Struggle with switching picky kitty from low quality food to premium. Help?!

Sigh... my two year old cat Jude is such a picky eater! I'll start from the beginning (and I apologize in advance for how long this will probably be)...

When I adopted Jude (my first cat, ever!) at nearly four months old, he was on one of the Friskies kibbles, and without even contemplating the possibility of diarrhea, etc, I brought him home and immediately switched him to Purina One Smartblend because at the time I was under the impression that that was a really good food. About two months go by, and now that Jude and I have gotten to know each other and are settled in, I get curious and want to seriously learn about cat nutrition and how to give my little guy the best and healthiest life I possibly can with the resources I have. That's when, of course, I find out that the food I'm feeding him is pretty low on the scale of what's considered high quality food. Sure, it's certainly not the worst, but it's nowhere near the greatest and I am able to give him much better than that. I decided that when he got low on the gigantic bag of food we had, I'd start to transition him onto a higher quality kibble.

Now, before I go any further, I should mention that I am well aware that a raw diet is the ultimate, and a wet food only diet is not far behind raw. However, as a young woman still trying to get on my own, it's currently not in my budget to offer either of those choices at this point, though it is a definite goal. Right now, he gets a 3 oz can of wet food per day (split into a morning and an evening meal) and half a cup of kibble to snack on throughout the day.

Anyhow, when the time came to switch Jude onto a higher quality kibble, I chose a brand called Lifetime Wholesome Blend which was grain free and contained zero by-products. I was given a tiny sample bag to try him on, and he seemed fine with it, so I purchased a full-sized 2.5 kg bag. The first few days he was completely content with having a little bit of it mixed in with his old kibble. I'd started of with a 75% old and 25% new mixture. But then... all of the sudden, he just started turning his nose up at it and refused to eat his kibble with the new mixed in. I hadn't even started adding more of the new kibble yet, it was still the same mixture I started off with. Because he went nearly a full 24 hours without eating his kibble and seemed determined to go even longer, I rushed to the pet store and returned the bag of the new kibble, got a refund and immediately went to the grocery store to purchase another bag of his stinkin' Purina One. I was so frightened after reading up on hepatic lipidosis, that all I wanted to do was just get him eating regularly again, even if it meant giving him Purina One Smartblend.

Now I know this is my fault that I let him get to be over a year old before deciding to try to switch him onto a better food again. I kick myself for it because I'm quite certain that giving into him like that only served to make him that much more addicted to his ~precious kibble~.

He turned two on July 24th, and a few days before that I bought him a bag of Chicken Soup For The Cat Lover's Soul to transition him onto. I began the transition on July 22nd, and he seemed rather happy with it. I again gave him a 75% old and 25% new mixture and he ate it all up throughout the day as he normally would with his kibble. I kept him on a 75-25 mixture for seven days, and then upped his mixture to 50-50 on the 29th. He ate some of it and didn't seem bothered by it, but on the morning of the 30th, he'd only eaten about a quarter of the kibble that was in his bowl. I threw what was in his bowl out, just in case it started to go stale, and filled in back up with a fresh mixture. He would have NOTHING to do with it. He would go up to his bowl a few times, sniff, and then walk away. Later in the early evening I scooped some kibble up into my palm and held it out to him, which he ate, but he wouldn't eat from the bowl.

Later, before I settled in for the night, he still hadn't eaten. At first I had some hope, thinking, "hmm, I wonder if he likes the new food so much that he doesn't want anymore of the old stuff!" So I tried a little experiment: I emptied his bowl, and filled it with only the Chicken Soup kibble, put him down in front of it and watched to see if he'd eat it. He didn't, he simply took a sniff and walked away. So I emptied the bowl again, this time refilling it with the Purina One. I put him down in front of it, and gee, guess what he did! He started gobbling it up! Ugh, not this again! It was the exact same problem I'd had before!

So I yet again emptied his bowl. I was determined to get him onto the Chicken Soup, and so I tried to compromise with him. I went back to the 75-25 mixture. I figured maybe he needed a few more days to adjust to the taste. But since then, he still won't go near his kibble bowl. Yesterday he seemed really upset with me over this food battle, and so he barely ate any of his wet food either. He's had a bit of wet food today, but still isn't happy with his kibble.

I don't know what to do! If I put him back on the old kibble, I feel his pickiness will only get worse. More importantly, he's a super healthy boy (never had a health problem so far in his two years) and I'd reeeally love to keep it that way. I'm worried that continuing to feed him corn and by-products and all the other icky things in the Smartblend, will eventually lead to problems I so easily could have avoided if only he'd let me gradually and continually feed higher and higher quality food. I'm wondering if this has something to do with the taste of the two different foods - after all, we're basically comparing a healthy home-cooked meal to a Big Mac combo from McDonald's, right? (Ironically, the only wet food my guy will eat is super premium brands, such as Weruva, Merrick's, Performatrin Ultra, and Wellness. He absolutely hates anything pate or that you can find in a grocery store!)

I guess what I'm getting at here is, has anyone else ever had this sort of problem, and if so how did you sort it out? Also, if anyone has some advice on switching from a low quality food to a premium brand, that'd be really helpful. Is there a specific brand of high quality kibble that cats who are used to eating "junk food" kibble are easily switched onto? Perhaps something with a similar feel or taste? I chose Chicken Soup because I think it's really great quality, especially for the budget I'm on, though I was also considering the new Merrick's Purrfect Bistro. Any help or encouragement would me completely appreciated! Thanks!

I will preface my comment by saying that while I would not recommend an all dry diet, all we can do is the best we can for our pets based on our means. Having a loving home and regular food is much more important than the "best" diet. Having said that, I am glad that he is eating 3oz of wet a day, so he's probably about 50/50 and it sounds like you are planning to go all wet when you can which is great.

I too transitioned my cat late (much later than yours) to better wet/raw. It's still a struggle 6 months later, so I understand how hard it is with these picky eaters. In terms of switching dry foods, the best suggestion I have for you is to try Fortiflora as a topper on the kibble you want him to eat. It's marketed as a probiotic, but it's not actually a good probiotic. However, it contains animal digest as one of its top few ingredients which is the stuff sprayed on most kibble to make it more appetizing. Most people use it as a topper on canned or raw food during transition, but I don't see why it can't be used on dry. The only downside is that it's fairly expensive. I think it's cheapest on Amazon. You need only a sprinkle though so it should last you a long time.

Thanks so much for your kind words. I definitely agree with what you said in regards to a loving home and regular food. And considering just how picky my cat can be with food, having wet food consist of 50% of his diet is nearly a miracle, haha.

I will look into fortiflora right now though. I actually have a feeling that the main reason I have such a rough time switching him over to a healthier food has to do with the stuff they spray on the lower quality food to make it taste "better" (especially in the case of Chicken Soup, as the kibble shape is nearly identical to his old kibble, so I know it's most likely not the texture).

I'm wondering what would happen if you crushed up his Purina One kibble and sprinkled THAT over the Chicken Soup kibble.  That way it would smell like his old food, and taste someone like it, but would actually mainly be his new food. 

Oh, and maybe feed him in a completely different bowl.  I use a saucer from my china set .  I figure I'm never actually going to use my china, so why not

That sounds like a really good idea, I'm going to try that!

He ate most of his kibble last night (though I'd taken most of the Chicken Soup out of it at that point because I just wanted him to get some food into him). But because he hasn't been eating much in the last few days, he's now not pooping (at least, I'm assuming that's why he hasn't pooped). He's urinating normally and is extremely playful when I bring out any of his toys, but it's been over 24 hours since he's had a bowel movement. Gosh... this whole thing is really starting to stress me out! I tried to give him some plain pumpkin earlier but he wouldn't touch it, and I also tried some baby food plain green beans which he licked off my fingers. I guess we'll see how it goes tonight and then take it from there.

Edit: Phew, just after I posted this, he went to his litter box and did a nice healthy poo! Yay!

Agree that the Fortiflora suggestion it is exactly the stuff that gets cats addicted to kibble. My cat was on science diet for years and wasn't happy when I put him on Orijen. I found the most palatable " natural" dry food brand is natures variety both my cats go crazy for the limited ingredient turkey which I use as a topper now for wet. It is also good because it does not have a bunch of suspect stuff in it and did not upset my cats sensitive stomach which is a big plus. The cats were also obsessed with the dog chicken and brown rice which I gave my 17 year old dog for a while when she went off her raw food so I think they must put something in it that the love. The dog version said it was coated in freeze dried meat so that might be what they like.