Switching from dry food to canned?

How do I persuade a cat that has always eaten dry food to start eating
canned food?

I have two cats, Bebop (male) and Samba (female). Samba is currently getting
over a urinary tract infection. On the advice of people at this newsgroup
and with the agreement of my new vet, I'm trying to switch her from dry s/d
to canned s/d. (When her pH is back down to the normal range, I plan to
switch her to canned c/d.)

A few days ago, I bought a few cans of s/d and gave a quarter of a can to
each cat and garnished each meal by putting plenty of dry s/d over top of
the 'wet' food. Bebop devoured the stuff and has no problem with it; he is
clearly ready to eat wet or dry food.

Samba is far more reluctant. She looked at the new food and sniffed at it
but was clearly unhappy. She nibbled a bit at the dry food that was covering
the wet s/d but only very sparingly. I'm guessing she found even the dry
food unpleasant when it touched that 'icky' wet food. She usually eats
ravenously so she obviously didn't find wet food, even garnished with dry
food, to be a treat. At their next meal, the can had been in the fridge
overnight so I once again put a quarter of the can in each dish, garnished
the meals heavily with dry food, and even heated the food in the microwave
for about 10 seconds. Samba was still very reluctant to eat it, even though
she must have been starving from having eaten so little at the previous
meal. She nibbled a tiny bit and then left the rest for Bebop. I went back
to dry food for both of them after that.

But I can't really let this stand; Samba particularly needs to be on wet
food to help keep her pH down so that she doesn't form any further crystals.
(Her current crystals are struvite.)

Can anyone suggest any way to persuade her to start eating the canned s/d?
Or should I just accept that she won't eat canned s/d and try her on other
prescription canned foods? My new vet also has Royal Canin and one other
name brand (the name escapes me at the moment).

I could even give her commercial canned foods if she doesn't like the
prescription stuff but I'd prefer to try the prescription route first. Would
commercial canned foods be a reasonable idea if she can't be coaxed into
eating the prescription canned foods? If yes, what brands would people
recommend?

Rhino

It may she is still not really feeling like anything at all if she has been
a bit poorly. I would suggest buy a few small tins of normal commercial wet
food to see if you can tempt her.

Hopefully there will be something she likes.

chas

Rhino wrote:

How do I persuade a cat that has always eaten dry food to start eating
canned food?

Start by moistening their dry food, much as one would pour milk over
cereal. Let them get used to munching on that for a few days.

Then pre-moisten their dry food, but do not place it on the floor.
Instead wait until the dry food gets soft enough such that you can mash
it up to about the consistency of porridge. Let them get used to this
for a few days.

Next step is to start mixing the pre-moistened dry food with a
percentage of canned. Start with 25% and allow them a couple of days to
get used to it.

Then gradually change the percentage to 50, 75 and finally 100% while
allowing them a couple of days at each stage to get used to the new food.

It may not be easy. Some cats love canned, but like mine their digestive
system will not adjust to it. Other cats hate the change.

If you have trouble getting them to munch the stuff, try smearing a bit
on their noses. They will smell it strongly and will have to lick it
off, this may get them going.



I have two cats, Bebop (male) and Samba (female). Samba is currently getting
over a urinary tract infection. On the advice of people at this newsgroup
and with the agreement of my new vet, I'm trying to switch her from dry s/d
to canned s/d. (When her pH is back down to the normal range, I plan to
switch her to canned c/d.)

A few days ago, I bought a few cans of s/d and gave a quarter of a can to
each cat and garnished each meal by putting plenty of dry s/d over top of
the 'wet' food. Bebop devoured the stuff and has no problem with it; he is
clearly ready to eat wet or dry food.

Samba is far more reluctant. She looked at the new food and sniffed at it
but was clearly unhappy. She nibbled a bit at the dry food that was covering
the wet s/d but only very sparingly. I'm guessing she found even the dry
food unpleasant when it touched that 'icky' wet food. She usually eats
ravenously so she obviously didn't find wet food, even garnished with dry
food, to be a treat. At their next meal, the can had been in the fridge
overnight so I once again put a quarter of the can in each dish, garnished
the meals heavily with dry food, and even heated the food in the microwave
for about 10 seconds. Samba was still very reluctant to eat it, even though
she must have been starving from having eaten so little at the previous
meal. She nibbled a tiny bit and then left the rest for Bebop. I went back
to dry food for both of them after that.

But I can't really let this stand; Samba particularly needs to be on wet
food to help keep her pH down so that she doesn't form any further crystals.
(Her current crystals are struvite.)

Can anyone suggest any way to persuade her to start eating the canned s/d?
Or should I just accept that she won't eat canned s/d and try her on other
prescription canned foods? My new vet also has Royal Canin and one other
name brand (the name escapes me at the moment).

I could even give her commercial canned foods if she doesn't like the
prescription stuff but I'd prefer to try the prescription route first. Would
commercial canned foods be a reasonable idea if she can't be coaxed into
eating the prescription canned foods? If yes, what brands would people
recommend?

Rhino

Rhino asked:

Would commercial canned foods be a
reasonable idea if she can't be coaxed
into eating the prescription canned
foods? If yes, what brands would
people recommend?

I would think that a good quality commercial canned food would be better
than the dry food. Some good ones are Wellness, Iams (chicken is good),
Innova, Science Diet. The best one is the one she likes!


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

Joe, you're a genius!

You're advice reminded me of an incident when they were kittens: I bought
them Swheat Scoop litter and they wouldn't use it! They answered the call of
nature in remote corners of the house. I immediately got some advice on this
newsgroup and was advised to find out what litter they'd used at the shelter
and gradually add more and more of the new litter until they were used to
it.

Your advice brought that back to me so I adapted it a bit: I put a small
spoonful of the wet food in each cat's bowl, then put their normal quantity
of dry food over top. Both cats ate it ravenously. She barely hesitated when
she hit the wet food and soon finished her meal.

Hurrah!


Thanks VERY much!!

Rhino

"Joe Canuck" wrote in message
...
Rhino wrote:

How do I persuade a cat that has always eaten dry food to start eating
canned food?

Start by moistening their dry food, much as one would pour milk over
cereal. Let them get used to munching on that for a few days.

Then pre-moisten their dry food, but do not place it on the floor. Instead
wait until the dry food gets soft enough such that you can mash it up to
about the consistency of porridge. Let them get used to this for a few
days.

Next step is to start mixing the pre-moistened dry food with a percentage
of canned. Start with 25% and allow them a couple of days to get used to
it.

Then gradually change the percentage to 50, 75 and finally 100% while
allowing them a couple of days at each stage to get used to the new food.

It may not be easy. Some cats love canned, but like mine their digestive
system will not adjust to it. Other cats hate the change.

If you have trouble getting them to munch the stuff, try smearing a bit on
their noses. They will smell it strongly and will have to lick it off,
this may get them going.



I have two cats, Bebop (male) and Samba (female). Samba is currently
getting over a urinary tract infection. On the advice of people at this
newsgroup and with the agreement of my new vet, I'm trying to switch her
from dry s/d to canned s/d. (When her pH is back down to the normal
range, I plan to switch her to canned c/d.)

A few days ago, I bought a few cans of s/d and gave a quarter of a can to
each cat and garnished each meal by putting plenty of dry s/d over top of
the 'wet' food. Bebop devoured the stuff and has no problem with it; he
is clearly ready to eat wet or dry food.

Samba is far more reluctant. She looked at the new food and sniffed at it
but was clearly unhappy. She nibbled a bit at the dry food that was
covering the wet s/d but only very sparingly. I'm guessing she found even
the dry food unpleasant when it touched that 'icky' wet food. She usually
eats ravenously so she obviously didn't find wet food, even garnished
with dry food, to be a treat. At their next meal, the can had been in the
fridge overnight so I once again put a quarter of the can in each dish,
garnished the meals heavily with dry food, and even heated the food in
the microwave for about 10 seconds. Samba was still very reluctant to eat
it, even though she must have been starving from having eaten so little
at the previous meal. She nibbled a tiny bit and then left the rest for
Bebop. I went back to dry food for both of them after that.

But I can't really let this stand; Samba particularly needs to be on wet
food to help keep her pH down so that she doesn't form any further
crystals. (Her current crystals are struvite.)

Can anyone suggest any way to persuade her to start eating the canned
s/d? Or should I just accept that she won't eat canned s/d and try her on
other prescription canned foods? My new vet also has Royal Canin and one
other name brand (the name escapes me at the moment).

I could even give her commercial canned foods if she doesn't like the
prescription stuff but I'd prefer to try the prescription route first.
Would commercial canned foods be a reasonable idea if she can't be coaxed
into eating the prescription canned foods? If yes, what brands would
people recommend?

Rhino

"Rhino" wrote in message
.. .
Joe, you're a genius!

You're

Oops, that should have been 'your', not 'you're'!

advice reminded me of an incident when they were kittens: I bought them
Swheat Scoop litter and they wouldn't use it! They answered the call of
nature in remote corners of the house. I immediately got some advice on
this newsgroup and was advised to find out what litter they'd used at the
shelter and gradually add more and more of the new litter until they were
used to it.

Your advice brought that back to me so I adapted it a bit: I put a small
spoonful of the wet food in each cat's bowl, then put their normal
quantity of dry food over top. Both cats ate it ravenously. She barely
hesitated when she hit the wet food and soon finished her meal.

Hurrah!


Thanks VERY much!!

Rhino

"Joe Canuck" wrote in message
...
Rhino wrote:

How do I persuade a cat that has always eaten dry food to start eating
canned food?

Start by moistening their dry food, much as one would pour milk over
cereal. Let them get used to munching on that for a few days.

Then pre-moisten their dry food, but do not place it on the floor.
Instead wait until the dry food gets soft enough such that you can mash
it up to about the consistency of porridge. Let them get used to this for
a few days.

Next step is to start mixing the pre-moistened dry food with a percentage
of canned. Start with 25% and allow them a couple of days to get used to
it.

Then gradually change the percentage to 50, 75 and finally 100% while
allowing them a couple of days at each stage to get used to the new food.

It may not be easy. Some cats love canned, but like mine their digestive
system will not adjust to it. Other cats hate the change.

If you have trouble getting them to munch the stuff, try smearing a bit
on their noses. They will smell it strongly and will have to lick it off,
this may get them going.



I have two cats, Bebop (male) and Samba (female). Samba is currently
getting over a urinary tract infection. On the advice of people at this
newsgroup and with the agreement of my new vet, I'm trying to switch her
from dry s/d to canned s/d. (When her pH is back down to the normal
range, I plan to switch her to canned c/d.)

A few days ago, I bought a few cans of s/d and gave a quarter of a can
to each cat and garnished each meal by putting plenty of dry s/d over
top of the 'wet' food. Bebop devoured the stuff and has no problem with
it; he is clearly ready to eat wet or dry food.

Samba is far more reluctant. She looked at the new food and sniffed at
it but was clearly unhappy. She nibbled a bit at the dry food that was
covering the wet s/d but only very sparingly. I'm guessing she found
even the dry food unpleasant when it touched that 'icky' wet food. She
usually eats ravenously so she obviously didn't find wet food, even
garnished with dry food, to be a treat. At their next meal, the can had
been in the fridge overnight so I once again put a quarter of the can in
each dish, garnished the meals heavily with dry food, and even heated
the food in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Samba was still very
reluctant to eat it, even though she must have been starving from having
eaten so little at the previous meal. She nibbled a tiny bit and then
left the rest for Bebop. I went back to dry food for both of them after
that.

But I can't really let this stand; Samba particularly needs to be on wet
food to help keep her pH down so that she doesn't form any further
crystals. (Her current crystals are struvite.)

Can anyone suggest any way to persuade her to start eating the canned
s/d? Or should I just accept that she won't eat canned s/d and try her
on other prescription canned foods? My new vet also has Royal Canin and
one other name brand (the name escapes me at the moment).

I could even give her commercial canned foods if she doesn't like the
prescription stuff but I'd prefer to try the prescription route first.
Would commercial canned foods be a reasonable idea if she can't be
coaxed into eating the prescription canned foods? If yes, what brands
would people recommend?

Rhino

Rhino wrote:

Oops, that should have been 'your', not
'you're'!

Oops- You were correct the FIRST time!


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

Not really! "Your" means "belonging to you" while "You're" is a contraction
for "You are". It would not make sense to say "You are advice....", which is
what my first reply to Joe Canuck said.

Rhino


"---MIKE---" wrote in message
...
Rhino wrote:

Oops, that should have been 'your', not
'you're'!

Oops- You were correct the FIRST time!


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

Rhino wrote:

Not really! "Your" means "belonging to
you" while "You're" is a contraction for
"You are". It would not make sense to
say "You are advice....", which is what
my first reply to Joe Canuck said.

YOUR first usage was incorrect (you're advice) but then you said "You're
a genius" which WAS correct BUT you then stated that it should have been
"your" (a genius). I am reminded of a joke about an english prof that
stated "there are only two words in the english language that are
written SU and pronounced SH and they are sugar and sumac". One of the
students responded "professor, are you sure?"


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

I'm completely confused now :-)

I _think_ we're in agreement but just to be sure, my FIRST reply to Joe
Canuck had a single grammatical error: the "You're" that started the first
sentence of the second paragraph should have been "Your". The "you're" in
the first paragraph and the "your" that started the first sentence of the
third paragraph were completely correct.

That's what you're saying, correct?

---

I hadn't heard that "sugar/sure" story before; I like it.

It reminds me of another story (probably a joke, not a true life event) in
which a professor was lecturing students on language. He explained that a
double negative makes a positive. Someone asked if a double positive made a
negative the professor said no. Then a student commented: "Yeah, right!" to
prove him wrong :-)

Rhino

"---MIKE---" wrote in message
...
Rhino wrote:

Not really! "Your" means "belonging to
you" while "You're" is a contraction for
"You are". It would not make sense to
say "You are advice....", which is what
my first reply to Joe Canuck said.

YOUR first usage was incorrect (you're advice) but then you said "You're
a genius" which WAS correct BUT you then stated that it should have been
"your" (a genius). I am reminded of a joke about an english prof that
stated "there are only two words in the english language that are
written SU and pronounced SH and they are sugar and sumac". One of the
students responded "professor, are you sure?"


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')