Rotating Cat Food

Do you find a food your cat like and then stick solely to that or do you rotate 2 or 3 different brands of food throughout the week.

I'm curious because I know when you switch foods you are supposed to do it slowly to avoid upsetting the cats digestive system but if you are changing the food every day or so wouldn't that upset the cat?

It depends on whether it's wet or dry food. A lot of people rotate flavors and/or brands of wet food so the kitties won't be bored. The frequent switching doesn't seem to bother most cats. Dry food should be changed gradually, over a week or two, to prevent upset stomachs.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rules. I have two cats who will eat only two flavors of a specific wet food. Occasionally they will eat a third flavor, but only after they're convinced that I'm not going to give them anything else. One cat will eat just about anything. The other two are in between. They'll eat most of the wet food I put out but have definite preferences.

When I first got Shareena she had been eating Meow Mix Lil' Nibbles. I could only find the smallest boxes at the local stores so tried to make a gradual change to a higher quality food. I mixed a little of the new food in with the old and she very carefully picked through the bowl eating all of the new food and leaving the Meow Mix behind. So much for a gradual change.

I've fed my guys the same dry food for over a year at a time and my guys never seemed to get bored with it. I keep my food in an old cat litter tub that I washed out and converted to food storage. When I get new dry food, I usually feed them a small bit to see if they like it (they always do - small wonder they're fat ). If they do, then I'll mix some into the tub with the old stuff and convert to the new stuff slowly.

I haven't fed the wet long enough to know if they get bored with it, but swapping them around hasn't seemed to cause too many problems. I've got about 4-5 different types that I'm 'trying out' right now, so they get swapped around frequently. The big thing seems to be remembering what I fed and keeping an eye on the litter box (for diarrhea) and seeing if anyone gets sick. I found a couple of wet foods that seemed decent, but didn't agree with one of my cats' systems.

I rotate both wet and dry constantly, meaning I feed at least three different brands of each a week. Jamie wouldn't have it any other way, and he's never had any stomach upsets because of it.

I believe it really depends on the cat.

I was very naive forever to believe every thing my vet said. He said to only feed one type of food and nothing else. And forever this is what I did. And of course he wanted me to feed vet prescrbed foods....

In September I started the switch for my cats from canned to a raw diet. One important part of a raw diet is feeding variety. This scared me b/c it went against everything my vet ever told me. But my cats did great on the variety and they love it!

I have to keep one of my cats on a mainly canned food diet due to medical issues so now I feed her higher quality grainfree, no fillers, mostly meat filled canned foods in her rotation. I like feeding her different meats on rotation of every 1-2 days. She absolutely loves it! And she has had absolutely no problems with the variety.

They get a different flavor and brand of canned food each day. But the dry is Royal Canin for Urinary.

I do have a couple types of dry here... i honestly do it by bowls... their all lined up they choose which they like... i never had success here mixing new foods, i always go by the separate bowl method, it is what works for me and my cats, i'm sure it wouldn't work for everyone.

For wets, i do some variety as well... chicken, turkey, the odd beef or fish... etc

I don't rotate foods. I used to rotate wet food in an effort to make them less picky about it, but I gave up. They just eat Chicken Soup wet food. It's the least expensive wet food I can buy for them at the feed store here, I like the ingredients, and they eat the whole thing within 10 minutes.

As far as dry food, I don't change that during the week either. I don't stick to one dry food though, they are on their 3rd brand in the last 12 months. I've had some serious budget fluctuations in the past year, plus one was a kitten a year ago and now isn't, so that's partly why I've changed their dry food.

Mattie and Chloe currently eat Taste of the Wild dry and Chicken Soup wet.

Henry eats Natural Balance dry and Authority wet. As soon as his bag of Natural Balance is gone, he'll eat the Taste of the Wild too. He eats Authority wet food because it's cheaper and he'll eat anything, whereas the other two cats won't eat the Authority wet food.

I use variety dry and canned.
I am using dry Nutro Max and TOTW currently. I normally use 2 or 3 types at one time, mixing the portions up in advance for the daily serving which
is measured.
My 1 cat only eats less then 1/3 Cup a day.
Canned 3 oz a day either, Wellness, Wellness Core, Fancy feast, Natural balance, meow mix goodness cups. Thats about all she will eat in wet
currently.

Poppy gets a variety of wet food...well, the wet food that he will eat. Innova Flex, Merrick Grammy's Pot Pie and AvoDerm. I've tried other wet foods but he won't eat them.

Dry food, I just switched him, very slowly from Purina Pro Plan to Royal Canin. I just had to buy another bag of Royal Canin, which he is only eating right now but I want to also buy either B.G. (Before Grain) or California Natural and start mixing them.

I don't rotate dry foods, but I do mix them.... and its different all the time.

Kizzy gets 75% TOTW, then 25% of something cheaper and with grain.... currently he's mixed in with Nutrience. Once the nutrience is gone, it will be a difference brand.

If I give him 100% TOTW, he will get loose stools. Hence the 75/25 split with a food that has no grain in it.

PLUS: it also helps my expenses. 1 bag of $40 food, then a smaller bag of cheaper food, but it extends the length of feeding.