Why and how to rotate proteins

Why rotate

Broader nutrition. Each recipe is balanced on its own. Different meats and organs bring a wider range of nutrients.
Less boredom. Cats tire of one taste, even one they loved.
A backup. If one meat is out of stock or costs more, your cat already eats another recipe.

When to start

Not during the switch to homemade.
Around week 4, once your cat is settled: eating well, firm stools, steady weight.
When interest fades. A cat that once ate a recipe eagerly and now picks at it is often bored of it. Eating nothing at all for 24 hours is different: that needs a vet.

How to rotate

A meat shared by the current recipe and the new one helps prevent a refusal.

Stay in the family first. Pick from the same catalog family, such as Chicken & Duck Meal after Chicken & Turkey Meal. The meat your cat already loves stays the main one, and a new one joins it. Your cat gets a new taste, and the familiar smell makes a refusal less likely.
Then cross families. If a new recipe from the same family does not excite your cat, they are likely looking for a bigger change. To make it safer, first try a recipe from your family with the new meat second. Before moving to the beef family, for example, try Chicken, Beef & Salmon Meal: your cat tastes beef while chicken is still the main meat.
Ease in each new recipe. If your cat is not very flexible about new food, mix the new recipe half and half with the current one for about 3 days, then serve it on its own. Let the litter box set the pace. Mixing also lets you change families directly, without a recipe in between: from the chicken family straight to the beef family, for example. Note how your cat takes each new recipe. If one keeps bringing softer stool, leave it out of the rotation.
One change at a time. Change the protein or the texture, never both at once.
Rotate by meal or by day. Once your cat eats each recipe on its own, serve a different one at each meal, or each day. Freeze every recipe in single meals, so you can thaw any of them.

A kitten rotates between Kitten & Adult versions only.

A sample calendar

Each new recipe shares a meat with the one before it.

Weeks 1 to 3: Chicken Meal, including the switch to homemade.
Week 4: add Chicken & Turkey Meal. Chicken is still the main meat, and turkey joins it. Then rotate the two by meal or by day.
Week 6: add Turkey, Chicken & Salmon Meal, from the turkey family. Turkey is now the main meat, and chicken stays. Not sure your cat likes salmon? Rotate to Chicken & Salmon Meal first, then try Turkey, Chicken & Salmon Meal.
After that: add more recipes the same way, one at a time.

Read more: Your first 30 days · Guide 1

What another recipe costs

Full recipes share most of their supplements, so each new recipe mostly adds fresh food. Every recipe page lists its whole-food ingredients for anyone to see, so you can check the fresh food before you add a recipe to your library. Once it is in your library, check its Where to source section for any supplements you lack.

Coming from a starter meal? Full recipes use more supplements, so expect to add some.