"Train" a cat to eat wet food in one sitting?

[sugarjack]

I've been trying to switch my civvie cat to all-wet food, after having successfully switched my diabetic* dude to an all-wet diet. However, this cat is a die-hard grazer and it takes a good 6-8 hours for her to eat 3oz of wet food. She eats dry food just as slowly. She enjoys her wet food, but I just can't get enough of it in her, and I know it's not good to have it sit out all day.

Have any of you had this problem, and how did you solve it? How do you get a cat to eat a food - that they do really like - to eat a full portion within a short window of time? Possible?

*Diabetic dude was on Prozinc for about a year and a half, then went into remission last December. So far he's still throwing low/normal glucose numbers and continues his wet food diet. He and the civvie grazer have been living in separate homes because of the diet and eating issues, among other things, so if I can get her completely off dry food & eating her meals in one sitting, the two cats can possibly live together again!

 

[BJM]

Actually, I leave the canned food out for 12 hours at a time and no one has had a problem with that. Cats in the wild come back to a carcass for a while before it becomes inedible ... or gone.

 

[sugarjack]

She takes so long to eat it over the course of a day, that she ends up not getting enough calories in her. Also, if the food sits out, the diabetic dude will/would just eat it himself (he has no problem gobbling up yummy food!) and end up eating way too much. Maybe it's not possible, but I just wondered if anyone had any success stories in converting a free-feeder into an established mealtime kind of cat.

 

[BJM]

An option is timed feeders. If you have 2 of them some distance apart, she might get a shot at eating.

If you meal feed, she may need a higher calorie supplement such as A/D added to her food.

Another thing, is check she does not have any dental problems - a sore mouth will slow down eating.