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

[Tylt33]

I'll post more when my computer isn't about to die, but based on a dry matter analysis EVO Cat and Kitten and Wellness Kitten canned foods are on the top of the charts. Dry food should not be fed to kittens, it will set them up for future health problems. Rabbit, turkey, chicken should be primary meats. Beef, venison, fish should be avoided. Grains should also be avoided. Optimal protein is 40%+, fat 30%+, carbs less than 10%.

I would not use Binky's web page as a reference. Those numbers are out of date and many of them are invalid.

 

[Tylt33]

I'll also say that not all foods from any specific brand are best. Even Wellness, EVO, etc. have some not-so-good varieties.

 

[Tylt33]

Here's my food chart based on a Dry Matter Analysis. These are ACTUAL VALUES, and not the worthless "guaranteed analysis" information provided on labels and manufacturer websites. This is information that you need to know when looking at this chart:

1. I am not a veterinarian, a vet-tech, or even a statistician. I took some undergraduate and graduate courses in stats, but have no medical animal background.

2. Undoubtedly people will post about the benefits of raw. I do not disagree. I feed my cats a partially raw diet. I worry that not all homemade raw diets meet the full nutritional needs of cats.

3. There are some great brands of pre-made raw food out there. Feline's Pride, Nature's Variety, and Primal are just a few. However, NONE of these brands can (will?) provide actual nutritional values, providing only the aforementioned "guaranteed analysis". I've written and called, if you want to try, go for it.

4. After losing a cat to Chronic Renal Failure, and having a close friend's cat deal with struvite crystals, I vowed to never again feed dry food.

5. Dry food keeping a cat's teeth clean has been debunked. Even if it were true, the benefits of water greatly outweigh the benefits of clean teeth (assuming you could only pick one or the other). If you want to be awesome, feed a wet diet and brush your cats teeth

6. There is no one answer to "How much should I feed my cat?" It will differ based on age, gender, breed, activity level, calorie content of food, etc. I am a bit neurotic and weigh and chart my cats' weights on a daily basis, using a baby scale accurate to .5 oz.

7. Every brand of food has unsavory rumors of it. Google "Wellness struvite crystals". Google "Innova Procter and Gamble". At the end of the day, you need to decide what you believe. This is the internet.

8. Carbohydrates (grains) have no value to a cat. They should be fed in as small values as possible.

9. "Low Fat" brands of cat food are neat, they lower the fat content and increase the carbohydrate content, which is then turned into fat by your cat. Clever marketing.

10. In order to most replicate a cat's natural diet, I avoid beef, venison, and fish. I feed only foods containing rabbit and poultry.

11. I avoid soy at all costs. Too many allergies out there.

12. I don't eat by-products. I don't expect my cats to either. In a post-apocalyptic scenario where I run out of human food, I want the highest quality food to poach from my cats (this is a joke).

13. Binky's page is largely out of date. The numbers are no longer accurate. Use at your own risk.

14. My feelings aren't hurt if you feed your cat garbage.

15. There are other great foods out there I'm sure. If you are interested in the actual values of what you are feeding your cat, I would be more than happy to help look.

16. Based on the research I could find, these are the parameters I set for selecting my cats' food: Protein 40%+, Fat 30%+, Carbs. 10%-.

17. Also for their importance I have included phosphorous and sodium values (when available). Ultimately these were not factored into my food selection, but if you have a cat with kidney issues, they warrant further inspection.

18. On to the Chart. NA= NOT AVAILABLE

BRAND/VARIETY, PROTEIN, FAT, CARBS, PHOSPHOROUS, SODIUM

EVO Chicken and Turkey: 47%, 37%, 7%, 1.3%, .55%

Wellness CORE Chicken, Turkey, Liver,: 46%, 36%, 11%, 1.08%, .32%

EVO 95% Chicken and Turkey: 41%, 49%, 4%, .88%, .46%

Innova Low Fat: 44%, 21%, 23%, 1.3%, Sodium NA

Weruva Chicken and Gravy: 57%, 8%, 28%, .7%, Sodium NA

Wellness Turkey: 46%, 40%, 6%, 1.05%, .3%

Wellness Kitten: 43%, 42%, 7%, 1.15%, .93%

Wellness Chicken: 45%, 41%, 6%, 1.15%, .34%

 

[Kelly G]

Based on,the information gathered here and two other message boards I participate, I believe I will be feeding Wellness - both canned (morning/evening) and dry (free choice).

I have a couple more questions -

1) Does canned food continue make their poo smell??

2) I have read many cats don't LOVE to eat the Wellness brand - what is your input on this?

Thank you for all the effort you put into your responses - it is much appreciated!

 

[Tylt33]

Quote:
1) My kitten's poop smells like canned cat food that rotted and then caught fire. With my two girls, I have not detected an odor, while when they were on dry food they would often "drop the bomb" and then tear around the house "running the stink off". The running behavior and the stink from the girls stopped on canned cat food.

2) I currently feed my girls Wellness Chicken (canned) and Wellness Turkey (canned). They eat it readily. It made my kitten vomit repeatedly. I didn't believe it could be the food until I did a trial and fed him some and he vomited. He hasn't puked since I switched him from canned Wellness. For ease I am switching all of them to EVO Canned Chicken & Turkey Cat and Kitten Formula as well as Nature's Variety Chicken (raw).

3) If you're doing canned in the morning and evening, have you considered eliminating the dry altogether? Cats really benefit from the extra moisture in canned food (kidney health!) and don't need the carbs that come with most dried foods. Just a thought.

 

[Kelly G]

Help, Tylt33! Need some clarification - My questions in bold

1) My kitten's poop smells like canned cat food that rotted and then caught fire. With my two girls, I have not detected an odor, while when they were on dry food they would often "drop the bomb" and then tear around the house "running the stink off". The running behavior and the stink from the girls stopped on canned cat food. So, are you saying that as the kittens grow, the smell lessons?

2) I currently feed my girls Wellness Chicken (canned) and Wellness Turkey (canned). They eat it readily. It made my kitten vomit repeatedly. I didn't believe it could be the food until I did a trial and fed him some and he vomited. He hasn't puked since I switched him from canned Wellness. For ease I am switching all of them to EVO Canned Chicken & Turkey Cat and Kitten Formula as well as Nature's Variety Chicken (raw). If it made your kitten vomit, how can that be good? Am I misunderstanding something? Is it something a really slow introduction can fix?

3) If you're doing canned in the morning and evening, have you considered eliminating the dry altogether? Cats really benefit from the extra moisture in canned food (kidney health!) and don't need the carbs that come with most dried foods. Just a thought.[/quo I really want to keep them eating some dry food - sometimes we have to leave them alone from Friday night to Sunday morning (my Mom is dealing with cancer)....and the dry-food for one day keeps us from having to board them.

 

[danischi24]

She obviously has a kitten that doesn't respond well to Wellness (or possibly any food by the smell of his poop). Not every cat does well on every feed. I think it's rarer in top feeds like Wellness but does still happen. It could be something as simple as him being allergic to cranberries which are in there, or it could be something more complicated but on the whole, the foods shown by her are very good. Try your cats on the Wellness & if all of them aren't thriving (unlikely), move to another top product like Evo as she did after first trying Wellness. I doubt many cats have a problem with it like her kitten has or she wouldn't rank it so highly.

 

[Tylt33]

Quote:
1) No, I don't think it's necessarily an age thing. My kitten has firm, good looking stools- they just smell really bad. I think part of it is he is a glutton (despite being really muscular). I mean, an 80 ounce kitten that eats 13 ounces of food a day... that's going to be a lot of food going through, and it might not all be fully utilized, hence the cat food smell. Also, he's not great at covering his "masterpieces". In fact, he steps on more than he successfully covers at this point.

2) Cats are sensitive just like people. I don't do well with dairy; my wife does. I think finding a cat food that works for three cats isn't difficult, but it might require some thought. In our case the Wellness worked for 2 of 3, the Nature's Variety worked for 3 of 3, the EVO worked for 3 of 3. So we go with the EVO and the Nature's Variety raw, we just use what works. Just because a food is great doesn't mean every kitty is going to like it or not be sensitive to it.

3) Some dry food is fine, I completely understand.

Ask away if you have any more questions!

 

[Tylt33]

Quote:
I didn't mean for the chart to be a rank order; it was just the foods that I looked at. I personally wouldn't feed Weruva, Innova Low Fat, or Wellness CORE (or kitten). I just wanted people to have an idea of variance within the same brands and similar highly touted brands. I agree with what you said.... other than the fact that I am a she

 

[Kelly G]

Quote:
1) No, I don't think it's necessarily an age thing. My kitten has firm, good looking stools- they just smell really bad. I think part of it is he is a glutton (despite being really muscular). I mean, an 80 ounce kitten that eats 13 ounces of food a day... that's going to be a lot of food going through, and it might not all be fully utilized, hence the cat food smell. Also, he's not great at covering his "masterpieces". In fact, he steps on more than he successfully covers at this point.

2) Cats are sensitive just like people. I don't do well with dairy; my wife does. I think finding a cat food that works for three cats isn't difficult, but it might require some thought. In our case the Wellness worked for 2 of 3, the Nature's Variety worked for 3 of 3, the EVO worked for 3 of 3. So we go with the EVO and the Nature's Variety raw, we just use what works. Just because a food is great doesn't mean every kitty is going to like it or not be sensitive to it.

3) Some dry food is fine, I completely understand.

Ask away if you have any more questions!

Great, great, GREAT! Thank you for all your help - I may be picking your brain some more.

I'm still going to wait 2 - 4 weeks before changing them over....they were quite stressed from the move...plus the stress of introductions to our two existing cats (have not met face to face yet....introductions MAY begin this weekend and will likely take quite a bit of time....right now we are playing kitty chess - switching rooms, pillows, scratching posts, litter boxes, etc.