When transitioning cats to a raw diet, some will need to transition using a wet canned food (versus switching to raw cold turkey). It is important not to practice tough love with your cat. Unlike dogs, cats can very quickly suffer from fatty liver disease from not eating (cats can and will starve themselves being the divas they are) which can result, if severe enough in death. Obviously, we want to avoid this so although we don’t recommend wet canned food for extensive periods of time especially compared to a Prey Model Raw diet, for the sake of our feline friends’ health we recommend including it during the transition.

When looking for a quality wet canned food there are a few tips we recommend following:

1. NO foods with….
   Dyes

       By-products or doesn’t even have meat in it

       Chemical preservatives (BHT, BHA)

       Corn

       Soy

       Wheat

​       Other grains

• These are either cancer causing ingredients like BHT and dyes or common allergens/genetically modified ingredients like corn, soy and wheat

 

    2. Low to No….

        Fruits

        Veggies

• Cats are obligate carnivores and are not designed to utilize any kind of plant material. Often these are just fillers and further tax the body

 

    3. NO…

       Carrageenan

-This ingredient is often tainted with poligeenan when included in pet food. Poligeenan is used in the lab to provoke inflammation to cause cancer in lab animals. MOST wet canned pet foods contain carrageenan as a texturizer and thickener so unfortunately it is hard to avoid. So, if you can’t find a food without it, although it’s not ideal don’t worry, your cat will not be on this food for long.

 

The following list (in no particular order) are decent choices of wet canned cat food to help transition your companion to raw.

 

​Earthborn

• Contains carrageenan

Natural Planet Organics​

Nulo

• Contains pumpkin and cranberries

Soulistic

Tiki Cat

Ziwi Peak

• Contains chick peas

 

Note none of these companies have had a recall which otherwise could include salmonella, listeria, metal shards, elevated hormones or vitamin/mineral levels, mold, pentobarbital (the euthanasia drug) etc.

 

How to Transition with Canned Food

 

Ideally you want to transition over 7-10 days. Over this time period you will want to use 25% of the new food to 75% old food the first day, continue this for a bit, then move into 50% new and 50% old food. In a few days, transition to 75% new food, 25% old food. Than finally on the 7th to10th day your companion should be consuming 100% raw.

 

Every cat is different and some are complete divas so some cats may take a lot longer to transition. For more tips and tricks check out Transition and Troubleshooting Guide