What are good kitten food brands?

[PintoBean]

Hello PSers!

This forum has been a wealth of knowledge for me for not only bling, but for the welfare and care of my furkitties! Through PS, I learned to feed the cat I adopted last October dry foods that are lower in carb and higher in protein such as Wellness Core, Innova Evo, Instinct, and to supplement the dry with wet (we like wellness cans). We rotate through the brands of kibble. Thank you PSers!

on Thursday, we went back to the shelter to make a donation, and inquire about a companion cat. We did not anticipate falling in love so fast, let alone with a kitten, but cupid hit us with his arrow! She is a lovebug of a kitten! The shelter is keeping her for the week for us. We're getting married tomorrow, then going away till Friday night. The kitten sneezed a couple of times when I picked her up on Thursday, and 2x when I visited her today and played with her. We want the shelter to have the vet clear her of anything contagious (don't want to get our #1 cat sick during introductions), and see if the "cold" passes within the week...

I wanted to ask our knowledge corp of cat lovers for recommendations on high quality kitten foods.

Are there also any other brands I should consider trying for my adult cat as well?

Also, is there a problem if they eat each other's food?

Thank you in advance. I hate to say it, but I am actually more excited to bring home the new bundle of joy next Saturday than the wedding or the honeymoon

 

[sonnyjane]

I'm not a good resource on what foods are best for your kitten... my cat has been on so many different foods, both prescription and non-prescription, organic, hypo-allergenic, blah blah blah you get the idea all because my vets pushed them on me at one point or another. Bottom line was he didn't like them or they didn't have the effects that I was promised they would have at $80 a bag, so right now my 9 year old kitty is just eating IAMS for sensitive systems now... so... whatever I'm a bad fur mom in that regard lol.

What I WILL say is that you really do want to avoid having them eat from the other's bowl if possible. It's not really because one food will be bad for the other, but 1) they'll be getting a lot more food than necessary and 2) the kitten food is specially formulated for growing kittens, so if you're kitten isn't getting it, they are missing out on some special stuff, and if your cat is eating the kitten's food, he's going to be getting an extra caloric boost that he doesn't need (read... could get extra chubby lol).

 

[movie zombie]

wilderness kitten.

the company makes two: spa and wilderness.

both are good but i prefer wilderness.

wellness is very very good.

no, there is no problem if they eat each other's food: i asked the vet for my new kitten Parkour and he says its all marketing ploy....and specifically said that wilderness, spa, core, wellness are all excellent foods. no problem if kitten eats the adult foods and the verse is also true. i asked about vitamins if he eats adult food....not necessary he says. well connected into UC-Davis where he graduated.

my 18 year old Harley who completed 6 months of chemo, has a heart condition as well as kidney disease and hyperthyroid gets to eat whatever he wants...he also gets subq fluids and drinks so i don't worry if eats wilderness kitten or anything else, even dry food if its wilderness.

 

[JewelFreak]

Natural Balance is also good. I feed the canned to my 17-yr-old boy who has kidney stones, horrible heart, optical herpes, high BP, awful teeth (can't put him out to clean them), & anything else you can think of. Also, my other cat throws up EVERY kind of cat food except this.

Have a LOVELY WONDERFUL HAPPY JOYFUL wedding, MZ!!!

--- Laurie

 

[amc80]

We use Evo. I'm pretty sure they have a kitten food.

 

[justginger]

I don't know if there are brand differences between countries, but our pets only have one of three brands - Science Diet, Eukanuba, or Royal Canin. I switch every time to keep them interested. I even feed these brands to our fosters, at $130/bag. I don't like the idea that homeless pets should eat whatever chum people feel like donating.

 

[woofmama]

I carry the following brands at my store: EVO, Orijen, Acana, Fromm, PureVita, Great Life, Taste of the Wild, Instinct. The top selling dry is EVO followed by Orijen & Acana. Always go grain free for cats as they are true carnivores. Try to have their diet comprised of at least 80% wet food and raw if they will eat it.

Cats evolved as desert dwelling animals. They got most of the moisture needed to keep their kidneys functioning properly from the prey animals they ate which were birds, rodents, insects, lizards. Dry diets have only been around for about 40 years. An all dry diet causes a myriad of problems for kitties including kidney problems, diabetes, bladder stones, etc. Cats don't have the instinct to drink enough water to keep their internal organs properly hydrated. With the advent of commercial dry diets our pet cats spend their life in a state of cronic dehydration. So cans or raw are very important and will save you from loads of heartache and vet bills.

Here's a great link on raw feeding: http://www.rawfedcats.org/carnivores.htm
Even if you feed a commercial diet such as the ones listed above like I sell, the info at the link will help you understand why correct feeding is important for long term heath.

ETA: I am not affiliated with the web site I linked to in any way. Just a good source of info.

 

[Haven]

I see that Woofmama mentioned raw diet, so I'll share that that is what we feed our cats and dogs.

Our three cats eat Nature's Variety raw medallions. They've been eating it for about four years, and it's great. We trained them to eat in their own spots, and they never share food. They get different amounts based on their relative weights, so it's important to make sure they don't eat the others' food.

We give them a teensy bit of Innova Evo kibble every night, but that's just 15 to 20 pieces in plastic bottles with tiny holes cut in them to give them something to do, and to keep them from waking DH at 5 AM for breakfast. We fed them Evo before we switched to the raw diet.

If you have the means, I highly recommend doing a bit of research into providing a raw diet for your kitties.

Congrats on your new furbaby, and on your upcoming marriage!

 

[bluegirl123]

I use Acana for dry (free fed) and Wellness for wet (once a day)... I dont feel comfortable feeding my girl any other dry food than Acana and orijen. Wish they made wet as well!

 

[GirlyGirl]

I know that for cats, they can eat the same Evo formulation from kittenhood to geriatric. My dogs and cats used to eat Evo until the brand was bought by Proctor & Gamble, parent company of Iams.

Now they are Orijen pets. I would be open to Instinct or Taste of the Wild. They don't seem to like Wysong or Wellness for some reason.

 

[PintoBean]

I just checked Orijen's website, and they have a "cat & kitten" bag of food, which would be UBER convenient!

 

[TooPatient]

We feed our dogs Orijens. It is very good quality and they like it. I know they also have a cat/kitten formula that we considered but didn't switch to due to challenges with one of our cats. (she had a sensitive stomach and we had FINALLY found something she didn't throw up every day)

Our cats are eating Go Natural! They get canned and dry food.

The way I had it explained to me is that a good high quality food is fine for kittens/puppies AND adult cats/dogs. Even adults (especially as they get older) need to have the nutrients. The thing that changes should be the amount fed.
I've actually seen this with a couple of cats who had been on "older cat" formulas and then switched to Go Natural. Both of the older cats were losing weight and near death. After the switch, one perked up and was heathy for another few months. The other actually made it another 2 years! (the prescription "liver health" things are especially bad as they nearly eliminate all protien!)

We do have to keep an eye on how much they are all eating. We've got 4 cats ranging from 10 lbs to 25 lbs so keeping them eating the correct amounts is not always easy.

 

[webdiva]

Woofmama - you carry really good food! One thing to remember is that even foods made in the USA may have ingredients imported from China. With the current issues of chinese treats killing dogs, I've switched to foods with only north american ingredients such as Orijen and Acana. There are some great sites online to help you research ingredients and origin. Happy new kitten and thank you for adopting from a shelter and not buying on craigslist!