Three sample meals, so your cat can taste before you switch completely
A sample meal lets you test Essential Foods' cat food on your particular cat before committing to a large bag. This collection brings together three small-portion tasters: LITTLE LION SAMPLE, JAGUAR SAMPLE and PANTHER SAMPLE. The idea is simple. Cats are notoriously fussy, and many only give a new food a real chance once it's actually in the bowl. With a small portion, you don't risk being left with several kilos of food your cat turns its nose up at.
Tasting your way forward is also the gentle way to approach a food change. A cat's stomach responds best to a gradual transition, and a sample bag gives you the chance to mix a little of the new food into the familiar one and see how it reacts before buying in bulk.
Little Lion, Jaguar or Panther for your cat
The three sample meals cover different types of cats, so you can choose the one that suits yours.
Little Lion is intended for kittens and young, growing cats, where the need for protein and energy is greatest. If you want to dive deeper into the whole range, you'll find it under the little lion.
Jaguar is a meal for the adult cat, built around a high content of animal protein. The entire assortment is found under the Jaguar.
Panther is aimed at the adult cat that needs a meal with a different compositional profile, and makes up the the Panther range.
If you're unsure what suits best, you can start by trying several and let your cat's appetite decide the matter. That's precisely why it's an advantage to have access to all three in sample size from the start.
How to use the sample bag for a gentle food change
A new food should never be switched abruptly. A cat's digestion needs time to get used to a new composition, and too quick a transition can cause loose stools or a cat that rejects the bowl entirely.
A typical approach over the course of a week looks like this:
- For the first few days, you mix a small amount of the new food into the food your cat already knows.
- Over the next few days, you gradually increase the proportion of the new and decrease the old.
- Towards the end of the week, you serve the new food on its own.
Keep an eye on appetite and stools along the way. If the stomach seems upset, slow down and give the cat more days on each step. A sample bag is enough to get off to a good start with the first phase, and if your cat likes it, you can move on to a full bag with peace of mind. If you want to read more about how much your cat actually needs, there's help to be found in the article how much should a cat eat.
Why fussy cats are easier to convince with a small portion
Cats are by nature selective about food. They use smell, texture and taste to decide whether something is worth eating, and a cat that turns away from the bowl is a familiar scenario for most cat owners. This is where the sample meal makes a concrete difference: you find out whether the cat likes the food without having invested in a large purchase first.
If you have a cat that often rejects new food, it can be a good idea to read up on what lies behind the behaviour. The article dry food for fussy dogs is about dogs, but the very principle of gradual acclimatisation and patience applies to cats to a great extent as well. For your cat's own diet, you can dive into which cat food is best and what should cat food contain.
From sample bag to regular food
Once your cat has approved one of the three, the next step is to choose the full bag from the same range. If Little Lion tasted best to your kitten, you continue with that range; if the choice fell on Jaguar or Panther, you do the same there. That way, the cat experiences no sudden change in taste and texture, because the full bag is exactly the food the sample bag gave a taste of.
If you want an overall overview of Essential Foods' cat meals, you can see the whole selection under cat meals collection homepage. If you're looking for meals for an older cat, you'll find them under meals for senior cats.
