? on switching foods

Hi everyone, I recently adopted a beautiful exotic persian named Babee (she's tiny: 3 yrs old and weighs 5.5 lbs). Her previous owner was feeding her Purina One and I would like to switch over to Nutro Natural Choice. I have read that I should gradually switch over in a 3-7 day period by doing 25% of the new food and 75% old food...then 50/50....and so on. However, I've read of doing it even slower than that by just adding a few kibbles here and there over a two week period. Which method is best? Or is it a matter of preference?

Additional info: She's eating Natural Balance canned food twice a day but the amount she eats equals to 2 ounces. She never ate wet food before so I slowly started her on that. She loves it now and experienced no problems. Now I feel it's a good time to switch her dry food. I know dry food isn't great but she doesn't eat much and she likes to nibble here and there.

Thanks,
Laura

I do the two week

I made the mistake of doing a 5-day transition when I switched Penny's food, and she didn't react well to it. I recommend 2 weeks.

Many Persians/Exotics will nibble - that's why its hard to have a Persian and another active cat like a Siamese/Rex, etc in the same house cause you cannot leave food down for the more slender breeds

If the cat likes the canned more, then maybe give her canned as a main meal with the side dish of the dry to nibble. As long as she's the only cat or you don't have other cats that would eat all the dry, then you are ok. And I'd give her more of the new food rather then a few pieces - you'd be forever in changing over

And 3 yrs old and only a 5.5 pounds is VERY small - was she a breeding cat? I think Exotics should be about 7-8 for females and 8-9 for males.

Sometimes it will depend entirely on your cat. I have changed Mika and Bijou over to a completely new food immediately with no negative effects. I just recently changed their dry food from Performatrin to Orijen. We've found that their litter is so much less smelly with the Orijen. I feed Merrick wet morning and night (1/2 can morning and 1/2 can night which they share).

Bijou is a big boy at close to 18 lbs. and Mika (his full sister) is 8 lbs. She was the runt of the litter and has always been tiny.

I agree slower is better. If you do wind up with a sensitive tummy, the effects of changing over food too fast are not pretty!

Also agree about the canned meal suggestion. Wet food is a healthy choice. So many cats are addicted to dry and it's hard to get them to eat wet. If you have one that likes it, it would be great to continue offering it.

Thanks for the input everyone. I think I will gradually change her food over a two week period.

And 3 yrs old and only a 5.5 pounds is VERY small - was she a breeding cat? I think Exotics should be about 7-8 for females and 8-9 for males.

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She was not a breeding cat. I was also concerned about her size but the vet and her previous owner said she has always been small. For that reason, I always have food available because I'm not worried about her overeating.

Laura