I live in a one-cat household, just me and my fiance and our 1-year-and-a-bit-old calico tabby shorthair, Mara, who is our first cat together (he grew up with family cats, I have had roommates with cats in the past, but neither of us has ever been the primary Responsible Adults for any cats of our own). We adopted Mara about three or four months ago. Since we got her, we've been feeding her a half a can of Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys a day, split into two small feedings morning and evening, with Science Diet Original dry kibble always available (I don't measure it, but about one-third to one-half of one of the large dog-kibble scoops per day, or slightly less). Well, since I've been on here for a few days, and doing some reading, I'm thinking perhaps it would be good to at least transition to a higher-quality wet food, and maybe also transition from mixed dry-wet to all wet food.
This is complicated a little by the fact that she's battling a persistent UTI - the first round of antibiotics didn't completely eliminate it, so we're doing a second round and the vet is doing a culture and will call us in a few days in case we need to switch antibiotics or something to make sure it gets taken care of - so I'm really concerned with making sure she gets enough water. I've been mixing a couple spoonfuls of warm water into her wet food morning and night, to make a sort of soupy gravy in it, which she loves. But again, doing the reading around here, I think adjusting her diet more toward wet food would also help.
My question is, how do you transition them from one to the other? Especially with a cat who's used to having dry food always available to graze on when she wants a snack? Because that's what she currently does, little snacky nibbles of it (a few bites or so, from the sound) every hour or two, with her wet meals twice a day. And I'm concerned that she'll get upset if we take her dry food away, even if we are giving her more wet food to compensate.
Also, I'd welcome advice about better-quality wet and/or dry foods. I've picked up small cans of Before Grain, AvoDerm and Natural Balance to try and see how she likes them. Science Diet is a pretty quality dry food, right? As far as dry foods go?
This is complicated a little by the fact that she's battling a persistent UTI - the first round of antibiotics didn't completely eliminate it, so we're doing a second round and the vet is doing a culture and will call us in a few days in case we need to switch antibiotics or something to make sure it gets taken care of - so I'm really concerned with making sure she gets enough water. I've been mixing a couple spoonfuls of warm water into her wet food morning and night, to make a sort of soupy gravy in it, which she loves. But again, doing the reading around here, I think adjusting her diet more toward wet food would also help.
My question is, how do you transition them from one to the other? Especially with a cat who's used to having dry food always available to graze on when she wants a snack? Because that's what she currently does, little snacky nibbles of it (a few bites or so, from the sound) every hour or two, with her wet meals twice a day. And I'm concerned that she'll get upset if we take her dry food away, even if we are giving her more wet food to compensate.
Also, I'd welcome advice about better-quality wet and/or dry foods. I've picked up small cans of Before Grain, AvoDerm and Natural Balance to try and see how she likes them. Science Diet is a pretty quality dry food, right? As far as dry foods go?