The Savannah Signal Final Issue 2011
Playing the ‘toss the dry food portion’ game will help your cat burn off calories and should stimulate his appetite so that he may be more inclined to try canned food. It is also a great way to interact with your cat which helps to relieve the stress/boredom that many indoor cats experience.
Cats' noses are much more sensitive than ours are. They can smell the dry food in the cupboards. I suggest either putting it in the refrigerator or putting it in a tightly sealed container. If they can smell it, they will hold out for it. Some people recommend getting it out of your house com- pletely, but this is not possible when you are dealing with a very stubborn cat that needs a bit of time and patience to make the transition happen.
The following worked for my cats: Sprinkle a very small amount of tuna – or any other favorite treat (some cats do not like fish and would prefer cooked chicken) - on the top of the canned food and then once they are eating this, start pressing it into the top of the new food. (The “light” tuna is better than the fancy white tuna because it has a stronger smell. Or, Trader Joe’s makes a Cat Tuna that is very stinky.) Be careful to decrease the amount of fish as soon as possible. Health problems can occur with a predomi- nantly fish based diet. Plus, you do not want to create a situation where your cat will only eat very fishy foods.
Remember—I would much rather see cats eating Friskies or 9-Lives canned food than any dry food.
Make sure that any refrigerated canned food is warmed up a bit. Cats prefer their food at 'mouse body temperature'.
Try offering some cooked (or raw – whole meats, rinsed well or parboiled) chicken or meat baby food. One of the goals is to get your cat used to eating food that does not crunch. He needs to get used to a different texture. Also, chicken is a great source of protein to point him in the proper direction toward a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. If he eats the chicken, he may head right into eating canned food. Then again....he may not.
Try sprinkling some parmesan cheese on the canned food. Most cats love parmesan cheese and this trick has been very successful for me.
Try a product called FortiFlora. This product can be ob- tained from your veterinarian or online. Most cats love
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FortiFlora and this has recently become my favorite trick. This is a probiotic made by Purina but you are not going to use it for its probiotic properties. You are just going to use it as a flavor enhancer. The base ingredient in FortiFlora is animal digest - the very substance that makes dry food so very enticing to cats. The directions say to use 1 package/ day - and you can use this much if you want to - but this amount is not usually necessary. You may only need ~1/4 of a package - or less - with part mixed into the food and part sprinkled on top of the food just as you would use salt and pepper on your own food.
There are numerous freeze dried meat treats on the mar- ket that you can also sprinkle on top of the canned food. Halo's Liv A Littles is a popular choice.
Speaking of texture, a common question is "can I just soak the dry food in water?" I hedge more than just a bit at this question. Dry food often has a high bacterial content. Mold is also often found in dry food. There have been many deaths of dogs and cats secondary to eating mold mycotox- ins, vomitoxins and aflatoxins which often contaminate the grains found in dry food. If you want to try the trick of wet- ting down the dry food to alter the texture, please leave it out for only 20-30 minutes then discard it. Bacteria and mold thrive in moisture.
Try dipping some dry food pieces in the juice from the canned food. Some cats may refuse to eat it if the dry food even touches the canned food. But if he will eat it with a bit of canned juice on it, try the 'chip and dip' trick. Scoop up a tiny bit of canned food onto the piece of dry food. Put them on a separate plate from his small portion of dry food. Some cats will eat their small portion of dry and then go investigate the dry food with a tiny bit of canned on it.
Going one step further, try adding a few small pieces of the canned food to the small portion of dry food.
Your cat may pick around the canned food but will get used to the smell - and texture - even if he does not eat any pieces of the new food.
Crush some dry food and sprinkle it on the top of the canned food.
If you do not think it will upset your cat, try gently rubbing a bit
of canned food or juice on the cat's gums This may get him in- terested in the taste and texture of the new food - but do it gently. You do not want to make this a stressful situation and create a food aversion. (This trick is commonly used to get just-
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