Do You Mix It Up Or Stick To A Couple?

[Erin80]

So I’ve been doing food trials with my cats lately to find their favourites. I have a list of 4-5 that they will eat every time and some they won’t touch.
Once you find your cats favourites, do you stick to that or do you always try new things? (We are talking about wet food, not dry).

 

[LTS3]

Many people rotate a few different brands and varieties. Some just stick what they know their cats like and will reliably eat. Others try new food just because and sometimes the cat will actually eat it.

 

[KarenKat]

Olive will eat any new food. I tried all sorts of foods, picked her favorite 6 or 7 and feed those. If I see a new food in the store that I like, I’ll toss a can of it into rotation and see what she thinks. I haven’t done it recently much but she is not super picky so it doesn’t seem to phase her to get a strange new food.

 

[Erin80]

Olive will eat any new food. I tried all sorts of foods, picked her favorite 6 or 7 and feed those. If I see a new food in the store that I like, I’ll toss a can of it into rotation and see what she thinks. I haven’t done it recently much but she is not super picky so it doesn’t seem to phase her to get a strange new food.

Olive sounds amazing! Haha! My two are pretty good so far. Just a couple they both agree are not happening, lol.

 

[KarenKat]

Yeah, over time and compared to our two boys (who are very picky and are on mostly kibble) I have realized how lucky I am that Olive is so food motivated and open to trying new things. Of course we have to cover any meat we are cooking for ourselves, so there is that.

She has rejected food she has tried before, but usually after she eats half of it. I don't buy those again, since she leaves me with so many other options.

 

[maggiedemi]

Oh yes, at the beginning I tried everything. Now I pretty much know what they like and what works. But I will try new things that come out.

 

[Gizmobius]

Gizmo will eat any new food I put down in front of him, whereas Stevie will eat most new food put down in front of her. There is one food I know that she doesn't like out of the numerous brands and flavors that have been offered so I know to cut that one out because Gizmo won't even realize it's gone after he scarfs through the remaining cans. I love introducing new foods but I do stick to the ones I know they really enjoy too.

 

[RajaNMizu]

For the most part, I have a few that they are both consistent with, however, I am very "sales" motivated. I will toss in a few of something if it's on sale (and I've checked it to see if it's a good food). Right now, they are both loving Sheba which was on sale at my local pet food store. I had picked out two or three that went well and returned to purchase more. Raja is easier than Mizu. If Mizu likes it, we have a winner.

 

[Kat0121]

I have the two pickiest eaters on Earth. They will go hot and cold towards foods all the time. They always seem to go cold on something as soon as I buy a case of it. I have to keep a wide variety of foods available. They do not eat the same thing twice in one day.

 

[duckpond]

I most likely have a problem i cannot see a new cat food without checking out the ingredients. If i like them then i try it out on my guys. They refuse quite a bit of food, but family, friends and the local shelter benefit, i do like to try new foods and sometimes i find a winner!

 

[Rini]

Chewy was the worst thing that ever could have happened to me. I am borderline obsessed with finding new healthy foods he can eat. My monthly cat budget has doubled. Send help.

 

[Furballsmom]

Lol Rini
I'm like RajaNMizu and duckpond , and my cat is like Kat0121 's cat.

 

[BlueJay]

I typically just buy kitty food at walmart, sometimes Meijer. I don't want food with peas, carrots, etc, so I'm a bit limited. I rotate flavors all the time though, and buy a bunch if I stop in to look at something in a pet store. I'm also very sales motivated! I plan to keep adding in more brands and flavors to keep variety, my cat hasn't turned anything down, except freeze-dried all meat treats...

 

[Svenja_hel]

I’ve always been mixing it up because I didn’t want to “raise” picky eaters. And from that they’ve learned to just eat what’s „on the table“, because if they don’t eat it for example in the morning, it will return as dinner or even as their next breakfast (refrigerated and then heated up a little of course). picky eating; not in my house.
they do have favorites though, for example they prefer ragouts over pastries. :-)

 

[sunflower7]

So I’ve been doing food trials with my cats lately to find their favourites. I have a list of 4-5 that they will eat every time and some they won’t touch.
Once you find your cats favourites, do you stick to that or do you always try new things? (We are talking about wet food, not dry).

I have 3 cats. We feed them about 5 main brands of wet, though don't always have all 6 at once. and they will basically eat ANY dry food( I grab sample bags when I see them at pet stores) but I keep a large tupperware container of 2 or 3 mixed together. I find they aren't too picky when they are used to rotation. I've been feeding them various brands over their lives and changed several times with no issues.
Brands I am using:
cans:
Nutrisource, Nulo, Wellness, Whole earth farms, occasionally Fromm
Dry: Fussie cat, pure vita, here and there nulo or earthborn holistic

 

[cheeser]

We try to offer our cats a variety of brands, flavors, and textures. Of course, whether they'll eat them or not is another matter.

We used to just stick with whatever our cats liked, which was fine as long is it continued to be available, and our cats continued to tolerate it well. But after a few recalls, a particular flavor and/or product line got discontinued, the formulas were changed and our cats no longer liked them, a company went out of business, and one cat developed an allergy to certain proteins, etc., we learned the hard way that it helps to have as many options as possible on hand -- just in case.

 

[LadyLondonderry]

I used to feed Sylvie two different flavors of the same canned food, one for breakfast and the other for dinner, every day. For years it was Natural Balance chicken and turkey. Then she had a bout of watery diarrhea that made me suspect she'd developed an intolerance to at least one of those proteins. So I switched to Nature's Variety Instinct salmon and LID duck. A few months ago we had a not-so-instant replay of the diarrhea situation and I again set out to find new foods that she would like and tolerate well.

For a while there I was trying all kinds of things, including a lot of freeze-dried raw, but recently she's become somewhat constipated -- maybe due to too much bone in some of the freeze-dried raw? -- so I've backed off the FDR and am back to feeding only canned. It's possible that she also doesn't react well to constant variety.

Right now I'm relying mostly on Rawz turkey and beef, because I love the quality of their foods, and trying out a few other options now and then. After the constipation reduced Sylvie's appetite, the first food she was even slightly enthusiastic about was Wellness Complete Health beef & salmon, so I'm keeping a few small cans of that on hand. I was also using a sprinkle of nutritional yeast as a topper. She loves it so much that I'll continue to use it as a treat, even though her appetite is pretty much back to normal now and she will eat the food without it.

I agree with cheeser that it makes sense to be prepared for changes by keeping a few different options on hand. But sometimes I get nostalgic for the days when I could just buy two flavors of the same food, case after case, and not have to give any further thought to the matter. Simpler times ... ::

 

[lalagimp]

I started rotation when I signed on as a Chewy Influencer. My girls are my guinea pigs, because they are picky. Some stuff they really like and other stuff huh uh no way. This month we're trying Merrick's Thanksgiving Day Dinner.
My cat pantry also has Sheba, American Journey, Meow Mix, Tiny Tiger, Nature's Variety Instinct. I just bought a few Koha with a promo code to try, and I have a pretty big basket of supplies sent to me from Weruva about their Sliders to run by the girls and do a thing on.
I had an opportunity to get a small bag of Wellness Raw Rev today in exchange for review, but the only kibble I keep the girls on is Dr Elsey's cleanprotein.

The ladies also like Caru, Tiki After Dark, other Wellness and Weruva, Crave, Nutro... I'm drawing a blank, but I will disclose they do not like fish, and sometimes refuse a certain pate, only to eat the exact same thing in "chunks and gravy".

And we have also done plain cooked chicken breast shredded up with a sample of EZComplete, which they enjoyed.

 

[1 bruce 1]

So I’ve been doing food trials with my cats lately to find their favourites. I have a list of 4-5 that they will eat every time and some they won’t touch.
Once you find your cats favourites, do you stick to that or do you always try new things? (We are talking about wet food, not dry).

With the IBD cat, he gets what he likes and is happy with which is FF classics right now. I just hope the company doesn't mess with the formula they use.
He's also OK on a few other foods but this is the main staple that keeps him happy.

The others get a lot of variety.

 

[Pjg8r]

I rotate brands and textures. The only constant is breakfast. That is always the same wet brand. They all like it and it is easy to notice if anyone’s appetite is off.