# Variety of food choices?



## valer4ik (Sep 11, 2011)

Hi all. I was just wondering, do cats need a variety of food or is it ok to feed the same thing all the time? I stopped giving Juliette dry food and only give Chicken Soup for the kitten lover's soul canned food. It has 4 different meant sources and apparently is a good brand. The woman who works at our pet store said it's ok to feed the same thing all the time, and in fact cats can get picky if you try to introduce variety. But I can't imagine how they dont get tired of eating the same food three time a day for their entire lives... any thoughts?


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

I believe it's a much wiser strategy to feed a wide variety of canned foods for several reasons:

1) Feeding only one brand and flavor of canned food will likely make the cat unwilling to eat anything else. This can become a life-threatening problem if the food becomes unavailable or if the manufacturer changes the recipe.

2) Different foods have different nutritional values. By feeding a variety of foods, you are more likely to keep all of the nutritional requirements covered.

3) Cats who are accustomed to eating a variety of foods are LESS picky and less stressed when new foods are introduced. This could become critically important if the cat is ever required to go on a specialized diet for health reasons.

4) Many cats do get tired of the same food every day and will not eat sufficient quantities as a result.


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## GhostTown (Jan 12, 2012)

Agree with all of the above.


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## CJinCA (Dec 5, 2011)

I feed my kitties a variety of (mostly) grain-free canned food. No pickiness here. There were some foods they just didn't like very much, and one I tried that Squeek just refused to even taste and backed away like it was poison..Lickorish ate it though. They do prefer the pate style to the minced or shredded meats. I try to alternate thru the proteins at each meal.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

and God forbid that company has a quality control problem and their cat food gets tainted at some point. Feeding only their brand is guarantee your gets ill. 

Feeding many different brands/flavors could help minimize any damage with a single companies issues.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Another vote for variety...brands and flavors.


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## valer4ik (Sep 11, 2011)

you guys sound convincing! I will try to introduce more brands. I tried to give her Wellness, but she didn't seem very excited about it, so I stopped at the one she liked.


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## GhostTown (Jan 12, 2012)

I can't get my 3 to eat wellness either. None of their flavors. It has good stuff in it, but if they won't eat it, they won't eat it.


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## shan841 (Jan 19, 2012)

when i switched my cat over to canned food, I had a heck of a time at first. He was addicted to science diet kibble and wanted nothing to do with any canned food. After much trial and error, I found that he would eat avoderm chicken chunks in gravy. I gradually started mixing the avoderm with other brands(wellness, blue wilderness, EVO) that he previously turned his nose up at. Now, a month later, he will eat ANY canned food I give him, even wellness. I have him on a regular rotation of all those brands and now he eats ANYTHING. So, in my experience, rotating his food has made him much less picky. I have heard that many cats dont really like Wellness (I think it smells kind of funny too, so I don't blame them) so, maybe mixing the brand your cat likes with others can get her to like them? I rotate foods for all the reasons that everyone else listed above. it makes sense to me


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## valer4ik (Sep 11, 2011)

All of your comments sound reasonable. I am actually on my way to the pet store right now lol I called them and they said they have Wellness and Perfomatrin for kittens, so I'll get these and will start introducing them tonight!


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## GhostTown (Jan 12, 2012)

I tried the mixing, too, but it just didn't help. EVO is completely rejected as well.

We have five brands that we rotate, and multiple flavors among those brands still so we're doing ok. Weruva, Natural Instinct, Merrick, Soulistic, and another I can't remember what it's called.

Nothing with fish in it.


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## valer4ik (Sep 11, 2011)

Why is fish bad?


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## GhostTown (Jan 12, 2012)

I would type out a lengthy reason, but I really wouldn't know what I was talking about.

My wife on the other hand does.

If you google it, there is a ton of information. Try this link: FISH BAD FOR CATS


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Why Fish is Dangerous for Cats | Little Big Cat

My girls get 4 flavors of Merrick and Wellness Core, different flavor every meal. I have them stacked so I can see which one is next.


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

I have one pick eater and one indiscriminate eater. I rotate flavors of the same brand, but on a very long rotation. Franklin, the picky one, has no problem eating the same flavor every day for months at a time. Then he doesn't like it. So I switch to Flavor #2 and repeat...

Franny will eat anything at any time


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## valer4ik (Sep 11, 2011)

The only two brands that sell kitten food at our pet store are wellness and chicken soup. Juliette picked chicken soup. I always worry that she doesn't eat enough for her age though. She eats just over one 5.5 oz can per day. She is 6 months old and apparently she's supposed to eat much more than that. She looks a bit skinny too. So I started wondering whether she's just sick of having the same thing 3 times a day... Hopefully she will like the other ones I bought for her today.


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## littlesushi (Jun 8, 2011)

our kitties refuse wellness and evo as well. we rotate between various flavors of nature's variety, tikicat, addiction, earthborn holistic, weruva, and ziwipeak. no fish either. i swear i went thru the whole selection of grain-free canned foods at my local pet stores and they will only eat these so i've stuck to these brands. if they accepted more foods i would feed even more variety!


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

How many times a day are you feeding her?


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## GhostTown (Jan 12, 2012)

Jeez.... My 12 pound boys only eat 6 oz's each per day. Sometimes not even that.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Depends on the age of the cat. Shepherd Book weights half of what MowMow does and eats almost twice as much.. he's a young kitten who is growing putting out enormous amounts of energy.


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## GhostTown (Jan 12, 2012)

My 10 year old eats more than my 18 month old ragdoll who is still growing. :-?


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## valer4ik (Sep 11, 2011)

I feed her 3 times a day. I put about 2/3 to half of a can at a time. Sometimes she doesn't touch it right away and eats the meal in small portions. Sometimes she doesn't finish everything before the next feeding and it dries up. It just seems to me that she doesn't have much of an appetite and eats only when she feels very hungry.


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## melissa5 (Jan 23, 2012)

Do you have to have a rotation or can i just grab any can? So far both my cats eat anything so I basically just buy a can of each. Is that too much variety?


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## valer4ik (Sep 11, 2011)

From all the comments, I understood that there's no such a thing as too much variety  as long as the food is good quality. I offered Juliette some Merrick beef canned food today and she seems to love it! No gradual mixing or anything like that, I just opened a new can and she ate it with pleasure


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