Japanese cat food woes...

lyrajean

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I live in Japan with my 5 month old kitten Aya that I rescued off the street.

Over the last few months I've been finding that the choices in cat food here are very -ahem- limited and in specialised 'kitten' food almost non-existant.

Would it be okay to feed her wet adult food as long as she's getting dry kitten food?

Dry choices are Science Diet, Royal Canin or Iams, possibly Purina Cat Chow.

Right now she's eating SD and Purina kitten mixed, and loves it. I've never had a cat that loved Iams so I haven't bothered trying...

Wet kitten food here there are only 2 or 3 choices. Most wet cat food is simply shredded tuna or other fish packed in a can with juice or aspic, sometimes there are even little baby eels on top (Japan go figure...) Friskies seem to have liscenced its brand name to produce this kind of kitten food. she loves tuna but has recently gone off her wet food and I'm thinking it might be too much fish (This is Japan and of course people here think there's no such thing as too much fish, even pregnant women eat sushi!).

The only 'western' style wet food is Science diet kitten. Sheba or Purina Mon Petit are also available. Only the SD sells kitten specific food, and its the pate style and she's not crazy about it (would rather eat dry).

The fancy pet store had oraganic Wellness and Varrah cans (adult not kitten). The Varrah chicken made her puke twice (I tossed it). And both are about 250-300yen per can. Or about 3 bucks. I think they are imported and am not sure about the freshness and with the cost I'm not sure I'll be getting that again.

Aya is real skinny, very active and eats like a horse. And right now given my choices I'm leaning toward continuing to give her the SD and Purina kitten dry plus a can of Mon petit adult every other day, which seems to be as often as she'll devour wet food.
 

fireweed

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With the choices you listed, I'd go with the Royal Canin dry - SD and Purina are full of fillers and aren't great foods at all. Royal Canin should be more rich and will help her gain some weight.

Wet food is quite important for kitties - if you can afford it I'd feed her a small can every day - Sheba should be fine, and you can rotate different brands of wet food as you go. You can go for the SD wet kitten, but it's not really neccesary.

She's active and young, so it's okay if she's on the thin side right now. With the proper diet she should fill out soon enough.
 

snake_lady

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Originally Posted by Lyrajean

I live in Japan with my 5 month old kitten Aya that I rescued off the street.

Over the last few months I've been finding that the choices in cat food here are very -ahem- limited and in specialised 'kitten' food almost non-existant.

Would it be okay to feed her wet adult food as long as she's getting dry kitten food?
To answer your question, yes it would be fine for her to have the adult wet when shes getting kitten dry food.

The main difference between kitten and adult foods (dry) is that kittens need more fat and calories (maybe protein too, not sure on that) for development. Wet food usually has more protein than dry food, so its not usually an issue to feed a kitten an adult wet food.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

To answer your question, yes it would be fine for her to have the adult wet when shes getting kitten dry food.

The main difference between kitten and adult foods (dry) is that kittens need more fat and calories (maybe protein too, not sure on that) for development. Wet food usually has more calories and protein than dry food, so its not usually an issue to feed a kitten an adult wet food.
per oz wet food has LESS calories .. ie ave 5.5 oz can has 200-250 calories .. ave cal in same amount of dry is 300-350
 

snake_lady

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I knew someone else was in Japan too.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ighlight=japan

In that posting, they mention they can get Fancy Feast where they are.... can you get FF where you are? The poster also mentions how much they cost and such.

FF is not a great wet food, but its not horrible either....they have non-pate foods that my cat loves.

My other thought, would your cat eat some raw food? That's always an option instead of the wet food if your cat would eat it.
 

snake_lady

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Originally Posted by sharky

per oz wet food has LESS calories .. ie ave 5.5 oz can has 200-250 calories .. ave cal in same amount of dry is 300-350
DOHHHH, my mistake....I meant to just say protein, don't know why I added calories too. I changed it though.... sorry, my brain is not working right LOL.
 
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lyrajean

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Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

I knew someone else was in Japan too.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ighlight=japan

In that posting, they mention they can get Fancy Feast where they are.... can you get FF where you are?

My other thought, would your cat eat some raw food? That's always an option instead of the wet food if your cat would eat it.
No fancy feast here! The Mon Petit Purina seems to have a similar selection though.

I won't feed raw. I worked for an animal hospital back home and the Vets I knew and trusted are opposed to it on the grounds that its easier to spead pathogens (food poisoning) that way.
 

Willowy

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Healthy cats can generally handle raw, but if you're not comfortable with that, you could home-cook for her instead. Real food is always better than processed.

I used to live in Japan. My dad was in the Navy. We used to visit Okinawa a few times a year.....it's so beautiful! I'm jealous!
 
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