dislikes premium food

angler

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I was feeding my 4 yr old cat a middle quality dry cat food, which he ate just fine. For the past few days I've been mixing more and more premium dry cat food in with his old food, eventually hoping to switch him over completely to the hight end food.

To my surprise, he doesn't seem to like the premium as much as the old stuff. He does eat it, but as a last resort.

It that possible? Does anyone have any experience along those lines.
 

dawnt91

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I've had problems getting Muffy to eat Iams food. She had been on Purina One, which she loved, but I thought the Iams would be better for her. She hates it, even the canned variety. I went back to the Purina One since she seems to like it so much, and it's better for her than the other things I can get at the grocery store. (I just don't have it in me to go to the pet store all the time since I have two preschoolers who go crazy at the pet store.)

Good luck!
Dawn
 
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angler

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That's quite a coincidence. It was Purina One that I was feeding my cat, and it's IAMS that I'm trying to switch him to. Same two products as you had.

Purina One is supposedly better than the other products at the supermarket. Even so, I'm going to continue to try and make the switch to IAMS cause it's even better for him.

I have 3 complaints about Purina One. The main one being that meat is not first on the ingredients list. Secondly, from what I've read, the fat content of cat food should be higher than 14%. Thirdly, taurine has been added to the mix rather than occuring naturally in the meat by-products, and its concentration isn't even stated on the box.

At first I thought Purina One is cheaper than IAMS, but that was when I was comparing 3.6kg bags. If I buy IAMS in the 9kg bag, it works out to cost the same as Purina One. Both WalMart and Costco carry IAMS, so the cost is even cheaper than in the pet stores.

Thanks for your post.
 

hell603

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Try Nutro - it seem to be much more flavorful then any of the other premium foods and as a good Mom I have tried all
of them personally and I agree. Mine refuses IAMS, Science Diet, Royal Canine, etc. Good luck
 

sandie

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I am going to have to say find one that the cat likes. I fed purina for years. Then switched to science diet. They like the science diet and I noticed the odor in the litter box is much less offensive. Then by word of mouth, I switched to Nutro and it was the worst smelling litter box in the world. There are 2 of us that switched to the nutro and we both had cats have an allergy to it and develope feline acne. So if your cat is doing well on a food, then keep them on it. Angler, how long have you been introducing the Iams? If it has been a few weeks and is not working, try going to science diet or Eukanuba.
 
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angler

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Hi Sandi,

I've been introducing IAMS for 6 days now. Since its color is drastically different from Purian One, it's been easy to see that he's been favoring Purina One over IAMS. But he does eat the IAMS (probably when it outnumbers Purina One in his bowl). So it's not like he's totally rejecting it.

I hope (fingers crossed) that he'll gradually shift his taste preference to IAMS. I'll give it some more time.
 
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angler

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Hell603

When you said "I have tried all of them personally" did you mean you actually tasted them?
 

deb25

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Angler:

I had a heck of a time switching Squirt over to premium food a couple of years ago. He wanted his Meow Mix and nothing else. He eats the Science Diet just fine now.
 
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angler

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Deb25

Well, it's been 10 days since I started to switch Max from Purina One to IAMS. It appears he's getting used to it. I still put about 10% Purina One in his bowl, mixed in with the IAMS, but only because I want to use it up, not because I'm still in the process of changing over.

Maybe there's something in the lower end foods that cats like (such as flavor enhancers). Perhaps that's why some people have difficulty switching their cats to premium foods, even though you know the premium food is better for him/her in the long run.

Thank you for your reply.
 

ruth

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Dear Angler;

I had the same problem with my one yr. old calico. I did discover one wet food she will eat- the Nutro brand gourmet classics. Not the Nutro-Max (Sometimes she will eat the "kitten" Nutro-Max. You could try them. They are high quality- real meat, not meat by-products. They run 55 cents a can at Petco. RUTH
 
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angler

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Hi Ruth

I've been reading a lot lately about cat food. And I've learned that "meat by-products" in cat food is not a bad thing. By-products (ie heart, liver, lungs, etc) do contain essential protiens. After all, a cat's natural diet (birds, mice) are completely devoured, innards and all.

As long as they're good quality and processed properly, meat by-products are a good thing. I've checked the labels of all the top brand, and they all have by-products in them.

Anyway, my Max is OK now with the switch. The bulk of his bowl is IAMS, and I mix in about 10% Purian ONE just until my supply is used up.

Thank you for writing.



[Edited by Angler on 05-11-2001 at 12:08 AM]
 

mary13

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Cats are notorious for getting "hooked" on one type of food, irrespective of what exactly it is. That's why it's important to get them eating a variety of foods, from an early age if possible.
 
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