Thread: Merrick BG (before grain)

I will try feeding the BG salmon tomorrow. Hope they will eat it. Threw out probably 90% of a case of 24 assorted cans of the normal Merrick that we ordered a while back. We occasionally buy Natural Balance. Salmon is the main flavor they will eat. Got a couple of large cans of that a several days ago. Three of them each ate some of it so pretty much used it up. Probably wouldn't be able to get them to eat it again for a couple of weeks. The other brand that they occasionally like is Purina Pro Plan Selects. Have thrown away a few cans of Avoderm without anyone being willing to touch it. As you say, most "high end" foods they won't touch. We have tried most brands at one time or another.

Ours generally want an ever changing variety of flavors. We have found around 30 flavors of Fancy Feast that they like, but not over and over. I had to hit Walmart today because we were out of about half of those, and they were beginning to reject everything we had. They were so excited to get a couple that they haven't had for a week or two. Unfortunately, the last two lines of Fancy Feast that have been introduced (gravy and w/cheese) not a single one of our guys would touch any of the flavors. Very disappointing since it didn't expand our possibilities.

Not looking for any new dry foods. I am very pleased with the Pro Plan Selects and Blue Wilderness that they eat.

Ah, that's interesting what ncarver and have said about the cats getting bored with flavours and needing a break from them. I'd noticed mine are the same but I then give up on a flavour/food because I think they've gone off it - didn't occur to me to rotate the foods every couple of weeks. Boggy mine usually like whisked bug they've lost interest in recent weeks so they've been on a range of gourmet gold and gourmet pearl flavours, which they loved. Then all of a sudden, they go of them, so we give sheba a go. Same thing. I shall now try rotating brands every few weeks - thanks!

Fed the BG salmon first thing this morning. Three of our four ate some and seemed to like it OK but nobody gobbled it down. Probably ate about 1/3 of the cat total only, and then nobody wanted more. So not a big hit.

Originally Posted by FreyjaRoMaine

Boggy mine usually like whisked bug they've lost interest in recent weeks so they've been on a range of gourmet gold and gourmet pearl flavours, which they loved.

Whisked Bug flavour - now that's a new one on me???!!!

Originally Posted by FreyjaRoMaine

Boggy mine usually like whisked bug...

I wasn't going to say anything, but I did not understand most of the above statement!

Boggy? Whisked bug? I assumed it was more of that quaint UK English.

haha, I have a feeling it was probably supposed to say 'both of' instead of boggy and 'Whiskas but' instead of whisked bug! Let's hope it's that damned predictive text again and Karen hasn't lost the plot but you never know Although I have to say, whisked bug flavour sounds like a surefire winner to me!

So here is a fairly interesting survey paper I came across that helps explain why cats want variety in their food:
The Evolutionary Basis for the Feeding Behavior of Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris) and Cats (Felis catus)

"Many cats do, however, show a growing aversion toward foods that have formed a large part of their diet in the past, sometimes referred to as the ‘‘novelty effect,’’ but more accurately termed a ‘‘monotony effect,’’ because it is the perceived palatability of the repeated food that is mainly affected. This strategy should reduce the probability that an unbalanced diet is taken because no 2 foods with markedly different flavors should contain the same nutritional deficiencies, even if these cannot be directly detected by cats." (Cats are unlikely to be able to determine the nutritional sufficiency of their diets.)