How to Wean a Cat Off of Soft Food

While most cats are content eating dry cat food, illness or mouth injuries can make soft food a necessity. A temporary switch to soft food will give your cat the nutrition he needs during the recovery process, but transitioning back to a normal diet of crunchy cat food can be challenging. With a little patience and dedication, you can wean your cat off soft food and back to his routine diet with a minimum of issues.

Things You'll Need

  • Dry cat food
  • Measuring cup
  • Tuna, packed in water
  • Shallow bowl or saucer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Pour 1/4 cup of dry cat food into a shallow bowl, and coat it with a strong-smelling liquid, such as tuna juice. Allow the food to soften in the juice, and mix in with the cat's normal soft food ration. The juice entices the cat to eat the dry food, and makes it easier to chew.

    • 2

      Substitute a third of the cat's normal ration of canned food with dry kibble, and stir the kibble into the soft food. The dry food is coated with soft food to encourage the cat to eat it, but still maintains its normal crunchy texture. Feed the cat this 1/3-dry, 2/3-canned mixture for one week.

    • 3

      Increase the ratio to 1/2 dry food and 1/2 wet food for the second week, sprinkling the dry food over the top of the wet food rather than mixing it in. This encourages your cat to eat the dry food before it can have the wet food on the bottom.

    • 4

      Feed the cat a full ration of dry food from the third week on. Weaning the cat slowly from the wet food to the dry food slowly desensitizes the cat's mouth to the harder food, and avoids vomiting and diarrhea from an abrupt switch.