my cat is too picky to eat good quality food he's eating dry food i can't even get him to eat wet
food how am i supposed to get him to eat raw so i just want to let you know and encourage you that
you are not alone you are not the only person in the world with a picky cat i promise you all
cats are picky about changes because they really like routine they also get addicted to certain
foods and its texture so this makes changing your cat's food really difficult typically when cat
parents tell me that their cat is too picky to eat better quality food fits under a couple different
instances so number one they're feeding dry food dry food is extremely high in carbohydrates and
that fuels hunger and fuels weight gain as well and typically when cat parents are feeding dry
food they leave it out all day an all-access buffet i worked as a cat sitter with over 400
cats for three years before starting my online business and everybody that was eating dry food
they just said oh just top off the bowl when it gets low and this just encourages the cat to
overeat and then when you try to change food you put down the wet food and nothing else or you put
down the raw and nothing else they're like this isn't my dry food what are you doing hey friends
it's jess and jericho and another reason that cats get addicted to dry food kibble is that
there are flavor enhancer palatants in the food so kibble is very high in carbohydrates even
grain free you know legumes potatoes all of those things still contribute to carbohydrates
and pet food manufacturers know that cats are not grain and carb eaters by choice so
they have to invent a way to make the food more palatable so that cats actually eat enough of it
so that it's actually nutritious since it's very high in carbs it's very low in meat based
protein because we all know that meat is more expensive than potatoes so there are companies
that exist that make flavor enhancer palatants that manufacturers use to spray on the dry food
and these flavor enhancers entice the cat tea more of it and your cat actually gets addicted to it
and one company even says that it's like kitty crack because they get addicted to it and when
you try to offer them new foods they don't want it because it doesn't have those those flavor
enhancers that they're addicted to they also get addicted to the texture you know the cats
in the wild they want to do the same things every day they want routine they want predictability
because that's what helps them survive so when you try to change their food up
cold turkey told you i make that joke every time when you try to change up their food cold turkey
they don't want to accept it because it isn't their current food give me a polydactyl thumbs up
if this is helpful so far so more cat parents that want to feed their cats better can find this video
thank you so much so what i would do step one scheduled meal times so instead of leaving food
out all day i feed at scheduled routine meal time so jericho eats at 7 a.m and 6 30 pm so
two scheduled meal times if your cat is used to eating all day then maybe you might want to do
three or four scheduled meal times just to break it up leave the food down for about half an hour
pick it up then then the next meal leave the food down for half an hour pick it up that way your cat
will get used to eating at routine scheduled meal times this step is super important please
please make sure your cat is eating at scheduled meal times first because then when you give your
cat a little bit of the new food your cat will understand okay this is my first meal of the day
i need to eat this unless i won't eat for the rest of the day until my next meal time so very
important first step next what you can do is offer fresh food toppers like freeze-dried or dehydrated
meats and organs you can also use a bone broth you can use raw goat milk there are various types of
food toppers on the market i'll put some of those links in the description so you can shop around
to find something that works for you i would use one stick to one you don't have to buy like 10
different things stick to one it's also important to replace the treats that you're feeding because
a lot of these crunchy treats that cats also are addicted to i'm sure you know you shake the treat
thing and they come running those are also very high in carbohydrates and also have those flavor
enhancer palatants on them so what i would do is replace the treats as well that way your cat isn't
getting any type of carb rich food and it gets your cat a little more adjusted to healthier foods
so again freeze-dried or dehydrated muscle meats and organs so think chicken thigh turkey thigh
beef heart liver spleen any of those beef turkey chicken there's rabbit there's duck i would use a
protein that your cat's already eating right now because that'll make the transition much easier
and again just by one don't don't feel like you have to buy 20 bags of new treats focus
on one change at a time little baby steps that's what your cat needs so once your cat is adjusted
to eating at scheduled meal times and you've completely ditched the crunchy carb rich treats
for healthy treats then you can start introducing the new food very gradually and my transition plan
includes a an additional five percent of the new food each day and an additional decrease of five
percent of the current food each day so day one it would be a 95 current food five percent new
food split and then day two ninety ten day three 3 85 15. i would start with just one meal not to
overwhelm your cat or overwhelm yourself and i would also start with the breakfast meal try to
use hunger to your advantage because your cat's more likely to eat up all the food at breakfast
than he is dinner if i was introducing raw food to a kibble-fed cat i would start with freeze-dried
raw because it looks like kibble in its appearance in its shape and it also crunches like kibble so
it's kind of like the same texture so your cat will probably eat it without even realizing it
and with that transition plan let's say you're feeding 30 pieces of kibble feed 29 pieces of
kibble and one piece freeze dried raw day two 28 pieces of kibble and two pieces of freeze dried
raw literally like very very gradual increase of the new food and gradual decrease of the current
food then to get your cat used to eating like a wet mushy texture rehydrate the freeze-dried food
very very gradually as well so i mean if you got to do it you got to do it one drop of water the
next day two drops of water you know you have to work with your cat just think about your long-term
goals you know i want to feed my cat raw i want to get my cats eating better food this is the
way to do it it's best for your cat and it's best for you too it's less overwhelm it's less stress
because it's such a small amount of food your cat will eat it probably without even realizing
it and i go much deeper into my transition plan in this video right over meow thanks for watching