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What You Should Know About Changing Your Cat’s Diet

Deciding when and how you should change your cat's diet takes some planning. Because cats are creatures of habit, it is not uncommon for them to prefer their current cat food to a new food. They, like humans, become accustomed to something, such as a particular food, and may not welcome a disruption to their routine.

Tips for Successfully Changing Your Cat’s Diet

The following tips should help you change your cat's diet and successfully transition your cat to a new food:

Introduce the new food gradually. This is the most successful way to ease your cat into the diet change. Start by mixing 25% new food with 75% current food. Slowly change the proportions over the next three days or so by gradually increasing the amount of new food and decreasing the amount of current food. At the end of this weaning process, you should be feeding 100% of the new food. You may encounter difficulties; for example, your cat might choose to eat only the old food, or not eat at all. However, a healthy cat can miss meals for a day or two with no ill effects.
Watch your body language. Bringing a new food into your home, placing it into a bowl, and declaring that your cat had better eat it might cause your cat to go on an eating strike. It is better to introduce the new food to the cat using a pleasant tone of voice. Gently encourage the cat to try the new food.
Don't give in to demands. It is important not to give up too soon. During the initial two-day period, do not give your cat treats or table scraps! Cats train us as much as we train them. Giving in to their demands only reinforces refusal behavior and makes it more difficult to make a nutritious dietary change.
Expect a challenge when changing from a moist food to a dry food. The biggest challenge in switching diets occurs when changing from a moist food to a dry food. If your cat continues to resist eating dry food, mix a little warm water with it. You may even want to put the moistened food in the microwave for a few seconds. If you mix the food with water it is important to discard the uneaten portion after 20 minutes. This prevents spoilage. The same rule applies for canned food. After the cat has become accustomed to the moistened food, you can wean him or her onto the dry food.

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Has Your Cat Outgrown Kitten Food?
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When you adopted your kitten, you couldn't dream of feeding her anything but food designed for her growing body. Now that she's nearly grown, it's time to start thinking about a premium formula specially made for adult cats.
Though she still plays like a kitten, your adolescent cat is quickly maturing into an adult, and contrary to what some would have you believe, one food (whether it's kitten food or adult food) doesn't fit all cats. The nutritional needs of kittens and cats are vastly different, and it's critical to give your pet premium nutrition that's age-appropriate.

Does premium matter?
Why move your nearly grown kitten to a premium adult cat food? Because quality counts. It's important to continue the superb nutrition she's been getting from a premium kitten food into adulthood. Downgrading to a basic nutrition brand at this stage of her life may upset her digestive system and certainly won't provide her with the same type of nutrition she was raised on.

Think of a baby. When it's time to start giving him solid food, you wouldn't feed your child anything less than the best nutrition you can buy. The same is true for your maturing kitten. Premium foods such as IAMS ® are formulated with high quality ingredients to help maintain overall health. They're specifically designed to provide your cat with a formula that features:

High-quality ingredients
Balanced, optimal levels of protein, fat, moderately fermentable fiber, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals which make costly supplements unnecessary
Consistent high-quality recipes that do not change regardless of manufacturing costs
Great taste proven by feeding
Meeting or exceeding Association of American Feed Control Officials standards
Nutrient-dense formulas that are right for each life stage
Product guarantees

See the results
What do all of these features add up to? A happy, healthy cat. With premium cat food, you can expect to see these important indicators of good health. They contribute to providing your cat with a long, healthy life:
Exceptional muscle tone
A shiny, luxurious coat
Healthy skin and bones
Clear, bright eyes and clean teeth
Small, firm stools

Founded upon decades of research, premium formulas from IAMS help maintain your cat's health and provide him with the nutrition he needs for a long life. Generic brands simply may not match the level of expertise that goes into every bag of IAMS Cat Food.

When to switch
When your cat is about 12 months of age, it's time to change her diet to a premium maintenance formula. When you transition your cat to an adult diet, it's important to monitor her weight and body condition and adjust portions if necessary.
Because cats generally eat only what they need, free-choice feeding is adequate for most cats. (Free-choice makes food available to your cat around the clock and lets her eat when and how much she needs.) Indoor cats that don't get much exercise, however, may overeat if fed free-choice. For them, portion-controlled feeding is a better routine. We recommend to split the daily ration into at least two meals per day.
To determine how much food to give your cat, check the recommendations of the pet food manufacturer on the label. Use the guidelines and weigh your cat on a weekly basis. If your cat is gaining or losing weight and shouldn't be, slightly adjust her daily intake and weigh again the following week.

How do you do it?
To avoid intestinal upsets, make the change from a kitten formula to an adult diet over a period of four days with the following method:
Day One: Fill your cat's dish with 75 percent kitten food and 25 percent adult food.
Day Two: Mix adult and kitten food in a 50/50 ratio.
Day Three: Feed your cat a mixture that's 75 percent adult food and 25 percent kitten food.
Day Four: Switch to 100 percent adult formula.
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