If you have a cat and are having difficulty starting a natural diet, don’t panic or get discouraged, this situation is extremely common!

Cats that have been fed dry food since weaning have more difficulty accepting fresh and wet food, especially if they were not stimulated with various types of food in their first months of life. This can lead them to become more resistant to new flavors and textures, and consequently, the transition to a bio-appropriate diet becomes a major challenge.

The longer your cat has been eating dry food, the longer it may take to adapt to the new diet.
Some cats readily accept a natural diet, and if they are young and healthy cats, you can make the transition while monitoring for any gastrointestinal symptoms.

However, most cats don’t accept a new food suddenly, so making the transition slowly and carefully is the best way. Here are some steps that can facilitate this transition phase:
The first step is to establish a feeding routine with specific meal times.

Contrary to popular belief, felines are accustomed to long periods of fasting due to their predatory habits, and therefore do not need to have food available all the time. Adult cats can have up to three meals a day, and kittens up to four meals a day.

With the feeding plan defined, we should begin introducing natural food gradually. Cats are generally sensitive to sudden changes in diet, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea. You can start by offering a small amount and observing if your cat eats it. If it accepts the natural food, you can gradually increase the amount while reducing the amount of kibble. This change should be gradual, over 7 to 10 days, until the kibble is completely replaced by natural food.

If your cat doesn’t accept the new diet, you can stimulate their appetite by having them fast for a short time and, after this period, offering the natural food alone, without the dry food. To encourage cats to accept the new diet, you can also vary the presentation, varying the temperature (cold or room temperature), varying the composition, trying to see what attracts their attention most (chicken, beef, pork…) and even testing different textures, feeding areas, feeding bowls, etc. If your cat is not used to wet food, you can start by moistening the dry food they are already used to, so that, when they accept it, you can start mixing in the natural food.

You can also add a little homemade chicken broth or even small pieces of fish, if he likes it. You can always do short fasts to stimulate his appetite, offering dry food less often.

If, despite these attempts, your cat proves resistant to the change in diet, we can still add some palatability enhancers to stimulate his appetite, such as adding a little natural yogurt, or the oil from canned tuna, coconut oil, fish oil, brewer’s yeast powder, or even a little of his kibble or favorite treat crumbled on top of the new food.

The important thing is to keep trying different things and discover what attracts your cat’s attention the most, and get him to eat small portions to start getting used to new flavors and textures. Don’t give up and introduce various foods in different ways until you find what works for him.

Some cats don’t tolerate constant changes in their diet well. If your cat only likes one flavor, as long as the recipe is complete, we can always stick to the same one.

The transition to a new diet for cats can be lengthy and often requires effort; it’s a process where patience is essential, but it will be rewarded by the visible improvement in your cat’s health and the reduced risk of various diseases, such as kidney and urinary problems, and obesity, which are very common in felines fed dry food.