You’ve made a decision. Your cat’s diet must change, for reasons of health and economics. Now you need to learn how to convert your cat to a quality diet.
Cats are not that easy to convince a change is good for them. Dogs are much easier to make changes with. They accept most food with enthusiasm, except when ill. Cats are very different. Whether it’s the appetite stimulants put into cat food, or whether cats dislike change, the reason is unimportant.
In practical terms, you can have a hard time of the change over. However, this can be simple if your follow these guidelines.
First of all, be utterly convinced you are doing the right thing. Be absolutely sure in your own mind, that the diet you currently feed your cat is doing her no good, and the raw diet you are substituting it for is going to do her a lot of good.
If you’re not very convinced, do some more research.
With this thought firmly fixed in your mind, your cat will read your determination and reasons clearly and will know it’s a waste of time to object. A token gesture may be all the objection raised.
Being determined yourself, with also ensure you stick to it, when the going gets tough.
Being aware that a change over to raw food is likely to bring an initial spring clean of a toxin clear-out. This can come in the form of vomiting, diarrhoea, skin eruptions and mild diseases. Although this can look alarming, it is a healthy sign and normally only lasts a few days to a week.
You can reduce these effects by gradually substituting the old food for the new raw food, over a period of about two weeks. Even if the new food is rejected, keeping reducing the old food.
A cat may fast for a few days, making her objection clear. But she will not starve herself. And a fast is a healthy thing all animals should have periodically. Hang in there!
Throw away (or give to your dog) the rejected food. Cats need very fresh food and will reject raw food that is slightly off (dogs, as carrion feeders don’t care).
Smearing the raw food with a tiny amount of a yeast spread or brewers yeast will entice most cats. Discontinue with the yeast spread as soon as the cat starts eating the food, as the high salt content is unhealthy.
Brewers yeast is a healthy supplement in small proportions. And most cats love it.
Once you try to advance the diet to include chicken bones, so healthy for gums and teeth, as well as the most natural form of calcium, your cat may balk again.
Start of with little pieces of chicken without bone. If this is hard to get your cat to eat, then heat very slightly, enough to stir an aroma, without whitening it. Once this is taken, start introducing pieces of chicken with bone in. Chop it up in to bite size chunks.
When you can hear the bone being crunched, you can increase the sizes, until the whole chicken neck, or half a chicken wing, is happily accepted. Even cats without teeth get to love the pieces of chicken and bone.
This process may sound an ordeal, but in reality it is a labour of love, to improve the health of your cat
