Transitioning from store brand dry food

[shortykatyk]

Hi everyone, my cats actually doing great thanks to the help of this forum and well my mom has a question about transitioning her "addicted to Purina dry food" away from that cheap food and onto something better for her. Mind you she does eat mostly wet but she does enjoy her kibble every so often the only thing is when my mom doesn't know where to start and I am not much help either.

If you where transitioning an older kitty away from purina what would you choose? I know that Tiki is good and so is Orijen those are local to me but I don't mind online ordering for her....I kind of do most of her online ordering anyway LOL its just she's so used to eating store brand that I'm afraid she wont want something healthier for her.

Currently she is eating fancy feast canned and purina.

 

[Kieka]

I'd probably start with a mid range brand, maybe Fussie Cat or Instinct for example. Something better than Purina but not quiet Tiki or Orjien. The reason being that for a cat not used to the "richness" (fat content, protein levels, etc). It can be a little much for their system to jump that quickly.

My favorite way of transitioning between dry foods is to put a bag of my old food in an air tight container (I have a storage tub but gallon bag works too). Then top off the container every few days with the new food mixing well. It takes longer but slowly over a few weeks (generally, depending on size) you will switch the ratio from all old to all new. Stay on the midrange food for a few months then transition again to your goal food. I like Tiki Cat Born Carnivore dry or Nulo limited formulas personally, but my crew can't eat poultry so some other lines we can't have.

Honestly, I basically slowly transition my bags of the same food too in the above manner. Just so that formula changes aren't as drastic if they happen without me realizing it. Some of the higher priced brands like to tweak their formulas based on protein availability.

 

[shortykatyk]

That’s a good idea. I hadn’t thought about a midrange food, I’ll look into Fussie Cat and Instinct. Are there any other good midrange foods? I live near both a petco, petsmart and tractor supply.

 

[Kieka]

Instinct is going to be the easiest to find and it is fairly decent. Both petsmart and petco carry it, I'm not sure about tractor supply. There are a lot of other midrange brands out there but those two are my favorite.

 

[LTS3]

Instinct is going to be the easiest to find and it is fairly decent.

Nature's Variety Instinct has two different dry food lines, a raw coated dry kibble and a kibble with freeze dried raw pieces mixed in: https://instinctpetfood.com/cat/

If ordering online is an option, Chewy.com has a lot of good brands.

How To Choose The Best Dry Cat Food? - TheCatSite

These days, there are feline nutrition experts who insist that there is no such thing as good dry food. In fact, the title of this article alone is bound to make some cat lovers shudder. Let's explore why kibble isn't necessarily a good option for some cats and why it can be for others if […]

thecatsite.com

How much dry food do you feed daily? If it's a small amount, less than 1/4 cup, you can consider air dried or freeze dried raw as healthier alternatives to dry food. Both still have the crunch some cats like but mostly none of the junky fillers.

 

[shortykatyk]

Thank you i'm not sure exactly how much dry she ends up getting since I swear my dad sneaks her more than he should but I can ask and i'll check into Instinct. I don't mind ordering online either tbh I usually help take care of things online for my parents anyway.

 

[shortykatyk]

Would Solid Gold be considered midrange? They are sold out of Instinct at my local store.

 

[Kieka]

Solid gold might be a little rich. You probably want to aim for mid to upper 30% protein and 8-10% fat if at all possible. Again, just a middle step to let the kitties body adjust to new food. Maybe Natural Balance?

 

[shortykatyk]

Picked up some natural balance and ordered some Instinct and Fussie just in case.

 

[lomofirefly]

Hi everyone, I'm actually shortys daughter and have an update before we could transition Mr. Whiskers off of dry food he had a bad blockage and required sedation and an enema. The vet told us only wet food from now on and gave us a couple cans to get started i'm really hoping that FortiFlora will entice him to eat the wet and now i'm off to find the best wet food for him thank yall for your help.