Nutro Natural Choice Canned

[chandler49]

My cat was eating Merrick Limited but tired of it so back to Fancy Feast Classic. Would like to upgrade. Who feeds Nutro Natural Choice canned Chunky Chicken or Soft Turkey loaf. Both are pates in cans. Would like to know how long you've been feeding, how does your cat react to the food and if it's the only canned you feed. Today tried 1 can each of the above flavors and cat loved them.

 

[MissMolly08]

Most people here recommend a rotational diet. Some cats tire of being fed the same food every single meal and I have read that some even develop allergies if fed the same protein all their life.
Have you thought of using all 3 (merrick, FF and the Nutro) in a rotation?

 

[chandler49]

Most people here recommend a rotational diet. Some cats tire of being fed the same food every single meal and I have read that some even develop allergies if fed the same protein all their life.
Have you thought of using all 3 (merrick, FF and the Nutro) in a rotation?

How do you do a rotation diet? One day Nutro next FF next Merrick? My vet recommended sticking with 1 food and not changing until they get tired of it. She said feeding different flavors every day makes them finicky. I've been feeding the same dry for years and cat never tires of it.

 

[lisahe]

Our cats love the Nutro Natural Choice foods -- chunky chicken included -- that we've fed them. In fact I've had to nearly cut it from their rotation because one cat eats too fast and then vomits it. (The minced chicken causes the most problems! It's really disgusting.)

All cats are different but on the question of rotating foods, I tend to agree with M MissMolly08 rather than your vet, C chandler49 . (I've never asked our vet specifically about rotations but I know she knows we do it and doesn't seem to be against it at all. The biggest concerns, I think, are with cats whose digestive systems destabilize from eating different foods.) In fact, when we fed our cats mostly canned food, they got finickiest when we fed them the same foods too often, meaning more than once a week. Oddly, they're happy to eat slightly different blends of two freeze-dried raw foods for their two largest meals a day. I have no idea why they're so picky about canned variety but not raw variety but there you have it: they're cats! And yes, you can rotate by day or, as we did, by meal. (We now only feed canned food once every 2-3 days or once a day when I'm traveling... each canned meal is different unless there's a large can that's enough for two meals, in which case they eat meals that are 1/2 of can A, all of small can B, then the second 1/2 of can A.)

In the end, every cat is different so you'll have to see what works best for you and your cat. Just don't be surprised if she prefers to have variety in her menu!

 

[MissMolly08]

How do you do a rotation diet? One day Nutro next FF next Merrick? My vet recommended sticking with 1 food and not changing until they get tired of it. She said feeding different flavors every day makes them finicky. I've been feeding the same dry for years and cat never tires of it.

Yep, pretty much. Some people rotate by meal (merrick for breakfast, FF for dinner etc.), some by day or some just feed one food until the can is gone and then open something else... whatever works.
My cat ate the same dry food for 9 years before I added wet to her diet. She never complained but I can't say she was enthusiastic about it. Now that I've been giving her a variety of wet foods... she LOVES meal time. She jumps around and becomes very vocal when she sees me opening a can of wet food lol.

 

[destinyz12]

My cats love Nutro Natural choice, but I feed the Minced chicken and Sliced turkey, not the pates since they aren't crazy about that texture. Very healthy ingredients overall, but be aware that some select flavors of Nutro do contain carrageenan, which can be a stomach irritant to some cats. I try to avoid those ones. And rotation/variety is good for them, it helps to prevent them from becoming fixated on one type, in the event of discontinuation or a recall, and rotating protetins can help prevent from developing an allergy to one

 

[cheeser]

I respectfully disagree with your vet on this. Variety is the spice of life, or something like that.

You never know when a cat food company will go out of business, get bought out by another company, make major changes to a formula, phase out a flavor and/or product line, have a recall, your cat suddenly becomes allergic to a particular protein and/or other ingredient, etc.

That being said, I do believe in setting some limits so our cats don't expect a smorgasbord at every meal. So we usually just buy a few flavors from three different brands and rotate them a bit.

 

[thehistorian]

My Enya (R.I.P) LOVED Nutro Natural Choice and my Ramsey and Twyla also ADORE Nutro Natural Choice. I feed them both the smooth pates (chicken and turkey varieties) and the slices in gravy (also chicken and turkey varieties). They love both textures. Thank god. I use the slices to make sure I do not go overboard with their caloric intake for the day. The slices in gravy are perfectly safe because the gravy is made with pork broth and egg, so there is absolutely no wheat etc. One of the few slices based wet foods that has a healthy gravy. I rotate it them with the Fancy Feast Classic Pates. My babies love this rotation.

 

[lisahe]

I respectfully disagree with your vet on this. Variety is the spice of life, or something like that.

You never know when a cat food company will go out of business, get bought out by another company, make major changes to a formula, phase out a flavor and/or product line, have a recall, your cat suddenly becomes allergic to a particular protein and/or other ingredient, etc.

That being said, I do believe in setting some limits so our cats don't expect a smorgasbord at every meal. So we usually just buy a few flavors from three different brands and rotate them a bit.

I couldn't agree more on all points!

 

[chandler49]

My Enya (R.I.P) LOVED Nutro Natural Choice and my Ramsey and Twyla also ADORE Nutro Natural Choice. I feed them both the smooth pates (chicken and turkey varieties) and the slices in gravy (also chicken and turkey varieties). They love both textures. Thank god. I use the slices to make sure I do not go overboard with their caloric intake for the day. The slices in gravy are perfectly safe because the gravy is made with pork broth and egg, so there is absolutely no wheat etc. One of the few slices based wet foods that has a healthy gravy. I rotate it them with the Fancy Feast Classic Pates. My babies love this rotation.

How long have you being using Nutro? When I feed the Chunky Chicken my cat just doesn't "seem right" after eating. It takes about 36 hrs for her to get back to "normal". During that time I go back to Fancy Feast Classic Liver & Chicken.

 

[thehistorian]

I have been feeding Nutro wet for years and I never had a problem. Can you be more specific about what you mean by "not right?" Is she lethargic, vomiting etc.? I don't feed the chunky variety, though. Just the soft pate and slices in gravy, so that could be the issue. It might be something in the chunky pate.

 

[chandler49]

More like lethargic. She did vomit it up once but think it was from eating too fast since vomit was right at food dish. It was the chunky chicken. Fed that because of no carrageenan. Didn't like turkey pate. I use cans only because she doesn't like the Perfect Portions. Besides to me the texture is different in those portion containers. She's a pate cat only - no sliced, minced, shreds whatever for her.
I'm back to FF classic liver/chicken & Turkey Giblets. Liver/chicken in AM turkey PM. Chose those 2 formulas because no added color or sodium nitrate. What's your take on FF? I'm also going to throw in some Merrick Limited Turkey which she will eat but protein count not as high & does include pea protein. Carbs are 5.5% compared to FF @ less than 1% but it's all animal protein. What's your take on FF classic.

 

[thehistorian]

More like lethargic. She did vomit it up once but think it was from eating too fast since vomit was right at food dish. It was the chunky chicken. Fed that because of no carrageenan. Didn't like turkey pate. I use cans only because she doesn't like the Perfect Portions. Besides to me the texture is different in those portion containers. She's a pate cat only - no sliced, minced, shreds whatever for her.
I'm back to FF classic liver/chicken & Turkey Giblets. Liver/chicken in AM turkey PM. Chose those 2 formulas because no added color or sodium nitrate. What's your take on FF? I'm also going to throw in some Merrick Limited Turkey which she will eat but protein count not as high & does include pea protein. Carbs are 5.5% compared to FF @ less than 1% but it's all animal protein. What's your take on FF classic.

Hmm, your cat's symptoms could easily have been any number of things. As for Fancy Feast, it is not the greatest wet food ever, but it is not the worst either. As far as basic cat nutritional needs, it is pretty spot on. It is all meat protein and the necessary vitamins - next to no carbohydrates. I rotate it with Nutro Natural Choice and my kitties love both!

 

[ty3535]

My guy loved Nutro, and I certainly can't be totally positive, but I believe there to be an ingredient that causes his IBD to flare up. His initial IBD diagnosis was brought on by frequent vomiting on the Nutro. I switched to the merrick limited turkey and he did okay for about 2 years (I was not rotating at the time) and then had symptoms again. As far as the food rotation, I read an article yesterday because I need to switch his food again (ear infection likely from current food allergy) and I want to do a rotational diet. She's been a vet for 15 years and recommends rotating every 3-4 months so that the immune system doesn't have a chance to develop the allergy. Also, rotating every day or frequently makes it hard to figure out which food is causing an issue should one arise.