We just adopted a 7month old kitten who is used to wet food. We want to put her on dry food but are unsure about how to do so and still have her eat the appropriate amounts. Suggestions please. (never had a kitten before)
Hi nekoMiaWe just adopted a 7month old kitten who is used to wet food. We want to put her on dry food but are unsure about how to do so and still have her eat the appropriate amounts. Suggestions please. (never had a kitten before)
I would try to get her interested in something besides the fish. FF is not a bad food and the classic is really on par with some of the pricier foods ingredient wise. You can check out the Nutro Max Cat line. It's one of the more economical of the premium food lines. You can find it at http://www.nutro.com/natural-pet-food/natural-cat-food.aspx. I would definitely keep her on the wet diet since she's already on it and your budget can handle it. Dry tends to be calorie and carb dense and if the cat isn't drinking enough water, UTIs can result as well as diabetes and other problems. Wet food provided required hydration for you cat if they don't drink much out of the water bowl.Thanks for the reply, I guess I'd always heard that it was better for a cat to be on Dry food as opposed to wet. Right now We're using Fancy Feast as a wet canned food. Our little baby seems to like Tuna the best. I want to make sure we can feed our Mia the right amount she needs so if you have any suggestions about which wet food would be best I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks again!
But dry food not being ideal for cats IS widely known. Read some of the stickies in this section and you will see it being mentioned numerous times. Cats originally being desert creatures, don't have a high thirst drive and glean most of their water from their prey.My plans for feeding the wee ones, when they arrive at Christmas (they will be 11½ weeks old), is to give them:
- 1 portion bag of wet food to share in the morning
- Dry food available all day (R.C. BabyCat 34) - and water, of course
- 1 portion bag of wet food to share in the evening
- Twice a week a little raw fish, meat or chicken
- A daily small dose of Hunter salmon oil (very small in the beginning) for skin, fur and mucosa membranes
I have bought some different bags of wet kitten food (for variation):
http://www.zooplus.dk/shop/kat/kattefoder_vaadfoder/hills/kitten/182236
http://www.zooplus.dk/shop/kat/kattefoder_vaadfoder/royal_canin/kitten/182253
and for the dry food (until they are 4 months old):
http://www.zooplus.dk/shop/kat/kattefoder_toerfoder/royal_canin/health_kitten/182064
After New Years I will be away at the office again all day, so free access to wet food, kept for 8-9 hours in room temperature, is not an option, IMO.
I trust that if one is very diligent at changing their drinking water 2-3 times per day, they will drink sufficiently. If dry food was really such a hazard to their health, I am sure it would be more widely known.
On this note, it seems vets are rarely aware of this. But recently there was an article in the local paper about "what to feed your pet" written by 2 local vets. All the usual yada yada, and of course a plug against raw. . .but they did say that cats should have at least half canned food, all canned if possible! I was pleasantly surprised.But dry food not being ideal for cats IS widely known.