Warming up Wet Food?

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
So, my Simon had his yearly vet visit today (got the rabies and feline distemper/panleuk vaccines, as well as an ear cleaning and claw trimming) and did phenomenal. Apparently, the regimen we had in place with the miralax and l-lysine paste is working out great in terms of keeping his health in check, though I need to find a way of cleaning his ears (boy is very sensitive about his ears being messed with; No infection or mites, just gunked up ears, I guess)

Anyway, he apparently gained four pounds since we adopted him last year - moving from right around 10 lbs to 14 lbs, though the vet admits that he might've been a bit underweight for his size when we adopted him. Vet recommended that we cut him down to a half can of wet food a day - which won't work since that's how he takes his meds, but we're going to try doing just one can a day split into morning and evening feeds (If that doesn't work, we go back to two cans and just figure out a better exercise/play routine).

I put the other half of the can in a small tupperware container in the fridge - but how do I go about reheating it for his dinner? I share the microwave with other residents of the house, and they are ADAMENT that they don't want the microwave to smell like cat food (I wonder why! :lol2:)


How would y'all recommend that I reheat his dinner (since I know cats don't typically like eating cold food)? Do I fill a bowl of hot water and let the water reheat the can of food?

Help is appreciated! :)
 

Kieka

Snowshoe Servant
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Messages
11,394
Purraise
19,968
Location
Southern California
The bowl of hot water and let it float in the can would probably work. I've seen someone else do that but with a pot of water on the stove.
 

Azazel

Time spent with cats is never wasted.
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
2,844
Purraise
3,465
Is he eating dry food too? Half a can of wet food a day is not enough to sustain a 10lb cat.
If he's eating dry then I would just cut that out instead of cutting down the wet since dry is worse for weight gain than wet food.

For warming up canned food I would just add warm water right when you are serving it and mix it together. Some cats will eat the food straight out of the fridge cold so you might want to try it that way first. It doesn't necessarily have to be heated.
 

She's a witch

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 21, 2018
Messages
1,780
Purraise
2,371
Location
Europe/WA, USA
I agree with A Azazel that half can seems like a drastic idea...
when I have to refrigerate a can, I place the meat in a small glass jar. To reheat it, I place the glass in a pot filled with hotish water (160F) and it stays there several minutes. Then I also add few teaspoons of hotish water. My cats like warm meals so adding water alone wouldn’t be sufficient, as to warm it to the desired temperature I’d need to add way too much water for their liking.
One of my cats wouldn’t accept the food that’s been stored in plastic, in her case, it needs to be glass.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
A Azazel - Yes, he's absolutely getting hard food as well (half a cup in the morning, half a cup at night). It's more or less there for him to graze from throughout the day, as he's a little piggy who will scarf down his wet food right away and then be hungry again a few hours later.
 

She's a witch

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 21, 2018
Messages
1,780
Purraise
2,371
Location
Europe/WA, USA
A Azazel - Yes, he's absolutely getting hard food as well (half a cup in the morning, half a cup at night). It's more or less there for him to graze from throughout the day, as he's a little piggy who will scarf down his wet food right away and then be hungry again a few hours later.
Well then it’s drastic the opposite way - that’s a lot of food you’re feeding him. My 11lbs cat eats a bit more than one big can of wet food a day... It’s actually shocking to me that the vet gave you advice to reduce the wet food rather that the dry, as that’s what most probably makes him gain weight ...
 

Azazel

Time spent with cats is never wasted.
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
2,844
Purraise
3,465
A Azazel - Yes, he's absolutely getting hard food as well (half a cup in the morning, half a cup at night). It's more or less there for him to graze from throughout the day, as he's a little piggy who will scarf down his wet food right away and then be hungry again a few hours later.
If the goal is to get him to lose weight it absolutely makes more sense to completey cut out the grazing on dry food. I would just start with cutting that out and keep the wet food regular and see what happens. If he’s not losing weight then slowly start to reduce the wet.

You’ll want to invest in a good baby scale and weigh him every week. You also don’t want him to lose weight too fast as that can lead to other health issues.
 

Talien

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 10, 2018
Messages
2,650
Purraise
5,131
Location
Michigan
See if he'll eat it cold, some Cats have no problem with cold food. Otherwise the easiest way is what Keika suggested, put the food in his bowl and float it in a larger bowl full of hot water until it's warm.
 

She's a witch

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 21, 2018
Messages
1,780
Purraise
2,371
Location
Europe/WA, USA
I’d hesitate to offer him cold food if he has herpes virus (and I’m guessing that’s the case if he’s getting l-lysine). One of my FHV cats always gets runny eye after eating something cold.
 

maggie101

3 cats
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 20, 2014
Messages
7,885
Purraise
9,884
Location
Houston,TX
How big are the cans? 3 oz or 5.5?
I agree leave out the dry food. My 3 cats all eat different amounts of a 5.5 oz can split 3 meals. Increase her activity
 

Columbine

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
12,921
Purraise
6,224
Location
The kitty playground
I generally warm refrigerated food up by adding a spoon or two of hot water from the kettle. Its quick and easy, and helps with hydration too (rarely a bad thing). It also helps if the food has dried out a little whilst in the fridge.
 

CatLover49

All Cats Are Special
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 8, 2018
Messages
2,312
Purraise
3,800
Location
Reidsville NC
See if he'll eat it cold, some Cats have no problem with cold food. Otherwise the easiest way is what Keika suggested, put the food in his bowl and float it in a larger bowl full of hot water until it's warm.
See if he'll eat it cold, some Cats have no problem with cold food. Otherwise the easiest way is what Keika suggested, put the food in his bowl and float it in a larger bowl full of hot water until it's warm.
Thats it...just let can sit in warm water...
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #13

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
I think over the next few days, I'm going to reduce the amount of dry food until he's off of it completely. We had kept him on it initially as that's what he was being fed at the shelter and we had concerns about switching his diet so fast (He was quite sick when we first got him, so it was a tough few months of adjusting the diet slowly as needed). I may still give him a few kibbles every now and then as a treat, but we've got to get his weight under control first.

I just hate the idea of cutting back the wet food as I know the added moisture in his diet is so beneficial with the stool issues, not to mention that it makes it easier for the l-lysine paste to get in him.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #14

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
I’d hesitate to offer him cold food if he has herpes virus (and I’m guessing that’s the case if he’s getting l-lysine). One of my FHV cats always gets runny eye after eating something cold.
The runny eye wouldn't bother me too bad, but Simon's issues always devolve into constant sneezing to the point that he gets bloody sneezes and struggles to breathe.
 

LadyLondonderry

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jul 14, 2018
Messages
303
Purraise
374
My vet tech/cat sitter uses the bowl-of-warm-water technique to warm leftover food. She sets the can, with lid on, in a small bowl of warm water — just enough water to come about halfway up the can, not enough to make it float.

I usually just spoon the leftover food into the feeding dish and add a spoonful or two of warm/hot water, from the tea kettle if there's water in there that's still warm, or from the tap otherwise.
 

daftcat75

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 7, 2018
Messages
12,642
Purraise
25,128
Krista is fussy about textures and would certainly balk at extra water added to her food. My technique is a little wasteful. But then so is Krista not eating the food or throwing it up because she ate too much cold food. I weigh Krista's portion into a plastic baggie (sandwich size would probably work better for half a 5.5oz can.) Press that portion in the baggie as flat as you can and then seal it up. Now it should take no time to press the chill out of the portion under running warm water (luke warm.) Press it flat, flip it, press it flat, flip it. It shouldn't take more than a minute to bring it up to room temperature. Once it's reached desired feeding temperature, I turn the bag out onto a plate. You can wash the baggies and re-use them or get re-usable silicone baggies if you want to reduce the waste.
 

ailish

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Nov 7, 2016
Messages
481
Purraise
474
I microwave a serving of cat food to a warm temperature (8 seconds) 3 times a day and the microwave doesn't smell at all like cat food. I'd use the microwave. What the other people don't know won't hurt them.
 

MoonstoneWolf

Cat Food Bowl Referee
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 15, 2019
Messages
4,590
Purraise
4,140
Location
St. Louis MO
I know that it's different with feral cats but mine have got used to full can of water from the canned food mixed in at night time but that's because it's cold outside and it warms their bellies til morning.
 

darg

Gizmo
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jan 13, 2014
Messages
390
Purraise
329
I admit that sometimes I use the microwave for a few seconds with small meals, usually his homemade meals, or if im in a hurry. But what I generally do is portion his meal into one of those small, round Glad containers with lids and put some hot tap water in a Solo cup and heat it in the microwave until it's pretty hot (about 1 minute). Not near boiling but uncomfortable to keep a finger in. Then I just float the glad container in the hot water in the cup. It only takes 5 minutes or so to get a good two or two and a half ounces of refrigerated canned food to a good, lukewarm temp. If I just use hot water direct from the tap it takes maybe 15 minutes.
 
Top