Is canned cat food ok for kittens?

Question

We just got a new kitten and it really seems to dislike dry catfood, I was thinking of mixing the dry with canned. I heard that feeding them straight canned food can make their teeth weak? What do you think?

So I should just stick with good old dry kitten food and she will eat when she gets hungry enough?

Answer 1

I give both my cats canned and dry food. They just love the canned food, they think its a real treat. They are also given dry food to munch on during the day. I just give them a little scoop of the canned food twice a day. Cats need to have dry food in their diet too to keep their teeth healthy. I would try giving your kitten some canned food but make sure she has plenty of dry too. My mom has a cat that won't eat anything but canned food and you don't want that.

Answer 2

Cats are naturally meat eaters. Dry food is about as far away from that as you can get. Go to www.littlebigcat.com and read Dr. Jean Hovfe's article about dry cat food.

You are not going to "weaken the kitten's teeth" with canned food.The best thing for the kitten's teeth is a chopped up RAW chicken wing, a SMALL amount of chicken liver, some heart and gizzard. You can get all this at the supermarket, make up little meal packets, freeze and store in a plastic bag and thaw when needed. Use that "meal" about three times a week. This is a complete balanced meal -- lean muscle meat, a little fat in the skin, Vitamin A in the liver, taurine in the heart and gizzard, calcium from the raw chicken bones in the wings.

Your kitten will love this meal. He will growl over it and maybe carry a little piece off a little ways so no one else can get it. This is as close as you can get to the natural diet of the mice his mommy would have brought him.

When he is a little older he can have dry food, canned food or whattever is convenient for you. If he has his little RAW meal on a regular basis he will always have strong healthy teeth.

Use only chicken. Turkey or beef bones are too tough for most grown cats and not right for a kitten. Beef doesn['t always sit well in a cat's stomach. Use chicken that is hormone and antibiotic free.

Answer 3

The best thing for your kitten to eat is dry kitten food. Canned food can cause their teeth to go bad faster and it usualy has things in it that are not good for them (preservitives, flavor enhancers, etc) Find a good cat food (more costly does not always mean better) and stick with that same cat food, when your cat is hungery it will eat. Try to stay away from foods that have dyes, lots of additives and preservitives as they can make your cat sick. Some good foods:

Iams and Science Diet (more exspencive but higher quality and your cat will eat less of it, and have less waste so less to clean out of the litter box)

Purina One (also has stuff to help with UTI that some cats can get) or Pro-plan

Answer 4

Try mixing dry "kitten food" with a small amount of canned cat food (a couple of Tablespoons) & then add a little warm water to soften the dry kitten food. I raised all of my kittens on this combination & they were all very healthy & happy little guys.

The dry food is probably just a little too hard for your kitten right now. I believe it's easier for them to adjust slowly from Mother's milk to hard food. Your little kitten will be happily munching away on dry kitten food in no time at all.

Also, please take notice of the fact that I said "KITTEN FOOD". Regular cat food doesn't have the proper nutrients for growing kittens.

Good Luck & Much Happiness with your new furry family member!!!

Answer 5

Smart Cat!!!

She has good instincts!

Cats should eat 100%, or nearly 100% canned (or pouched) food. It's dry food that isn't healthy for cats!

Dry food is mostly grain, and cats are obligate carnivores, lacking the digestive enzymes required to digest plant proteins. All they can do is turn it into fat, then live off the fat as if they were starving. This is why it's common for cats who eat a lot of dry food to become obese and suffer from malnutrition at the same time!

Also, cats are desert creatures, evolved to get their moisture from their prey and to have poorly developed thirst reflexes. Canned food has about the same moisture content as freshly killed prey, while dry food has almost no loisture. Because of that poorly developed thirst reflex, cats eating dry food aren't likely to drink enough water to make up for it, and that can l ead to serious health problems as they age, like kidney failure.

Also, don't fall for that old line about how dry food is good for their teeth. It's bunk. Cats don't have molars, so they don't chew like we do. They don't grind kibble into an abrasive paste that cleans theyr teeth. They just bite down on the chunks, it shatters into bits, and they swallow the bits.

Read this about how to properly feed your cat, and throw away that dry crap!

http://www.catinfo.org

Answer 6

start the kitten out with straight soft food, then gradually mix in some dry kitten chow with it. Kittens that are really young are not used to chewing. They just know how to suckle. Eventually, they will be eating just the kitten chow. Or, you could feed them the dry kitten chow and let it soak in a little bit of water or milk to soften it up for them!

Answer 7

Mix milk with the dry cat food, Your kitten will love it. You dont have to get worried about their teeth

Answer 8

Canned food have my old kitten the poops. Maybe she/he doesnt know how to eat dry hard food yet?? Perhaps she is too young?

Answer 9

They make canned cat food so I would have to say obviously yes it is ok for kittens.

Answer 10

i just wouldnt feed them solely wet food-it gives cats the "squirts." if you mix half of a can with dry food, it should be ok-check the label though, some things have an age restriction.