Switching to Different food

[amy keay]

Hi

I posted yesterday about Sooty and his numbers being a bit too low.
im doing some testing today when I can and will update the ss with updates.
My question is relating to switching food - I went out today and bought some Natures Menu food (pouches in jelly - they didn’t have the pate I was looking for so will order that online)
He currently eats a mixture of Felix and Whiskas at the moment and had some Felix for breakfast. his numbers last night and this morning so far have been good (fingers crossed) but I don’t want to upset the balance or introduce something new that could potentially disrupt his bg levels.
should I gradually introduce the Natures Menu or start him on it today (ie his main meal tonight and maybe a bit for lunch ?)

Thanks
Amy and Sooty xx

 

[Diana&Tom]

Hi Amy
You're right to be careful when switching foods. A complete change can cause stomach upsets as well as potentially clouding the picture when it comes to analysing bg numbers! The best thing is to introduce a new food gradually - add a spoonful or two to the existing food for the first meal, and maybe again for the next... then gradually (over 2-3 days maybe) decrease the amount of the old food and increase the amount of the new at each mealtime until Sooty is getting a full bowl of the new food (assuming he likes it of course).

I don't think you can go wrong with Natures Menu. I buy the chicken/turkey flavour but as you probably saw in Pets at Home, you can get mixed boxes of 12 pouches with the three different varieties - the website seems to have a special offer on that atm. The Country Hunter brand which comes in boxes of six is also made by NM - it's slightly dearer but has some different flavours if Sooty likes a varied diet!

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[amy keay]

Hi

thanks for the info.
I bought 2 boxes of the variety pouches - if he doesn’t like one flavour hopefully he’ll like another !
I’ll follow your advice and gradually introduce the food - I don’t want to upset his numbers and introduce another potential factor into the bg numbers equation

testing again in 5 so will update ss in a minute

a x

Hi Amy
You're right to be careful when switching foods. A complete change can cause stomach upsets as well as potentially clouding the picture when it comes to analysing bg numbers! The best thing is to introduce a new food gradually - add a spoonful or two to the existing food for the first meal, and maybe again for the next... then gradually (over 2-3 days maybe) decrease the amount of the old food and increase the amount of the new at each mealtime until Sooty is getting a full bowl of the new food (assuming he likes it of course).

I don't think you can go wrong with Natures Menu. I buy the chicken/turkey flavour but as you probably saw in Pets at Home, you can get mixed boxes of 12 pouches with the three different varieties - the website seems to have a special offer on that atm. The Country Hunter brand which comes in boxes of six is also made by NM - it's slightly dearer but has some different flavours if Sooty likes a varied diet!

Good luck and let us know how you get on.