A few quick questions

So I found myself doing that thing where I end up spending hours reading the forums.  I thought I'd throw a few questions up, and if anyone would like to give their input, I'd greatly appreciate it.  

First off, for my kitten:

She is about 3 1/2 months old.  I have been feeding canned Wellness kitten formula since I got her - warming it up by mixing hot water with it.  Every so often, I mix in a little bit of my other 2 cats' Wellness food in with her kitten food.  She is starting to eat a lot, and it is getting pretty expensive.  I was thinking about getting some dry kitten food to mix in with her wet food.  First off, is this a good/bad idea?  Secondly, could you recommend a brand?  I was looking at Merrick Before Grain dry.

I was also wondering if anyone could recommend other brands of kitten food, I'd like to switch it up a bit.

Secondly, for my 2 cats (Oreo the resident and Princess, a feral and the kitten's mom, who I took in at the end of October.)

I have been feeding them different flavors of Wellness canned food (warming up with water), but I would like to switch it up.  I was looking at Merrick, and Innova.  Merrick is pretty expensive, and Innova is pretty fair.  I have been hearing buzz about Innova being bought by P&G, but so far so good?  I was hoping someone could point me in a good direction.  Money is starting to become a little issue, so I would like to save a bit, but I do not want to compromise their health.  Innova is looking good, but I would like to hear your suggests.  I think switching between Wellness, Merrick, and Innova is an idea.

I plan to get Taste of the Wild as a dry food to add to their wet food.  They are never satisfied, and I am hoping this will help.  Similarly as with the kitten food, is it a good/bad idea to add dry food in order to help fill their tummies up with the wet food?  As I've stated above, I add water to their food, so I think the hydration issue shouldn't be too bad.

Lastly, do you guy have any neat tips/trick on how to measure how much to give the kitties every feeding?  For the kitten, I try to let her eat as much as she can.   For the other two, I try to eyeball an even serving for every feeding (3-4 times a day).  My parents used to feed Oreo a normal can of 9lives every day, but I'm finding it hard to dose the 12.5oz of Wellness per feeding.  I know it has to do with how they are maintaining weight, but I'm not being very consistent with how much I give them per meal.

Thank you for your time and help.

Richard

HI!!! I can highly recommend Felidae Pure Element's grain free dry food. It is much less expensive than EVO and Wellness Core. My cat's only get about 1/8 cup of dry a day - and I am switching back to this brand because they did well on that.

Here is a link that you might find helpful, cat food nutrition calculator. http://www.scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html

I am sure other's will chime in soon with some more great suggestions for you

Thank you very much for the reply.

I found Felidae at amazon, 15lbs for $33
Merrick grain free is about the same at Petco 11.1lbs for $22: http://www.petco.com/product/113142/Merrick-Before-Grain-Chicken-Grain-Free-Dry-Cat-Food.aspx

Roughly the same price.  Are these good for the kitten too?  Also-- do you have any thoughts on adding dry food to wet food in order to make the cats more satisfied?  I'm not even sure if that makes sense.

My kitten ate almost two cans of Wellness canned kitten formula in one meal, and my other 2 are always hungry!  Also, any suggests on a different brand of canned kitten food, or canned cat food?  I'd like to switch it up for them all.

Thanks again.  I really appreciate the help!

Rich

Hi Rich - Yes - you can add a little dry to the wet food and mix it all up. I used to give 1/8 cup of dry to about 1 ounce of wet food mixed together about three times a day. You can absolutely do that to make them feel more satisfied. Two can's of kitten Wellness per feeding is a lot of food! They are three ounce can's. So two of those a day would be plenty if you mix in the dry as well. I like to feed my cat's three or four small meals a day. Kitten's should get at least 25 to 30 calories per pound per day - if that helps. .

Felidae Pure Essentials is for ALL life stages - so that makes feeding easy. BG is also an excellent choice for you kitten :nod:.. You can also try any of the Wellness brand's of canned foods. When mine were kitten's, I incorporated EVO, Instinct, BG, Wellness Core. They did very, very well on all of those wet food's in rotation. You could also try Wilderness wet food's. They are all life stages too. :nod: Hope this helps a bit

Hi Richard,

It's fine to add a little dry to the wet.  I feed my cats Nutro dry and wet food.  I mix the wet up sometimes with different high end brands as well.