One of my two cats (the orange monster) is allergic to something, which we found out to our detriment when I switched them from Felix wet food to Gourmet because there was a special offer on Gourmet... The poor little guy broke out in a horrible itchy rash around his neck and shoulders. A prednisone treatment and returning to Felix wet food perked him right back up again, but with the cost of the vet and the medicine, that cheap food turned out to have been pretty expensive. So ever since then, I've religiously always fed them the same food: Lara Adult Indoor dry food and Felix wet food.
Until a few weeks ago. Lara Adult Indoor had run out at my local pet store. I inquired about it and they said they were out because the brand was changing their packaging so they hadn't delivered anything to them so they would first sell out all the old bags, but they should have it in stock again the next week.
The next week, they still didn't stock Lara Adult Indoor... My own stock was running very low by then, so I scoured the land and the Internet for Lara Adult Indoor but it was nowhere to be found. So I then set out searching for hypoallergenic dry food. It would no doubt be expensive, but if it could safely span the gap to when The Favourite Kibble would be in stock again, that would be a win.
Unfortunately, the veterinary clinic across the road didn't have any in stock at that moment. At another nearby petstore, they had none either. But they did have Caro Croc Indoor which looked like it was high quality food with no artificial additives so I bought a small bag of that and closely monitored my cat for signs of any allergic reactions. None came, so at least we had found a temporary solution.
When the little bag of Caro Croc ran low, I went back to my favourite pet store. Still no new Lara kibble stock... So I went back to the other pet store and bought a large bag of Caro Croc. It was over €40 for a 7kg bag but hey, the cats liked it and apparently it was safe so... worth it.
Then I started to notice that Mr. Picky Eater ate less and less, sometimes even eating no kibble all day, and attacking his wet food like he was starving when I gave them there wet food in the evening... Right... Not Good. So yet again I went back to my favourite pet store. They now had a whole scala of different Lara kibbles - but not the Adult Indoor version. Apparently that specific kind had been entirely discontinued...
After a minute of despair, I bought a bag of Lara Adult Sterilised instead. When I got home with it, I presented a portion to the Picky Eater, and after sniffing it for a second, he attacked it like a hungry lion. Now all that's left is to keep closely monitoring him for signs of an allergic reaction, but if that all goes right, I think we have a winner.
So... Anybody want 6kg of high quality cat kibble? My allergic snob won't eat it anymore.