We had been feeding both Mickey and Lupi dry Iams for almost five years. As we had expected, Lupi made the switch to raw food immediately. We attribute this to the fact that we've always added variety to her diet, and she sees it as positive attention, a "special treat for a special girl." Every evening, she calmly sits next to us with her tiny ceramic bowl, and enjoys a small sample of whatever we're eating.  We've always done this to try and "beef her up" and provide her more energy to strengthen her immune system.  She snarfed her way through our entire 10-lb. shipment of Home Made For Life raw meat cat food. 

Mickey’s transition, however, was a different story altogether...We attribute his adamant refusal to change his diet to the fact that, for the first year of his life, it was a constant battle just to keep him going. He was put through the full gammut of antibiotics and medications which, ultimately, were administered by adding them to his food, which was often enhanced with strong-smelling "bribe" food, like bits of bacon, melted beef fat, butter, liver, and scrambled eggs, in order to stimulate his appetite. All too often, he would detect the bitter taste of the medications, and he'd abruptly turn away from his food, quite obviously upset by the whole incident. Once his symptoms disappeared, however, we never needed to use "bribe" foods to get him to eat the same dry kibble day after day, week after week, year after year... and he would never, EVER, consider eating them again!  (Or at least that's what Mickey thought!)

Step One (Days 1-3) We decided that the best way to approach this was to whip the IAMS kibble in the blender, but leave it dry. Mickey found this a bit odd (and rightly so), but ate it, SLOWLY and cautiously. We left it at that for about 3 days (they eat twice daily).

Step Two (Days 4-7) We put some spring water into a spray bottle and lightly misted the pulverized IAMS powder until it was damp. He did notice the difference, but ate it, grudgingly, again, very SLOWLY. We did this for four days, dampening it more and more each day.  By the fourth day, it was mushy wet, and he was eating it without hesitation.

Step Three (Days 8-9) We added a miniscule amount of minced raw chicken (about the size of a pencil eraser, but chopped up beyond recognition) and a pinch of probiotics and digestive enzymes to the mushy wet IAMS, and mixed it incredibly well. He hesitated, but when we added a light "sprinkle" of Magic IAMS Dust on the top he began to eat, but once again, slowly and cautiously. We did this for two days.

Step Four (Day 10) We left the pencil eraser-sized chicken bit whole. He ate the soggy IAMS mixed with probiotics and enzymes cautiously, and left the eraser in the bowl. One step back.  Dinner that evening included a pulverized chicken eraser like in Step Three. 

Step Five (Days 11-20) We doubled the amount of chicken, but pulverized it again, mixed it with the IAMS/supplement mixture and he ate it, but only with the Magic Sprinkles on top. We increased the pulverized eraser's-worth of chicken by one for each meal over about ten days, until we were at a 50/50 blend, with the Magic Srinkles. Then we drank wine, and smothered Mickey with attention like this world has never known.

Step Six (Days 21-22) We went shopping! A glimmer of hope in our hearts, we were turbocharged. Our entire Saturday was spent hunting through the Metropolitan Milwaukee area for everything we'd need to make home made cat food with very little odor, based roughly upon the Feline Future recipe, and all day Sunday, we made cat food! When we were finished, we served Mickey a 50/50 blend of IAMS powder and our new raw food. He ate it, hungrily, but only after we added the Magic Sprinkles! He did throw up once, just a tiny little bit, exactly on top of a Q-Tip that was lying next to the computer keyboard. We figure he has something against Q-Tips, those nasty things that poke around in his ears, but it may have had something to do with the fact that he was running around and playing like a maniac right after he finished eating (something we still have to keep an eye on)!

Step Seven (Days 23-32) We increased the (chunky) raw chicken by a little bit, each day for ten days, until our ever-stubborn Mickey was eating 100% raw -- with Magic Sprinkles, of course.

Step Eight (Day 33) The RED LETTER DAY!!! 100% RAW, NO HESITATION, GREAT GLOBS OF CHICKEN, NO PULVERIZATION, AND... NO MAGIC SPRINKLES!!!

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