Confused About Kitten Diet

I have an 8 week old kitten here with me and he came to me on the Iams Kitten kibbles. I'm not a big fan of Iams and so want to switch him over to something better. I've heard that feeding an all dry diet is the recipe for urinary tract infections, so should I do a combo of dry and wet? I.e. dry in the morning, wet at night.

I have access to probably anything available out there, so what is a good brand to switch him over to? I know there's a thread below this one regarding food people are feeding their cats, but it's very long and I'm confused about where I should even start.

Thanks so much in advance!

P.S. I've considered Innova, but have heard some conflicting information about it, too. Perhaps it's the EVO formula that's being talked about? I'm not sure.

Hi Mes! We're neighbours. I just joined this week too.

You're gong to get a lot of different information, but my recommendation is that you go to your local pet store and get the most natural kitten food they have and go from there. It'll likely be more expensive than Iams, but your developing little kitten will love you for it. I'm about to take my cat from Iams to a homemade diet which will be substantially cheaper than buying a similar product, but you MUST make sure you get it right. I'll be happy to share my knowledge with you when I have it all compiled and sorted in the next few weeks.

PM me if you like and we can talk some more.

X

I like the Royal Canin Kitten food (they also have a smaller kibble for very young kittens from 1-4 month called "BabyCat". At that young age, I usually have my kittens on canned kitten food and gradually offer some dry mixed in.

All dry doesn't lead to UTI's. Most of my cats were on all dry for years and none of them ever had UTI - they were fed Iams.

I guess its really better to mix some dry and some canned for the best nutrition. We feed dry for breakfast, canned for supper.

WET is the best for prevention.. but for most a wet and dry mix is the easiest... HAVE the kittens had UTI issues>>>??? If so Pm me and I will list the UTI specific drys if you would like...

Homemade is very good but realize it IS a LOT of workand YOU SHOULD be working with a Nutrition MINDED VET and those are not a dime a dozen ... lol... I just made my pups for the week last night about two hours plus cleanup

Thanks for all the informative replies!

I will go shopping at a couple of pet food stores tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

He has never had any UTI issues (fingers crossed), so thought I'd take the precaution just in case.

Is it okay that the dry and wet foods are different brands?

With the kittens i deal with at work i usually soak their dried food in hot water, then add a bit of dry aswell once it's soaked, or just soaked for fussy kittens.

I also mix it with wet food.

Go to www.Naturapet.com, You can also go Raw but if you do so get a pre-made like Natures variy.

Originally Posted by MesmerizeK

Thanks for all the informative replies!

I will go shopping at a couple of pet food stores tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

He has never had any UTI issues (fingers crossed), so thought I'd take the precaution just in case.

Is it okay that the dry and wet foods are different brands?

Click to expand...

YES it is okay for dry and wet to be different brands... actually I encourage trying different brands of wet...

Brands to look at

Nutro
Natural balance
Solid gold
Evo ( this is grain free ).. Innova is it grain containing counterpart
Wellness ( mine love the wet )
Natures variety
Evangers ( wet only at this time)
Felidea
Merrick ( another wet only)
Orijen ( mostly Canadian at this time)


ONE brand DOES NOT work for all

I'm also getting more steadily confused about what and when I should be feeding my kitten...I just decided today that I'm going to switch over Nimbus from Iams dry to Nutro Natural Choice dry and add in some wet food. I understand that he needs the extra nutrients in the wet food now...but I want him to eat mostly (if not entirely) dry food when he's an adult.

So...Is this a good diet plan for a growing kitten?--->

-Nutro Natural Choice Dry (Indoor) Kitten food throughout the day (in a filled bowl, whenever he wants to eat)

-Nutro Max Kitten Wet food at dinner time/before bed...half a can (1.5 ounces). Is this enough and is it a good time to give it to him? I may also try some other brands (science diet, is pro plan or pet promise any good???)

-Occasional Nutro Max Cat treats

-Kristen

IMO up to about 5 months old you can feed him as much as he wants to eat. Get him neutered at about 3-4 months old and then feed him 2-3 meals a day till 6 months old - then twice a day.

I measure free feed and always have ... know how much the bowl holds and youll know what kitty is eating ... i would offer wet 3-4 times a day then like golden said 2 times at 6 months

I give the boys a combination of wet and dry.

When we got them we was given a couple bags of science diet kitten food and they seem to enjoy this, even if it does look like koi carp fish food.

In the AM when I get up I they get a table spoon of "catsip" for breakfast if you will. (I soon discovered their love for milk as I was eating my weetabix one morning and promptly found a cats head in my bowl. At least they can digest catsip!)

They always have dry food available to them through out the day, although they would prefer to stalk and hassle me for my food. The eat normally 2 cups of this a day each. I don't consider this "over feeding" them as they are kittens and growing all the time and need the sustenance to help them.

As for wet food (And yes I know a lot of people on here hate it and tell me it's wrong) they get a pouch of Whiskers shared between them at dinner time. Which is mostly about 5pm when we have our dinner as it stops them trying to steal ours.

Why Whiskers? Because it's the only we I have found they like at the moment. They hate the "Kitten pate" and only like wet food that has chunks in. I have a real hard time finding something marked as kitten food that is "chunky" and I am told they should only have kitten food for the first year of their life.

I must be doing something right, because their coats are uber shiney, and they look sleek and more adult like every time I look at them. Winston's paws are *huge* in comparison to his body lol.

All these different things for kittens makes me wonder how they ever survived in the wild on a wild diet lol.

I like Innova because my 7 month old has some food intolerances such as wheat and soy and Innova doesn't contain those things. It does have grains which some people prefer not to feed, but the carbohydrate % is much lower than some other dry cat foods I looked at. The grains (barely and rice) are down at number 6 and 8 on the list. My other kitten eats Nutro NC Indoor kitten because the Innova is to rich for her. The second ingredient is corn gluten meal but her tummy doesn't get upset on it and she is thriving so I don't have any problems feeding her this food. They eat a little wet food as well as it is good for keeping them hydrated.