Switching brand and flavor of wet food every feeding time okay?

mzalisakay

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I recently switched my cats over to an all canned diet. They were getting "high quality" dry kibble before. I have two neutered male cats so you can imagine what may have happened to one of them ... UTI right before Thanksgiving. I switched them over from regular cat food (Meow Mix, Purina, etc) years ago because of the huge pet food recall debacle so I researched for healthier dry food options. The grain-free and etc. Never realized that good quality dry food can still have negative side effects. 

So I researched again and read so much that I can't get the information straight in my head. I would LOVE to switch over to raw food, but I don't know if I'm really up to doing that quite yet. I don't have the funds or the space for a deep freezer. I may bite the bullet and purchase a meat grinder soon... but I don't know if I'm going to try the frankenprey method or not. That's another topic for another day, lol.

They are doing 10% commercial raw food right now. And 90% wet food. I know with dry food, we stuck to one bag all the time and you're not supposed to switch bags right away, but slowly introduce. We ended up switching towards the end because one my males has alopecia. We were trying to figure out what he's allergic to. Of course, I believe the switching of the food is what caused the UTI in the OTHER male. 
 Isn't that how it goes though? Like feeding my cats two different foods and they go for each other's bowl instead. Cats = difficult little creatures.

I read that ANY wet food is better than the BEST dry food so I started with the "best & cheap" brands - Friskies, Sheba and Fancy Feast and I learned how to read the label with the ingredients and etc. I do buy Wellness, Tiki, Merrick, and Weruva as well.

I switch between all of these, ALL the time. I mean, every single feeding time even. I feed 3 times a day. In the beginning, they threw up a few times. I think it was because they went from free-feeding dry kibble to a timed-feeding schedule and I waited too long in between. Now they just have hairballs now and then, but no throwing up food anymore. And the saying goes, "if it's not broke, don't fix it." I'm wondering.. does it apply here? Is it okay for me to switch out brand and flavor of wet food all the time if they have NO reaction to it.

Stools seem fine.. and we moved the litter box so it's closer to living room where we spend all our time and honestly haven't noticed a difference in the air/smell. I don't know though... we ARE cat people and they say cat people can't tell the difference in litter box smell as much as other people, lol.
 

ankitty

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I think it's ok. Our new vet said, there's no perfect food, so give them variety. I add water to canned food and watch amount of their pee. I heard that Wellness makes some cats sick, though. 
 

Kat0121

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I recently switched my cats over to an all canned diet. They were getting "high quality" dry kibble before. I have two neutered male cats so you can imagine what may have happened to one of them ... UTI right before Thanksgiving. I switched them over from regular cat food (Meow Mix, Purina, etc) years ago because of the huge pet food recall debacle so I researched for healthier dry food options. The grain-free and etc. Never realized that good quality dry food can still have negative side effects. 

So I researched again and read so much that I can't get the information straight in my head. I would LOVE to switch over to raw food, but I don't know if I'm really up to doing that quite yet. I don't have the funds or the space for a deep freezer. I may bite the bullet and purchase a meat grinder soon... but I don't know if I'm going to try the frankenprey method or not. That's another topic for another day, lol.

They are doing 10% commercial raw food right now. And 90% wet food. I know with dry food, we stuck to one bag all the time and you're not supposed to switch bags right away, but slowly introduce. We ended up switching towards the end because one my males has alopecia. We were trying to figure out what he's allergic to. Of course, I believe the switching of the food is what caused the UTI in the OTHER male. 
 Isn't that how it goes though? Like feeding my cats two different foods and they go for each other's bowl instead. Cats = difficult little creatures.

I read that ANY wet food is better than the BEST dry food so I started with the "best & cheap" brands - Friskies, Sheba and Fancy Feast and I learned how to read the label with the ingredients and etc. I do buy Wellness, Tiki, Merrick, and Weruva as well.

I switch between all of these, ALL the time. I mean, every single feeding time even. I feed 3 times a day. In the beginning, they threw up a few times. I think it was because they went from free-feeding dry kibble to a timed-feeding schedule and I waited too long in between. Now they just have hairballs now and then, but no throwing up food anymore. And the saying goes, "if it's not broke, don't fix it." I'm wondering.. does it apply here? Is it okay for me to switch out brand and flavor of wet food all the time if they have NO reaction to it.

Stools seem fine.. and we moved the litter box so it's closer to living room where we spend all our time and honestly haven't noticed a difference in the air/smell. I don't know though... we ARE cat people and they say cat people can't tell the difference in litter box smell as much as other people, lol.
I keep a very varied rotation of canned food and I try to not give Lilith & Sophie the same thing 2 meals in a row. I mix food all the time to give them different flavors and textures. They really like when I do this. Right now the rotation includes:

Nature's Variety Instinct chicken, lamb, duck and venison

Pride by Instinct Lucky's Lamb, Rockstar's Rabbit and Champ's Chicken

Nutro Natural Choice minced chicken and sliced chicken

Nature's Variety Prairie Homestyle duck & chicken stew and turkey & liver stew

Halo Spot's Stew chicken, turkey, lamb and salmon

Soulistic Good Karma and Harvest Sunrise

Halo Vigor turkey & quail

Impulse by Halo rabbit & garden greens

Wellness Divine Duos chicken & duck and chicken & turkey

The Halo foods are new to the rotation and must be mixed with something else or they will be rejected.The NNC is a great topper/mixer that I often use as are the PBI foods. They do not like pates unless they are mixed/topped with something else

The girls are doing great with me mixing and switching the canned foods. They are both playful, energetic and have soft, glossy coats.  Everything is running smoothly in the litter box department as well. They are definitely happy, healthy babies
 

chwx

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I feed a huge variety of wet, always something different each day. They get canned in the morning and I "rinse" the cans with warm water and mix it into their canned food. Dinner is kibble because of how many cats we feed...Sometimes it's dry, sometimes I add water. I also feed variety in kibble too, rotate every bag or two depending on what I can get on sale/have coupons for. Though I do believe any canned (Except maybe Meow Mix or similar that add sugar directly in their food) is better than any dry, especially if kitty has urinary problems.
 

lokhismom

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I have 2 kitties (8 & 10 months old) and I alternate their food at feedings as well.

I  buy different kinds of wet food

Natural Choice chicken, turkey

Natures Variety Instinct rabbit, chicken and Pride 

Tiki Cat chicken

Weruva 

Wellness chicken/beef

Natural Balance Duck

Sheba

I switch up these brands ever couple of month when I order from Chewy or Amazon.  Works for me and them.  It does get expensive which is why I added in the cheaper Sheba to the rotation. 

I've been thinking about adding commercial freeze dried raw but concerned about the price that would be with 2 kitties. 
 

pinkdagger

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Yeah, I switch up the wet food almost every time I buy too, so they get a mixed plate sometimes within the same meal. They get a different flavour every meal, and a different brand every day or two (they bounce back and forth but generally aren't super consistent). In addition to covering your bases quality-wise, it also helps the cats learn to be more adaptable with new and different foods so if some foods become difficult to find or to buy, you always have multiple other brands and flavours to fall back on.
 
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mzalisakay

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Well, that's great! I didn't really think about it until recently. I knew I wasn't supposed to switch so often with dry food otherwise they'll throw up, but I didn't really think if that'd be an issue for wet food. Not sure why it didn't cross my mind, but at least there are no problems with doing so.

I'm trying to switch over to 50% good quality canned foods and 50% commercial raw. From there, hopefully 100% raw. My one with alopecia doesn't like commercial raw food or even cut chicken breasts though... I struggled to get him on an all wet diet but he's there now so.. *fingers crossed we'll get there one day* He's not too keen on the Stella & Chewy's frozen dinner morsel in rabbit flavor.
 

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I also rotate Merrick duck or chicken pate, nutro natural chunky chicken loaf,, tiki cat puka luau,natural balance catatouille stew,pride rockstar rabbit, Fancy Feast liver and chicken or chopped grill classics,Natures variety rabbit, wellness Devine duos duck/ chicken combo. Mine like duck, chicken & rabbit.
 

2cats4me

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I also rotate Merrick duck or chicken pate, nutro natural chunky chicken loaf,, tiki cat puka luau,natural balance catatouille stew,pride rockstar rabbit, Fancy Feast liver and chicken or chopped grill classics,Natures variety rabbit, wellness Devine duos duck/ chicken combo. Mine like duck, chicken & rabbit.
I picked a few different flavors of Merrick  Pate for my cats and they actually liked it .  I was amazed .
 

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I rotate different proteins/brands. When I do introduce a new brand/protein, I give a little with whatever I am feeding to see if they like it and tolerate it.
 
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pushylady

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I'm the same. I buy a great variety of cans and they get a different one each day. Helps with our fussy boy, he likes the variety. I do the same with his kibble too, mix up different ones. I don't want him stuck on one brand only in case of another recall.
 

2cats4me

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Hooray, I thought they might, mine both devour it as fast as nutro natural choice chunky chicken loaf!
Yeah , I am so happy they like it . Each week I  buy a few cans of the Merrick pates , Nutro , Canidae Pure Chicken Pate .. They like them all ..
 
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