what type of food should i feed my lil kitty?

I'm glad that you don't feed dry!!! Good for you

Most of the grain free wet is good. For example: EVO, Nature's Variety Instinct, Before Grain, Wellness, Wellness CORE, Back to Basics, Go! Natural, By Nature, and Pet Guard.

Have you considered feeding a raw diet? http://www.rawfedcats.org/nature.htm explains the basics of that option.

Typically vomiting dry food has nothing to do with the ingredients in the food, but simply the voraciousness of the eater, especially kittens as their eyes can be much bigger than their little tummies. Sometimes switching brands helps, but sometimes its just the fact that its not as tasty which resolves that issue (think of a kid inhaling mac&cheez but only nibbling on broccoli heh).

Wesley used to barf up high quality Wellness wet food (he loves wet food way more than dry), nothing wrong with the food, but he'd throw up and it was like... how did that much food even fit in you!

Personally, I don't believe that you can really overfeed a kitten before 8 months of age. As such, I'd feed wet 3x a day and would leave out a high quality dry food for free feeding 24x7 (Wellness Chicken and Rice is good, and the adult is virtually identical to the kitten branded one and is cheaper in the bigger bag).. Once realizing the food won't disappear, most tend to nibble small amounts rather than inhale it. If you still have a food crazed cat, you can just stuff a couple Slimcat food distributor balls (about $5 on amazon) which kittens find is fun to play with.

Free feeding is leaving food out for your cat(s) all day long. Either in dispensers or just plain bowls. Dry food, of course. Wet shouldn't just sit around for hours, let alone all day long.

Is she vomiting or regurgiatating? Regurgitation happens almost instantly after eating, vomiting later. You can stop this type of action usually by elevating the food plate so the throat relaxes, moving the water away from the food so the cat actually has to walk a bit of a distance before drinking. If they gobble food, they don't chew add water to that and swelling or bloating occurs. Bloating is uncomfortable so kitty throws up. Take a small jar and put about a cup of water in it and drop one dry kibble inside. Leave if for a few hours. Instead of dissolving- the whole kibble will swell. Think of that happening in kitty's stomach and then wonder why she vomits. Add to that kibble left out all day in a free feeding fashion that she has slobbered on- take bacteria floating in the air, finding that kibble and literally creating a small toxic bomb. Sometimes they vomit in self-defense other times it is a health issue.

Supply her with a bit of organic catnip, just a pinch before eating or give her some cat grass, elevate her food and feed on a plate not a bowl. Move the water and don't switch foods on her suddenly and see if any of this helps.

Good luck

Yes Two of mine, Morey and Mitch, started at four weeks If you want any help figuring out what/how much to feed just ask!

You're from Seattle? I live near Bellingham, WA Have you been enjoying the crazy weather we are having lately To bad Seattle is still a ways away, I know all the best places to buy meat down here.

Free feeding is leaving food out all day for them to graze on as needed. A cat will typically graze from 7 to 20 times a day if free fed.

Generally a cat that is throwing up dry is because the cat is woofing it down too fast. That is a generalization but it's usually the case.

You are looking for food suggestions so I'll tell you that my cats have done well on Nutro Max dry (which I free feed). I feed a 3oz can of wet to them (split 4 ways) 2 times daily. Their wet feedings are on a schedule. I mix up their wet food with Nutro Max and Nutro Natural Choice. My cats have all thrived on this diet. A decent premium food is what you want to feed and there are several on the market out there.

As far as the raw diet goes; I can offer no opinions or advice on feeding a raw diet. I have no experience with it. I do believe there is a raw forum on thecatsite that deals exclusively with this type of diet. Best of luck and congrats on your new kitty!

Kittens, at least mine, are allowed to eat all they want at 3-5 meals a day. No food is left for them in between feedings, because from what I have found, that is actually hard on their bodies.

Here is what I do. I portion the food up into ziplocs and put 20 oz in each ziploc. This is what I do per ziploc:

12 ounces meat (beef heart, beef, chicken heart, chicken gizzards, chicken meat, pork, pork heart, pork tongue, turkey, etc. Any meat from an herbivorous animal.

6 ounces bone-in chicken (I buy whole chickens from the grocery store, cut them up, and smash the bigger bone pieces with a hammer, so that kittens can easily eat it)

1 oz liver (from any herbivourus animal...sorry, I am a bad speller!)

1 oz "other secreting organ (thymus, pancreas, reproductive organs, kidney, brain)

--------------------
You would be suprised how big of pieces kittens can tackle. Personally, when Morey and Mitch were around a month old, they were able to eat pieces of meat that were twice as big as their heads.

Fish: I very rarely feed fish. Mine get a sardine each week, for the omega-3 content. Else, I use salmon oil capsules, meant for people, and give the cats 1-2 of those each week.

I'll post more info later Not much time right now...

I'm glad that it is nice out today! Wednesday night, I was feeding calves outside, and came home drenched. Thursday it was hailing for a while when I was outside feeding calves. Hopefully, it stays nice out, so I don't have to deal with rain/hail tonight while working!

I just want to throw out an opinion from someone who is NOT paid to advertise Nutro...

Personally I feel it's toxic waste and wouldn't feed it to my worst enemies pet. I wouldn't feed it to a starving stray on the street even. While my experience isn't their cat food, Nutro nearly killed my dog. I put her on the food and she became extremely lethargic, she started having explosive bloody diarrhea and vomiting up blood. Quite a bit of $$$ later, come to find out it was the food making her sick. After speaking with other pet owners I discovered it was happening with a LOT of animals. If you google "Nutro reviews" you'll see that this food is responsible for killing HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of pets. It's caused many cases of kidney and liver damage/failure. I would NOT feed their food.

JME. Never again.

I am SO glad that the cat shelter is out of Nutro - they bought 20-30 of the large bags, because it was on sale, and never plan on doing that one again. Cleaning litterboxes was a nightmare...cats were shedding way worse...way more cats were throwing up...it was horrible. They finally used the rest of it up a week ago and bought TOTW dry instead. The cats are already doing better!

Seems like there are bazillions of choices out there these days. I feed a mix of wet foods. I mostly feed Nutro Max Cat and Nutro Natural Choice canned foods. Sometimes I'll mix it up with other brands. My cats do well on the Nutro but sometimes a little variety keeps them on their toes The Nutro products are guaranteed as well. If you buy it and the kitty doesn't like it; take the unused portion back for a full refund. Whatever choice you make in wet foods, try to make sure it is of good quality with good ingredients. Ultimately you will do what your budget dictates and what you feel comfortable with.

I read this the other day and still haven't quite figured out how to respond to it..

First of all i'm sorry that you went through that with your dog. Yet the toxic waste comment i find a bit much, i have nutro here both cat and dog and have so for years, it's a part of my rotation.

No one food works great for everyone i totally get that but i find your statements going a bit to far, my pets are certainly not fed toxic waste and none of them are dead from it either... and i have no doubt there are others here who feed the brand as well.

I don't work for nutro either google can be useful but you cannot believe everything you read on the internet.

You obviously haven't read the Nutro reviews or anything... http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html

And one could argue i could find similar statements for quite a number of foods.

As i said I FEED nutro, my cats are not ill, nor have any issues what-so- ever and my dogs use there grain free in there rotation again ZERO issues.

Unless i have missed a massive recall and pull of the products i will continue to use what works for my pets.

I to have been through the big mess of recalls back a few years ago so i know the fears out there, i know the concerns but while i won't deny the internet can be useful i refuse to believe everything put out there, one doesn't always know the entire circumstances.

Of coarse everyone has a choice to use what they feel comfortable with, were all trying to do what is best for our pets.

Oh really? Try googling "Merrick (or Before Grain) complaints". Or "Evo complaints". Or "By Nature complaints".
Let me know if you find anything.

I did not say ALL foods and i have no interest in running a google on every brand out there all i was saying was complaints are out there for a number of foods, there will always be both negative and positive feedback on products..

You(general you) have to evaluate the merits of them, obviously you do not feel comfortable feeding a nutro brand product and that is fine but since i do i will not stand by and listen to it being equated to as 'toxic waste'

It works for pets and is in my rotation and unless a recall is launched for the products i will continue to.

On that website, every pet food had a list of complaints - people only go onto those sorts of websites when they have something to complain about.

Maybe some people have had bad experiences with Nutro, but a lot of people do consider them a good food.

You have to decide what works best for you, and maybe just agree to disagree on some points.

My sister's large breed dogs are on Nutro and one is fine (a bit overweight cuz he's a lazy lab and has been on other brands too and is very food motivated) and the other extremely heatlhy. The Boxer in fact is strong as an ox and can jump higher than you'd believe and is a serious marathon runner with a very muscular lean body.

The death of animals I believe affected multiple different brands and was a widespread recall, and not an issue inherent to the formula.

For my cats, they are doing well on the Nutro Complete Care wet food and it looks like decent ingredients IMO, much better than Purina and a lot of the other poop under $1 a can anyhow. I feed my cats a plethora of wet food though, but I can definitely say that they have well formed poops, are energetic, bright eyes, clean teeth, and have shiny soft coats.

Nope, Evo, Merrick, and By Nature were not on there. Nice try though. ^^

Those people who consider it a good food either don't know about all the horrible things that have been in their food or have been very lucky to not run into a bad batch. That is all.

You do know that numerous recalls have been put out for Nutro, right? http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...q=nutro+recall
In fact, here's this too http://petfoodtalk.com/catfoodreviews/nutro-max/

Those recalls have not been "put out" for Nutro. Those recalls were voluntary. You can Google just about any pet food company as you have, and get a list of voluntary or involuntary recalls. Petfoodtalk provides a link to the FDA site, http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm2005683.htm if you want information on recalls within the last 60 days. You can also search for recalls on any brand on the FDA site. Since Nutro has been around for 85 years, is endorsed by Waltham and makes all of their own food, I consider it a good food along with countless others. If I did not think it was one of the industries best, I would not be working for them. Nutro has taken responsibility for all of it's ingredients and manufacturing. The food is tested 600 times before hitting the shelves.

I have been using Nutro since I was a child. I have continued to use it into adulthood. All of my animals have thrived on Nutro.

Some of these new brands don't make their own food and don't have the resources to compete in the current market. I'm guessing many of them will not be around a couple of years from now. If they are, they will be hard to find in most stores because the stores will not give up shelf space to a product that does not sell well. Does not mean it's a bad food but if they can't compete, they won't be around. Either that or they will make their P&L statement profitable so they can sell out to another huge conglomerate.

Just for the record Ke$ha, I am not "paid to advertise" Nutro.

You may not be paid to advertise for them, but you are Their nutritionist.
I respect you and your opinions because you seem like an informed person, but I also know you are going to be biased because you work for Nutro.

My problem with Nutro is the amount of upset it has caused pet owners whose pets have either gotten sick or died on their food. You may say that other brands have just as much upset, but try looking up Evo or Before Grain (and one other company I can't think of now) and you will find Maybe one or two complaints, not pages and pages.

I agree with NutroMike about the ingredients. Above all, avoid anything with menadione, a synthetic form of Vitamin K that has been banned by the FDA in human supplements because of its toxicity. (In spite of Nutro's claim of "all natural.") Google the word "menadione" and see if you find anything favorable about this ingredient. Also avoid anything with corn gluten meal. This is the protein part of the corn, a cheap by-product of the corn starch and corn syrup industry. It is used by the lower quality foods to boost the protein percentage with cheap hard to digest plant protein. Here's a quote from Nutro's own website advertising their new grain free dog food: "Completely gluten free – the grain component that’s hardest to digest. They also claim, on another page on their website "Corn Gluten Meal: Excellent source of protein that is highly digestible." Which do you believe???? Unless you are sure that your cat is not allergic to corn, wheat and soy, I would avoid those three, the most common food allergens (and coincidentally the cheapest commodities on the planet). One of the most important ingredients that many people don't even consider is the Omega 3 fatty acids. Even the lower quality foods add enough Omega 6 which is cheap, but very few add enough Omega 3 to balance the Omega 6 and this balance is crucial. The balance should be between 2 and 5 to 1 (Omega 6 to Omega 3) to be effective. Oops, looks like I just described Nutro Max.

Just noticed this was in reply to me. xD

Not all recalls by Nutro were voluntary. The widely known 2007 recalls were not because of a vitamin deficiency or something non-life threatening. They were a big wake-up call to many pet owners that even companies that they trusted make mistakes in the formulating and processing of their brands.

Just curious, what is their testing procedure? If it's one meal per animal, that's not going to be enough to make problems shown.

By saying that you have used it since childhood, that is again showing that you are biased simply based on that you have been raised being told it is good, and then moved into the business during adulthood. Not that you researched the company first before you went into it. When you are a child, you don't have the ability to know right from wrong and as an adult, it's hard to break away from what you were taught as a child.

Why do you say that these new brands won't make it? Evo, Wellness and Natural Balance are very popular and well-known brands. Sure they have not been around as long as Nutro, but they are companies that sit in the hearts of their customers and are very well sold.
I think you meant me? Unless you were being sarcastic throughout?

I would recommend you to feed your cats Innova Evo (but since Natura Pet was bought by P&G I would probably be ready to switch from Evo to another brand, as P&G is known for turning great pet food into a crappy food, btw they test on animals(((...
I also like Authority from PetSmart, Chicken soup and Welness)))
as for dry, I give my cats dry food overnight only - it is called "Taste of the Wild")). It is a very cheap but good quality grain free food. Also available in cans.

Ok, let me explain a little more about my beef with Nutro.

1. My problems were NOT during the 2007 recall or during a recall at all. It was at the end of 2009. This was NOT just "my" problem. I had real life and internet friends going through the same thing at the same time. Add in the comments made by people on review sites, it can't be a coincidence. So -something- was wrong with the food, it wasn't just my dog. Yet no recall was ever made during that time. Even since then I've had people ask me about their dogs getting sick and when they tell me they feed Nutro I tell them to switch. Funny how the dogs are always fine once they're off Nutro.

2. When we contacted Nutro they were very unsupportive. I didn't get a refund on the food, I wasn't covered for the vet bills the food caused (And I know for a fact other brands WILL cover both) and let me just say to those who DO work for Nutro...Please put in a word that coupons for more food that causes my animals to be sick is redundant and that I don't want to buy more of your food when it's obviously NOT working for my dog!! WHY DO I WANT COUPONS FOR MORE?? They aren't going to make up for the cost of the vet bills to continue feeding it and aren't going to cover the heart break when your pet dies from it.

3. The reaction to the food REALLY bothered me. I've seen reactions to bad foods before, things like dull coat, excessive shedding, goopy eyes, soft/runny poop, larger amounts of poop, ect are "normal" bad reactions. NOT extreme lethargy to where she would barely get up to go outside and potty much less play and having BLOOD coming from BOTH ENDS.

4. My dog has a stomach made of steel...Or so I thought. When she was younger she got into roach poison. The dog didn't vomit, she didn't have soft poop, she didn't become lethargic, there was no damage to her organs, she was fine. Crazy how eating Nutro caused worse problems for her than ROACH POISON did! I fed some of the recalled foods during the 2007 problems and didn't have the problems Nutro did during the time they WEREN'T recalled.

5. I am all the time testing out new products on my dogs. My dogs have eaten everything from Purina Dog Chow to RAW. I've fed a good 25+ brands and none have ever caused problems like Nutro has. Why?

Now, if you feel like it does well for your pets then that's up to you. But I should have my rights just as anyone else to warn people about mine and family/friends experience with this food. *I* don't trust it and can't say I could ever forgive the company for how they treated me and what the food did to my dog. I'm very thankful to still have her around at 13 years old and in good health and I'm not sure why anyone would blame me for not having the balls to try it again at the risk it'll cause her problems. For *ME*, I love my pets too much to try a product like that again. There are far too many other options out there that HAVEN'T caused me nearly as many problems to ever give Nutro another shot. Not to mention their product quality has gone down over the years which just turns me off even more. My pets don't need corn gluten, synthetic vitamin K, wheat, ect in their food. Again, JMO/E.

Man, I wish all of the internet had a like button.