If you’re here, I don’t need to tell you what utter diva’s kitties can be - knocking things off the counter for sport, scratching up your furniture, and looking at you with “that look” in their eye and a classic cat favorite, gobbling down their food one day and turning up their nose the very next day at the same meal.
It should come as no surprise then that felines can be extremely finicky when it comes to switching food. There are many reasons why you might want to change your pet’s food. Perhaps, the cost has become a factor? Or maybe they have transitioned to a different stage of life? More commonly though, there is a medical reason, like kidney disease, necessitating a dietary overhaul.
My personal favorite reason is that you have learned about the benefits of a homemade raw diet and want to give your feline friend the very best food for their health. Whatever the reason may be, transitioning a cat to a new food should be undertaken with patience. If you try to switch the food out too quickly, you may end up with a kitty with gastrointestinal issues (if they like the new food) or a kitty on a hunger strike (if they don’t).
Here are a few tips to help you successfully switch your kitty to a better diet.
1. Patience
It can take up to 3 months to successfully transition your cat onto a new diet, so you need to accept this may be a longer journey than you anticipated.
2. A Regular Feeding Schedule
If your kitty has been enjoying an all-you-can-eat buffet throughout the day with food on demand you need to change that to a feeding schedule of morning, afternoon, and night feeds. Don’t worry all my 9 to fivers, you can still get that afternoon feed in even if you aren’t at home by choosing one of these automated cat feeders to go off during the day to give them that extra afternoon meal while you are out.
3. Time to Math
To have the best chance of success, you need to feed them a little less of their original food each day and add a little bit of the new food. So each day you will be gradually reducing the old food and increasing the new food until the transition is complete. Here is a great chart to get you started on the ratios and how to space them out. Remember though, these are just guidelines - every cat is an individual, so pay attention to your own pet and adjust the ratios accordingly. A gentle reminder that if anything at all seems off, consult your vet immediately.
If you are considering changing your cat from a commercial diet to a raw food diet, here is a great success story to encourage you. And if you want to give your kitty the diet they were meant to eat but are unsure where to start, take a look at my super easy low-cost course which will teach you everything you need to know to have homemade pet food in minutes!
