New wet foods & Welness CORE ?

I have been wanting to change my kittens food after reading about cat nutrition on this site. Jade is 5 months old and about 5lbs. She is very "dainty" and I think will always be a small cat. Currently, she eats Nutro MAX kitten dry and natural choice/nutro max kitten wet. I feed her a diet of all wet, but leave about 1/4c of dry out for her to nibble on if she chooses [which she rarely does]. She eats a total of about 9oz a day in 4 to 5 meals [3 - 3oz cans] because she eats small portions at a time, and will only eat a full 3oz can in the morning at about 6am.

After some information from Sharky and other food gurus I decided to add a few different brands to her diet, for better nutrition. Im still using Natural Choice and Nutro Max kitten [non-fish only], but also purchased Merrick and Innova EVO today. I wanted to buy a few different brands but wanted to start slow so I dont waste a ton of money on things she wont eat. I fed her some Merrick Turducken today and it seemed to be a hit, as gross as it may sound...I even tried a tiny piece tastes like human food! Any other suggestions for brands? Also, being that I could only find the EVO and Merrick 5.5oz cans, is it okay for her nighttime meal to be a 3oz can of nutro to = her normal 9oz, or will this bother her tummy? Sorry if thats a silly question

I also purchased Wellness CORE cat/kitten [dry] formula to start transitioning her off of the Nutro. It is grain free, high protein [50%]...is this a decent food or should I return it and try another? She doesn't eat much of it, but I want what she DOES eat to be quality. I know it has some fish, but its the only one I could find, and I dont feed her any fish in her wet food diet.

Here are the ingrediant:
Deboned Turkey, Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whitefish Meal, Potatoes, Salmon Meal, Natural Chicken Flavor. Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), Tomato Pomace, Cranberries, Chicory Root Extract, Salmon Oil, Flaxseed, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Thiamine Mononitrate, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement), Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Rosemary Extract.

Any and all insight would be great, this food picking is HARD!!! I constantly worry im not doing the right thing, I can't even imagine having children, wow

Originally Posted by Starrxx

I have been wanting to change my kittens food after reading about cat nutrition on this site. Jade is 5 months old and about 5lbs. She is very "dainty" and I think will always be a small cat. Currently, she eats Nutro MAX kitten dry and natural choice/nutro max kitten wet. I feed her a diet of all wet, but leave about 1/4c of dry out for her to nibble on if she chooses [which she rarely does]. She eats a total of about 9oz a day in 4 to 5 meals [3 - 3oz cans] because she eats small portions at a time, and will only eat a full 3oz can in the morning at about 6am.

After some information from Sharky and other food gurus

I decided to add a few different brands to her diet, for better nutrition. Im still using Natural Choice and Nutro Max kitten [non-fish only], but also purchased Merrick and Innova EVO today. I wanted to buy a few different brands but wanted to start slow so I dont waste a ton of money on things she wont eat. I fed her some Merrick Turducken today and it seemed to be a hit, as gross as it may sound...I even tried a tiny piece

tastes like human food! Any other suggestions for brands? Also, being that I could only find the EVO and Merrick 5.5oz cans, is it okay for her nighttime meal to be a 3oz can of nutro to = her normal 9oz, or will this bother her tummy? Sorry if thats a silly question

I also purchased Wellness CORE cat/kitten [dry] formula to start transitioning her off of the Nutro. It is grain free, high protein [50%]...is this a decent food or should I return it and try another? She doesn't eat much of it, but I want what she DOES eat to be quality. I know it has some fish, but its the only one I could find, and I dont feed her any fish in her wet food diet.

Here are the ingrediant:
Deboned Turkey, Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whitefish Meal, Potatoes, Salmon Meal, Natural Chicken Flavor. Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), Tomato Pomace, Cranberries, Chicory Root Extract, Salmon Oil, Flaxseed, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Thiamine Mononitrate, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement), Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Rosemary Extract.

Any and all insight would be great, this food picking is HARD!!! I constantly worry im not doing the right thing, I can't even imagine having children, wow

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It is a IMHO good food ... IMHO I would likely mix them , one for $$ savings and two when I started mixing grain and no grain my UTI / Ph problems disappeared ..VMMV of course

Would you suggest me to mix this food with the nutro max im using now [im talking, AFTER transitional mixing] or a different dry that contains grain? If different, any recommendations?

This feeding thing makes me SO paranoid!

you can try the Core alone but I would mix it with something with grain

Yesterday was her first day eating a wet different food, she ate Merrick and seemed to enjoy it. Today was Nutro Max day, and she eats but leaves some left over at every meal so far [as she did last time with her dinner]. This isnt normal for her, if she leaves a bit she usually plays for a few an comes back within 20-30mins to finish off her meal. I noticed now that her dry is mixed with the Wellness CORE, she seems to be nibbling on it a bit more often than normal. This, of course, is NOT what I wanted...I prefer for her to eat wet mostly. Is she just being picky now that shes tried another brand? Her poo's are still normal so no sign of an upset tummy from the changes.

She whines for food at her feeding times but isnt finishing them, and letting them go to waste. Is she just being finicky today? She loves all the flavors ive given her as this is her normal brand of food, so im not sure why shes not eating as much.

I have to feed my herpes pos girl grain free. She gets Wellness gf canned twice a day with a small serving (approx 1/8 Cup) of Wellness CORE dry kibbles.

Both my cats are thriving on CORE. I do mix CORE and TOTW dry and they love it. Never had a tummy problem. Phoebe is my underweight adoptee and I leave dry out all day so she can eat as often as she wants. Wet twice a day, and they only eat the sliced ones with gravy so my options are somewhat limited.

Originally Posted by rockstarkitties

Both my cats are thriving on CORE. I do mix CORE and TOTW dry and they love it. Never had a tummy problem. Phoebe is my underweight adoptee and I leave dry out all day so she can eat as often as she wants. Wet twice a day, and they only eat the sliced ones with gravy so my options are somewhat limited.

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Thanks for the response. I was under the impression that grain free was better which was why I purchased it. However ive read on the site and from Sharky that SOME grain is good, but im thinking she would probably get that from her wet food [since not all are grain free]. Is this a correct assumption, or should I still try to incorporate another light grain dry with her CORE?

Also, ive asked this previously but haven't had a direct response to this issue yet. My girl is used to eating the 3oz Nutro cans [both MAX and NC], she eats 3 of them separated throughout the day totaling 9oz. A lot of the cans are "all life stages" such as the EVO for example, and the ones that are all life stages and say "cat and kitten" are ONE flavor and no variety. My girl is used to eating 3 different flavors a day and towards the end of a 5.5oz can of EVO shes looking at me like "im NOT eating this woman!" because she seems to get bored. Would it be okay to give her one can of EVO, and then another can of a different brand/flavor once she finishes that can, instead of opening another can of the same thing to finish the day. Ive asked many people but because most people are feeding a grown cat, they are only feeding ONE 5.5oz a day so they dont run into this issue, but bcuz shes still 5months she needs more than that. Im thinking it probably wouldn't bother her, but I want to be sure. Shes so used to eating a variety of flavors that this is becoming difficult as shes not wanting to eat the same thing all day [unless I FEED it to her off the spoon, and I dont want to get her used to that either!]

Thanks

Some cats feed dry food do better with some grains... some do better without any...

if you continue feeding wet with grain then NO need to mix the drys if she tolerates the grain frees well

Grain free drys on ave contain 20-30% more calories

Originally Posted by sharky

you can try the Core alone but I would mix it with something with grain

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I'd say that's a very good idea. A few months after I switched my cat over to Wellness Core he got a UTI. Then I mixed it and he was fine.

Originally Posted by DoctorsPepper2

I'd say that's a very good idea. A few months after I switched my cat over to Wellness Core he got a UTI. Then I mixed it and he was fine.

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What are you mixing with the CORE?