Kitten vrs cat food

As I am researching kitten food now that our little baby is starting to eat wet food I noticed some companies have kitten only, adult only, or adult/kitten. there a difference between wet Adult Cat food and wet Kitten food?
Mahalo.

MOST not all kitten foods have more fat and protein and for a dry matter analysis 1% on the label = roughly 4%

label
adult 9% protein = roughly 36-50% protein
kitten 11% protein = roughly 44-60%

Thanks Sharky!!!

One more questions. How long should I feed our little guy "kitten" food?

IMHO and the general rule is one yr ...

sorry for more questions but...I am having a hard time finding different "favors" of wet kitten food. I also live on an island where its hard to find good quality pet food as it is. Can you recommend some wet kitten food to me? I would love to make my own but we just don't have the freezer/fridge space (EVERY thing has to go in to there due to ants). Someone told me to use baby food??? (human baby food, using the meats). what do you think about that? Thanks for all your help!!!

I would not use human baby foods - they are not formulated for cats. If you can find more variety in adult foods, you could get some of them and mix them with the kitten foods so he gets more choices.

You'll get a variety of opinions on how long to feed kittens. My opinion is based on a healthy kitten (if the kitten has had a rough start or is small/sick, then feed them longer).

For cats that would be about 5-7 lbs when grown - kitten food only till about 4 months old. For cats 8-12 lbs - kitten food to about 6 months old. For larger breeds 13 + lbs - kitten food for 9-12 months (I'd only do it 9-10 months).

And I would free feed kittens only up to 4 months old.

Thanks for your help!!!

I'd also like to add that most of the "grain free" cans, particularly the "95%" meat lines that a few companies have out, would most likely have plenty of protien / fat for a kitten...I feed some of the EVO 95% meat cans to my cats and did so when they were kittens... And I'll be getting some of the new by nature 95% meat cans soon for them to try. EVO is made by natura pet foods and you can check out their site for a retailer locator. Many food companies have that option on their website, so it might help you find a dealer near you.

Also, I think, personally, if you are feeding just part wet and part dry food...as long as the dry you're feeding is kitten food...I think using both kitten and adult canned food is ok....just avoid fish in the cans and try and get cans that don't have (or have very few) "by products" in them.

If there is a petsmart in your area, their authority line has a couple of kitten flavors...my cats pretty much liked all of the authority cans.

HTH,
Art

I have found a little bit of "wellness" products here, I am using their "kitten" wet food right now but it only comes in the one flavor. We do not have a petsmart, or petco or anything like that on the island. And most of the time the little "pet store" here does not have "wellness" or any other "grain-free" " products, so I am looking around for other options, even though I don't like the other options, but it is hard when you live on an island. To buy on line and have it shipped is not very cost effective, I would be paying more for shipping then for a case of food. When my mom comes for a visit I am going to have her bring as much as she can fit in her luggage. I also have not started on dry food but want to add some of it soon. (I just can't afford all the shipping costs to get "grain-free" wet food.)

Thanks for your help!!!!

I understand... I don't have any really good grain-free foods available near me (except wellness, which petco just started carrying) and have to have my EVO, etc. shipped. The only reason I can afford shipping is because the website I buy from will ocassionally send out a 22% off your order coupon... I wait and buy ~4 months worth of food at once and use the coupon, which basically cancels out the shipping cost.

As for dry food, nutro makes a good kitten dry (nutro natural choice) nutro's products are available in a lot of locations and there might be a dealer in your area...Nutro also has good coupons and goes on sale often... Walmart has a house brand dry food called "maxximum nutrition", which comes in a kitten formula and is the best dry food they sell (not sure if there is a walmart in your area).

Of the foods commonly available at grocery stores, I feed friskies (it's cheaper than fancy feast, sheba, etc. and comes in larger cans). The protien / fat levels aren't bad on most of their cans and there are several flavors, although I'm not sure if they carry a kitten formula.

From the foods you can find in your area, I'd just compare them and get the ones with the highest fat/protien content and no fish (or very little fish).

Good luck!
Art

Originally Posted by balstadohana

...I am having a hard time finding different "favors" of wet kitten food...

Click to expand...

Originally Posted by balstadohana

...I have found a little bit of "wellness" products here, I am using their "kitten" wet food right now but it only comes in the one flavor...

Click to expand...

The concept of "variety" in a cat's diet is strictly a human idea. If you think of what cats eat in a natural setting, it should be obvious that their diet is really without much variety.

If the kitten were mine, I'd stick with the Wellness kitten...period. And, if the kitten were here, there would be no introduction to dry foods.

Have you checked the "Where to Buy" section of the Wellness website?

And, if you want to learn and understand about what cats require for a healthy diet, take a free short course in feline nutrition from a respected feline Veterinarian-Nutritionist at this link.

Thanks for your help. I have an idea of what I want to feed but at the same time it can be difficult to get what I want when I need it. Another reason I would like a variety is I don't want a "picky" eater as we have had one of them before and it was difficult when the stores would run out of the food but the next shipment was not in yet. (something that happens OFTEN here). I did call around to the "distributors" here on the island and that is also the story I get from them. Thanks for your help everyone!!! I got some great suggestions.