hey friends it's jess and jericho a common question that i get is
can i feed different foods to my cat?
different brands different flavors at the same time?
yes and i actually recommend varying it up for a few reasons.
but varying it up only works if you focus on one change at a time.
cats are extremely sensitive to food changes.
they also get very stressed very easily.
so you're going to focus on one change at a time.
transition very very slowly.
and then you can start introducing a new protein.
so i recommend varying it up because every animal offers a different nutrient profile.
obviously our little fur babies don't hunt they rely on us for their nutrition.
so that's why rotating your brands and rotating your flavors is great.
because you're offering different sources of protein.
the second reason that i recommend rotating brands and flavors is because every brand
sources their ingredients from different environments.
and the way the feed animal is raised can also contribute to nutrient variety.
so again if you're offering different brands that source from different areas
you're going to have a variety of nutrients that way.
the next reason that i recommend rotating brands
and proteins is because you never know when something's going to be out of stock.
so let's say your cat's used to eating one food and one food only.
now you go to buy it and it's not available anywhere.
or maybe the manufacturer changed the formula, changed the ingredients.
aafco actually only requires six months for a label change.
so they could change their ingredients
today and then they have until six months to change the label.
now you have to buy a different cat food.
and you have to switch "cold turkey" which can cause digestive problems.
so if you're rotating brands and flavors then your
cat already has a variety of different brands that he likes.
so if one of those brands is out of stock you have another option.
the next reason that i recommend rotating brands and flavors is because
variety can actually help prevent pickiness.
we all know how picky cats are.
i get so many comments and emails saying my cat won't touch the new food.
cats are picky
ALL cats are picky about changes.
ALL cats are picky about food.
so if you offer a variety of different options that can help prevent pickiness.
so what are some sample menus?
what are some different ways that i can do multiple proteins, multiple brands?
what do you recommend?
if you're feeding dry food your goal is to add more moisture and add more fresh food.
this video is not sponsored but i've included affiliate links to
some of the products i'm about to talk about in the description below.
so for this i would recommend feline natural's green tripe hydration boost.
green tripe is the lining of ruminant animals stomachs.
so it contains probiotics, digestive enzymes, protein, fat, great calcium to phosphorus ratio.
and it's very high in moisture.
so you can add a little bit of that to your cat's kibble to liven it up so to say.
if you're going to do this add no more than 10 percent of your cat's total daily intake.
because the green tripe hydration boost alone isn't completely balanced.
so you don't want to offset the balance of nutrients there.
so you would add about 10% of what you're feeding total for the day.
another option is to buy chicken or turkey from the grocery store.
lightly cook it and then add that to your cat's kibble.
and again you would add up to 10% of your cat's total daily intake.
so that it doesn't offset the nutrients there.
some fresh food is better than no fresh food!
if those two options don't work for you
choose any wet food any canned wet food that you can find and add that to your kibble.
as long as the wet food that you choose is complete and balanced
you can add as much as you want.
just remember to take out equal parts of the kibble
because you don't want to over feed your cat.
and of course you would start with a very very small amount.
cats are sensitive to food changes.
and then you would gradually increase that amount and then gradually decrease the amount of kibble.
and then another way to liven up while you're
feeding is replace the treats that you're currently feeding
with freeze-dried raw food or freeze-dried organs, muscle meats.
like heart and liver.
or you can use the good quality air dried food instead of those crunchy dental treats.
because those are full of carbs and stuff that cats aren't supposed to eat anyway.
if you're feeding wet food and you want to upgrade you can upgrade the actual
wet food that you're feeding.
or you can add a little bit of freeze-dried raw or frozen raw food to the wet food.
and same thing here you would do a very small amount.
gradually increase that amount and then gradually
decrease the amount of wet food that you're feeding.
and again when you're introducing new foods to your cat you want to do one at a time.
each transition you're going to start with one meal
gradually increase the amount of new food and gradually take out the amount of current food.
and each transition will be about 20 days for each meal.
then i would say take a break for about another month.
record what's going on make sure there are no negative reactions.
and then you can start moving on to the next protein that you want to offer.
and let's say you're feeding three meals a day.
you have one meal that's your current food.
the second meal is the transition to the new food.
and then the third meal you can start on the transition to a new food.
it's perfectly fine to feed multiple brands and multiple proteins at the same time.
you just need to transition to anything that's new,
anything that your cat isn't eating right now requires a gradual transition.
i created a printable bundle that includes a food transition
log, likes and dislikes sheet, journal pages, as well as product review pages
that'll help you along with this transition.
and you can check out that video right over meow for a transition guide.
thanks for watching!