Ready for a fresh start!

My kitten, Oreo, is 4 months old. He was adopted from a shelter about 1 month ago. Now that he is used to his new home, and his humans, we are ready to get him off of Purina Kitten Chow, and start on a better diet of our choice. We want this to be a lifetime diet, we don't want to change his food unless medically needed. His poops are just AWFUL and we are ready to start making the best choices possible for our boy[emoji]9829[/emoji]

I would like advice on food options that have worked well for everyone

these brands work best for me

nutro wet nature variety wet and dry solid gold wet n dry soulistic wet wellness core wet before grain dry merrick wet these are the foods I feed my cats and they like it

before i switched my cats to a no grain thay was vomiting bad poo loosing weight loosing hair bad sin etc its all gone now since i switched

My cats were letting out some real "barn burners" when on grain-free but cheap canned. I didn't try the brands above, I moved on to raw and now there is no odor from their litter boxes. Again I didn't try the brands above, but I can feed homemade raw cheaper than I can feed cheap canned. Just a thought!

Hello and Welcome to TCS! 

Thanks for trying to take great care of your new Kitty  

There are many different viewpoints on cat foods,

and pages could be (and have been) written about these topics,

but I'll be glad to try to help you get going in the right direction.

First and most importantly, I'd STRONGLY encourage you to avoid CORN, and SOY...

they provide little to no value to a cat,

and roughly 90% of American corn and soy are Genetically Modified

and are either sprayed directly with pesticides,

or have pesticide genes in their DNA.

OK, on to food types...

There is a growing school of thought that Raw is indeed the most natural and healthful diet,

and that it is also the best for oral health. If you are interested, we have an entire RAW Forum

with tons of great information.

IMO, the next best option would be home cooked foods.

This is a substantial commitment in terms of time and responsibility,

and this option will deservedly have some threads dedicated to it in the forums that you can find with a search.

Many people feel that an all wet diet would be the next best option.

Proponents of that plan point to sources that show that eating kibble is of limited value in terms of oral health.

Additionally, the added moisture of wet food has clear benefits for their kidneys and overall health.

Dry foods actually dehydrate cats, so ideally,  they should be used as a snack only or not at all.

However, due to the expense and time considerations, many people are not able to commit to an all wet feeding routine.

At this point, I'll suggest that you (and anyone who cares about their kitties and wants the best for them)

at least commit to one or two meals of wet food per day. I give my kitties wet (or home made chicken) for breakfast

and wet for dinner, and a small (~ 10 pieces) snack of dry between meals and before I go to bed.

The next consideration is Grains.

It is becoming somewhat commonly accepted that grains have no place in a carnivore's diet,

and that many of them add little nutritional value as most of them are not digestible by cats,

and therefore just end up in the litter box. I generally agree with this point of view.

HOWEVER, I do not like the fact that so many companies have replaced grains

with starchy vegetables like peas, potatoes and even tapioca, which might potentially

be as bad or even worse for the Kitties than some grains.

I have recently taken my Kitties off of all foods that include the 3 ingredients I just mentioned above.

Personally, I now prefer to occasionally feed whole grains like barley and brown rice over peas and potatoes.

Next is Fish.

Most kitties LOVE fish, but there is growing concern regarding Fish in a cat's diet,

due to links to Kidney problems and Mercury poisoning.

Personally, I feed seafood oriented food about once per week.

Since there are many good brands of cat foods available now, you can hear a wide range of recommendations,

(and you can read many reviews and recommendations in the Nutrition section of this forum)

but I'll get you started with a few that my Kitties enjoy and have done well on.

Wet:

EVO 95% (all flavors)

Before Grain (Quail, Chicken, Turkey)

California Natural Chicken and Brown Rice

Natural Balance Turkey & Giblet

Natural Balance Chicken & Liver Pate

Natural Balance Ultra Formula (has a little Salmon in it)
Wellness Grain Free Turkey

Wellness Grain Free Chicken

Grreat Choice Poultry Platter (PetSmart's improved version of Friskies Poultry Platter)

Dry:

EVO Turkey & Chicken (has some peas)

California Natural Chicken and Brown Rice

Evolve

OH, when changing Dry foods, start by adding just a little of the new food to the old dry,

then slowly increase the amount of the new food and decrease the old one.

That will make it easier on Kitty's tummy and lessen the chance of loose stools.

Ok - I hope I have helped, and hopefully some other members will chime in here.

In the meantime, browse the forums and the articles for LOTS of good info for the Kitties!  

Couldn't have put it better, Mr. Wonders!

I think I provided a link in your thread in the health forum, but it's worth repeating here. It's a really good place to start, and has so many useful components (info about commercial foods, etc.) http://www.catinfo.org

And if you want to learn about the AAFCO "complete and balanced" thing, what's in cat food, and the regulations about cat food, this is a good thread (and the reason why I stopped feeding my cats commercial food, after arguing against feeding raw for about a year. :lol3: :anon: ) http://www.thecatsite.com/t/239691/nutritionally-complete-assurances-for-our-pet-food

LDG said:

Couldn't have put it better, Mr. Wonders!

 

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Thanks Laurie! 

I feel like Joe Montana just complimented me on my ability to throw a Football   

Oh, you may call me Dave, by the way  

I'm just the "medium," channeling information....

SevenWonders said:

Thanks Laurie! 

I feel like Joe Montana just complimented me on my ability to throw a Football   

Click to expand...

That's gorgeous...

Holly Jolly, I guess it's pretty obvious that we all think LDG knows her stuff...

Looks like HollyJolly forgot to come back to TCS to check our replies   

Hope Oreo is doing fine!   

Maybe she just didn't like your suggestions Dave.

Or she's still researching... or trying some new foods and just not reporting every little step along the way. :lol3:

LDG said:

Maybe she just didn't like your suggestions Dave.

 

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Thanks Laurie  

Figures they disappear when I write a critically acclaimed documentary...  

Next time I should just say "Feed EVO cans. Have a nice day."   

SevenWonders said:

Thanks Laurie  

Figures they disappear when I write a critically acclaimed documentary...   :lol3:

Next time I should just say "Feed EVO cans. Have a nice day."   

Click to expand...

:lol3: Well, the post is here to link to now!

SevenWonders said:

Looks like HollyJolly forgot to come back to TCS to check our replies   

Hope Oreo is doing fine!   

Click to expand...

I figure she's still reading your post It IS pretty long .  But very informative.  Seriously, my guess is she's been back, read, and is now reading up on raw, homemade, etc.

mrsgreenjeens said:

I figure she's still reading your post

It IS pretty long

. 

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Good one - that was hilarious!   

Seriously, thanks - I needed a good laugh.

I hurt my back this morning and now I am missing a day and a half of 70 degree weather.

So frustrating - I had so many things I wanted to do outside.  

:cross: Well I hope the good laugh didn't hurt you further!

You girls are having too much fun here. :lol3:

Us girls and DAVE!

And HollyJolly, please don't mind us! PLEASE feel free to ask any questions without fear of .... us! :anon:

hmm or maybe hollyjolly computer broke or her internet went down or something else happened or preventing her to come back?

LDG said:

Well I hope the good laugh didn't hurt you further!

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It was worth it! 

Still hurts, but heading in the right direction.

LDG said:

Us girls and DAVE!

And HollyJolly, please don't mind us! PLEASE feel free to ask any questions without fear of .... us!

Click to expand...

Indeed... hope we didn't scare her away!  

I doubt it - surely she can see that we aren't "all business" though.    

I just didn't respond because I eventually had to take Oreo to the vet and just didn't need any more advice. I have a lot of time but usually barley anytime to cook for myself, none the less Oreo. I am now back with new struggles of introducing an 8 week old Kitten to Oreo. Thank you for the wonderful advice, I am just always horrible at keeping up with any social networking.