Should You Rotate Brands You Feed Your Cat?

kunoichi9280

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So I've been feeding Itachi Fancy Feast grain-free pate kitten food (wet) since I got him with the very occasional meal of dry kitten food if I will miss a meal and have to be gone a longer time. He finishes his meals but doesn't seem hungry or like he's begging for food, stools are good, nothing is up. But I've read some posts on here where people mention food rotations? Should I be rotating the brand he eats for any health reasons? I realize there are higher quality brands then what he's getting but for right now a middle-of-the-line food is what my budget can do. TIA!
 

kittyluv387

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It’s good to rotate so your kitty doesn’t become too picky and difficult to feed. It’s a problem because if that one flavor he likes gets discountinued you have to scramble to find something he will accept. It’s also a good idea to feel multiple proteins. I feed mine rabbit, turkey, chicken, fish and quail from 8 different cans. Only one can has fish since it’s not good for cats to eat fish all the time.
 

Maria Bayote

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I buy different kinds or brands and flavors for my cats because if I keep feeding them the same thing all over again, they will stop eating. So it depends on your cat. Most cats are really picky eaters.
 

EmersonandEvie

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You should! Think about it like this: wouldn't you get bored if you ate the same thing every day? Variety is the spice of life! Go pick up some different kitten food in another flavor or some food labeled "all life stages" and find some new favorites. :)
 

EmersonandEvie

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Some good "mid-priced foods" (I feel ya...with three cats, that's what we can afford too!) are the Tractor Supply brand 4Health, the Fancy Feast Classic Pates line, Chewy dot com's brand Tiny Tiger, Chewy dot com's American Journey, and Redbarn (slightly more $$, can be found on Chewy or some places have their cans in store).
 

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We've been firm believers in rotating a variety of brands, textures, flavors, etc. ever since we learned some lessons the hard way. :paperbag:

One of our cats had become addicted to a particular food, and that's all he wanted to eat. So we obliged because, well, it didn't seem all that weird after years of feeding our cats just one food all the time because that's what the vet recommended. Then the company discontinued that particular product, and poor Oscar had the most awful diarrhea and vomiting for two or three months until we finally stumbled across some other options that agreed with his tummy.

Fast forward a bit, and another one of our cats would only eat shredded chicken based foods, such as Tiki Cat, Weruva, Fussie Cat, etc. That worked out great for his urinary tract problems, but then he developed an allergy to chicken -- which was the beginning of our adventures in getting multiple food allergies sorted out. :wink:

So now we're kinda paranoid, and like to offer a variety of options just in case a company goes out of business, discontinues a particular product line, changes their formulas, etc. :)
 

Cat Grrl

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My 14 yo female kitty will only eat dry food! She recently got sick and stopped eating, despite all my efforts with many different types of kibble. The vet was talking about euthanasia! I finally found a year old Fancy Feast (back of the cupboard) that she miraculously started eating! Of course, this brand is now discontinued! I had to make a spreadsheet with all the different ingredients of the various brands. I found she liked Purina Cat Chow Complete, as it had many of the same ingredients in the Fancy Feast. A long story, but I agree you should feed your kitty several types of food, because they are picky and one type will probably be discontinued/changed!
 

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It also helps in case what you are feeding them is suddenly recalled. Some companies fold from recalls, some take forever to get themselves back together. In the mean time you have a cat who won't eat what you offer, like ours.
Oh, gosh, yes! Been there, done that, have the t-shirt. Even if a company bounces back pretty quickly for that sort of thing, it can still take a few months before a product is back in production and on the shelves again.
 

maggie101

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So I've been feeding Itachi Fancy Feast grain-free pate kitten food (wet) since I got him with the very occasional meal of dry kitten food if I will miss a meal and have to be gone a longer time. He finishes his meals but doesn't seem hungry or like he's begging for food, stools are good, nothing is up. But I've read some posts on here where people mention food rotations? Should I be rotating the brand he eats for any health reasons? I realize there are higher quality brands then what he's getting but for right now a middle-of-the-line food is what my budget can do. TIA!
I have started mixing in low cost brands with more expensive cans like wellness core. Then the wc lasts 4 days
 

aliceneko

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I agree that it's good to rotate so that your cat doesn't become too picky. My friend's cat will only eat one particular brand of cat food making it difficult for her to buy foods. I generally tend to rotate the brands Toffee and Fudge eat.
 
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kunoichi9280

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Thanks so much for the info! I've been rotating flavors (The last case I got him had 3 or 4 different flavors) but not textures or brands. I hadn't even thought about a recall or any of the other issues. So far he doesn't seem picky at all and I want to keep it that way.
 

lisahe

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Thanks so much for the info! I've been rotating flavors (The last case I got him had 3 or 4 different flavors) but not textures or brands. I hadn't even thought about a recall or any of the other issues. So far he doesn't seem picky at all and I want to keep it that way.
If nothing else, I'd suggest giving some additional brands a try. If you're looking for foods that are easy to buy (both in terms of availability and budget), Sheba pates are pretty decent. They're smoother than Fancy Feast so slightly different in texture. Another pate line that's pretty good is Weruva's BFF Play: they're very smooth, too. You can buy those in lots of independent stores plus Petco, which also sells Soulistic, which has a few pates that seem to be exactly the same as the BFF Play. (Soulistic is manufactured by Weruva!)

In the 5.5 years that we've had our two cats, we've had more recipe changes, products discontinued, and episodes of feline fussiness than I could possibly list! We feed four "modes" of food (homemade cooked, commercial raw frozen, commercial raw freeze-dried, and canned) because the cats thrive on variety and have some digestive quirks that limit the canned foods they should eat.
 

Liapluridon

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We feed multiple brands because one of our girls is fussy and if she has the same thing too many times in a row, she'll refuse to eat!
 

lisahe

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We feed multiple brands because one of our girls is fussy and if she has the same thing too many times in a row, she'll refuse to eat!
Yes, we have the same thing here. It looks like you have a lynx mix, Liapluridon, is she your picky cat? (Our picky one is our lynx...)
 

Liapluridon

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Yes, we have the same thing here. It looks like you have a lynx mix, Liapluridon, is she your picky cat? (Our picky one is our lynx...)
I honestly don't know - our two girls were found on the side of the road by a family friend. She has a really interesting coat - when she was a baby she was mostly white with some grey markings, and as she's gotten older she's become more grey/brown. Very beautiful, but I have no idea what her breed is!
 

Liapluridon

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I honestly don't know - our two girls were found on the side of the road by a family friend. She has a really interesting coat - when she was a baby she was mostly white with some grey markings, and as she's gotten older she's become more grey/brown. Very beautiful, but I have no idea what her breed is!
I forgot to include though, that yes, she is the fussy one. :)
 

lisahe

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I honestly don't know - our two girls were found on the side of the road by a family friend. She has a really interesting coat - when she was a baby she was mostly white with some grey markings, and as she's gotten older she's become more grey/brown. Very beautiful, but I have no idea what her breed is!
Do you have more pictures of her, the stripy one, on the right of your avatar picture, Liapluridon? Siamese mixes do start off very light and then darken with age, in certain "point" spots. Here's a very basic page with some pictures of a few lynx mixes. As that notes, they're not really a breed, they're (various) crosses of tabbies and Siamese. Ireland has slightly crossed eyes, a kink in her tail, and the typical point coloring. Most important, she's a very affectionate, great cat.

The only downside to Siamese (and mixes) is that, per our vet, they tend to have certain health issues to watch for. We didn't know that when we adopted them at the shelter, but they quickly proved us right with dental, respiratory, and digestive quirks! Ireland had some asthma-like coughing fits that were resolved with new kitty litter, they both need regular tooth brushing to prevent gingivitis, and they have sensitive stomachs that do best with an all-wet, high-protein diet. I'm glad the vet told us that right off so we were ready. They're really wonderful cats even if they do require a lot of variety in their diet! :p
 
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