Variety Or Not?

[1 bruce 1]

I'm not looking to start a debate or anything mean between members. So please remember that =)
This is a curious and friendly question as to how many people have found mixing foods up (or, staying with the same brand and rotating flavors, or even rotating brands) has "worked" vs. who has had bad experiences with this and prefer to stick to a single brand.
With our raw fed guys we've found that the more variety the better...but with our IBD cat it seems poultry (for now) is his favorite and causes less issues than beef, etc.
Just kind of curious what others have experienced. No "studies" needed, just experience!

 

[2BSH]

Well for my guys variety definitely works best. Although I do rotate brands and proteins they have their favorites amongst them. They will pretty much eat any merrick purrfect bistro pate, that’s my go to for sure.
I made a mistake of feeding them the same thing day in day out once upon a time and after about a month they went on a food strike. That was during my experimental days though. So I vote for variety to keep boredom At the food dish at bay. Besides I’m having way too much fun making cat food menus ahead of time

 

[sabrinah]

I like variety and switching things up. It saves my butt if something has a formula change and keeps the critters from getting too picky. My new vet, on the other hand, pushes one brand, one protein forever and ever and ever because she says exposing the animal to too many things will make them develop allergies There's no smiley to convey how fed up I am with her.

 

[mikameek]

Well, Mika is a picky girl so I'm rotating right now just to keep her eating. I'm hoping that she'll eventually get into one brand she really likes and we can just rotate on the proteins I give. But I still think I'll be rotating brands (just maybe not as many as I do now) just to really keep her on her toes.

 

[Azazel]

I like variety, especially if feeding commercial foods because you get different nutrients from different foods. So, I try to have variety in proteins and types of food (mix of homemade and commercial raw). Currently though my cats are eating mostly chicken and turkey with some rabbit and duck treats mixed in.

 

[KarenKat]

I prefer variety of proteins and brands. Olive does too, and gets tired of the same protein or brand in a row. The two boys (Gohan and Trin) have been on kibble their whole lives and are picky. Trin is IBD and does terrible on chicken and doesn’t change foods well so we are on only rabbit kibble. In a little while we will try some rabbit wet food. Gohan is suuuuuper picky so if I find more than one wet food he likes (and will eat at least 1/8 of a can) it will be a miracle. But I strive!

 

[Pjg8r]

I rotate brands and textures. Mine eat chicken and turkey mostly. Once a week they get something that is predominately fish. I think rotating brands helps if something goes out of stock or recipes change. Last September when we had all the hurricanes my local store was unable to replace stock for about a month. I realized then how glad i was that they ate several different brands. I also learned to make sure I kept more cans at home too!

 

[RajaNMizu]

When I adopted my two girls from the shelter in February, I continued to feed them what they had been eating (FF kitten) and unknowingly one of them began to go on a wet food hunger strike, probably due to boredom. That's when I began to branch out and start some food trials.

Now, five months later, we have a variety of brands that are reliable and a short list of proteins. I think our menu is still "too fishy" but my first goal has been getting Mizu to eat wet food on a continuing basis. We are finally branching out from the fish to rabbit and lamb. Neither of my girls are huge fans of chicken or turkey unless it's mixed with something they like better (aka fish). At this point, they eat a fishy wet food about half the time working towards about 25% of the time. They also still eat one dry meal a day that we are just starting some new trials on. They ate and enjoyed some samples of Dr. Elsey's chicken dry and salmon dry with no tummy upsets. We are also trying Tiki's Born Carnivore Chicken this week but it's too soon to tell how well it's working for them.

The only consistent aspect is texture: they both like pate so that is what we do. But I'm pleased with the progress we've made. Mizu has gone from snubbing wet food entirely five months ago to eating two wet meals a day almost solidly. She's next to me right now and wants to add that if it weren't for those bonito flakes, she would have continued her wet food avoidance but they were too tasty to pass up!

 

[MissMolly08]

I would prefer variety because I know it helps balance the good and bad with each brand. I did do a rotation in the past and my cat had no problem switching between flavors AND brands.
Currently, I am doing different flavors but all Friskies brand because there isn't much else in my budget.

 

[BonitaBaby]

Gohan is suuuuuper picky so if I find more than one wet food he likes (and will eat at least 1/8 of a can) it will be a miracle. But I strive!

For wet food, I believe in providing different flavors (not so much fish though) and textures from several different brands. However, my kitty Bonita disagrees and that's all that matters. I'm lucky to find 2 different wet foods at a time for her. Then, she gets tired and stops eating them and I have to try to find other wet food again. I'm in the midst of trialling about 25 different wet food cans on her. Mostly turkey because that's what she'll eat, but I've tied different flavors, textures, and brands in the past. I'm done with about 18+ of the trial wet food cans and only 2 have really been acceptable semi-hits. The others she licks a little and that's it. Even with Fortiflora on top. Drives me

 

[duckpond]

I like to switch up a lot of different brands. Different proteins, and different textures. However mine seem to be quite picky, and right now they are boycotting all but one or two, so i dont know. I have several friends that only feed one brand, they do use different flavors in that brand, and their cats dont seem to get picky like mine do. Makes me wonder sometimes

 

[KarenKat]

I think it has less to do with how we feed and more to do with the cat’s previous experience. Gohan and Trin grew up eating kibble and wet food is foreign to them. They know we will continue giving them food so they don’t try it or they are fussy.

Olive lived outside, and looked underweight when we got her. The neighbor fed her kibble, but I don’t know how fresh it was or how much. I know she supplemented with rats. So when I started her on wet food, she was still worried about when her next meal would be so she ate like a starving cat (which I assure you she is not). It gave me the opportunity to introduce lots of different foods immediately to try and stave off any future pickiness.

Also personalities probably play a large role.

 

[BonitaBaby]

I think it has less to do with how we feed and more to do with the cat’s previous experience. Gohan and Trin grew up eating kibble and wet food is foreign to them. They know we will continue giving them food so they don’t try it or they are fussy.

Olive lived outside, and looked underweight when we got her. The neighbor fed her kibble, but I don’t know how fresh it was or how much. I know she supplemented with rats. So when I started her on wet food, she was still worried about when her next meal would be so she ate like a starving cat (which I assure you she is not). It gave me the opportunity to introduce lots of different foods immediately to try and stave off any future pickiness.

Also personalities probably play a large role.

My cat was a stray/semi-feral until someone called Animal Control on her. At least that's what the kill shelter told me when I called out of curiosity. Luckily, a rescue shelter picked her up and saved her. I think she was 7 lbs when I adopted her. Her goal weight is 8 lbs. I would have assumed she'd have starving cat syndrome and eat whatever I gave her, but no. She has skinny cat syndrome and is apparently fine with hardly eating sometimes. She doesn't eat much wet food, so I need to give her kibble. I'm starting to think more and more that I should buy her a dead mouse and see if she'll eat that, but I have a feeling she would stare at it and then stare at me.

 

[BonitaBaby]

But KarenKat I guess you're right about eating habits before adoption. My cat probably hardly ate or didn't eat much, so she's fine doing it now. =/

 

[KarenKat]

Lol, well there goes that theory. I guess “cats”!

 

[BonitaBaby]

Lol, well there goes that theory. I guess “cats”!

Did you see my other post above yours? But yes, cats!

 

[KarenKat]

BonitaBaby , only after I posted lol. I wanted to like it except I don’t “like” that she is barely eating for you! Sounds like her behavior is frustratingly consistent

 

[BonitaBaby]

BonitaBaby , only after I posted lol. I wanted to like it except I don’t “like” that she is barely eating for you! Sounds like her behavior is frustratingly consistent

Yes. Drives me bonkers.

 

[mikameek]

I full heartedly relate to BonitaBaby . Mika was definitely a stray (she’s got her TNR ear to prove she was out on the streets) but I know she also had a family who I believe dumped her. You would think that being out on the streets would cause her to want to eat anything she can get!!
But, after she got sick it’s been pulling teeth to find a food she’ll consistently eat. Part of me thinks she’s too smart for her own good and knows I’ll go out to buy a new rotation of brands and flavors for her try. The other part of me thinks she might still be associating food with feeling sick to her tummy.

 

[BonitaBaby]

I full heartedly relate to BonitaBaby . The other part of me thinks she might still be associating food with feeling sick to her tummy.

It might be. After my cat got ill, she wouldn't touch what she used to eat. I think it was Fancy Feast maybe. Also, she no longer would touch Fortiflora or the Vet's Best tablets. I recently tried Fortiflora on her again and she likes it again.