Rotating flavors and/or brands

[kalebkat]

Is it okay to do this? How often? My vet didn't agree with it.

 

[cat dad72]

I have six cats that are on a rotation canned diet and haven't had any issues, at the moment I have five different brands in the house. I do know it can be an issue with dry food or If you have a cat that is really sensitive.

 

[shadowplay]

I'm currently doing this. I have about 5 different types of canned food that I ordered in bulk from Chewy. I haven't had any issues so far, but it may cause issues if your cat has a sensitive stomach.

 

[Gizmobius]

I like to rotate at least three different proteins at a time. I read that if you keep your kitty on just one specific food that they can become allergic to that protein or develop an intolerance.

 

[dorimon]

Tracy Dion of CatCentric wrote an article explaining the importance of feeding a rotation diet: http://catcentric.org/2016/02/08/home-prepared-commercial-cat-food-rotate-proteins/

We have a pretty crazy rotation of canned & raw foods in our household (and currently a bit of dry food as well, but the kitties only get two teaspoons of it on weekday mornings).

I rotate both proteins (chicken, turkey, beef, duck, rabbit, quail, pheasant, and lamb) and brands (CANNED:  Fancy Feast, Merrick, Nature's Variety Instinct, Nulo, Nutro, Pride by Instinct, Purina Beyond, Sheba, Soulistic, Tiki Cat, Whole Earth Farms; RAW:  Darwin's, Primal, Stella & Chewy's).

Yup, I'm insane.

  I buy a ton of food whenever anything in our rotation goes on sale.  And we're also starting homemade raw in the upcoming weeks (which would enable us to add another two proteins -- cavy & mouse!).

 

[laura mae]

Always have had a rotation. Their dinner is a combo of three different types of food. They seem to enjoy the variety.  I have never ever had an issue feeding a variety of wet food. 

 

[kalebkat]

I like to rotate at least three different proteins at a time. I read that if you keep your kitty on just one specific food that they can become allergic to that protein or develop an intolerance.

Now that you say that, I remember reading or hearing the same thing. Thank you!

 

[kalebkat]

Tracy Dion of CatCentric wrote an article explaining the importance of feeding a rotation diet: http://catcentric.org/2016/02/08/home-prepared-commercial-cat-food-rotate-proteins/

We have a pretty crazy rotation of canned & raw foods in our household (and currently a bit of dry food as well, but the kitties only get two teaspoons of it on weekday mornings).

I rotate both proteins (chicken, turkey, beef, duck, rabbit, quail, pheasant, and lamb) and brands (CANNED: Fancy Feast, Merrick, Nature's Variety Instinct, Nulo, Nutro, Pride by Instinct, Purina Beyond, Sheba, Soulistic, Tiki Cat, Whole Earth Farms; RAW: Darwin's, Primal, Stella & Chewy's).

Yup, I'm insane. :shysmile:   I buy a ton of food whenever anything in our rotation goes on sale.  And we're also starting homemade raw in the upcoming weeks (which would enable us to add another two proteins -- cavy & mouse!).

Thanks! By the way, I must be crazy too. I am obsessed with buying a little bit of this and a little bit of that ... but a lot of it!! Its so much fun to me.

 

[kalebkat]

I wanted to give Kaleb variety but was unsure. I was disappointed after being informed that I should just buy one thing all the time. Now that I know, I am aware that it is actually better for our cats to have more than one thing. I didn't read the article Gizmo attached yet but when I do it is going to the VET !!

Thank you all for your replies.

 

[destinyz12]

Are you talking about wet food, dry food or both?  With dry food, you have to be careful with rotating brands, as it can cause an upset digestive system unless you wean them gradually from one to the next.  With wet food, most cats can easily jump from one to the next with no issues, and its definitely recommended to rotate proteins and brands, as other people mentioned.  Maybe the vet was talking about dry food?  I am disgusted that a vet would actually advise against doing that for wet food though. 

 

[dorimon]

 
Are you talking about wet food, dry food or both?  With dry food, you have to be careful with rotating brands, as it can cause an upset digestive system unless you wean them gradually from one to the next.  With wet food, most cats can easily jump from one to the next with no issues, and its definitely recommended to rotate proteins and brands, as other people mentioned.  Maybe the vet was talking about dry food?  I am disgusted that a vet would actually advise against doing that for wet food though. 

A rotation of dry food is not bad if there is actually variety in what is being fed.  However, most people don't open multiple bags of dry food at once and feed different brands/flavors at each meal.  Problems arise when a single food is fed over a long period of time and there is a sudden change to a new food.

 

[ileen]

I have been using Fancy Feast multiple flavors. At first Luciano would eat all flavors with gusto. I supplement with a dry food on the side, currently Nutrish by Rachael Ray. After a while I noticed he was eating more of the can right away of certain flavors, but really it was certain textures. He likes the gravy lovers texture/flavor of chicken, turkey, beef a lot. He doesn't seem to like the pate texture of the cod, salmon, tuna as much. Or maybe I have the one cat who doesn't like fish. He will eat the pate style, but sometimes even goes for the dry food first when those flavors are out. By the end of the day I'd say 85% of the pate is gone, as opposed to 100% of the gravy lovers flaked texture.

I do wonder if I'm feeding him enough. He seems somewhat bony up by his shoulders/top of his spine & his chest. However, there is always dry food leftover. I feed him a 3 oz can in the morning and another one at night, and give about 1/2 cup of dry along with it.

 

[thegreystalker]

Rotation is the order of the day at our house.  I keep various brands and flavors in stock, wet and dry.  For efficiency's sake and to avoid staleness in dry food, open only two bags at a time, in different flavors.  The dry food I presently have in the cupboard is chicken, turkey, herring, and rabbit.  Among the cans of wet food on hand, the flavors include, chicken, beef, turkey, Chicken & Sardine, Venison and Duck.  Our favorite brands are...

Canidae Pure Elements

Evolve

Purina Beyond

Purina Pro Plan True Nature

Nutro

Nulo

Under the Sun

Only Natural Pet

 

[kalebkat]

I was looking at the Purina Beyond and the Purina Pro Plan brands myself for Kaleb. They had it in stock at the Petsmart store. It looked pretty healthy but I chose simply nourish over that. He no longer likes the chicken that comes in cut off pieces, for some reason. He loves, turkey, duck, rabbit, venison, and most fishes especially mackeral. I do consider pricing and how he was fed simply nourish as a kitten and that cats like familiarity. He was also a foster, so I've considered giving him some form of milk again. Im sure it would give him that familiarity he craves.

 

[kalebkat]

Are you talking about wet food, dry food or both?  With dry food, you have to be careful with rotating brands, as it can cause an upset digestive system unless you wean them gradually from one to the next.  With wet food, most cats can easily jump from one to the next with no issues, and its definitely recommended to rotate proteins and brands, as other people mentioned.  Maybe the vet was talking about dry food?  I am disgusted that a vet would actually advise against doing that for wet food though. 

Really? I was put off too. But as I said I wasn't sure. I've also been given the impression that variety is good but was informed that sticking to 2 or 3 flavors is a more reliable way of sustaining your cat's health.

To answer your question I was talking about wet food. I hadn't considered rotating dry.

 

[kalebkat]

ileen thanks for your input. I've seen tv ads for that rachel ray food. I was thinking what a nice idea that she makes other things like pasta and olive oil for people but now also has food for our pets too. Although sometimes I lean towars sticking to the average pet-specific brands

 

[thegreystalker]

When I brought my rescue cat home for the first time I gave her Rachael Ray Nutrish dry.  I could tell she enjoyed it a lot.  However after a month or so of in-depth reading and research about cat food, I gave up on Rachael Ray Nutrish because of the corn content.  I was tempted to experiment with Rachael Ray Zero Grain but it's too pricey for what you get.