Something we hear quite often from cat parents is that their cats won’t eat anything other than A, B or C finicky foods. Cats can be picky, we know, but patience and perseverance is so important when switching your cat’s food. And diet is so important, that switching to a better food is a priority. However, simply offering a new flavor once or twice to a finicky kitty isn’t the proper way to get your cat on the road to eating a better diet.
Switching Your Cat’s Food
Cats have a well known reputation for being picky eaters. One day they love the food you feed and the next – they look at you like you’re trying to give them a rotten egg for dinner. Because of this, most cat parents ‘give up and give in’ too easily. They feel like they’re wasting money by trying to switch to a new cat food. “Let her have whatever she’ll eat, I’m done” is a common phrase in a cat household.
But let’s look at the science behind switching your cat’s food.
Scientists in Australia and the U.K. conducted a study on how cat’s choose the food they eat. The clowder of kitties were given the options of an unbalanced fish formula, an unbalanced rabbit formula and a balanced orange flavored formula (cats hate citrus flavors). The scientists explained that cats, like humans, often display “neophobia”. This means they’re unwilling to try new foods that they’re not used to eating.
As the study goes… the initial choice for all the cats was expected – fish food. Likely because it is a common ingredient in most canned cat foods. Then they went to the rabbit flavored food. Since the fish and rabbit were not satisfying the nutritional requirements that their bodies need, however, they ended by choosing the orange flavored food.
This is an encouraging study for cat parents. What this tells us is that a cat’s body teaches her what she needs from her food. That means that, if given the consistent option of a nutritious food over time, our cats will choose the healthier option.
Patience and perseverance pays when it comes to switching your cat’s food to a healthier option. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Feed your cat into health.
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