I have never found it to make much difference with canned food. I am
always careful with dried food however.
-MIKE
I change my cat's food all the time. One day she has one sort and one day
she may have another. I've never found it a problem, she just gets what she
gets and eats it. When I went to pick her up from the woman from the
shelter told me that you shouldn't encourage your cat to be a fussy eater by
automatically going out and buying a new brand everytime your cat decides
s/he doesn't want to eat what you've given them.
A sentence from the Cat Protection Leagues handbook (UK cat rescue charity)
sums it up... "Healthy cat's will not intentionally starve themselves when
there is food provided".
Jeannie
> How long should I take in switching over my cats to a different canned food?
> I've already begun mixing small amts into the "old" food.....
> Thanks. Linda
> How long should I take in switching over my cats to a different canned food?
> I've already begun mixing small amts into the "old" food.....
> Thanks. Linda
Slow will allow the cat's GI to adjust, thus you less likely to find a
messy bottom at some point
Start with 25% new/75% old for a few days, then keep adjusting the new
food up by 25% increments/old food down by 25% increments allowing time
to settle after each change.
Sometimes smaller changes are necessary if the cat starts getting upset,
then adjust the changes in 10% increments and give at least 3 days
after each change before adjusting again.

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Linda E - 03 Apr 2004 02:02 GMT
> > How long should I take in switching over my cats to a different canned food?
> > I've already begun mixing small amts into the "old" food.....
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> then adjust the changes in 10% increments and give at least 3 days
> after each change before adjusting again.
Thanks. One of my two *does* seem to react to changes that's why I'd like
to do it slowly, but wasn't sure what I should aim for.
Linda
> How long should I take in switching over my cats to a different canned food?
> I've already begun mixing small amts into the "old" food.....
> Thanks. Linda
I read that cats unlike humans cannot easily digest different kinds of food.
A cat apparently gets used to the food it is fed , in a physical way.
My cat eats felix with Jelly only! - or any other meat with Jelly!! He also
eats dry food.
He will not eat 'supermeat' preparations or other types.
The book i read said that if you feed cat's food that they are not used to,
they can become sick.
This makes sense to me. I hate certain kinds of food. If someone forced me
to eat that, it would make me ill!! Why should we expect kitty to be any
different from us?? Personally - if my cat does not eat a new kind of food
i introduce, i will remove it immeadiately and serve up another dish... Any
left over cans / packs of unwanted food i take to my local cat home.
Linda E - 03 Apr 2004 02:05 GMT
> > How long should I take in switching over my cats to a different canned
> food?
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> i introduce, i will remove it immeadiately and serve up another dish... Any
> left over cans / packs of unwanted food i take to my local cat home.
I don't change foods frequently, in fact, my cats are 9yo and 5yo and
they've only eaten 2 or 3 foods (that I can think of) - one for 3 years the
other for 6 (unless there was another one in between)..... I'm just not
happy with the consistency of the food I've been feeding them and wanted to
make a change.
Linda
>How long should I take in switching over
>my cats to a different canned food? I've
>already begun mixing small amts into the
>"old" food.....
Others have given you good advice about the time frame. However, I would
like to add that feeding only one type of canned or dry food exclusively
is a mistake many people make and is not in the best interests of the
cat. Doing so leads to the cat having GI problems when a switch is done,
or bcoming fixated on one type of food which can be disasterous if the
cat gets sick and stops eating, as you'll have dfficulty trying to get
him to eat anything else.
The best thing you can do for your cat is feed a variety of foods,
giving them something different at each meal. This will greatly increase
their ability to accept a sudden food change, and will also keep them
from getting bored with a food or stuck on one flavor only. My cats
never get the same food twice in a day, and I feed several different
brands, Innova, Wellness, Felidae, Nature's Variety and California
Natural.
I know that some cats are more difficult to convince when trying to get
them used to variety. I have a recently rescued cat that was stuck on
one food, but it was imperative she eat because she was emaciated so I
went along with it for awhile. However, with time,patience and
determination I've got her eating 5 different foods now and she's gained
over 3 pounds.
Megan

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Linda E - 03 Apr 2004 02:10 GMT
> >How long should I take in switching over
> >my cats to a different canned food? I've
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
>
> Megan
One of the reasons I have liked feeding them one food is that they *never*
turn their noses up at it...... I have a friend who switches her cats' foods
frequently and they will suddenly stop being interested in a food and she'll
have to find something else they will eat. I've never had that
problem...... but, with all the data regarding food and it's quality (not to
mention the heated food discussions in this group), I'm starting to think
that feeding multiple foods might give my cats the best of all the brands
and if there's one that isn't so nutritious, the others will make up for it!
Linda
Elizabeth Blake - 03 Apr 2004 04:00 GMT
> One of the reasons I have liked feeding them one food is that they *never*
> turn their noses up at it...... I have a friend who switches her cats' foods
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> and if there's one that isn't so nutritious, the others will make up for it!
> Linda
One of my co-workers has two cats, and I think they have a different food
for every meal. She must have tried every kind on the market, from the
cheapest supermarket foods to expensive brands. Every time I go to the pet
store to get supplies and ask her if she needs anything, she's got a new
request. One or the other of her cats all of a sudden won't eat that brand,
or so she says.
I've been feeding my two cats Science Diet canned & dry for several years.
Before SD, they've had Wellness, Nutro, Petguard, Iams and a few other
brands. I never really mixed up brands, usually went from one right to
another. They have always eaten whatever I gave them and never even seemed
to notice it was different. I have two cats at work and they have also
eaten SD canned & dry exclusively for several years. They're both on the
Light formula. They have also had different foods in the past and were
always happy to eat new dry food, but could be picky about the wet stuff.
Harriet doesn't like any wet food much at all, and Stinky really seems to
prefer the SD Light over every other kind I've tried. Once last year I gave
her a small can of something else, and both Stinky & Hariet loved it, but I
don't remember what it was, or why I even bought it. I know it wasn't a
light formula, otherwise I probably would have gotten more for them since
Harriet ate it.
Liz
PawsForThought - 03 Apr 2004 03:05 GMT
>From: zuzu22@webtv.net
>The best thing you can do for your cat is feed a variety of foods,
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>Natural.
>Megan
My last cats were fed mostly the same food all the time and were very finicky.
When one of brands was discontinued, I had a heck of a time getting them to
eat. My present cats are on a homemade diet but they get lots of variety and
it's worked really well for them.
Lauren
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