Mixing Three Different Cat Foods: Does It Really Make Sense?

Over the years, I've noticed something that honestly surprises me.

From time to time, I meet people who buy three different brands of dry food, mix them all together in one container, and feed that mixture every day.

Some people do the same thing with canned food.

I have to admit... I don't understand the purpose.

Each complete cat food is already formulated to provide balanced nutrition. Every manufacturer develops its own recipe, ingredient balance, vitamin and mineral profile, and nutritional philosophy.

So why mix three different formulas into one bowl?

In my cattery, I actually offer several different premium foods—but I never mix them together.

Instead, I offer them separately.

Cats have preferences just like we do. One day they may prefer one recipe, another day something different. By offering separate choices, each cat can decide what it wants.

To me, that makes much more sense than turning everything into one mixture.

I honestly can't think of a single nutritional advantage to mixing several complete diets together.

What I do see are several disadvantages:

• If your cat develops vomiting, diarrhea, or a food sensitivity, you'll have no idea which food caused it.

• If one manufacturer changes an ingredient, you'll never know which food is responsible for a reaction.

• It becomes much harder to monitor what your cat is actually eating.

• Some cats may dislike one of the foods but have no choice because everything has been mixed together.

From my perspective, a consistent diet is easier on the digestive system.

Whenever I hear that someone mixes three different complete cat foods together into one bowl, this is the first question that comes to my mind:

Would you make yourself one meal by mixing tuna, duck, salmon, chicken, beef, and several other foods all together in one bowl?

I have to admit... if someone served me a bowl with tuna, duck, salmon, chicken, beef, and several other foods all mixed together, I'd probably pass.

Maybe there's something I haven't considered.

If you mix several foods together, I'd genuinely like to hear why. Let's discuss it.