When your cat is not eating, it can be difficult to get him or her back into good spirits.
If you try feeding your cat warm food, he or she may eat some of it before realizing that it is colder than what they are used to.
This could make them feel nauseous or sick, which could scare them away from the food altogether.
So how do you warm up refrigerated dry cat foods?
There are two main ways to do this. You can either heat it in the microwave or cook it in boiling water. Both work well!
Heating wet canned diets is different because there are liquid components. However, you can use the cooking process to help rehydrate the dried kibble. This helps promote digestion as well.
Do a stretching routine
Stretching is one of the most important things you can do for your muscles. When baking or cooking food, your muscle tissues require heat to work properly.
Just like with humans, cold muscles cannot function well until they are warm. This goes beyond feeling relaxed and comfortable- it impacts how well your body functions. For dogs, this means limiting activity for 24 hours after being exposed to low temperatures.
Stretching is a great way to increase overall muscle health and function. By doing a few minutes of each position at least twice a day, you will help keep your muscles tight and ready to go!
For dogs that suffer from overheating episodes (more about these here), starting a regular yoga session or similar exercise program is a good idea. Since many people have success using their own routines, there are lots of resources available online.
General tips
If you are having trouble getting into the right mindset before your workout, try changing your environment or working out in a different location. Or perhaps start by only performing a short amount of exercises before adding more as you feel better.
Also, instead of diving in all-out, slow motion workouts immediately after waking up, start with a shorter period of time or even just wakeup walks to get yourself moving and awake.
Drink plenty of water
When you start eating refrigerated cat food, your body will begin to absorb liquid from the surrounding area to help in the digestion process. Consistently drinking enough water can aid this in way that trying to drink milk can!
Cat foods that do not contain added oils or fat usually do not require any sort of warm up time before being consumed because they are already mixed with liquids. For these types of diets, making sure your kitty is hydrated is more important than for other types of diets.
For canned diets, we recommend warming the can slightly before feeding time to facilitate consumption. This does not apply to raw meat diets, as cooking the meat first would be incorrect!
For boxed dry foods such as Fancy Feast Chicken & Rice and similar recipes, adding some boiling water into the container is an easy way to get started. You can then mix in some cooled dried food to make it more accessible for your furry friend.
Do a cool down stretching routine
This is an important part of any workout, warm-up or not! Stretching can help increase your blood circulation and reduce muscle stiffness after you are done doing exercise.
The same goes for eating! After cooling off from cooking food, it is very common to avoid eating as soon as possible because you feel hungry and like you might eat everything in sight.
By taking some time to relax and unwind after cooking, you will be more likely to eat something and then maybe even enjoy it. Yours body needs this break!
Stretching is a great way to do that since it takes care of both muscles and nerves. By easing tension, you’ll also ease hunger.
There are many ways to stretch, so try different ones out and see what works for you.
Try using the cat food warmer
This may seem like an odd suggestion, but try heating your dog or cat’s refrigerated meal in a warm oven instead of letting it sit out at room temperature.
Many breeders recommend this technique for two reasons. First, boiling dry food uses up some of the nutrition that can be lost when it is cooked under high heat. Second, heated foods are more easily digested which helps promote faster digestion and better nutrient absorption.
This article will discuss how to do this with chicken, fish, and raw meat diets.
Try leaving the food out longer
Many experts suggest eating your refrigerated cat food within one hour of opening, or even cooking it immediately! This is because some dry foods need to sit and warm up before you can put them in the mouth.
If your loved one likes thinner kibble, they may be hungry for more after this suggestion. They may also like different textures, so try mixing their current diet with some softer or crunchy kibble to see what flavor they enjoy first.
This article will talk about another option if you are having trouble getting your dog or cat to eat their own food. Changing the texture or adding new ingredients can help get the feeding process started.
Use a different brand
It is not okay to use your favorite refrigerated food as a warm up recipe for another brand of cat food. This may be due to slight nutritional differences or even no difference at all between the two brands’ recipes.
If you ever find that your cat does not like her current kibble, it is usually because she has been eating one type of food and then switches over and doesn’t like it.
A easy way to prevent this is by using the same bag as a transition diet. For example, if your cat loves XYZ kibble and will eat only that food, then try baking it in the oven (warm) or boiling it (hot). Both of these methods removes any kind of preservative which could make the kibble taste bad.
By doing this, your kitty can learn how to enjoy the other kibble while she gets used to her own.
Use less refrigeration
There are two main reasons why most commercial cat foods are cold-mixed. The first is cost, as mentioned before. Having to use very hot water or milk to warm up the food adds to the production costs.
The second reason is that some of the ingredients in the food can be mixed at lower temperatures because they have already dried down during processing. This includes things like purified meat protein or flaked fish.
Neither of these apply to healthy diets for cats, however. Yours should contain fresh vegetables and fruits, for example! If you don’t supply your feline friend with such wholesome nutrients, she will suffer health problems due to lack of vitamins and minerals.
We recommend mixing your own diet for your beloved pet instead.
Let it sit for a while
When baking or boiling cat food, how long you cook it is very important! If your recipe calls for just stir-fry style eating, then do not leave the cooked product in longer than 30 minutes because it will burn or overcook and lose its flavor.
If the food has been refrigerated first though, this is where things get tricky. What happens when you take food out of the refrigerator?
As they say, cold water takes time to warm up. This is why people usually pour hot liquids onto chilled foods – it heats faster!
The same goes for heated liquids coming into contact with cooled materials. For example, if you mix milk with ice, the ice will melt some of the milk down. But, never ever let the melted liquid come into direct contact with the solid part of the milk unless the milk is already warmed up.
This is what can happen when you try to warm refrigerated pet food. The top layer may heat up slightly, but the colder interior stays that way until you start mixing it together again.