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Cat Diet Change

Submitted by Michael Adams on April 21, 2010

A change in your cat’s diet may be necessary at times, due to various health reasons. However, it is advisable to consult your cat’s veterinarian, before you decide to make the switch. Moreover, this transition should be slow and steady, as it gives your pet enough time to get adjusted to the new diet.

Cats are known to be “creatures of habit”, which means that they do not quickly or easily adjust to any change in their current situations. That’s why it is quite likely that they will prefer their current diet, to the new one. Therefore, you need to plan this change carefully.

When choosing a new cat diet, you need to make sure that your pets receive all the nutrition they require. A healthy cat diet will include the right amount of protein, fat, fiber, calories, mineral and vitamins.

Here are some tips to help you in with the transition:

Make sure that the introduction of the “new food” is gradual, which will help ease your pet into the diet change. Mix about three quarters of the old food, with one quarter of the new food. Over the next few days, increase the amount of the new food, and reduce the portions of the old food, eventually, switching over to the new diet completely. Some pet-owners may face problems, where their cats refuse to eat the new food. However, healthy cats can go on without meals even for a couple of days, without any problems.
Do not feed your cat any table scraps or kitty treats, for the first couple of days. Avoiding these extra treats will help your cats to adjust to their new and healthy diet, sooner.
Use the tone of your voice, as well as your body language, to encourage your cat to get accustomed to the new diet. Coaxing them gently, making soothing and pleasant sounds will be a lot more effective than ordering them to eat their new food.
In case you are changing your cat’s diet from moist food to dry food, you could first try adding a little warm water to the dry cat food. You could also try warming this moistened food in a microwave oven. If the food is mixed with water, the portion that is uneaten should be discarded after twenty minutes.

No matter what food you feed your cats, you need to make sure that they have a lot of fresh water to drink.

Pet Health Instructor

Cat Diet