Go Back   Pet forum for dogs cats and humans - Pets.ca > Discussion Groups - mainly cats and dogs > Dog food forum > Cat food forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old April 30th, 2008, 02:39 PM
Claud26 Claud26 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 2
Question switching to Canned Cat food

ok, so I've been a really bad mommy... our Baby Molly is now 2 years old and i've been feeding her nothing but Dry Purina One cat food.

I'm planing on switching her over to Wellness, (i dont' think she will mind at all) my dilema is ... the bag of Purina one is finished and I was going to get a new bag today... but now we all this new information I plan on a rewamp.
Not sure what to do ... do I get another bag of Purina one and then start with introducing her to Welness Canned OR ? Do I can a bag of Dry Core and Canned wellness and start her on both of them...
I did switch her food from Royal to Purina when she was about one and she had no issue with it at all ... and She constantly eats out of my mom's dog bowl, when we dog sit.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old April 30th, 2008, 03:00 PM
sugarcatmom's Avatar
sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Calgary, AB
Posts: 5,357
Oh gosh, you are so NOT a bad mommy!! That's fabulous that you're interested in feeding Molly a better diet. Has she had canned food before? If so, and you know that she'll eat it, I say just go straight for the canned. If she needs more of a transition period, than a combo of Wellness Core and canned would be fine, although I'd eventually work towards an all wet diet if possible.

Oh, and welcome to pets.ca!!
__________________
"To close your eyes will not ease another's pain." ~ Chinese Proverb

“We must not refuse to see with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies.” ~ Gretchen Wyler
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old April 30th, 2008, 03:30 PM
phoozles's Avatar
phoozles phoozles is offline
proud to be a cat slave
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southwestern Ontario
Posts: 1,420
I agree with sugarcatmom - if you have an easy transistioner, skip the dry altogether. If it looks like Molly isn't jumping on the wet train just yet, you can supplement with some dry, and Wellness CORE would be a great food to do it with.. If you are really worried, you can pick up a trial bag (I know they have them for Orijen which is another good grain free dry) for a couple of bucks to get you through.

Good luck and welcome!

btw. you're not a bad mommy at all! I had my guy on Iams for 9 years because I didn't know any better - I actually thought I was doing good by him because it cost more than other grocery store brands!
__________________
Taken over by:

Jake - grey DSH (Aug '98) Alley - spazzy grey tabby (Aug '07)
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old April 30th, 2008, 06:50 PM
Claud26 Claud26 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 2
Smile

so Molly didn't jump at the wet food , she looked at me strange and very puzzeled. No she has never had wet food but I always found that given the chance she would have had it. Anyway I rub a bit of the food on her gums and she licked it of,she has eaten about a teaspoon full. Now she is licking her dry food bowl (which is empty). I stop off at pet value on the way home but they only had wellness regular dry food. So I ended up getting another bag of purina,just incase. I will leave the wet food in her bowl,until bed time and I will remove it and try again tomorrow morning for breakfast.
Just wondering how much I should be feeding her,about 1/4 of the can?
Can't remember but I think last July she weight 9lbs,and the vet thought she was getting on the heavy side.

Thanks for all your help!!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old April 30th, 2008, 07:34 PM
sugarcatmom's Avatar
sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Calgary, AB
Posts: 5,357
Quote:
Originally Posted by Claud26 View Post
so Molly didn't jump at the wet food , she looked at me strange and very puzzeled. No she has never had wet food but I always found that given the chance she would have had it.
A cat's food preferences are often determined in kittenhood, making them quite suspicious of new foods later in life. It's not at all unusual that Molly gave you a weird look. In this situation, it's best to take it slow and steady. What I would do is put a tsp of canned on a plate next to her dry food. You can leave it there for hours, maybe refreshing it with a new one every so often. She may eat it, she may not. The goal is to just get her accustomed to the new smell (cat's appetites are mostly based on smell). After a few days of that, you can put a teensy dab in the bottom of the bowl of dry. Don't feed her too much dry, just a measured portion that she finishes after a few hours, and hopefully the canned along with it. Slowly increase the amount of canned in proportion to the dry.

Other techniques are to make the canned seem more familiar by top-dressing it with pulverized kibble or treats, or making it more enticing than suspicious with stuff like tuna juice or plain meat (no onions) baby food.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Claud26 View Post
I will leave the wet food in her bowl,until bed time and I will remove it and try again tomorrow morning for breakfast.
You can leave the canned out all night if you like, it won't spoil. I do it all the time. Just replace it with fresh in the morning. Also, it's important to make sure she doesn't go more than 24hrs without eating, which can result in something called hepatic lipidosis. That's why I prefer making a slow switch if there's some resistance.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Claud26 View Post
Just wondering how much I should be feeding her,about 1/4 of the can?
Can't remember but I think last July she weight 9lbs,and the vet thought she was getting on the heavy side.
The general guideline is about 20-30 calories per pound of ideal body weight per day. So if her ideal weight is, let's say 8 lbs, then she needs somewhere in the vicinity of 160-240 cal/day. Depending on the flavour of Wellness you're feeding, they average about 200 cal per 5.5oz can. That's a long-winded way of saying I think you should feed her a full can per day, and if she gains weight, cut back, if she loses (too much) weight, give her more. It may be more complicated than that if she's also eating dry, but I think the eventual goal should be a full can with no dry. For now, just see how much you can get her to eat. And good luck!! Happy eating vibes for Molly.
__________________
"To close your eyes will not ease another's pain." ~ Chinese Proverb

“We must not refuse to see with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies.” ~ Gretchen Wyler
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old May 7th, 2008, 01:57 AM
Mia101 Mia101 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 251
I removed my cat's dry before bed, and offered the canned in the AM when she was hungry.

At first, she'd eat so little I only put out a little, and left the rest in a zippy bag to retain the moisture, then offered more when she indicated she was hungry again.

Dry was only given after she'd eaten a decent amount of the canned.

It took a while, but now she looks at dry like 'what is this?'

Go to the Wellness site and ask for coupons. I usually get (2) $5 off to use toward the Core and Complete Health Dry, and (5) $1 coupons off the cans, making then .19 each.

The dry last so long I use the other $5 coupons for dog treats :-)
__________________
Executive Assistant to the wonder-dog and super-cat :-)
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Forum Terms of Use

  • All Bulletin Board Posts are for personal/non-commercial use only.
  • Self-promotion and/or promotion in general is prohibited.
  • Debate is healthy but profane and deliberately rude posts will be deleted.
  • Posters not following the rules will be banned at the Admins' discretion.
  • Read the Full Forum Rules

Forum Details

  • Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
    Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
    vBulletin Optimisation by vB Optimise (Reduced on this page: MySQL 0%).
  • All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:17 PM.