? Transition to Wet Food

@Kris & Teasel I know you'll be happy to see this - we finally managed to work things out to get the wet food, we have it here and are ready to start transitioning, so I wanted to get your advice on things, as well as anybody else.

We got the Fancy Feast classic pate (3 oz. cans), and I know we should mix it into his dry food to start with, so how much should we put in it, and for how long before we start to give him just the wet food?

When we do switch entirely to the wet food, how many times a day should we feed him and how much should we give him? His current weight is 10.5 pounds (vet told us 10 pounds is his ideal weight).

And should we make any adjustments to his insulin dosage due to the BG drop that will come from the switch to wet food?

 

Congratulations on starting the transition. I'll let others weigh in on how much to start with. I just wanted to advise you to mix extra water into it from the beginning so he is used to eating it that way. I make Bama's soupy with hot water which is good for when he's finishing a partial can out of the refrigerator. The warm water helps to heat it up if I don't remember to take it out of the refrigerator 45 minutes to an hour before mealtime. Since Bama gets Dr. Elsey's dry, he is only eating a single 3 oz. can of wet per day. So half in the am and half in the pm with about 2 oz. water each time. Some of that water goes over his dry food which is added to his bowl once he has finished most of the wet. Lots and lots of stirring is part of the process combined with heaps and heaps of praise for doing such a good job eating his food. Bama is used to eating this way but some cats don't like their dry food being doused with water or mixed with their wet. It's all in whatever you can get your cat to think is normal and appetizing.

 

Heather, here is a link that may help:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/transitioning-your-cat-from-dry-to-wet-food.956/
I feed Idjit four small meals a day, the vet told us 3 meals, but he insists on a bedtime snack and we comply. I have read that it's 20 calories per pound of ideal body weight, and if you look at the food chart you can see how many calories are in a can of each flavor. I would write the calorie amount on the can label so I knew how much he was getting per day.
Victor may really go for the wet food, but a slow transition is best for his GI system. You don't want vomiting or diarrhea. In addition, the wet food is going to lower the BG and you don't want a sudden, drastic drop. Nice and easy, slow and graceful.
Good luck with the transition, and let us know how it goes.

 

After trying to switch my kitties over too quickly (resulting in vomit within the hour and a hungry kitty), I had success mixing the wet/dry food at 50/50.

I calculated how many cans per day my kitties needed based on the same formula @Idjit's mom just said, and then split that in half (morning and evening feeding times) and then would mix a half of that amount with a half-amount of their usual morning dry measure. If that makes sense... Lol! I feed twice a day and they're very happy with it.

I did the 50/50 mix for one week and then went to only shift food and have had no problems.

 

I'm so glad to read this, Heather! Congrats on starting the switch.

You might try: 75% dry/25% wet for several days or a week then go to 50% dry/50% wet for a similar period followed by 25% dry/75% wet for up to a week. After that you should be at 100% wet. Adding extra water to wet food is a good idea. I might wait until he's eating only wet for a little while though. He might have to get used to it and you don't want to complicate the food switch with something else that might take an adjustment period. As for how much to feed: my guess is he will likely need 3 cans of Fancy Feast per day split into at least 3 meals. Four meals is probably better.

You'll have to up your testing game as you go through the transition because he's very likely to experience a significant effect of the wet food on his BG levels. The dry food is high carb and a food change alone can drop BGs down. I suggest that in addition to the PSs you try hard to get at least one test in the +3 to +7 range every day as well as one before bed every evening. Is he still on Humulin? Are you making the change to Lantus? If on Humulin, maybe drop the dose to 3 u when you start the switch. Your BG tracking will tell you how to proceed with dosing and we're here to help.

Post here often as you go through the transition because he might surprise you.

 

Be sure to let us know how your sink looks. A 70 lb. dog and five cats made us wonder what we were doing, but only for a second.
The local PetValu is now on their third franchisee. Their "knowledgeable" staff try to pawn off 80 pound bags of corn meal on me. You did a good thing.

 

@H.M. Victor We don't have any diabetic cats anymore, I'm only here for the entertainment. Since we started feeding FF years ago all the cats got right into it. I had a hard time with that because for as long as it's been on the market I always considered it the pig-slop of cat foods. I wonder how many newbies think the same way.
Marco was six when we rescued him and had a history of UTI. The vet recommended Royal Canin Urinary SO and said it was fine for all the cats. Marco has not had UTI since he started eating it. Some won't touch it but at least Marco loves it. We often blend the two together.
Now I'm sitting here with the can in front of me but I don't have a magnifying glass so I don't know any of the specs. Just a thought.

 

Argh, more math

Okay, I took a look at the link @Idjit's mom posted and saw on there that your cat should get at least 15 calories per pound, based on lean body weight (which I assume is the same thing as ideal body weight), so should we go with 15 or 20 calories?
Either way, I hope I got the math right with Victor's ideal weight being ten pounds:
10x15 = 150 calories per day or
10x20 = 200 calories per day
Correct?

And then the calories in each can would be added up to equal the needed amount of calories per day, split up into 3 or 4 meals? I would appreciate some help on figuring this part, if you guys don't mind. We got the variety packs and here are the flavors and their calories (from Lisa Pierson's food chart):
Tender Beef Feast - 90 calories
Chicken Feast - 91 calories
Turkey & Giblets Feast - 96 calories

Really guys, I am genuinely endlessly grateful for this forum and all your help, patience and support; I'd be absolutely lost without it.

 

Based on those numbers per can (yes, your calculations are correct) you can try just 2 cans of any of those Fancy Feasts per day split into several meals. The "calories needed" calculation is only a starting point. How Victor responds in terms of weight depends on activity level, his response to lower carbs and so on. Weigh him at the start of the food switch and then weekly to track his weight. If it's rising, cut back and if it's falling, stay there until he gets to 10 lbs. At that point you might have to fiddle a bit to find his maintenance food intake. Your main focus right now, though, should be tracking his BG response to the lower carb food.

 

Glad to hear the great news Heather! And good to see you guys are doing well. <3

 

@Kris & Teasel What would be the best way to portion out the two cans? Into halves for four meals or should his AM and PM meals have larger portions?

Should I take this into consideration from the article about transitioning to wet food:

it is important to understand that you need to have some idea of the calories from canned food combined with the calories from dry food that your cat is consuming on a daily basis while you are implementing the transition to canned food

And the percentages of wet food that we need to add to his dry food, should it be 25% etc. of one can or of both cans?

I'm probably making this more difficult on myself than it needs to be and I apologize, but I just want to be sure I get everything right.

 

Try 2 larger and 2 smaller meals, Heather. Sorry, but I'm heading out the door to the dentist.