What is the very best kitten food & what makes it best?

[Kelly G]

Currently, our two new kittens are eating Royal Canin for Kittens because it is what the breeder was feeding...and we have lots of faith in her. She said there are other great kitten feeds out there but to remember to choose one where meat is the first ingredient listed on the package.

I'm wondering what food you think is best and why - taking cost off the table. I have more than a month's supply, so we would slowly change when this kitten food runs out (not abruptly).

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

 

[cafarmgirl]

There is one very important thing you have to remember about the "meat should be the first ingredient" idea. If it is a meat "meal" that means a dried product which means your getting what your paying for. It is weighed as a dry product, not inclusive of fresh meats water content. If it is simply a named meat, that means before processing, including it's water weight. Kibble is dry, once they remove the water content to make meal then it, in reality after processing, moves much farther down the list of ingredients so you have to then look at the second and third on the list, that's what your feeding most of. If it's corn or corn gluten or brewers rice, well that's what your feeding.

I don't know that there is one specific brand that is best, just read your labels and get familiar with what the different ingredients are. They can be very misleading. I look for ones that are made with a named meat meal, no by products, corn or corn gluten, no brewers rice.

But then my mom has always fed her cats Purina Cat Chow and they have lived into their late teens so far. One of my first cats was raised on the same and lived to be 19. So, go figure!

 

[Tracydr]

I just took all three cats to the vet. She said dry food is not actually good for teeth as the carbs will cause bacterial growth. 30% of all cat foods have toxic amounts of vitamin D which can cause resorption of teeth. Dry food can also be bad for kidneys so she recommends canned, frozen or raw. I feed raw. ( prey model) make sure if feeding raw you feed plenty of fresh heart and some ground bone, plus some liver and other organ meats at an 80-10-10 ratio according to the prey model to get the right nutrients. Taurine comes from fresh heart which is really important for cats.
Cats also need a wet diet and low ash and minerals, which is why she recommends either canned or raw. If canned, make sure there is no grain and that it is mainly meat, not corn or other crap.
If switching diets with a cat, go very slowly, they usually don't do change. Little bites of new food along with the old. New kitties do great starting on raw. I have a kitten and he's been on raw since we found him at about 5-6 weeks old. He's so shiny and muscular, the vet couldn't get over how healthy his coat looks. He looks like its been oiled!

 

[Kelly G]

Yeah. Feeding a raw diet is not going to be my thing.

It doesn't work with our schedule, and asking people to do that for us when we travel (or taking that food with to prepare in an R.V.) is not realistic for us.

I'm not against it, in principal...it's just that the practice of it will not work for us.

That said, they are being free fed Royal Canin Kitten (dry) and are given Royal Kitten Instictive (canned) in the morning and afternoon. So they are getting the best that I have (or am willing) to offer....unless I find a better prepared diet.

I'm just hoping to see if there are better choices than the Royal Canin....I want to make sure I'm feeding them the best that I can (short of a raw diet

)

 

[Kaitie09]

Taste of the wild is better than Royal Canin. You can check out this website that rates a ton of the food out there.

http://www.petfoodratings.net/cats.html

 

[bock]

Canned is def. better than dry. This is a great website, it gets into a lot of detail: http://catinfo.org/

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Wellness is a wonderful holistic food that is made with all human grade ingredients. I have all my animals on it and they do just wonderful!

 

[Skyesrocket]

That said, they are being free fed Royal Canin Kitten (dry) and are given Royal Kitten Instictive (canned) in the morning and afternoon. So they are getting the best that I have (or am willing) to offer....unless I find a better prepared diet.

I feed the same thing and my kittens look great. When I started feeding it I mixed it with what I had been feeding. They picked the Royal Canin out and ate it, leaving the other food to sit in the bowl.

So they suggest you keep them on the Canin.​

 

[danischi24]

If price isn't a problem, feed a grain free food & see if you can get it as a wet food for the hydration value (cat's natural food is 75% water, all coming from meat). You can't do better than that for your cats.

After looking through all the products, I would wholeheartedly recommend Wellness Canned foods as the best way to go. They have a huge variety too so you can mix & match to give different tastes. http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/product-details.aspx?pet=cat&pid=96
It you want to feed dry, there are a few other very good foods on the market. Go grain free if you want the best for your cats as they are carnivores.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Here's a food breakdown chart. It is actually a link on the other site listed.

We feed wet food at night, and a very high quality dry food in the morning or for vacation. Cats need protein, and don't tolerate carbs well. My vet also said to think fur and feathers not fin and hair. So chicken is better than fish. This works for us because one cat doesn't tolerate fish well. We feed a mixture of wet food, from a variety of sources. I'm looking to add some raw to this. The cats get Evo turkey and chicken for the dry food. Our cats hate the Wellness brand, and will eat around the veggies in the food.

What works for some cats will not work for others. The commercial foods with the most meat are almost always fish based, and my cats can't tolerate that. It only takes one time being barfed on in the middle of the night to switch foods.

http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html