🔄 Cat Food Transition Planner
Every guide tells you "25%, then 50%, then 75%". None of them tells you what that means in the bowl on Tuesday. This planner does: pick a pace, and get a dated, day-by-day schedule with the exact amount of old and new food — per day and per meal — plus a step-back button for the days your cat's tummy votes no.
Your switch
Day 1 of the plan. The schedule below is anchored to real calendar dates, so you always know today's mix.
7 days suits most healthy adults. 10 days for kittens, seniors, and any dry↔wet switch (a texture change is a bigger deal than a brand change). 14 days for sensitive stomachs — a true 10-step ramp, 10% at a time.
Weigh a normal day's food once — grams are the honest unit. Cups are converted at ~100 g per cup (typical kibble scoop; your kibble may differ, which is exactly why grams win).
Typical values are pre-filled from the standard published assumptions — dry ≈ 390 kcal per cup, wet ≈ 75 kcal per can — converted to per-100 g for these fields, but your label wins. It's why the percentages below are shares of calories, not scoops: a gram of dry food carries ~4× the calories of a gram of wet.
Common sizes: 85 g (3 oz), 156 g (5.5 oz). Used to show wet amounts in cans as well as grams.
Not sure the daily amount is right in the first place? Run the Calorie & Feeding Calculator first, then come back — a transition is the perfect moment to fix portions too.
Your transition plan
Tick each day off as you feed it — progress is saved on this device.
| ✓ | Date | Day | Mix (old : new) | Old food / day | New food / day | Per meal |
|---|
Total calories never change during the switch — only the source does. That's what keeps weight steady while the gut adjusts. Amounts are rounded to the nearest half gram; a gram either way changes nothing.
The printed plan carries your cat's name and every date — fridge-door ready, no email gate, no sign-up. Switching because of a life-stage change? See feeding transitions by life stage and kitten food vs adult food. And once the switch is finished, if you'll be feeding a blend, the Wet & Dry Food Mix Calculator takes over from exactly here — the mix it builds is this plan's end state.
Why use this planner?
Dates and amounts — nobody else gives you both
Other planners offer a percentage chart, or a calendar with no amounts, and the one with exact amounts emails you a PDF. Here the calendar, the grams and the per-meal split are on one page, free, with your cat's name on the printout.
The step-back button plans have been missing
Every guide says "slow down if the stool softens" — then leaves you to work out the new dates yourself. This planner re-issues the schedule: two extra days at the previous mix, everything after it re-dated, total calories untouched.
Percentages of calories, not of the scoop
A 50/50 mix by volume quietly underfeeds a dry→wet switch (wet food is mostly water) or overfeeds the reverse. Splitting by calories keeps every day at the same energy, so the only thing changing is the food itself.
Questions people ask
How long should switching cat food take?
Seven days is the standard published pattern for a healthy adult. Kittens, seniors and any dry↔wet switch do better over 10 days, and a genuinely sensitive stomach earns the 14-day, 10%-at-a-time ramp. Some cats need even longer — the step-back button exists precisely because the calendar serves the cat, not the other way round.
Can I just switch cold turkey?
Some cats shrug it off, but an abrupt switch is the most common cause of transition diarrhoea and food refusal — and a cat who decides the new food "made them sick" may refuse it for good. The gradual mix costs you a week; a hunger strike can cost you the whole food.
What if the stool goes soft mid-switch?
That's information, not failure: you're one step ahead of the gut. Use the step-back button to hold the previous mix for 2 extra days, then continue. If diarrhoea lasts over 48 hours, or there's vomiting, blood, or a full day of not eating, that's a vet call — see the red-flag panel in your plan.
My cat picks out the new food and leaves it (or eats around the old). Help?
Common tactics: mix more thoroughly (a fork-mash for wet, a shake in a sealed tub for dry), warm wet food briefly to body temperature to release the smell, and lift uneaten wet food after 20–30 minutes rather than leaving it to go stale. Play before meals helps — a "hunted" dinner is a more interesting dinner. What never helps is withholding all food until they give in.
Is a dry-to-wet switch different?
Yes — two changes at once: ingredients and texture, plus a big calorie-density drop (that's why this planner splits by calories, and why the amounts in grams jump around). Give it the 10-day pace minimum, and expect the total weight of food per day to rise a lot while the calories stay exactly the same.
What about switching a kitten onto adult food?
Same mechanics, 10-day pace, usually around 12 months unless your vet advises otherwise. Kitten food is more calorie-dense, so check the new daily amount against the Calorie Calculator — an adult cat on kitten portions gains weight fast.
This planner teaches the standard, widely published food-transition pattern and gives general feeding information only — it is not veterinary advice and doesn't replace your vet. Digestive upset during a switch is usually a pace problem, but if your cat stops eating for 24 hours, has diarrhoea for over 48 hours, vomits repeatedly, or you see blood, call your vet rather than adjusting the plan. Cats on prescription diets should follow their vet's switching schedule.