I'm going to get a kitten- does anyone have any ideas on what kind of food I should buy to start off with?

Question

Is dry or wet food best for a kitten at first? What kind?

Answer 1

Both for kittens, dry for cats. Our pets need quality pet food. Read the ingredients list and learn what the stuff on there is and what it does (or does not do) to/for our pets. A quick pet food 101. If the pet food contains corn/corn products or by products it is a poor quality food. Do not pay attention to advertising, they all say there food is great. Corn is a filler that can trigger skin problems. (allergies, skin problems, itching and excessive shedding) By products is anything from an animal not fit for human consumption, including cancerous tissue. Quality foods have meat as the first ingredient. California Natural, Solid Gold, Innova and Merrick are a few of the best brands available. If you want to learn more check out: http://www.sagekeep.com/petfood.htm www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&more=1 http://animalark.eapps.com/animal/PetFoods.nsf/$$PetFoodsByRating?OpenForm

Answer 2

It all depends on the age. As long as a kitten is fully weaned from its mother, it can eat dry food. Start it off with dry food and if it has a hard time eating that, add some wet food or water to moisten it. As to what kind, most stores have a kitten formula, which has the ingredients that a kitten needs for its growing body. It is best to get a brand that has a source of protein as the first ingredient. Try and stay away from the brands with by products and fillers as the first few ingredients, these do not have the nutrition that a growing kitten requires. Good luck with your new kitten.

Answer 3

The argument between the wets and the drys will not be solved here. I feed both and had one cat that lived to be 19. I believe a diet of all wet food is bad for the teeth. They need some dry to crunch on. The important thing about kitten food is to make sure that you get one that is especially for kittens or is marked "growth formula" For the first year kittens do a lot of growing and need extra nutrition. Go to a pet store and ask the staff to point out the special kitten foods.

Answer 4

I personally would recommend Science Diet kitten formula. My vet recommended it over brands like Purina because they don't' use animal by products...basically meaning the food is more nutritious. Also, I wouldn't recommend giving them only wet food, at least to start. That's what I started my kittens off with and they both had diarrhea and sometimes had accidents on my bed and other places. I switched to dry food and that stopped. I wouldn't want that to happen to you...it sucks! Now I give them dry food all the time with a little bit of wet food once a day. Good luck!

Answer 5

I got two abandoned 3 week old kittens from my vet six years ago, and she was feeding them canned IAMS in the orange can. They never ate kitten food; they just progressed to the dry IAMS.

Do you just have the one kitten, or do you have older cats, too? One thing you need to watch out for if you have more than one (especially if your older cats have health concerns and my 16 year old was diagnosed with the uninary tract thing like 15 years ago) Don't feed a kitten the uninary tract food. It damages their kidneys! My cat's litter mate died from the Uninary Tract thing (and that's how I knew what it was...exact same symtoms) and I brought home a new kitten shortly after. She only lived 9 years because of kidney failure, due to eating that Urinary Tract specific food as a kitten. It this is your case (or anyone else reading this) feed them a quailty food known to have low ash. IAMS, or any of the premium brands, Purina One, I think it is. is a decent commerical brand (I think that's what my husband has been buying lately...I don't have kittens anymore though) and your vet can let you know what all your furry friends can eat that's comapatable with everyone's nutritional needs.

Answer 6

If you want to feed your cat the best, don't buy any brand that are available at the grocery store. Get Nutro Natural Choice for Kittens. There are no by-products, no preservatives and the first ingrediant is always meat, not corn or wheat. corn and wheat will make the litterbox smell bad and your cat will need to eat more to feel full. I work at Petco so I know about all the brands of food, and I personally would never feed my cat anything but nutro natural choice. Oh yeah, no wet food, it smells bad and damages your cats teeth. As for the person who said they can get kidney damage from not eating wet food... well nutro is a semi-moist dry kibble so it does provide some moisture. It's cat chow and meow mix and brands like that, those ones can cause kidney failure and urinary tract problems.

Answer 7

Well, first of all I just wanted to take the opportunity to point out that people should NOT listen to the advice of their vets when it comes to food unless you have done your own research. ArmyChick says she is using Science Diet food because her vet said it contains no by-products....well by-products are found in ALL of their formulas and is actually the first ingredient in the Kitten Formula. This is why I am trying so hard to educate people about the fact that vets do not receive nutrition training, they just recommend a certain food so that they can make money off of you.

PLEASE stay away from foods like Purina, Science Diet, Iams, Eukanuba, Whiskas, and all of those mass marketed grocery and vet foods. You will find the highest quality foods in speciality pet stores. You need to look for foods like Innova, California Natural, Solid Gold, Fromm, Evolve, Wellness, Felidae. These foods are all made with whole human grade foods.

I personally recommend that you go to the Innova website www.naturapet.com and look at their products. Innova is by far THE highest quality cat/dog food on the market. Even the other top brands like Wellness are still missing a few of the important component of Innova.

Just use common sense when picking a healthy cat food. Which sounds better to you:

Science Diet - chicken by-product (feet, feathers, beaks, bones), corn (non-digestible, cheap filler), pork fat (non-digestible flavouring), more corn, brewers rice (just a rice fraction, not the whole grain), egg product (egg shells), and so on.

Innova - turkey, chicken, potatoes, eggs, barley, rice, herring, apples, carrots, alfalfa sprouts, etc.

I don't know about you but it seems pretty obvious which food is better for your cat. Science Diet, as with most mass produced foods, actually has no meat in it which doesn't make sense because cats are carnivores!

So, when chosing a food, look at the ingredient list and choose a food as if you were going to eat it yourself. If you wouldn't eat it, don't feed it to your pet. Stay away from by-products and fillers (corn, wheat, beet pulp, etc).

When it comes to choosing between wet and dry, it is best to go with dry because the protein, fat and carbs are higher. Most kittens will not eat hard food until a certain age. If this is the case, try adding a bit of lukewarm water to the food to moisten it. There is nothing wrong with feeding A LITTLE canned food but try and keep it to a minimum. A kitten will not grow properly on canned food alone because it is about 70% water.

Good luck with your kitten. I hope that you are able to choose wisely when picking a food. It can be hard but just take the time to do a little research. You'll be better off in the long run because your cat will be healthier which means fewer expensive trips to the vet.

Answer 8

I agree with B.W. on the quality of foods. All of the brands suggested were good. However, it is foolish to be against canned food. Cats and kittens both need the extra protein and the moisture from canned food. Cats, being desert animals, have a weak thirst. Water was not available in the desert, so they got their water from the animals that they ate. Cats will not drink water unless they are already dehydrated. Suppling them with wet food at least 2-3 times a week will help thier kindneys function much better. Kidney failure is one of the #1 killers of cats, due to a dry food only diet. It is a myth that it is bad for their teeth. Kibble is mostly grains and starch. What happens to your teeth after you eat bread? It sticks. Look at a cats mouth after eating kibble, The food has lodged itself by the gums, causing decay. Wet food slides of the teeth. Do some research and find out what is really in most pet foods and stick with some wet food in combination to kibble.

Answer 9

Kitten formula, but start off with wet food! Then work toward dry food!

Answer 10

Depends on the age of the kitten.. But overall I don't like to recommend wet food as a complete food source... It tends to leave tartar on the teeth, which can lead to a major infection if not treated. I prefer Purina for cats. Though, you want to start off with Kitten mix. When it reaches a year in age you can start to mix in an adult food to the diet... Again I prefer the Purina indoor cat mix (As it is a good idea to keep your kit indoors, its much safer for her/him) Other good brands are Science Diet, Iams, and Eukaneuba. If you feel the need to give her wet food, use is sparingly.. But my kittens always loved a bit of warm water mixed in with their dry kitten chow when they were babies.. (we found them on the side of the road when they were roughly 4 weeks old and are currently in their early twenties)