Question about kitten food

We think we found the solution to ella not eating.(but she still has an app w/ the vet). When we first brought her home she was eating Whiska's cat food and she loved it. the only thing that i was worried about was how it came with 3 packs of 1 flavor, 3 packs of another flavor, and 3 packs of another flavor. I'm aware that every time you change a cat's food your supposed to mix it. So i figured why would I keep buying the Whiska's with diff. flavors...unless it's ok..is it ok? The food that she's eating now is hard food. We think she's tired of it..for now she's been eating Tuna here and there. I'm deff purchasing a dummies book for kittens   since we have so many questions. thanks for bearing with me with all of my questions. you guys are the best!  oh yeah, i think were going to switch to Friskies since more come in the box.

The different flavors of Whiskas is essentially the same food, so you dont need to overdo the "changing".  It is if you buy entirely different brands you should be careful.

Some cats have "stomach of iron", but others are more sensitive. Most are in between.

Whiskas hasnt the very best reputation among "experts". But it is easier to make a decent wet cat food than decent dry cat food.

Thus, this Whiskas wet food should be acceptable.  Better Whiskas wet then Friskies dry.

Good luck!

ps. I will ask a mod to move this tread into the nutrition forum.

Most cats don't have a problem switching wet food frequently. In fact, rotating among different flavors and brands (as many as practicable) is good for them. It's also good to rotate dry foods, but it seems this more often causes tummy trouble. Although it's my opinion that if you start doing it when they're young, their tummies adjust much better.

To reduce stress, its a great idea to just feed whatever the cat was eating before.   But when it comes to switching wet food flavors, don't worry about it.   I believe the slow transition is typically only suggested for dry food, and that's just for cats with sensitive tummies (some can change cold turkey no problemo).  

So if its the first or two week, I'd go ahead and just continue whatever feeding schedule and food Ella was on before, and its normal for some cats to be frightened by all the change and not eat as much until they are settled in and feeling confident.  

Later on when Ella is really settled in for a while, we can point you to some other great quality wet and dry foods if you have it in the budget to upgrade.  

I would love for you to direct me in the direction on wet and dry food. possibly the best/popular kind.

Wet food is important for cats because most don't drink enough water. It's my opinion that cats should be fed at least 50% wet food. But kibble is much cheaper than wet food, even the top-quality kibble, so a lot of people can't afford to keed their cat only wet food. But if you can, that would be great.

You have to read the labels to find out which foods are high-quality. In a canned food, look for foods with no artificial colors or flavors, no added sugar, and that keeps by-products and grains to a minimum. Pick a good variety of different flavors and brands. In a dry food, look for foods with no by-product meal, no artificial colors or flavors, and with meat as 3 of the first 5 ingredients.

There are very few decent foods at the grocery store or Wal-Mart. Your best bet is an independently-owen feed store, but the big-box pets stores usually have a good selection as well.

Willowy said:

There are very few decent foods at the grocery store or Wal-Mart.

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The tip  to, after all, to get a decent quality out of cheap dry food brands, sold at grocery stores,

is to take the "kitten" or "active cats" variation.   Also if you do have adult indoor rather lazy cats.  

The variation "Adult" or "indoors"  is typically weaker, with less animal proteins and less fats in them. Read: not enough.

Another tip, is if your cats are excellent mousers, they will surely do make also on these cheap brands.  

StefanZ said:

The tip  to, after all, to get a decent quality out of cheap dry food brands, sold at grocery stores,


is to take the "kitten" or "active cats" variation.  

Click to expand...

Depends on the food really. It's true that "light" or "indoor" formulas are typically lower in protein and fat and higher in carbs and fillers (ironically, carbs are what make cats fat. . .), but kitten food isn't always better than the "adult" formula. Purina Kitten Chow, for example, is nearly identical to Purina Cat Chow. But Purina ONE Kitten is a bit better than Purina ONE adult formula, same with Iams. Again, read those labels!

Here's an article you might enjoy reading:  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat

But I think you got your original question answered right.  That it's ok to change up wet food without having to slowly introduce it.  It's the dry that you need to mix some new (brand) into the old a little at a time until their tummies get used to it. 

Don't worry about asking questions...that's what we all do

I feed kitten dry. My oldest cat wants it more than the kitten. Who eats the senitive stomach. All are PurinaONE.

I do feed the wet/dry combo too. With eight cats tho, some don't like chicken and won't eat wet that day. Some only like beef wet. I have two that on their good day will eat lamb and rice. Brands? They don't like the higher priced wet foods. They mostly like their dry. Even that I tryed better brands. They are steady on the ONE.

We are stuck.

I feed my kitten Friskies wet most of the time, rotating with other brands every so often for a different flavor and then a high quality dry food. One thing I would recommend about if you buy the multi-packs of Friskies a majority of the cans there are fish or seafood based. That is one thing I learned from reading this website - that you should not feed you kitten much seafood/fish wet food (someone can correct me if I'm wrong of provide the OP a link to a past article/thread - I know I've read this somewhere)

When I have had kittens, I fed them canned kitten food 3 times a day and free-fed dry kitten food all day long. 

Violette gets fed both dry and wet food . Sometime I combine it just so the dry food is of more interest . Most of the time she is fed wet and dry seperate . I have found that she loves the Fancy Feast Fish and Shrimp , Salmon and Shrimp , Chicken flavor and a few others . The kibble is the Purina Kitten Chow Nuture line . I think she was recently going through this same phase being bored with her food . Changing up the flavors to see what else they like to eat is a good way to try to get her eating again .