[puppypiles]

My cat has been on an all wet and raw diet since he was about 8 months old, and he’s nearly 3. He’s the picture of health, very svelte, and the vets just love him.

However, I am interested in adding some dry food into his diet. This is for several reasons.

Firstly, it’s a cost issue. Feeding high quality wet and raw foods (Weruva, Natural Balance, Earthborn, Rad Cat, Feline Naturals) is pretty pricey, and dry food, even the highest quality, is significantly cheaper per pound.

Secondly, I work in retail and work long hours (50+ a week). When you’re only feeding wet foods, it’s difficult to leave some out as it will go bad. I’d like to give him the option of having SOMETHING there if he gets hungry.

I realize the diet I’m feeding him now is a good one and dry food is not as good for a cat as wet and raw. My intention is to find a food he likes so it can be used in an emergency, and up to 25% of his current diet.

When he was younger and eating some dry, he ate California Natural Grain Free chicken. I haven’t tried that again, but I did try some Orijen red meat, which he totally snubbed. He also hates all things fish, and only eats canned/raw foods with poultry, lamb, or beef.

[crazy4cats]

Sounds like you are feeding your lucky cat an awesome diet. I try to feed mostly wet food also. My cats are not too picky about their kibble as long as I don’t go too low on the fat. I bought them a weight control recipe once that they snubbed. Lol! I have been rotating between Wellness Core, Merrick and Earthborn dry. I have one cat that I am feeding Royal Canin Rx Urinary dry food due to a urinary tract blockage he suffered about five months ago. Again, welcome to DFA!

[Bobby dog]

Hi puppypiles:
I think your name is cute. Very lucky kitty! I would love it if my cats would only eat wet food, but they do crave their crunchies. So I try to stick with foods with lower carbs for UT health. I mostly have finicky cats, they seem to forget what life on the streets was like. My main rotation is Wellness Core Duck & Turkey, Precise Naturals GF Chic, Grandma Mae’s GF cat & kitten, Fromm Duck Ala’ Veg, and NVI GF Healthy Weight. On my list of kibbles to try I have Annamaet GF and grain inclusive, Nutrisource Country Select, and Pure Vita GF chicken.

Here are others I throw in the rotation:
Beyond Superfood Herring, Beyond Chic & Whole Oatmeal, EVO Turkey & Chic, Innova Nature’s Table GF Chic & Turkey, NVI GF LID Turkey, Simply Nourish Source GF Chic & Turkey, Wellness Core GF Kitten, and Pure Balance chicken.

Budget wise Pure Balance (Wal-Mart) and Beyond are the best for me. They are a little higher in carbs than I like, but feeding on a rotational basis works for us.

[puppypiles]

Part of the problem is he just doesn’t recognize dry food as, well, food. He wasn’t a big dry food eater before, and now he doesn’t know what to do with it.

I tried everything with the Acana I brought home one time, and I mean everything – poured chicken broth and parmesan cheese over it, heated it up, threw pieces around the apt so he’d chase them and eat them, crushed it into powder and sprinkled it over his favorite food, hid it underneath his food, left some in a bowl so he’d get used to the smell… I mean, I went all out!

[Akari_32]

Since dry food isn’t species appropriate, and can cause some serious health issues anyways, if he doesn’t want to eat it, don’t make him. Dry is especially dangerous for males if they don’t get enough water. If we were talking going from dry to canned, and he didn’t want to eat the canned, I’d say keep bribing him, but there are more cost effective ways to feed a cat than introducing dry food. Brands that typically offer coupons for canned food are Halo, Wellness, Holistic Select, Blue Buffalo, and if you dig, there are many more…. I can tell you right now that you can get 5.5 oz cans of Halo Vigor for free at PetCo with the coupon Halo has on their website. I fed my cat for $20 a month on canned with coupons. Now I’m doing it with raw, and he loves it 🙂

[puppypiles]

I know raw and canned are more species appropriate, and I want to continue feeding him this way. It is however hard for me to feed him a can at 7am, and not be home until 8pm. If he’s tired of that flavor, the can of food has sat out for 13 hrs, and that’s 13 hrs that he hasn’t eaten. Plus who can have a social life when they have to be home every morning and every night on the dot to give him food? I want to give him the option of being able to eat when he needs to, and not have to schedule everything around canned diet.

As far as cost goes, he is the pickiest gosh darn cat in the whole universe, and one can he might have loved 3 days ago no sits uneaten. He has actually been diagnosed with anorexia by 2 separate, excellent vets, and has a standing prescription of mirtazapine, an appetite stimulant.

[Akari_32]

My cat eats twice a day. 11 am and 11 pm (roughly, anyways. It can vary from between 8 am and 1 am, typically). I don’t leave his food out, I put it down, and he eats it all, no matter when it gets put down. Then again, he also pounces on vegetables that fall on the floor (not that he eats them, but still… lol).

Given your cat’s unwillingness to eat dry, and his veterinary history, I wouldn’t make him eat it, personally. Instead, keep meal time interesting, with lots of different canned foods (I feed a different brand and flavor at each meal), and keep being creative on ways to getting him to continue eating canned, such as offering it at different temperatures, with different broths or water, at different consistencies (varying amounts of water and broth added).

[jakes mom]

Have you tried putting some kibble in one of those puzzle toys? Maybe he’d eat one or 2 as he was playing and decide he liked it. And how about putting some of his canned food out for him frozen? By later in the afternoon it would be thawed and he’d have a “new” flavor, different than his breakfast, that he could eat before you got home. Good luck, cats keep us on our toes, don’t they? I have 5 old kitties, btwn 15 and 20yo.

[puppypiles]

I’ve never tried a puzzle toy, since he doesn’t like any kinds of treats, but I could give it a whirl. And frozen canned food? You are a sneaky genius.

[Bobby dog]

Puppypiles:
Here’s a few of my favorite cat sites. You may already know about them, catinfo has some tips on getting cats to eat. The last site has good info on a specific health issue, I use it for food info:

Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition

Home

http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/
http://www.felinecrf.org/

[jakes mom]

Had another thought. Have you ever tried FreshPet foods? It comes in rolls and also in a bag, kibble shape but softer. That would introduce him to a different type of food, but not crunchy. Then maybe transition him to the dry. Only problem with FreshPet is that it needs to be refrigerated, is sold in it’s own fridge at the store. It also freezes well, I portion it out and freeze it. I know you work at a pet store, so you may already be familiar with it. If not, I’ve seen it at some pet stores, also Walmart, Target, and grocery stores.

[puppypiles]

I have tried FreshPet actually – he hated it.

[Dina Kouveliotes]

I feed Orijen and my cats love it and it has a low glycemic index too. I also feed Fromm 4 star line of food. I think the top rated variety is the Surf and Turf, however my cats prefer the Beef (I think it’s called Beef Fritata?)

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