Somehow, we have arrived at the situation where Ava is no longer eating wet food. She is NOT eating kibble thankfully (and doesn't even recognise it as food), but slowly the 'tempter' portion of Ziwipeak air dried cuisine has become the main and entire meal...and no raw is being eaten. This is completely our fault. We were rewarding her clever communication - she sits patiently in front of the food cupboard and looks at us, without uttering a sound, and I certainly want her to know that this is a good way to ask! However, I have taken a bit too long in giving the 'no' or 'wait' answer, plus both the frequency and the portion sizes have crept up (silly humans) and thus we are in our present situation where she only eats dry food.
And I don't think Ziwipeak is a bad food at all - in fact it is an excellent food. But it is supposed to be fed re-hydrated, recognising that in the wild, cats would EAT their required moisture. And without a wet diet, cats get sick and can die -dry diets are linked with urinary health issues for a start, and cats have certainly died from these problems. So it is time I seriously addressed Ava's diet, yet again.
So far, I have tried rehydrating the Ziwipeak - only twice - and she rejected it. And we have tried a bit of hand feeding of wet food (yes, it's mucky!), with limited success - only a few pieces or a few licks. So I have gone to my research to arm myself with tricks and techniques, and gather all the patience I can so I will 'out-stubborn my cat'!! I think I might try the puree method on some canned food (Z iwipeak canned), as I have noticed she loves to lick gravy and juice, but avoids actually chomping anything (her teeth are fine, and she does chew the odd boney chunk of rabbit, which is good). So I'll make the cat food ALL 'gravy like' and see how that goes down. The biggest thing I have to do however, is simply muster and retain my patience and persistence, and keep trying until we have success.
If you are also transitioning to a wet diet, here's the best lo-down on how, from vet, Dr Lisa Pierson: http://catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf
And I don't think Ziwipeak is a bad food at all - in fact it is an excellent food. But it is supposed to be fed re-hydrated, recognising that in the wild, cats would EAT their required moisture. And without a wet diet, cats get sick and can die -dry diets are linked with urinary health issues for a start, and cats have certainly died from these problems. So it is time I seriously addressed Ava's diet, yet again.
So far, I have tried rehydrating the Ziwipeak - only twice - and she rejected it. And we have tried a bit of hand feeding of wet food (yes, it's mucky!), with limited success - only a few pieces or a few licks. So I have gone to my research to arm myself with tricks and techniques, and gather all the patience I can so I will 'out-stubborn my cat'!! I think I might try the puree method on some canned food (Z iwipeak canned), as I have noticed she loves to lick gravy and juice, but avoids actually chomping anything (her teeth are fine, and she does chew the odd boney chunk of rabbit, which is good). So I'll make the cat food ALL 'gravy like' and see how that goes down. The biggest thing I have to do however, is simply muster and retain my patience and persistence, and keep trying until we have success.
If you are also transitioning to a wet diet, here's the best lo-down on how, from vet, Dr Lisa Pierson: http://catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf