Yup, another question about getting the cat to eat more.
We've had our 11-year-old indoor cat for at least 10 years. Early on, we fed wet food twice/day and kept dry food available all the time. Worked fine.
A couple years ago our vet commented that she was slowly losing weight so we tried some higher-calorie wet foods and different dry foods, but continued feeding twice/day. Not long after that our vet recommended we feed wet food more frequently (morning, noon, evening), so we tried a bunch of canned foods from local pet suppliers that carry a variety of standard wet foods.
We usually mix a small amount of slightly diluted chicken broth with the wet food (vet recommended this to provide additional moisture), and warm the food slightly so it's at least room temperature.
Some she ate, though grudgingly, most she wouldn't even touch. Beef, chicken, turkey, didn't seem to matter. Then we found the individual servings for Iams and Crave and switched to those. This way there's no old food sitting in the fridge and we know how much we're feeding. Continued to use the broth.
Cat appeared to like the Iam's pate, Crave pate' and especially like the Crave Chicken in Gravy and Crave Turkey in Gravy.
In general, she's a nibbler, not a gobbler, and she would eat the broth and some of the food from each feeding. But she rarely finished the whole serving and we'd remove it prior to the next feeding to avoid having old food sitting out.
We also tried several different dry foods since she has never been much of a dry food eater, and she SEEMED to prefer one of the Fromm's dry. She occasionally nibbles a little dry food, but seems to MUCH prefer the wet food to the dry.
At her checkup last year (year and a half ago?) the vet found some tooth issues, and the cat had x-rays, a couple bad teeth pulled, and other vet oral care things. Recovered fine, vet says she's fine...
At her most recent checkup, earlier this year, she was pronounced healthy, with no oral problems. But, her weight is still lower than it was a couple years ago.
But, even with the recommendation to add a "treat" like Meow Mix prior to bed-time, she's still not gaining any weight. She's active when she wants to be, appears happy and healthy, and doesn't show any signs of discomfort, but she's only eating a portion, sometimes half, sometimes most, of the 1.3 oz individual portions we're feeding her four times/day. This is still LESS wet food than was recommended in our Internet search that seemed to think this 10 pound cat should be served about 6 oz/day.
And, she's not gaining any weight. I'm not sure if she's LOSING, but she's not gaining.
We don't feed beef as every time we do, the cat gets sick and vomits up the food. We feed exclusively chicken and turkey. We tried a couple varieties of seafood, but found bones in them so we have not been feeding any seafood.
Most recently she's decided she likes the turkey in gravy but DOESN'T like the chicken in gravy.
SO, long, boring way to get to the question...
Am I correct that wet food should NOT be left out for long periods?
Is there something we can put on/in the wet food that will encourage her to eat more of it? Are there wet foods that come in individual servings that are better or worse than others? Our research led us to the foods we've been service as they have less ash than some others, more protein than some, and so on. Are there other things we can we do to induce her to eat more?
We've had our 11-year-old indoor cat for at least 10 years. Early on, we fed wet food twice/day and kept dry food available all the time. Worked fine.
A couple years ago our vet commented that she was slowly losing weight so we tried some higher-calorie wet foods and different dry foods, but continued feeding twice/day. Not long after that our vet recommended we feed wet food more frequently (morning, noon, evening), so we tried a bunch of canned foods from local pet suppliers that carry a variety of standard wet foods.
We usually mix a small amount of slightly diluted chicken broth with the wet food (vet recommended this to provide additional moisture), and warm the food slightly so it's at least room temperature.
Some she ate, though grudgingly, most she wouldn't even touch. Beef, chicken, turkey, didn't seem to matter. Then we found the individual servings for Iams and Crave and switched to those. This way there's no old food sitting in the fridge and we know how much we're feeding. Continued to use the broth.
Cat appeared to like the Iam's pate, Crave pate' and especially like the Crave Chicken in Gravy and Crave Turkey in Gravy.
In general, she's a nibbler, not a gobbler, and she would eat the broth and some of the food from each feeding. But she rarely finished the whole serving and we'd remove it prior to the next feeding to avoid having old food sitting out.
We also tried several different dry foods since she has never been much of a dry food eater, and she SEEMED to prefer one of the Fromm's dry. She occasionally nibbles a little dry food, but seems to MUCH prefer the wet food to the dry.
At her checkup last year (year and a half ago?) the vet found some tooth issues, and the cat had x-rays, a couple bad teeth pulled, and other vet oral care things. Recovered fine, vet says she's fine...
At her most recent checkup, earlier this year, she was pronounced healthy, with no oral problems. But, her weight is still lower than it was a couple years ago.
But, even with the recommendation to add a "treat" like Meow Mix prior to bed-time, she's still not gaining any weight. She's active when she wants to be, appears happy and healthy, and doesn't show any signs of discomfort, but she's only eating a portion, sometimes half, sometimes most, of the 1.3 oz individual portions we're feeding her four times/day. This is still LESS wet food than was recommended in our Internet search that seemed to think this 10 pound cat should be served about 6 oz/day.
And, she's not gaining any weight. I'm not sure if she's LOSING, but she's not gaining.
We don't feed beef as every time we do, the cat gets sick and vomits up the food. We feed exclusively chicken and turkey. We tried a couple varieties of seafood, but found bones in them so we have not been feeding any seafood.
Most recently she's decided she likes the turkey in gravy but DOESN'T like the chicken in gravy.
SO, long, boring way to get to the question...
Am I correct that wet food should NOT be left out for long periods?
Is there something we can put on/in the wet food that will encourage her to eat more of it? Are there wet foods that come in individual servings that are better or worse than others? Our research led us to the foods we've been service as they have less ash than some others, more protein than some, and so on. Are there other things we can we do to induce her to eat more?