We have two cats how can we retrain our older male cat to eat dry cat food?

Maple

Our older male cat is about ten years old. He loves tuna. Both he and our female cat (she is about seven) love tuna. But they are very very spoiled and picky. Sometimes, the male cat will not eat his dry Meow Mix food at all. The female usually does, however. So how can we encourage the male cat to eat the dry food again? He only likes to eat the tuna! Also, I have heard that Tuna is bad for the kitty cats. Is this true?



Traci

Ah! You have a smart kitty there! He knows that dry food is bad and unhealthy for him and hes just trying to tell you that. Fish is also not a food daily choice either though... because lots of fish can cause Urinary tract problems in felines. Let me share with you what I have learned about feline nutrition to help you make an informed decision on what diet you should feed your cats. Many brands of manufactured cat foods claiming to be "healthy" really are not. In fact they are made of the lowest ingredients possible. Im not saying that a cat cant live off them... just the same as you could live off hot dogs forever, but better choices can and should be made for your feline friends. I would not venture to say that any manufactured food is "best" for a cat but a grain free organic wet food would be a good start. And canned is certainly better than Dry in all cases. Cats were never meant to eat dry food, also known as cereals or kibble. We, humans, make them eat it for convenience to us. It has nothing to do with them or their nutritional needs. Its completely species inappropriate. In the wild, cats derive their entire liquid intake from their prey. They do not have a thirst mechanism because they dont need it when eating a species appropriate diet. They get all they need from what they eat. So they do not drink water. Regular ol house cats have descended from those same wild cats. So in a home environment, your kitty does not get the moisture it need from dry food and are almost always in a constant state of dehydration. Water fountains are encouraged to TRY to get your cat to drink more and your kitty may even enjoy it. But it will never meet its water intake needs from drinking form a bowl. Deadly feline illnesses such as diabetes, kidney failure, obesity, stones, urinary tract blockages and Urinary Tract Infections, with and without deadly crystals run rampant these days. Cats are not taking in enough water to stave them off. Proper water intake through a species appropriate diet alone can prevent most of these conditions. Overall, wet is a better all around better for any cats diet, be it canned or Raw and they should never be fed dry cereal kibble if we wish to most closely match their wild nutritional and dietary needs. Kibble meets our needs… not our cats. It is also a myth that kibble cleans teeth. No, DRY FOOD DOES NOT CLEAN TEETH. Its an old myth that has been scientifically disproved for years but old-school vets drilled it into peoples heads for so long (and sadly still do) that people still believe it. Cats can not “chew”. They do not have chewing teeth. They have meat ripping pointy carnivorous teeth. They do not have molars. They may “crunch” a piece of food once to crack and break it… but they are absolutely unable to chew a hard piece if food. Want your cat to have clean teeth? Give them an appropriately sized raw bone. :o)I personally feed a Raw Meat and Bones based diet to my cats and they are very healthy on it. I HIGHLY recommend it. Once I got the hang of it and felt comfortable with it its a snap to prepare. Its something you might want to consider someday. They are obligate carnivores after all and must derive ALL their nutrients from meat based sources. They are unable to absorb them from any other source. Despite thousands of years of domestication they remain strictly carnivorous. True and honest meat eaters and that is what they need most. Protein from meat! If you are interested in feeding a raw diet some great places to start learning are: http://www. catinfo. org/http://www. catnutrition. org/http://www. felinefuture. com/nutrition/If you would like to try raw with your cats and don’t want to get all technical about it but want to try a trusted, time tested and balanced raw diet you can order from http://www. felinespride. com/products/cat… . I purchased this myself when I first started and my cats loved it! It’s also very close to the diet I choose to feed my cats still. I’m also happy to share about Raw feeding my own cats. I had an IBD cat and 2 cats the suffered FLUTD with bladder and kidney stones and all three were cured of their respective “diseases” (diseases all cause by feeding dry kibble)once I started feeding them a species appropriate diet of raw meat, bones and organs. If you have questions… feel free to email me. I will share with you in anyway I can to better the lives of your furry friends. If raw is not an option for you please be aware that there are three Categories of Pet Foods: -"Grocery store" foods – (Generic Brands and cheap name brands) Those foods found in grocery stores and mass-market retailers are made with lower-quality, less-digestible, inexpensive ingredients and are therefore a cheaper alternative. While easy on the pocketbook, "grocery store" foods normally do not provide your cat with the healthiest, most nutrient-dense ingredients.-Premium foods – (Iams/Eukanuba, Purina One, Hills Science Diet, Nutro and such) Foods often found in grocery stores, pet stores, and veterinarian offices that contain higher-grade ingredients, but still include many elements of "grocery store" food, such as artificial colors, artificial flavors, chemical preservatives, and "filler" ingredients such as corn and wheat products, by-products and even animal digest. Yuck! Premium foods are usually more expensive than "grocery store" foods because their ingredients are sometimes of a higher quality, and are therefore somewhat more beneficial and digestible. But don’t be fooled, some of those same so called Premium brands are sometimes worse than grocery store foods, but they charge prices like they are better. They aren’t! - Healthy foods – (Wellness, Eagle Pack, Drs Foster and Smith) The newest addition to the pet food market - provide pets with the highest quality, healthiest, and most nutritious ingredients. They are typically available for purchase online or direct from the manufacturer. Some better retailers are starting to carry them now. Complete Petmart carries a few healthy brand foods. Foods in the Healthy class - contain nutrient-rich ingredients. Formulated to provide optimum health benefits for pets, these foods often use real meat as the primary protein source, carbohydrate-rich whole grains like brown rice and barley and whole, fresh fruits and vegetables. They should not contain artificial preservatives, flavors, or colors. They will almost always be fortified with additional vitamins and minerals, and will use the best natural sources for fatty acids to help build healthy skin and a beautiful coat. Because healthy foods use high quality ingredients, you should expect to pay a little more than you would for other types of pet food. Remember, though, with healthy foods you can feed less since healthy foods are more nutrient-dense than other types of food so it often evens out or cost’s les than feeding foods filled with cheap non-nutritional by-products fillers. With all that information in mind, when you are choosing a new cat food, study the ingredients. All ingredients on pet food labels are listed by weight. Meaning whatever ingredients are listed first on the list, there is more in there. The first ingredients listed should be whole meat ingredients, protein sources, such as Chicken or Turkey. NOT just the word “meat”! Who the heck knows what that is? The word Chicken Meal is ok, but it should be a secondary ingredient, not first. Meal is the meat dehydrated and ground into a powder. The ingredients also should NOT include any by-products or animal digest whatsoever. Those are disgusting left over animal parts that are scraped off the filthy floors of meat and poultry plants. They should just go into the trash but they put them into pet food instead. EW!!!! Also make sure there are no artificial colors or flavors. And make sure there is no BHA and BHT used preservatives. These preservatives have been shown to cause cancer in both cats and dogs. Bad Bad stuff and it’s in almost every cat treat on the market. :(So, in summery of the ingredients… if you see the words by-products, Animal Digest, the word “meat” alone, Corn, Corn Gluten, Wheat Gluten, or BHA or BHT… stop reading, put down that product and move on to the next. Be aware that when switching to a Healthy, Holistic or Organic food, you will pay for what you get. Good foods are not cheap. They are pricey and will cost you on a per bag basis much more. Just like steak costs more than hotdogs. But again, you will be feeding a better food and improving the over all health of your pet. This in turn leads to less vet visits for illness now and more importantly later in life in their geriatric years. You will also feed less of this food on a per animal basis because a smaller amount of food contains what your cat needs. Overall healthy foods are well worth it, if only for the piece of mind that the ingredients are better for your cat than cheap crap. You can start your search for a healthy cat food here if you are not ready to try feeding a Raw diet: http://www. onlynaturalpet. comIf you want to buy in a store, Complete Petmart is a good store and carries quite a few natural, organic, and holistic blends. Also check with your local feed stores. Old Mother Hubbard Wellness Brand is a good holistic food. Merrick canned is also a great source of nutrition. I highly recommend you take the time to research for yourself, but the information I have given should get you off to a good start. Good luck choosing a new healthy food!********IMPORTANT*******Don’t forget to switch your Pets food slowly over a period of 10 to 14 days, if you can. Mixing 25% new to 75% old. Then 50/50… then 75% new to 25% old. And finally sw



Lelia

When that is his only choice he will eat it eventually.



Malia

I dont believe that Tuna is bad for them, but I think that if all they have is dry they will eat it eventually.



Leigha

Listen to me, they are called animals for a reason. I had the same problem with my cats too. What I did was I kept giving them all the same food i wanted them to eat. And after around 2 weeks they lost their picky attitude and ate anything i gave them.



Detra

Wean them back onto dry food gradually. We had the same problem with one of our cats. We started mixing a small portion of dry food with an even smaller dab of wet food. This forced him to eat the dry when it wasnt his first choice. Later we wanted him to gain weight so we put him back on wet food, with dry food available at all times. However, we had created a monster! For his breakfast he only wants the mixed food and he only wants it in the utility room...they are so funny! But isnt that why we have them in our lives?



Deloris

Tuna isnt bad for cats....theyre crazy....all of my moms cats would be dead.....If you just leave to dry food out, hell either go hungry or eat it....or you can mix a little of the tuna in with the dry cat food....



Annika

MIX DRY AND WET FOOD FEED IT TO THEM ONE DAY. THE NEXT DAY DO THE SAME BUT WITH LESS WET FOOD, CONTINUE UNTIL THE WET FOOD ISNT WITH IT ANY MORE



Demetra

Tuna can be bad for cats. Tuna can cause inflammation of the bladder, which (especially in male cats) can be a big problem (can lead to urinary infections, or even blockage). Even if you cant get your cat to eat dry food, you should at least feed a canned cat food and not tuna fish. There are some benefits to feeding both canned and dry. Dry is better for the teeth, canned is better for hydration. Try mixing the dry with the canned. Also if you just leave the food out all day, the cat may just not be interested so try feeding in meals. Twice a day usually works.



Isreal

We have 8 cats. I have been told by a vet that the proteins in tuna are a little too concentrated to be a steady diet for the kittys. That said, I found a great trick to get them to eat dry kibble food. First of all, use a good quality food. If you are using a cheap supermarket food like Friskies or Meow Mix, then they are telling you that this is bad food. Its like feeding nothing but french fries and pizza to your kids. Get a good quality food and your kittys will be healthier and live longer. And theyll be more likely to eat it. I use Science Diet, but have also heard good things about Nutro. If your kitty still turns his nose up at the food, then get tuna packed in water, drain out the water and pour some of it over the cat food. This works like a charm. The tuna water soaks into the food and they will chow down on it. Make sure you throw away any leftover food and start new the next day, as the tuna water will spoil over time. Each day, use a little less tuna water and in no time at all he will be eating straight food.



Marcy

Too much tuna isnt good for ktities. Apart from the mercury content, its high in magnesium and unsaturated fat and low in taurine and vitamin E. They can get a condition called yellow fat disease from the combination of unsaturated fats and low vit E. http://www. cat-world. com. au/FeedingFish.…Dry food isnt particularly good for cats either, particularly grocery store brands. Youd be better off feeding them a good quality canned food, or at least a mixutre of quality dry food and canned food. http://www. catinfo. org/http://www. littlebigcat. com/index. php? ac…http://maxshouse. com/feline_nutrition. ht…



Shon

My cats love tuna and also whitefish! If the cat is older you might have a problem with hard food, because of their teeth. Its easier to eat the soft food. My moms cat is 15 yrs old and thats all she will eat now. So maybe you might want to check with your vet before you try switching him over fo good. Hope this helped you!!!



Joeann

Cats need a balanced diet and only eating tune will not give him all he needs. Furthermore, the high phosphate levels in fish causes problems with feline kidneys. Why do you want them to eat dry food? Dry food has two serious flaws:1. Cats derive most of their liquid from their food and because dry food is dehydrated cats will not take in sufficient moisture and can suffer with kidney problems and form crystals in their bladder. They cannot drink enough to offset the lack of water in their food.2. Dry food is primary carbohydrate: fillers flavourants. Cats need animal based protein which is not possible with dry. The high carbohydrate levels will result in raised blood glucose levels. This leads to obesity and eventually can result in the pancrease going into shock and the cat becomes diabetic. The marketing that the companies go to convince us that their food is good for cats is easily proven to be false if only by looking at the ingredients. The best thing you can do is to get both your cats onto a low carb wet diet.



Alonso

Yes, human tuna is bad for cats. Ive heard that they can get sort of addicted to it and may turn up their noses at anything else, which can be a problem. It can also lead to a disease - I think its yellow fat or something like that. Whatever, its not good. And of course it doesnt provide the right nutrition that cats need. If youre feeding canned tuna for cats, thats better but still not good. Fishy foods shouldnt be served more than 2-3 times per week. How about this - get some other canned foods for him to eat? Canned food is healthier for them. You might want to reconsider the Meow Mix too - thats one of the very worst brands of dry food out there. Just about anything would be an improvement.