Rotating foods, how do you do it?

Hi folks,

I'm trying to make my two ex-farel kittens as non-finicky as possible, so I want to rotate their diet...I feed 50/50 wet and dry (dry free-fed now, wet 3 times a day). I've been feeding nutro nat. choice kitten. But I've gotten several cat food samples in the mail (some all ages, some kitten) and I've recently bought a 1lb sample of artemis (all ages).

So, should I mix it all up together (2-3 foods at a time) or feed food A one day, then food B, one day, etc...

If I mix the foods together, it will be nutro kitten, artemis, and one of the other samples I've gotten (until the sample runs out, then I'll replace with another sample, etc.).

How do you rotate your foods and do you have any suggustions about what I'm doing above?

Thanks!
Art

p.s. I've heard/read that magnesium is bad...what levels would be considered "safe" and which would be considered not safe?

My guys get the same dry food - Royal Canin. But the canned they get variety. I just sorta stack them with different flavors and the canned lasts 2 meals - then it goes to the next can in the stack.

They also get some people food like boiled chicken, hamburger, cheese for "treats" with their meals.

None of my cats were picky feeding this way.

I mix the dry brands together and use different flavors of canned per feeding.

My semi-feral was SO happy just to get fed on a regular basis that he will eat ANYTHING.

However, I also feed a blended mix of dry and rotate his wet foods the same as GoldenKitty. I buy a bunch of flavors then shuffle them.

I've heard that abrupt switching of foods causes tummy problems, but I haven't found this to be true with my cats. I feed only wet food and switch everyday We use PetGuard Venison & Rice and Chicken & Wheat Germ, Merrick, Natural Balance and Wellness. I usually give fish flavors in the morning and meat flavors in the evening.

Originally Posted by Mcat

I've heard that abrupt switching of foods causes tummy problems, but I haven't found this to be true with my cats. I feed only wet food and switch everyday We use PetGuard Venison & Rice and Chicken & Wheat Germ, Merrick, Natural Balance and Wellness. I usually give fish flavors in the morning and meat flavors in the evening.

Click to expand...

wet food NO ... dry food YES can cause issues

wet food s all are mostly mositure

I constantly rotate foods for my picky eater, who gets 1/2 dry (his preference), 1/2 wet (my preference).

As for dry: He won't eat the same dry food more than twice a week, so I always have at least three dry foods open at any one time. Currently, they are Eagle Pack Holistic, Orijen, Prairie Raw Instincts, and a sample bag of Porta 21 Holistic (a German brand). After two or three months, I have to replace whichever dry brands he's been eating with other brands, and not buy them for about six months. I therefore buy small bags.

Wet food isn't as complicated. I feed several different brands, mainly European all meat and/or fish in small cans (he won't eat out of anything but small cans, though he's sometimes okay about eating part of a larger can, as long as neighbors' cats eat the rest), and a wide variety of flavors. Since he wants fish, I give him fish, and cheat a lot by buying poultry, beef, or venison with a little bit of shrimp, calamari, mussels, salmon, etc.. He won't eat the same flavor more than once a week, but isn't as picky about the brands, as long as the cans are small, and there's nothing added to the meat or fish except for perhaps 1% rice or a vegetable like pumpkin or carrot.

It's very complicated, and when I'm overseas for a month every year, I leave a detailed feeding plan for my husband to follow; when both of us are away for about a week a year, I stack cans in the order in which they're to be fed, and mark the dry food canisters according to the days of the week, so that my poor mother-in-law doesn't despair.

Jamie has no stomach trouble due to the constant switching he demands.

I feed a selection of wet foods but not in any particular rotation. I generally feed a different food at each meal but exactly what they get depends on what mood I'm in! I just look in the food cupboard and ask them what they fancy. Sometimes I get a couple out to show them and feed whichever one they rub their head against I do try to remember what flavour they had at the last meal so that they don't have the same flavour for every meal in a day, and I also think about whether they had a complete or complementary food for their last meal. Most foods I feed are complete but some are complementary so I try to avoid feeding those too frequently.

I keep their dry food the same, if I need to change brands (availability is sometimes an issue ) then I gradually mix the new in towards the end of the bag of old, as sudden switching of dry foods can cause stomach upsets.

Switching wet foods without mixing is usually fine unless your cat has allergies or IBS or a particularly sensitive stomach!

I feed mostly wet, with a measured amount of dry down every day for when I am out/asleep. The dry stays the same, but the wet foods will either be a different flavour/brand every meal if I have individual serving pouches, or switched when the tetrapak/can is empty, then I'll open a different flavour the next day.

Thanks so much for all the great replies!

I think that I'll stick with the current 3 types of food I've been mixing together for the kittens (dry foods)...No tummy upsets yet, but I've been doing about 1/2 nutro kitten (what they had been getting) to 1/4 artemis, and 1/4 avoderm cat/kitten (sample)...when the avoderm sample runs out, I'll try another sample variety... Maybe keeping 2 out of the 3 foods the same will prevent tummy issues. I'm hoping that if I get them used to this "combined diet" early, they won't have as many stomach problems later on. Now I'll just have to sit down and look at the specific ingredients/percentages of all of the foods and find some that "balance out" each other.

Thanks again!
Art