Like with people food, no meat should be left out for more than about an hour or so. Even bagged, meat goes bad quickly, go ahead and put it in the refrigerator right away, cover the unused portion of the can with a can cover (available for a nominal fee at most all pet stores) You can pick the food up and put it in the fridge and when he asks for it, then take it out, he obviously likes his food to "marry" this is like when left overs taste better the second time around, because all of the ingredients have time to mingle well, they often taste much better. If you are mixed in dry food, it may be that your cat is having tooth problems, which is why it is not eating the dry food until it has absorbed the moisture of the wet food, a trip to the vet might be in order. PS - most animals dont care about temperature so much. I have sen a dog take meat from a hot BBQ and have seen huskies eat almost frozen food.

Thanks for posting! I'm not mixing the 2 foods together, he has his dry dish and his canned food.

He's not eating all his canned food so I want him to eat more but I am not sure if he likes it better if it has had time to marinade, likes only a little bit at a time or if I haven't found the right flavour yet. I'm sticking with poultry, haven't seen any rabbit. I read beef and fish aren't good for cats (was really surprised about the fish).

Leave the canned food out for 15-30 mins, then cover it and put it in your fridge until the next meal time. It won't take Dustin long to figure out that the food disappears if he doesn't eat it when it's offered.

Cats do tend to be fussy about food temp, so I always warm refrigerated food for a few seconds in the microwave until it gets warm and smelly. Most of my cats won't touch cold food. Do be VERY careful, however, not to get it too warm or they will reject it because of the heat.

There is no marinading or marrying of canned food. Unless you are adding other ingredients to it, it's already done all the marinading it's going to do in the can.

Fish and beef aren't inherently bad for cats unless it's all you are feeding with no variation of diet. My cats eat poultry, seafood, and beef canned foods. As with most people, cats appreciate variety. Dustin is apparently not terribly fond of the canned food you're offering him now, so buy a few other brands and flavors. You may find that his taste cycles, too. He may love poultry this week and hate it next week. Such is the nature of cats.

Laurie

Thank you for the advice! I am much happier with leaving it out for a set time limit and putting it back in knowing he'll figure it out and may dig in more when its fresh out.

True that cats are fickle. Today one will run to the dish and gobble up "the most favorite" flavor, and tomorrow the same cat will look at it and ask: "you don't expect me to eat THAT?"

True ... true. However dry WILL cause dental issues and dehydrate the cat, canned is better, there are things you can add to help, Baby food, canned fish, ect. but this should only happen if the cat is starving. in gen a cat will eat whenever he/she is hungry, it may help to leave food out for a limited time, only to pick it up again afterwards set two times 30 minutes each when Dustin can eat, fast him the rest of the day, you my find this helps "quoted from The new natural cat". - a book.

It says in the New natural cat to offer food for 30 minutes twice a day. This gives them a chance to cleanse their systems and rest their food sensers.

I put wet food out at 8:30pm. He rarely eats it all in one sitting. Usually by the time I go to bed at 11:30pm it is gone but not always.

Same thing in the morning. He gets wet at 7:30am -- when he eats it all is up to him!

I really don't worry about food poisoning if that is that you are inquiring about. Cats are pretty smart and don't think they would eat spoiled food.

If the wet food ever looks dried out in the bowl, then I would dump it as by then, he probably isn't going to eat it.

I agree with what Stir Fryi says. I put the wet food down, and usually my cats eat a bit, then do something else, then eat some more. I have been doing that for more than 17 years (one of my cats passed recently at 17, and my other is still going strong at 17, so my methods seem to work, plus I now have 2 new kittens).

Cats have an acute sensitive sense of smell, which is what helps them survive in the wild. If the food has gone bad by even a microbe, they won't eat it. Often, due to my schedule, I've left the wet food bowl out all day. When I come home, the leftover crusty icky food is untouched. No big deal. Over time you get a sense of the amount to put in the bowl, so that the leftover is kept to a minimum.

Sweetchastity, I wouldn't fret or go crazy worrying about when to pick up the wet food bowl. We all have busy schedules, and believe me, the cats can survive if you don't pick up the bowl every 30 minutes, or run a strict schedule of feeding. I've seen barn cats kill 3 or 4 mice at a time, eat one, and then leave the rest lined up in a methodical row, to be eaten later when the cats feel like it.

BTW, I am not much a fan of the New Natural Cat book that Runsnwalken quotes. Just because I think it has been the source of a lot of angst in cat owners! While it has some very good advice, it's also overboard on making people worry about their cats.