what can i substitute as cat food for my 5 month old kitten?

Answer 1

Nothing. Your kitten needs kitten food. Your cat's health and immune system depend on it. During this age your cat needs all the neutrients it can get for proper developement. I suggest buying Nutro brand cat food. It is all natural and my cats love it.

Answer 2

What are you substituting it FOR? A cat should be on kitten food until they're a year old, then cat food after that.

Are you talking about eliminating food specially formulated for cats? Not a good idea.

John C is a pain in the rump. A 5 month old kitten doesn't need milk (not even KMR kitten milk). And most cats are lactose intolerant, so don't give your cat cow's milk, either.

And tuna can be substituted as an OCCASIONAL thing only. It doesn't contain taurine (which is essential to ensure a healthy cat), and the high mercury content can prove fatal.

(You're in for a whole slew of health problems if your cat doesn't get enough taurine....blindness being a big one.)

Answer 3

Cats have very sensitive stomachs -- NEVER feed them what we eat. A five-month-old kitten's stomach is even more sensitive than a full-grown cat's. He should be eating kitten food ONLY and nothing else until he's at least a year old, when he can start eating adult cat food. Whiskas makes kitten milk, but DO NOT give your cat cow milk. Ever. Kittens, just like human babies, need all the protein and nutrients they can get in the first year of their lives.

Answer 4

"Kitten" food is simply a marketing ploy (as is indoor, hairball etc. food).

Lets be rational here: do you think the mother cat brings her kitten special "kitten" mice to eat when she weans them? Ridiculous, is it not?

Commercail "kitten" food is higher in protein and fat for growth. High meat protein from a quality source is good for ALL cats. The AAFCO "standard" is 30% protein and it is their minimum standard. Felines should have around 60% meat protein in their food and the only way to get even close to that is to buy a premium cat food. They only go up to 32%, 38% (the highest I've seen) but the meat is of high quality and better for your cat. So the kitten should also have a quality canned food. Raw meat is the optimum diet for a cat and you have to supplement that to provide calcium if you don't give the kitten bones with the meat.

You can go to www.catinfo.com to read about cat diet or www.littlebigcat.com where Dr. Jean Hovfe has at least six good articles on home-made diets, what to look for in commercial foods and what things to avoid when feeding your kitten.

Answer 5

if the kitten is not eating cat food, try mixing some canned kitten food with a little bit of tuna. THIS WAS TOLD TO ME BY MY VET when my maine coon kitten wouldn't eat ANY cat food. (and he was only 3 months. no bloody poo) he ended up being depressed because of the new environment, and he was dehydrated.

my vet also told me if the tuna with catfood doesn't work, to spoon feed the kitten poultry baby food. chicken or turkey. BUT continue to encourage the kitten to eat other food. even try mixing baby food with canned kitten food. make sure to ween him off the baby food if he eats it too. it still provides the cat with nourishment but is NO replacement for cat food.

but some food is better than no food.

Answer 6

At 5 months the kitten should be able to eat meat.Feed it some bologna,salami,etc.
It will really go after cheese too.You can crush any of that with your fingers to make it easier to eat.
To have a healthy cat just be sure to give it some cooked/prepared meat every once in a while.
It will love you for it.

Answer 7

some kittens are picky eaters. you best bet is to buy small amounts of different types of foods and try each one until you find one it likes. also you may need to mix some canned food or tuna with dry kibble for awhile until it gets used to eating the dry kibble. if you kitty isn't eating. there could be a reason for it and it may be time to take it to the vet to make sure that it doesn't have something wrong with her such as worms or something else that may be causing the problem.

good luck

Answer 8

please get kitten food for your kitten. quality will be healthiest. but as a temporary fix for a day maybe two at most you can boil up a hamburger and give that to your kitten, chicken broth and rice will work as well, maybe some canned tuna in WATER not oil, tuna in oil is VERY bad for cats.

Answer 9

NO NO NO NO NO NO TUNA!!! It is TOOOOOO much for the babies tummy he will have bloody poo! you need to go get kitten food. wet or dry but NO milk(no whole milk anyways give him skim or 1% its still not good for him. They drink mothers milk not human milk it has to much in it for thies little tummies to handel) and NO tuna! not till he is a year old its WAYYYYYY to much for his tummy! he will throw up and have the stinky stinky runs with blood in it! he needs kitten food! Why are you wanting to substitute in anyways? contact me

Answer 10

Believe it or not ... baby food works. You can also get Mothers Milk from some stores & most Vet's.
If you use the baby food, get the soy milk power & make it thin, then add it to the baby food. you can use a baby cereal bottle to nurse your kitten.