Blue vs Wellness Core

If I had to feed dry, between those two brands, I'd choose Blue Wilderness.

As for canned: Trader Joe's is probably the cheapest one that doesn't have by-products. I don't remember the exact price, but think it is somewhere between $0.60-$0.70 for a 5.5 ounce can.

It depends on where you live, but sometimes you can get good deals off of petfooddirect.com. Someone, on another forum, just got the 5.5 ounce cans of By Nature 95% for $0.75 a piece!

If you get the larger cans, such as the 13 ounce ones, it does end up being cheaper than the 5-6 ounce cans. Here, I can get a 5.5 ounce can of Wellness for $1.59 when a 13.2 ounce can is $2.20. Or a 5.5 ounce can of Felidae is $1.29 when the 13.2 ounce can is $1.89.

Remember, the more wet you can feed the better

Blue makes a bunch of different formulas, and some of them suck IMO.

If you mean Wilderness, its comparable to Core. Core has great ingredients and lots of quality protein, w/ my only concern being its a little higher magnesium and phosphorous than Wilderness IIRC. Emphasis now is on urine PH balance though, and both claim to achieve that. As long as you aren't feeding a bunch of wet fish flavored food everyday with it and have a nice water fountain, either would be great and the deciding factor may simply be availability and price.

For wet food, I just get whatever looks good on ingredients and is on sale, and my munchkins always nomnom it all up. Nutro has a Complete Care series that I like, they have chicken casserole and chicken and turkey and a couple others IIRC that we rotate. Avoderm made a couple, although the kitties ate it the slowest out of all of them, so it must be less tasty. Blue also has some (but not wilderness wet, its overpriced IMO). Nature's own is a big hit, but I got that on the clearance rack for a buck, may usually be more. Just check on the forum on what to look for on labels, and then you can quickly spin the cans and figure out whats a good deal near you. Most of the Purina stuff isn't great, but they had their higher recipe (select I think, forget the name) kitten chicken 3oz cans for 50cents recently, and so we got a bunch of those. I just wouldn't do fish more than twice a week.

But remember, the stuff really needs to be completely used by three days.

If you have just one cat and you're mixed feeding, you may find the big cans aren't practical and kitty might get bored eating the same flavor food for several days. I used to do the 12oz cans, but then went back to 5oz, as that way between the two of them they finish one can a day always switching to a different flavor each day, and get a bit of kibble as a very early morning and nighttime snack from their autofeeder so they don't harass me.

I use the 13 ounce cans, and am feeding one cat, Nightmare. But then, since I don't feed my cats dry food, he eats it all in two days.

I am feeding my girls Blue's Kitten food, because Isabella is 17 weeks. Is this a good one? Can I switch to Wilderness before she reaches a year? Is there a better kitten chow out there? I chose Blue because I thought it was a good brand.

I have used both Blue Wilderness and Wellness Core. My cat prefers the Wellness Core. I didn't have a problem with the Blue Wilderness, but it was a matter of cat preference. I also feed Wellness canned food, but it is more than $1 per can. Yet, when I buy a case and use a coupon from Wellness, it's really not much more than $1 per 5 oz can.

Adweena, I have switched a kitten from kitten food to adult with no adverse effects. I did this with my vet's approval though so you might want to consult with your vet first. As long as you're feeding a good premium food, it probably won't be an issue at 17 weeks. My kitten was 5 months old when I switched her and she is quite the big, healthy girl today.

As far as food brands... I won't comment on Blue for obvious reasons

Blue Wilderness is actually not high protein at all compared to good wet food, which is the problem with most kibble is that its not enough protein and fat, and too many carbs and filler.

Blue Wilderness Duck Dry:
Crude Protein 40.0% = 44% protein dry matter basis
Crude Fat\t 18.0% = 20% fat dry matter basis

Wellness Kitten Chicken Wet:
Crude Protein\t11.0% = 50% protein dry matter basis
Crude Fat\t7.0% = 32% fat dry matter basis

The AAFCO sets minimums for kitten nutrients, and fact is that many maintenance diets simply fall short in some areas for a growing kitty with higher needs (per pound, a kitten will eat around twice as much food). A rich food though would not, which is what Wilderness and Core are. We didn't start as very YOUNG kittens, but my two have been on Wilderness since about 7months age as part of their diet along with a rich adult wet food (primarily Wellness Chicken canned at the time).

If you want to be extra safe, you can get a rich kibble that is specifically marketed as "all life stages". Since these are also rich foods, the idea is that you simply reduce the amount you feed an adult.