Feed A Single Food Or Rotation Diet Which One Better?

mwallace056 · May 10, 2019

I noticed on purina one packaging it says
"A cat’s digestive system works best when it receives the same food each day. Although humans crave variety in their diets, cats do not. Feeding different cat foods can turn your cat into a finicky eater, and may lead to obesity. For questions related to the health of your cat, see your veterinarian."

is there any truth to this? mainly the part about feeding different foods can lead to them turning into a finicky eater, isn't feeding an rolation diet suppose to prevent picky or finicky eaters?

mrsgreenjeens · May 10, 2019

I think feeding a rotation is a good thing. I have one cat who likes only one food and consider him a very picky eater because no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get him to eat other foods. I'm talking wet food here. My other cat seems to crave variety. If he gets too many meals of the same food, then he wanders off about midway through his meal. As long as I switch it up for him OFTEN, he seems excited to eat! So for him I try to only feed the same food maybe once every sixth meal or so. Again, talking only wet food. With dry food, you kind of need to switch than up slowly, so variety isn't really a good thing .

KarenKat · May 10, 2019

I agree with

mrsgreenjeens - I think generally it’s goid to have variety. So many stories on this forum of cats only liking one food and then not eating if there is a formula change or it’s discontinued.

I also have a girl that enjoys variety and another that is extremely picky. We try and feed a couple different flavors to the picky guy as long as he’s ok with it.

If you notice digestive issues, I would limit the variety. As long as everything comes out ok I think it’s better.

Also I don’t understand how Purina says that the cat will get finicky and obese - how does that work? I think they are just recommending not buying competitor cat foods.

mizzely · May 10, 2019

Of course Purina wants you to keep feeding the same food

I think I've got over a dozen brands in the house right now of wet food! My cat refuses to eat the same flavor more than twice a week. I'd rather offer her several foods and have her eat than worry about her starving.

GalaxyGirl · May 10, 2019

That is crazy and that’s how food allergies develop. Cats don’t catch the same thing for every meal. They imprint their eating habits from their mom (you) so if you never give them different stuff they become picky. I’m dealing with my MIL’s Senor cat who was only feed dry her entire life. She had some health issues and now needs a soft diet. Been transiting her for a month now. It’s super slow.

While I change what my cats eat (wet) and they will eat stuff they’ve had for days but slowly then I have to leave it in the surefeed for hours until they finish it. While if they eat different stuff each day they’ll finish their plate.

cheesycats · May 10, 2019

I’ve always fed a wide variety of dry raw and canned. Once they get used to variety and have no other sensitivities or health problems, their digestive system never knows the wiser when I make a switch suddenly.

ailish · May 13, 2019

My cat is not picky but definitely prefers a variety of foods. To me, this is how you avoid the "They changed the formula/were out of her flavor/went out of business" problem. It also avoids problems with a given food having too much or not enough of this or that ingredient. Certainly, some cats probably don't do best with changing foods, but I would start with variety and if I see problems narrow it down from there.

Rini · May 13, 2019

I think rotating protein sources can only be a good thing for nutrient purposes. We don't eat the same thing for every meal, and neither do cats in the wild.

Aslan is also one to get bored of the same type of food. He's been like that since I I got him, I don't think I made him that way.

divyanka2111 · May 13, 2019

I don't think it's true that they'll become 'finicky' with changed foods. That's a bit silly. Any being craves a variety. In the wild, cats don't eat the exact same food every time. That being said, I've known cats who have been eating the same food day in and day out and are doing fine. Maybe they get bored, but health-wise, it's okay.

kittyluv387 · May 13, 2019

Feed variety and you wont have to stress out when your cat suddenly decides he doesn't like that one food anymore.

amethyst · May 13, 2019

Sounds like a marketing ploy to get people to not buy any other brand of cat food. It's actually been proven that a varied diet actually helps prevent picky eaters, especially when started young. It also helps prevent food allergies. As others have said it makes no sense to just feed one protein source for the cat's whole life. Cats in the wild (and farm cats) eat pretty much anything they can catch. For my cats they have gone through several different brands of dry cat food in their life, mostly due to cost and availability (I live in the middle of nowhere). They currently get 4 different flavors of wet a week (rotated between 7 flavors total) in addition to their dry.

cheeser · May 13, 2019

Actually, our cats have become less finicky since we started offering them a variety of wet food brands, textures, proteins, etc.

Plus, that makes it a heck of a lot easier on us and less traumatic for the kitties when a company goes out of business, discontinues a favorite flavor or product line, screws up a purr-fectly good formula, has a recall, or a glitch in the manufacturing and/or distribution process, etc.

Then as we learned the hard way, some cats can develop food allergies if they eat pretty much the same thing day in and day out. :sigh:

Azazel · May 14, 2019

Purina is definitely not a credible source for feline nutrition advice.

mwallace056 · May 17, 2019

KarenKat said:
I agree with mrsgreenjeens - I think generally it’s goid to have variety. So many stories on this forum of cats only liking one food and then not eating if there is a formula change or it’s discontinued.

I also have a girl that enjoys variety and another that is extremely picky. We try and feed a couple different flavors to the picky guy as long as he’s ok with it.

If you notice digestive issues, I would limit the variety. As long as everything comes out ok I think it’s better.

Also I don’t understand how Purina says that the cat will get finicky and obese - how does that work? I think they are just recommending not buying competitor cat foods.

my guess about the part about "may lead to obesity" is that every bag of dry food contain different amounts of calories which may lead to overweight problems, i mean not everyone may realize that they have to feed less on a particularly bag vs another bag so they end up feeding the same exact amount so i guess that could lead to obesity. or am i wrong?

amethyst said:
Sounds like a marketing ploy to get people to not buy any other brand of cat food. It's actually been proven that a varied diet actually helps prevent picky eaters, especially when started young. It also helps prevent food allergies. As others have said it makes no sense to just feed one protein source for the cat's whole life. Cats in the wild (and farm cats) eat pretty much anything they can catch. For my cats they have gone through several different brands of dry cat food in their life, mostly due to cost and availability (I live in the middle of nowhere). They currently get 4 different flavors of wet a week (rotated between 7 flavors total) in addition to their dry.

I agree it likely a marketing ploy to get people stick to their brand only. I was just confused about it because everything i've read is that it best to provide an varied diet so i wanted to hear other people thoughts about this.

Feed A Single Food Or Rotation Diet Which One Better?

mwallace056

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mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats

KarenKat

Kitty on the half shell, tortie power!

mizzely

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GalaxyGirl

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cheesycats

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ailish

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Rini

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divyanka2111

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kittyluv387

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amethyst

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cheeser

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Azazel

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mwallace056

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