Switching Up Food: Good or Bad?

[AK3025]

I had a vet once tell me that cats can’t handle changes in food (even flavor) like dogs can, and to keep them on the exact same type of food always. I’d love more insight into this…

 

[maggie101]

Keeping them on the exact same food can cause intolerance. My cat peaches,now 10,can no longer eat chicken since she ate only chicken for years. There may come a time when your cat can no longer eat certain food and will have to be on a special diet. It will help if she is used to a variety of proteins. At,least that's what I have learned in 10 years

 

[susanm9006]

I see nothing wrong in making changes to a cat’s food provided you do it gradually and they will eat it. When COVID was going on and there were cat food shortages, I didn’t have a choice and tried a number of different food by different manufacturers until I found ones they seems to like. I now rotate three different flavors from two different manufacturers and they seem to enjoy the variety.

 

[AK3025]

I agree with the benefit of switching, so I’m happy to hear you all are on board. I’m just still surprised that vet was really pushy about this.

 

[FurryMonsters]

I second everything that has already been said. Sudden changes in diet can lead to GI distress, but slowly introducing multiple brands and animal protein sources into the rotation is a great idea and has always worked for my cats (with the exclusion of proteins they are intolerant to).

Other than obvious health benefits, this approach also protects your cat in a situation where a cat food is discontinued, there is a recall, or the quality of a particular food suddenly declines.

A vet once told me this when I said that I was feeding my cats a rotation of different foods: "You should not feed foods from different brands, it will be upsetting their stomachs! All food should be from the same brand!" That was one of the moments which made me lose faith in my local vets...

 

[AK3025]

I second everything that has already been said. Sudden changes in diet can lead to GI distress, but slowly introducing multiple brands and animal protein sources into the rotation is a great idea and has always worked for my cats (with the exclusion of proteins they are intolerant to).

Other than obvious health benefits, this approach also protects your cat in a situation where a cat food is discontinued, there is a recall, or the quality of a particular food suddenly declines.

A vet once told me this when I said that I was feeding my cats a rotation of different foods: "You should not feed foods from different brands, it will be upsetting their stomachs! All food should be from the same brand!" That was one of the moments which made me lose faith in my local vets...

I also get frustrated and disappointed by how vets approach nutrition for cats. At least all the ones I’ve encountered. I’ve definitely always done this for my dog, and can’t make sense of why a cat should only eat the same one food all their life…Thanks got your input!

 

[iPappy]

Kittens and cats really can imprint on one specific food which can cause loads of problems down the road. There is nothing scarier than having a cat who has latched onto one type of food, from one specific brand, that is one specific type of formula only for their to be supply chain shortages or a formula change. I never feed "just one thing" and I think feeding just one food to a healthy cat can actually create pickiness.

 

[Cat McCannon]

Belle will eat almost anything I put in front of her and without stomach problems. She’s fed three times a day, basically when we eat, she eats. We started this schedule to keep her from getting into our food. Each meal, she gets something different.

This is a sample of one. Every cat is a law unto itself. In general, if a cat is fed the same thing everyday, they tend to want to eat nothing else. They also get bored eating the same thing over and over. You could end up with a cat that won’t eat its favorite food because it’s tired of it but refuses to eat anything else.

 

[iPappy]

Belle will eat almost anything I put in front of her and without stomach problems. She’s fed three times a day, basically when we eat, she eats. We started this schedule to keep her from getting into our food. Each meal, she gets something different.

This is a sample of one. Every cat is a law unto itself. In general, if a cat is fed the same thing everyday, they tend to want to eat nothing else. They also get bored eating the same thing over and over. You could end up with a cat that won’t eat its favorite food because it’s tired of it but refuses to eat anything else.

I've had cats get URI's and getting them to eat is very difficult because they can't smell anything. Being able to break out different types of foods is a sigh of relief because I can usually get whoever is sick to at least eat something.

 

[Margot Lane]

Kind of with McCannon on this one. I’ve been hesitating to reply, b/c when I get my cat on just the right balance of limited ingredients w/ wet cat food and the end result is healthy, I tend to stay put & not rock that boat. But DEFINITELY each cat is different, and I think we are all familiar with the “The Snub.” Heck, if I were fed the same thing every day I’d go nuts. And I don’t know if it counts, but, like, a lion eats antelope, kudu, zebra, elephant, warthog, gazelle, etc. I sometimes wonder if a house cat would want that too.

 

[Alldara]

I agree with the benefit of switching, so I’m happy to hear you all are on board. I’m just still surprised that vet was really pushy about this.

We have to remember that I like human doctors, vets have to keep up with the sheer amount of research on multiple different species! And cat research is really just starting to catch up to dogs. I think that's why we are seeing more vets specialize.

My vet was cat-only (retired in April) and said she was glad to hear we fed a variety. During shortages and changes, they had a lot of cats in who wouldn't eat.

There was a recent longitudinal study from Purina on cat food and they changed all their recipes since then. Some other cat food brands have followed suit.

 

[AK3025]

I appreciate you all giving me the confidence to move forward with adding some variety to the kitty diet

 

[Alldara]

Looking forward to hearing how it goes!
I usually give some regular food with a small scoop of the new flavor on the side

 

[iPappy]

Kind of with McCannon on this one. I’ve been hesitating to reply, b/c when I get my cat on just the right balance of limited ingredients w/ wet cat food and the end result is healthy, I tend to stay put & not rock that boat. But DEFINITELY each cat is different, and I think we are all familiar with the “The Snub.” Heck, if I were fed the same thing every day I’d go nuts. And I don’t know if it counts, but, like, a lion eats antelope, kudu, zebra, elephant, warthog, gazelle, etc. I sometimes wonder if a house cat would want that too.

I had a cat with a glass stomach, and once I found what worked for him I was like you--I did NOT rock that boat. Finding the balance for him was a months long battle and once I found I didn't want to mess with it.