Mixing foods question

otto

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Tolly and Queen Eva like, no demand, a variety in a way I've seen no other cat do.

They want a serving of this canned food, then a serving of that canned food, then a garnish of kibble to finish the last few bites, all in the one meal. The kibble is only just a few pieces. No more than half a teaspoon.

Is this bad for them, to have two or three different kinds of food in their digestive system all at the same time? It doesn't appear to bother either of them. Neither vomits, both have regular almost can-set-your-clock-by-them bowel movements.

This morning for instance, Queen Eva had her .75 oz of wellness kitten for her early morning snack. (the big cats have to wait another hour or so)

At breakfast time she had .75 oz of wellness grain free chicken, and then decided she would prefer her next serving to be .75 oz of Blue flaked chicken. She left half of that, and waited for me to sprinkle six pieces of kibble over it, and then she cleaned her dish.

Total morning intake for the baby, 2.25 oz canned plus six pieces of kibble.

That is a normal breakfast for her, though the foods vary from meal to meal.

Tolly had 1.4 oz of wellness canned chicken, then 1.5 oz of Blue flaked chicken. Another tiny amount of the Blue chicken with a garnish of kibble over it finished his breakfast meal.

Total morning intake for Tolly: 3 oz canned food with 10 pieces of kibble. Normal breakfast for him, and the foods vary, as they do with Queen Eva.
 

jcat

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They have you very well-trained! If it doesn't seem to bother their digestion, it shouldn't be a problem (except for a catsitter).

Both Jamie and Miezi will sometimes demand "crunchies" on their wet food and want their food rotated constantly, and it hasn't bothered them in all the years they've been doing it.
 
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otto

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Thanks for your reply!

Yes I am well trained
. Both Queen Eva and Tolly are on the slender side. Tolly was too thin most of his life (he's over 11 now) and I have always catered to him, so I have lots of practice for Queen Eva. I was hoping she would be one of those non-finicky-eat-anything cats, but it is not to be.

Because of their relative lack of interest in food I have catered to their wants, because otherwise they won't get nearly enough to keep them healthy.

It's not possible to leave food down, in the hopes that "they will eat it eventually". Mazy and Jennie would make short work of anything left out, as they ARE non-finicky-eat-anything cats.

And Mazy is on a special prescription diet, and Jennie tends to being a little on the plump side, already.

I've been catering to picky appetites for years, it doesn't bother me. I just don't want their insides to be getting messed up, so I thought I'd ask.


No pet sitters here. I don't go away. Ever.

(If I ever did, say need surgery or something, my mother would come and stay with them, and she would cater to their needs, just as she caters to her cats. While she was catering to mine, my sister would be catering to my mother's, though none of hers are as particular as mine, hers are ALL fat
.)
 

strange_wings

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Wet and dry foods have different digestion time, so if you gave enough dry along with the wet you could potentially induce some regurgitation. But if they seem fine with the amounts you're using it should be ok.

My kittens are very fussy and demand that their lunch be wet food. If it's turned into a dry meal for any reason they'll not eat.
 

jcat

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I have to leave a detailed meal plan for when I'm away, and actually stack cans of food on the counter in the order in which they're to be given.

Jamie has been on a special diet for struvite crystals for the past couple of years, and I was concerned about his insistence on different foods every day. Both vets said just use a few different brands, and stop worrying about it. So far there's been no recurrence (a urinalysis is done every three months), so I have.
 
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otto

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

Wet and dry foods have different digestion time, so if you gave enough dry along with the wet you could potentially induce some regurgitation. But if they seem fine with the amounts you're using it should be ok.

My kittens are very fussy and demand that their lunch be wet food. If it's turned into a dry meal for any reason they'll not eat.
Thanks for your reply.

Yes, the dry was my biggest concern, but it is only a very small amount. I actually count the pieces, Queen Eva gets six, Tolly gets 10, for garnish I use only the small Blue kibble, very small pieces.

The Innova cat/kitten kibble is much bigger and I don't use that for garnish, only for snacks on an empty tummy. I've seen the size it swells to!

But I guess mixing brands of canned foods won't pose any problems then. Like I said, neither has any evidence of digestive problems.

I could add a probiotic, but is it really needed if there are no obvious problems.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Just curious...how do you know which canned variety they want? Do they point to the can to let you know
or do you just keep opening cans until you find something they'll eat? If the 2nd option, don't you have an awful lot of waste with the opened cans they don't eat?
 

darkmavis

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Wow, that certainly IS catering!!


I am far from an expert, but I can't imagine why different foods would be bad for them, especially if their tummies don't seem to be upset by them. I thought it was supposed to be good to try to get them to eat a variety of flavors, that way if something happens that they have to have something different (discontinued product, health issue, etc) then they'd adapt more easily...


Anyway, yeah, if they seem to be ok with all of that, then keep at it!
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by mrsgreenjeens

Just curious...how do you know which canned variety they want? Do they point to the can to let you know
or do you just keep opening cans until you find something they'll eat? If the 2nd option, don't you have an awful lot of waste with the opened cans they don't eat?
If I put out three cans one gets rubbed ... they get that one
... not the most scientific way but it works in my house
 

strange_wings

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Mine get what they can eat, and if someone decides to be picky there's always another cat to finish off what isn't eaten.
 
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otto

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Originally Posted by mrsgreenjeens

Just curious...how do you know which canned variety they want? Do they point to the can to let you know
or do you just keep opening cans until you find something they'll eat? If the 2nd option, don't you have an awful lot of waste with the opened cans they don't eat?
I have three cans of canned food going at any meal, so there are three choices for Queen Eva and Tolly at any given meal.

Jennie gets her Wellness grain free canned Chicken, so there is always that. Sometimes Tolly will eat some of that, sometimes not, Queen Eva will usually eat a serving of it. Then Queen Eva will eat a serving of one of her other Wellness flavors, turkey or beef and chicken. Again, Tolly may or may not want a serving of those. Tonight for instance he ate two servings (1.5 oz total) of the beef and chicken, but would not eat a third serving of it.

Once Queen Eva has eaten a serving or two of which ever one of the second wellness I have opened I know she won't eat any more for now so I offer her some of Tolly's.

Canned foods are stored in the refrigerator for up to two days in small tightly covered containers. I warm all servings so cold food is not an issue.


All cans are 3 oz cans except Jennie's Wellness chicken, those are 5.5 oz cans.
 
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