Question about variety

How important is it that a cat have many different protein sources? Right now all Willie really gets is chicken (although his kidney is from a cow). He is getting everything he needs, meat, bones, liver and kidney but just chicken meat. Is it very important that I mix things up? If so why? Is it just to keep him from getting bored or is there a nutritional reason as well?

I would say that yes, variety is important. A cat wouldn't live on mice alone.. maybe a LOT of mice, but not JUST mice. Birds, bugs, snakes, etc.

Only ONE meat source could possibly trigger allergies (maybe not as quickly as kibble does, but perhaps). Have you attempted to find free meat on Craigslist/etc yet? That's a good way to get variety.

We feed 60-70% beef, and the rest is split between lamb, chicken, turkey, pork and rabbit. Maybe just buying small amounts of the other meats. Find a roast on sale, get it. That kind of thing.

Chicken has an unbalanced ratio of omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids. If you supplement with a high quality salmon or ocean fish oil then it brings the ratio closer to what it should be. I don't really believe that variety is as important as having GOOD meats to feed. If all I ever fed was a wild/pastured meat source then that would be better than feeding 3-4 really low quality meats from factory farmed animals. That said, I DO feed variety just because the kids enjoy not eating the same darn thing everyday. That's one reason I hate the notion of feeding kibble- it's boring!

Thank you for your input! I bought some pork today because I know he likes that, I gave him a pork chop before, I need to try him on a small piece of beef before I actually buy some because he hasn't really had that before, next time we eat it I'll have dad save some raw scraps for Willie to try.

I have not bought food over the internet, I don't really know how all of that works, like how I get it. Do I have to go pick it up from the person? I can't drive...I also do not have a lot of freezer space, I am just using our regular freezer, it's fine for just one cat but it means I can't buy in bulk. I'm sort of wary of buying stuff over the internet from strangers, I know it's probably nothing to worry about but I still get nervous at the idea.

On another note, I've been consistently putting chicken in Neko's wet food and he's eating it. I swear he likes it an just refuses to eat it plain because he just has no idea it's the same thing and thinks it will kill him, if only I could tell him he's been eating it all week without so much as a suspicious sniff. I think tomorrow night I'll progress to more meat and less canned and see what he does.

I do add fish oil to his food for fatty acids. Is there any type of grocery store meat that would be more balanced in this aspect? Or would it have to be wild? My uncle hunts deer but Willie hates the venison so that's a no go. Another question, how much fish oil should be fed? Mine comes in capsules that I cut open, how often should I give one of these?