What To Feed New Cat Coming Home Today?

[fuschiafrog]

We're hoping to adopt a cat from a rescue today. She had to have surgery on a broken leg a while ago and has been staying with a foster for a few months. I know that the foster has been feeding her Pro Plan Savor Chicken & Rice kibble and Fancy Feast/other canned. It sounds as if there might be a little flexibility to the canned that she's been eating.

I'd rather not feed her dry food, but I'd also like to ease her transition to our house as much as possible. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to feed her. I'd like to eventually move to a raw diet, most likely.

I'm planning to pick up some Fancy Feast classic cans and hope that she likes those and that it's not too much of a switch for her system from her unspecified canned. I'm wondering about getting some chicken freeze dried raw food that's a smaller size, like the little Vital Essentials nibs or Feline Natural and giving a little bit of that to her in place of her kibble. It could be the start of a slow transition to raw.

I keep going back and forth on this. She had a 5 hour car ride yesterday to get to my area and has been staying with someone new. And she meets her new family (us!!!) today if all goes well. That's a lot of upheaval.

 

[Azazel]

It sounds like you're already doing all the right things - trying to get her food that resembles what she's been eating so far to make it more familiar for her and then planning to switch her to something healthier in the long run. I would just suggest sticking to her old food for the first week or 2 that you have her. Moving to a new place is stressful enough - so, it would be best to keep her on her old food until she is habituated to the new place. Then slowly (over a span of 7-10 days) start introducing new healthier foods into her diet (and ditch that kibble!).

 

[tabbytom]

I'd rather not feed her dry food, but I'd also like to ease her transition to our house as much as possible. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to feed her. I'd like to eventually move to a raw diet, most likely.

I'm planning to pick up some Fancy Feast classic cans and hope that she likes those and that it's not too much of a switch for her system from her unspecified canned.

Thank you for adopting this kitty Hope the car ride and moving from the foster home to your home won't be to stressful for her.

As for feeding her, I agree with A Azazel , feed her what she's been eating and slowly transit her over to the new food as her digestive system may not be able to cope with the change of food.

Transition of food takes awhile and not to be rushed into. Also if you plan to feed her raw diet, be sure to check to our raw feeding forum as raw feeding requires more diligent work in preparing and adding the right stuff to keep the kitty healthy and also proper storage of prepared food. here's the link :-
raw-home-cooked-cat-food.65

Wet food or raw diet is best as these food are full of real meat and nutrients and proteins and keeps your kitty hydrated. Dry food are full of carbohydrates.

 

[lisahe]

Yes, food similar to what she's been eating is the best way to start. To go along with the stress that Azazel mentioned: don't be surprised if she doesn't eat much in the first couple of days, particularly after those moves.

Fancy Feast Classic pates are a good start because many/most cats love them. When we adopted our two cats, the shelter sent us home with a few cans of Friskies pate and a good-sized baggy of whatever dry food the cats had been getting. I was very glad for the Friskies since it was familiar. Plus it was easy to buy a little more when the cats got respiratory infections and needed something especially smelly!

 

[fuschiafrog]

Thanks. I think you guys are right. I hate feeding her kibble, but that's the one piece of her diet that I really know specifics on. I'll buy a small bag of that kibble and hope that I can use that and some of the classic Fancy Feast to get her used to her new home.

 

[lisahe]

Thanks. I think you guys are right. I hate feeding her kibble, but that's the one piece of her diet that I really know specifics on. I'll buy a small bag of that kibble and hope that I can use that and some of the classic Fancy Feast to get her used to her new home.

I hated feeding ours dry food then, too, but they came to us so scrawny and underfed that the main thing was to just keep them eating! We switched them over to all wet (some canned, some raw) food within a couple months, though.