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Old April 11th, 2009, 05:51 AM
Okami Okami is offline
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Tricky cat

I'm currently trying to wean my 3 year old egyptian mau off of kibble, on to wet food, and eventually to raw all together.
My cat used to eat dry cat food and wet cat food really regularly, but lately this year he's been neglecting the wet cat food and just going at the kibble. When I feed him wet cat food, =( he just licks the gravy off!. I've tried mixing the wet cat food with the gravy, sprinkling kibble crumbs over the food, and the most I get is a little lick to see what it is, and a unimpressed look.
I've found he'll at least eat 1/4 of the can when I spoon feed him.
The cat food I'm feeding him, wet and dry is fancy feast.
=) appreciate the help and advice anyone could give

I was also wondering, when you switch a cat to raw all together do you need to worry more about their hydration?

Last edited by Okami; April 11th, 2009 at 05:55 AM.
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Old April 11th, 2009, 10:54 AM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Originally Posted by Okami View Post
I'm currently trying to wean my 3 year old egyptian mau off of kibble, on to wet food, and eventually to raw all together.


An Egyptian Mau, you say?? I :heart: Egyptian Maus.

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Originally Posted by Okami View Post
When I feed him wet cat food, =( he just licks the gravy off!.
What flavours of FF are you feeding him? If it's a chunks or slices in gravy style, perhaps he'd prefer more of a pate? My cat won't go near anything with chunks, he's a pate man all the way. Some flavours that fit the bill are Tender Liver & Chicken Feast, Tender Beef Feast, Turkey & Giblets Feast, Beef & Liver Feast, and some fishy ones that I can't remember cause I don't feed them (too much fish isn't a good idea).

Maybe you could also try some other brands of canned food, like Wellness or Precise or By Nature Organics. It could be that he's just bored with what's on the menu (happens more easily with wet than dry, which is heavy on the flavour enhancers and addictive carbs).

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Originally Posted by Okami View Post
I've tried mixing the wet cat food with the gravy, sprinkling kibble crumbs over the food, and the most I get is a little lick to see what it is, and a unimpressed look.
I've found he'll at least eat 1/4 of the can when I spoon feed him.
Have you tried picking up all kibble during the day so he can't snack on it and therefore ruin his appetite? Some cats need to get good and hungry. You could leave down the canned food instead so that if he was inclined to have a snack, that would be his only option. It's perfectly fine to leave wet food out for several hours (like even up to 12, depending on how hot it is).

Other tricks of the trade are top-dressing the canned with some pulverized freeze-dried meat treats like Halo Liv-a-Littles or Real Food Toppers or bonito flakes.

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I was also wondering, when you switch a cat to raw all together do you need to worry more about their hydration?
Nope, both canned and raw usually satisfy most of a cat's moisture requirements. You could always add a little extra water if you want to make sure. I can count on one hand the number of times my cat has actually had a drink out of his bowl in the last 3 years.
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Old April 12th, 2009, 04:43 AM
Okami Okami is offline
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=) I love my mau, he's my little king(spoiled like one too!)

The flavors that I feed my cat are, chicken, turkey, beef, and I think the last one was tuna (or some sort of fish =( I don't remember).

There has been kibble laying around. Which is going to be taken away now =).
I've found wet cat food dry's up pretty quickly when I lay it out more then 30 minutes. Usually my cat doesn't touch wet cat food when it's been out for more then 1 hour (gets all crusty then). It's pretty cold in the household all year long =).

Another question about trasition to raw.
Would I be able to just take the kibble away all together now, since he does eat wet cat food a little, but not nearly as much as kibble. If not should I be moving him to only wet food first then bits of raw mixed in?
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Old April 12th, 2009, 11:18 AM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Okami View Post
I've found wet cat food dry's up pretty quickly when I lay it out more then 30 minutes. Usually my cat doesn't touch wet cat food when it's been out for more then 1 hour (gets all crusty then).
I add an extra tbsp or 2 of water to my cat's canned so that it stays moister longer.

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Originally Posted by Okami View Post
Would I be able to just take the kibble away all together now, since he does eat wet cat food a little, but not nearly as much as kibble. If not should I be moving him to only wet food first then bits of raw mixed in?
I would stop free-feeding kibble for sure, but really keep an eye on how much your cat is eating and make sure he picks up the slack with the canned food. What I did with my guy was feed him kibble only at meal times, and only a small amount (like starting with less than a 1/4 cup each meal). I'd also put canned down at the same time but I'd leave that out for him to snack. Very gradually, I decreased the amount of kibble to the point that he was only getting 5 pieces per meal. It was enough to get him excited about meal times, and after eating those 5 pieces, he would tend to eat more canned. Then one day I just stopped the kibble altogether and he hardly seemed to notice.

As for introducing raw, you could try that anytime. Will he eat some raw meat if you put it on a plate beside the canned? Some cats dive right in, some take a while for it to dawn on them that it's food. Mixing it with canned is an option as long as it doesn't put him off of eating the canned.

Once he is eating the raw regularly, you want to make sure it's balanced and not just pieces of muscle meat. Cats also need bone and organs in the proper ratios or else some serious nutritional deficiencies can result.

Good luck!
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Old April 13th, 2009, 09:50 PM
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Okami, sure would love to see pics of your kitty ....I've never seen an Egyptian Mau.
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