keep trying but I bought fountains for them so I don’t feel too bad about feeding farmina prime varieties mainly
One of my cats was hesitant about wet food. I mixed in dry food and made sure the wet food wasn’t cold, as recommended to me by some members. It worked and now she loves wet food.
 

danteshuman

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That warming the food up bit is true I nuke Jackie’s food for 5 seconds (1/2 can on paper plate,) stir his food then serve. I’m just taking the chill off of the food when I pull it out of the fridge. I’m not trying to make it hot, just room temperature.
 

ladytimedramon

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it also could be texture. Delilah will turn her nose up at 95% of the pates. She will only eat cat minced, shreds (that don't look like real meat), chopped, ground, or small chunks. There are some cats that only eat pate as well. She gets 3 servings of wet (1 5oz can divided) and 2 tbsp of dry for lunch when I'm not home and 3am snacks. The kibble is in a timed feeder.
 

danteshuman

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Yep Jackie hates all pate, likes fancy feast sized chunks and is so picky I break up the chunks from his my BFF food (I add a teaspoon of water to each half pouch to get the texture juuuuuusssssstttttt right.) Spoiled kitties!

The good news is all my extra work and frustration paid off. My twerp now eats mainly wet! 4/5’s of his diet is wet. So your kitty can get there to. 😀
 

TardisDance

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My cat is a gravy lover and hates anything pate. It took about 6 months. I have been splitting 3 oz. of food between 2 meals. I try to make sure I don’t give the same flavor for 2 meals in row. She grazes on both plates all day and night and I usually add water to prevent drying. When I get up the next morning, about 85% is eaten. She tends to always leave some meat behind.

She had tooth issues and had a tooth extraction about a month which I think contributed to the pickiness. She’s still picky but does eat much more at a time of the flavors she does like, mainly chicken varieties of Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers and Creamy Delights. She’s iffy about turkey. I can usually get her going by either giving her a Kittles treat first and/or sprinkling 3-4 pieces of kibble on top of the wet food. I was putting Fortiflora on too, but I think she had a bad reaction to it as she started itching like crazy and overgrooming so I stopped. Some people swear by Fortiflora though.

I tried to take away her dry food when she had her extraction, but she went on a hunger strike (she wouldn’t eat moistened dry food which the vet suggested). As soon as I put down the dry food, she immediately ate the wet food. Thankfully she didn’t break her sutures.
 
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