Introduction
A cat’s diet will need to be changed at least twice during the cat’s lifetime. Adult cats will need to eat cat food instead of kitten food, and senior cats will need to eat senior food instead of cat food.
Sometimes cats require a special diet such as a hairball formula diet, kidney or bladder formula diet, weight loss diet, or a diet which is created for cats with food allergies. While a change to a more beneficial diet is best, an abrupt change in diet can often lead to a variety of gastrointestinal upsets. If you need to change your cat’s diet, it is important to change the diet in a manner which will be safe for the cat’s digestion.
Safely Changing Your Cat's Diet
The two most common dangers cats face when their diet changes is a refusal to eat the new diet and gastrointestinal upset such as indigestion, vomiting, and diarrhea. Cats must eat at least every 48 hours. If they do not eat for more than 48 hours they may develop a dangerous fatty liver condition. Some cats refuse to eat new foods, and pet owners may unknowingly try to wait their cat out until it gets hungry enough to eat. This type of strategy can be dangerous for the cat, and so it is best to slowly mix in the new cat food over a long period of time. Slowly mixing in the new cat food will also help the cat’s digestive system to adjust to the new food without experiencing upset.
To safely change your cat’s diet, begin by mixing about ½ tablespoon of the new food into your cat’s regular diet. Stay with this ratio for at least 3 days, and then slowly begin to increase the new food’s amount by ½ tablespoon every other day as you decrease the old food by ½ tablespoon. If your cat refuses to eat the ½ tablespoon of the new food at first stay with it, if after a week your cat still refuses to eat the new food you may have to switch to another type of brand or flavor.