Switching new cat over to high quality food??

Hi! I just adopted a 3 year old Himalayan and she is currently being fed Whiskas pouches and Purina Cat Chow dry. Ick, I know. I feed my animals raw, so I'd like to switch her over to raw too, eventually. I want to switch her over to a higher quality kibble and canned first, so I don't upset her system. As Persian type breeds are known to have more of a finicky and sensitive system than other breeds. I will be starting her on Nature's Logic Duck & Salmon dry and Merrick Cowboy Cookout canned tomorrow. So, how long should I keep her on the Nature's Logic and Merrick till I can switch her to raw? Of course, I will switch her onto the raw gradually. I was thinking of mixing the Whiskas/Purina with the Nature's Logic/Merrick for a week, then keeping her on the Nature's Logic and Merrick 100%, then mixing the Nature's Logic and Merrick with raw for a week and then going onto fully raw. Does this sound good or should I change something? Thanks!

If it were me I would switch her over to the premium over two to three weeks and possibley start with a more basic like cal natural or pro pac ( low grain high meat and taste ) then work up to the merrick and natures logic... remember duck is VERY rich .... then two or three weeks on it then 25/ 75 raw / canned .... I did this with Kandie and it was a very easy transition/.//

Or really? That sounds good. But I'm not a fan of ProPac at all, so I'll go with the California Natural. So I'll go CN Chicken & Rice dry and CN Venison & Rice canned for 2 weeks, then 50/50 for 1 week and then completely raw. Correct?

I would personally only switch over to one of the foods at one time, over a period of AT LEAST a week and see how she does. That way your not hammering her digestive system with 2 new foods at once.
I would also stick with a more common Chicken based food for now, so that you have other less common things like Venison & Duck to switch too if a food allergy that is protein source derived ever develops.

Originally Posted by Apric0t

Or really? That sounds good. But I'm not a fan of ProPac at all, so I'll go with the California Natural. So I'll go CN Chicken & Rice dry and CN Venison & Rice canned for 2 weeks, then 50/50 for 1 week and then completely raw. Correct?

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Yup... Pro pac has a very good beef formula wet...lol.. it is the only beef my girls will eat ... I also would start with chn as I learned venison is better after you know the babies system

Kandie only commited to 50 /50 or 75%raw /23 but I didnt move her to premium until she was thirteen and raw at 16

Okay, scratch the venison. Is fish good? Or should I just go with chicken for both dry and canned?

Apric0t: Honestly, start off with Chicken, just Chicken. I don't feed any fish to my cats, even if it's not a primary ingredient.

Originally Posted by blue Ash

Apric0t: Honestly, start off with Chicken, just Chicken. I don't feed any fish to my cats, even if it's not a primary ingredient.

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Start with chicken .... then go to either fish or beef ... this is a digestabilty thing not flavor:0... I had the fish talk with the vet and she said fish is good but not as primary diet

sharky: yup. It's my personal preference to just avoid fish in a staple diet for many many reasons, not just digestion issues, but also the way fish is packaged. But that's another story, another post. However if it's an occasional treat that contains some fish ingredient I'm not very concerned about that.

Apric0t: Basically the aim is to slowly get their digestive system acquainted to new ingredients one at a time. It's not always necessary, but it's a preventive measure. If you went from Purina to Innova Evo you could end up with some very ill cats. I'll see if I can make up a list of good cat foods for you tomorrow to try and start off with, but right now I need to head to sleep.
Are you trying to feed canned, or dry kibble?

Originally Posted by blue Ash

sharky: yup. It's my personal preference to just avoid fish in a staple diet for many many reasons, not just digestion issues, but also the way fish is packaged. But that's another story, another post. However if it's an occasional treat that contains some fish ingredient I'm not very concerned about that.

Apric0t: Basically the aim is to slowly get their digestive system acquainted to new ingredients one at a time. It's not always necessary, but it's a preventive measure. If you went from Purina to Innova Evo you could end up with some very ill cats. I'll see if I can make up a list of good cat foods for you tomorrow to try and start off with, but right now I need to head to sleep.
Are you trying to feed canned, or dry kibble?

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He( I think Apricot is a him sorry if I am wrong) is using raw for most and would be doing canned...

LOL Actually sharky, I'm 100% female. No problem, though.

Okay, so I went out and bought CN Chicken & Rice canned and dry. Thank you for the advice. Oh and don't worry about the good foods list, I know all about them. I've been researching foods for a few years now, but I never have switched a cat from bad to good foods, so I wanted some info on that. My first cat, Abby, was on Nutro when I got her, so it wasn't that bad of a food. And yes, I am doing raw. My other cat and two dogs are on raw. I also don't like to use fish very often (I don't see it as a natural protein source, because cats don't exactly hunt fish in the wild), but if it would have made the transition easier, I would use it instead. But chicken is just great! Cheap and easy to find. Thanks again.