Transitioning to canned, how?

Claire Jones

Hello everyone! Meowmie has finally decided (drum roll please) we are going to go with Trader Joe's wet food. It isn't quite grain free, but the ingrediets are good and the price AMAZING. In the end, we think it is worth a shot, we have only read good thing in reviews. I am sure Meowmie will sneak in some of the higher-quality food when it's on sale. Anyways, Meowmie was wondering how to switch us to wet food. We have not tried out Trader Joe's food yet, but we are going to get some cans tomorrow. We have just enough dry TOTW to last us one more day. Is it a better idea to switch cold turkey, or maybe mix it? Of course if we don't eat t right away, it will all go to waste. It might be hard to convince me to eat wet food, I can be very stubborn. Maybe if I had my food in my own room, without my piggy sisters, then I would eat it. Meowmie is wondering if she should buy another bag of dry TOTW, and feed us canned in the evening and dry in the morning until we are adjusted. Also, when my pawparents go on vacation, we have to eat dry. Thanks for the help! Just one more question! Mewmie was also wondering how much to feed us per day. Meomie thinks there is a formula to figure this out, but she has to try and find it. Mewmie says thank you very much!

Anna Duch

It is better for the cat's digestive tract not to go cold turkey. Also, make sure the cats like the food before you go full speed ahead with the switch! They may not like a particular flavor or brand, but they may gobble up the same flavor in a different brand. I came to Meowmy as a dry only kitty. She started with a little spoonful of wet before I had my regular dry. Then she made that spoonful bigger every day until I was eating a mix of wet and dry like Memphis. We are mostly wet kitties now, but Meowmy will still give us a little kibble everyday. You also want to start slow in case the kitties are allergic to an ingredient in the new food, or if there is a new meat in there that they can't digest well. Meowmy feeds us Felidae, which is a mix of chicken, turkey, lamb, and fish. Through the School of Hard Knocks, in a course of What Makes Us Puke, she's found out that Memphis loves beef but the beef doesn't love her back. I can't have too much lambie or else it all comes back. Neither of us like shellfish at all. That first can of Trader Joe's may last a day or two -- take it slowly, increasing every day. Also, make sure they are eating, even if it's not the canned food -- the last thing you want is a kitty to get liver damage from not eating!!

Claire Jones

Thank you! Meomie will buy a small bag of TOTW today too, along with the wet food. That way we can transition slowly. However, Meowmie does sometimes give us wet food for one meal, or even a whole day, at times. Just two days ago we ate canned Blue Buffalo for a day. Wellness Core, Blue Buffalo, and Merrick B.G don't bother us, but I agree. We should try out Trader Joe's before we stock up. Also, Meowmie is finally convincing me to eat wet food! She just has to give me a little at a time, and I do end up eating it. Don't tell anyone, but I might actually be starting to like it, just a little. Oh yeah, Meomie was also happy to find the formula you can use to determine how many ounces to feed us. It was posted here a while ago, so she wants to make sure it's accurate. This is what she found: weightX13.6+70= ounces per day. Does that sound right? Now Meowmie is going to weigh us and figure out how much we should be eating. Tigger and I are the perfect weight, but Bella needs to lose a few pounds. Thanks again!

Lisa Provost

http://ibdkitties.net/switchingfoods.html

Claire Jones

Thanks for the link Alex! Meowmie just got back with ten cans of Trader Joe's wet food. I know it isn't going to last long, but Meowmie wants to make sure we will eat it first. We also got a bag of dry TOTW to help with the transition. We are definitely going to take it slow. I just wish there were more varieties at TJ's, they only have Chicken, Turkey and Rice Dinner, Turkey and Giblets Dinner, and the fish variety. However, Meowmie has heard too much fish isn't good for kitties (plus Tigger won't touch fish), so she didn't get fish cans. Here are the Chicken, Turkey, and Rice Dinner ingredients:Chicken broth, chicken, turkey, ocean fish, animal liver, brewers rice, oat bran, fish protein concentrate, and all the vitamins and minerals. Turkey and Giblets Dinner:Turkey broth, turkey, poultry giblets, ocean fish, chicken, oat bran, rice flour, fish protein concentrate, and all the vitamins and minerals. I noticed that there are actually no added vegetables and fruit! That is a good thing for cats, isn't it? They could really do without the rice, oat bran, and "animal liver" (?). I will probably be looking for another grain-free wet food to feed along with TJ's, but for now I am happy with this. Just hope the cats agree! Also, I meant to say the formula was for total calories, not ounces. Oop! Off to weigh some kitties!

Karen Lee

Transitioning dry food addicts to canned food =;

Ralphie Randy

I would suggest that you introduce the new food very, very slowly. The other canned foods you mentioned are high quality grain-free foods, but the Trader Joe's is very heavy on the grains and has several suspiciously vague ingredients ("ocean" fish, "animal" liver, "poultry" giblets, "fish protein concentrate"). I would worry that the addition of unnecessary grains and the possible decline in quality might upset their little tummies, and set you on steps backward instead of forward.

Claire Jones

Those are some great ideas Merlin! That might be just what Casper needs. He will lick the wet food off my fingers though, so he isn't a complete wet food hater. He also probably had eaten dry food too soon before. We are getting closer! Also, I didn't think about the lower-quality food causing problems. I do hate to include grains, but I have been thinking that the potatoes (in their dry food) and the veggies and fruit in both wet and dry must contain a lot of carbs. Also, I am not too worried about the ocean fish and poultry giblets. But the animal liver makes me cringe, I wish I knew what kind of liver. Also, there is probably farm-raised fish in the fish protein. :-/ I don't know what is better, feed some grain free wet food and some dry TOTW, or go with a slightly lower quality wet food 100%. :-k TJ cans are only 60 cents a peice, so I am thinking about $36/month. I can afford a bit more than that, but no where near the $135 or so per moth I would be spending on grain free canned. I will search for deals, and look for large cans. I also have yet to visit our privately owned pet chop, they tend to be pretty pricey though. I am still open to new ideas, I just want the best for them. Edited to add, here is the link to the Blue Buffalo website: http://bluebuffalo.com/cat-food/spa-select-turkey . The ingredients are probably higher quality, but they are actually very similar to TJ's food. :-k

Anna Duch

Most cats will eat less if you are feeding them high quality food. Instead of feeding multiple cans or multiple cups of kibble, higher quality foods will tell you to feed 1 or 2 cans and maybe a cup or so of kibble per day, because the cat is getting their nutrients in a smaller, more nutritionally compact method. I only have to feed one 5.5 oz Wellness or 1 Felidae can to each cat a day, and most times, less. Maybe 3/4 can each. It's also a good plan to use coupons. I generally shoot for under $1.40 for a 5.5 oz can, a bit more if it's delivered to the door. Buying by the case helps too! I just went to Petsmart today, and I got sixteen 5.5 oz cans of Wellness, five 3 oz cans of Wellness (for trying out!), 2 cans of the new Simply Nourish, and a 3.5 pound bag of Simply Nourish kibble for $36. I did it by using a Petsmart coupon (just clicked a link in an email they sent me) for $10 off a $40 purchase and then using an in-store coupon for getting 2 free Simply Nourish when buying any size bag of the kibble (the smaller bag means you save more). Since you already know what they like, set a bar where you want their canned food to be -- I set it at $1.40, you can set it lower. With the $10 coupon, the 5.5 oz cans came out to $1.27 a pop, and the rest were just gravy. I'm only feeding two, but if you look at Petsmart, Petco, and sales at petfood websites like Pet Food Direct or Hearty Pet. Being a "tasteful" couponer rather than an extreme one makes it easy to buy stuff (not to mention you're not dedicating your life to it). EDIT: Memphis, my other cat, can't eat rice of any sort, so I do shop completely grain free. It's possible on a budget! I'm going for my masters in History, and I work as a teaching assistant with a second 10-hr part-time job.

Claire Jones

Wow Tenny, you sure can save a lot with coupons! Our petsmart doesn't sell any higher-end cat food, except for Blue Buffalo, for some reason. Petco has a lot of great brands though. We have a pals card, but I haven't seen too many coupons lately. I will be on the look out for sure. I also meant to say we would spend $54 dollars a month is we fed 3 TJ's cans per day. I was thinking $36 if we fed two cans and added some kibble and maybe a little bit of raw too. I must be tired!

Anna Duch

Simply Nourish and Soulistic are Petsmart and PetCo's in-house 'gourmet' brands of cat food. The ingredients are good, and the cans are very well-priced. Memphis and Tenny loooove them. They do have lots of soup or gravy. Soulistic is made by Weruva, I believe. Soulistic is $10 for 8 cans, which comes out to $1.25 per can, and they recommend 1 oz per pound of cat, or in my case, 1.5 cans per cat. Again, mine normally eat less than that. This is dispersed with some kibble and other snackies during the day. That's at PetCo. Simply Nourish is really, super new at Petsmart -- it's their answer to Soulistic. They haven't come out with 5.5 oz cans yet, but they recommend 9 oz per 7 pounds of kitty; that comes out to just under two 5.5 oz servings per cat, but again, mine eat less. The cans are tasty, but not a bargain right now. What is the bargain? They give away 2 cans with a bag of kibble. 3.5 lbs is $9, 7 lb is $17, and that includes their salmon and sweet potato variety, which is completely grain free (and the only one Memph can eat). They also have turkey and oatmeal and chicken and rice, but for obvious reason, I can't buy those. If nothing else, your stores should stock their own brand! Register at all the catfood websites and at PetCo and Petsmart with your email address. I get offers out the wazoo for Pet Food Direct and Hearty Pet, the two online petfood outlets I'm playing with.

Ralphie Randy

I agree with Tenny that shopping online is a great way to find deals. There are posts on this board that Petco currently has a sale and a coupon for Nature's Variety, which is a really good food. I'm annoyed, because I JUST bought cases of the stuff! My cats' rotation includes 5 flavors from the NV Instinct line, which is high protein and grain-free. They seem to really like it.

Claire Jones

What a coincidence, I was just looking at that. Petco is also having free shipping on orders over $49. Plus, it looks like NV comes out to about $1.17-$1.33 a can right now. That really is a great deal! I might just have to order some. Thanks for the heads up guys!