Anybody Mix Dry Foods?

[Sonatine]

Hey all, I've been thinking about changing the dry food that Amelia eats, but the ones I want to give her are hovering just outside of my price range.

First, a little background:
My kitty gets wet food for dinner (usually Nulo, Instinct, or Sheba), and luckily she likes it when I add extra water, so I typically add water roughly equal to the volume of the food to make sure she gets enough moisture (she can also be persuaded to drink from the faucet several times a day). So we're sorted on wet food/moisture.

She gets the Crave chicken recipe for breakfast. Crave isn't too bad as kibble goes, but I can't help but wonder how much of its protein is from peas and it's kinda carby, so I was thinking of adding in some Instinct (unfortunately, my first choice, Dr. Elsey's, is out of my price range even when it's on sale). Instinct hovers just above what I'd like to be spending on her dry food, but its nutritional analysis is better, and CatFoodDB seems to agree it's a better food.

I don't see any reason why I shouldn't mix two kibbles, if I can convince her to like the Instinct, and it would give her slightly better food while sparing my wallet a bit. Anybody else do this? Or have any recommendations on a dry food that costs about as much as Crave but is better (roughly $30 for a 10lb bag; I've searched Chewy and CatFoodDB, and come up with nothing significantly better at the same price).

 

[Kieka]

I've mixed dry food with mixed results. My girl doesn't really like one of the foods in the mix so she eats around it and as a result eats less overall. Not a terrible problem but she has lost a little weight as a result.

 

[MeganLLB]

I have to mix dry foods if I'm going to transition them to a new food. Try to do it slowly, but they still seem to end up with diarrhea for a few days.

 

[duckpond]

lol.... i have mixed dry up in the past, when i would be changing over, or had one they were not fans of. two of mine could care less, and just at it up. But two of mine are so funny, they can pick the different kibbles out so precisely... it is amazing. they pick can pick out the one they like, and leave all of the other brand behind. always amazed me at how good they were at that. But i see no harm in what you want to do, as long as your cat eats the mix

 

[Sonatine]

Thanks for your responses! I'd buy a small bag at first, in case she hated it, but I suspect she'll end up liking it just fine if I add it in slowly. Luckily, as cats go, mine isn't super picky most of the time. She's much more suspicious of human food than cat food, which I suppose is a good thing. When she goes for my food, she never eats it, just wants to remind me that she could eat if if she wanted to, I suppose.

 

[xcourtney3]

What about American Journey? American Journey Turkey & Chicken Recipe Grain-Free Dry Cat Food

 

[Sonatine]

I'd looked at American Journey, and can't remember why I rejected it to begin with, since it's very similar to Crave but cheaper. If I don't end up just caving and trying to get my cat on all Instinct (it's starting to feel like I will; she doesn't go through dry food all that fast, at least), I might try mixing that instead if she likes it.

Sounds like it's time for a Chewy shopping spree.

 

[Daisy6]

I ordered a 2-pound bag of Nature's Variety Instinct adult chicken to switch Daisy to a better kibble than Wellness Complete Health, which has grains. She wouldn't eat Instinct by itself, but was fine when I mixed it 5050 with the Wellness. I didn't want to mix brands forever and ended up switching her to Blue Wilderness kibble. My preference would be an all-Instinct diet, but Daisy won't let me do it.

 

[Furballsmom]

I mix kibble brands pretty frequently.

 

[KarenKat]

We were transitioning out kibble very slowly from Natural Balance Green Pea and Chicken to Instinct LID Rabbit. This took over a month, I think, until we were 100% on the new kibble. During the transition, I don't think Gohan or Trin cared which kibble they were eating. It seemed to go down fairly uniformly, and I didn't notice any upset in the litter box. I don't see an issue mixing if Amelia agrees.

 

[zoocat]

I always mix dry foods, both for my outside “formerly ferals” and my inside guys. None of them seem to mind at all and if they prefer one over the other it’s not obvious because it all gets eaten. I do the mixing partially for cost reasons, but mostly because they’ll have different ingredients and levels of protein, carbs, etc. And, it’s easier to switch to new foods when they’re already used to getting their dry as a mixture of different brands/flavors

 

[RajaNMizu]

Right now we're mixing for transition purposes. We're going from Purina One Kitten Chow to Tiki Born Carnivore Chicken Luau. At first Mizu picked out her old favorites but she's adjusted well and doesn't seem to care anymore. So far so good.

 

[Sonatine]

Alright, so it looks like the general consensus is to do what I have to do for my cat and my wallet as long as she's willing to eat it. Technically, she's eating mixed food now anyway... since I always add new food to her plastic food tub before the old is completely gone, there's still a bit of the Science Diet left from when she was at the rescue that I just can't seem to get rid of.

I'll pick up a small bag of Instinct next time I'm at Petsmart or shopping on Chewy and see if I can get her to eat it.

 

[Daisy6]

How much Science Diet did you get from the shelter? I got a one-pound bag from the shelter I. got Daisy at, which was included in the adoption fee. Just because it came with a coupon attached to the bag I bought it one time before switching her to Wellness Complete Health Kitten chicken.

 

[Sonatine]

I stupidly bought a huge bag, as I hadn't settled on what food she was going to eat yet and overestimated how long it would take her to transition (also underestimated how lousy Science Diet was). Mind, this was only back in March, so nothing is expired or anything. I'm going to toss most of the old mixture when I get her a small bag of Instinct and just try mixing that with Crave.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I don't think mixing dry food is necessarily any issue -- just that if your cat is reacting to any particular ingredient(s) through allergy, sensitivity or otherwise, you'll be hard-pressed knowing which kibble and which ingredient it will be! But we who rotate foods a lot have this issue anyway, whether its dry or canned foods (or raw), so it's not like we aren't already in the same boat figuring out our cats' issues.

But I would say, that it's a good idea to toss out any dry food that is older than 3-4 months (which is what your Science Diet from the shelter is at this point, if you got it in March -- even if unopened, in my view). It can go bad, esp. in hot summer months (although I'm not sure where you live & if you are going through a hot summer season). I know it seems like a waste if you have a ton of it leftover, but it's not a waste if you can prevent your cat from having digestive issues!

 

[Sonatine]

Yeah, I'm gonna toss it, except maybe keeping a tiny bit to mix with the new stuff so it still smells like food to her. Early on, there were a couple times when she'd decide she didn't want her food anymore and that was super scary to a new cat owner, so I was mostly worried about changing the scent too quickly. But now I think there are enough things that she'll eat that I'm not worried about her starving herself (which wasn't the case when I first got her).

It's been a hot summer, but my cat food stash is kept inside in a sealed container and out of direct sunlight and my apartment doesn't get super hot. I think I'll just start buying smaller bags anyway, though, since it actually takes a single cat a really long time to go through ten pounds of food, especially when her diet is half wet food.

 

[2rescuekitties]

My cats actually love that I mix their dry foods together. I buy the Instinct high protein in chicken flavor and then I mix it with Solid gold Indigo Moon. They weren't big fans of the Instinct by itself, but one of my cats refuses to eat wet food so I wanted her to at least be on a high protein dry food if possible. Anyways like i was saying, she wasn't a fan of the Instinct, so then I mixed it with the Solid Gold flavors and now she doesn't even notice HEHE

So I would say that is totally fine, at least they will be getting a variety

 

[aliceneko]

Toffee wasn't up to his usual appetite last night due to the scorching heat, so I mixed some wet food and dry food together for him as I was worried that he wouldn't get enough food. He seemed to enjoy it as he ate it all and his appetite is back to normal again.

 

[Daisy6]

I have read in other threads bacteria love wet kibbles.