I don't know what to feed my kittens/cats anymore!

When I first adopted my stray cat Panther, my sister had been feeding her in their porshe Kits n Kaboodle which Panther, and then River when I adopted him two weeks later, both love! But I found out that wasn't a very good food nutritionally wise. River came with Pro Plan kitten food which is better that the aforementioned but not the best. I cannot afford feeding them raw food since I feel it's harder to calculate the appropiate nutrition for them and don't have enough time. I am a full time student, have a kid and a family to take care of too! 

I have tried several brands of wet food but the one they love and never refuse to eat is Fancy Feast kitten food. I know is not the best either. I've been trying to switch them to Evo and Innova Dry and wet. They are not fond of the wet food but they eat it when they see I won't feed them anything else. I can be stubborn too lol

The ones I have tried with no luck are Nutro kitten and Nutro Max, Pro Plan kitten, Authority and about to try Wellness wet food. I wil try to feed them more wet but I know they like to kibble too. And it is okay because they like to drink water too! But I don't know what else to try because I don't like trowing away the food especially when it's not cheap and my family is on a tight budget.

I am worried because I am running out of options. I just bought a new bag of Innova because they've been running out of Evo lately with the recalls and just to receive a message that the company was recalling more products including the one I had just bought. My kittens are 9 and 10 months so I wanted to switch them gradually to a better cat food instead of kitten food. But it's been hard they being picky Purina junkies and the good labels out there that they eat are being recalled.

Is it okay to keep feeding them what they like and just swith to the adult food gradually or should I leave them starve a little more until they give up??? They fol low me around the house asking for their kibble and that can be very convincing specially Panther who has developed the most persuasive feline skills lol

I hear you! My cat was on Fancy Feast and Friskies food for 6 years, and it has been very difficult to transition her better canned/raw.

Have you tried crushing/grinding the kibble they love onto the wet you want them to eat? I find "toppers" like this invaluable. You can also try putting some of the FF kitten canned onto or mixed into the better canned. Use small quantities of whatever they like with the new stuff and try gradually reduce the toppers. Other toppers that are known to work well are dried bonito flakes, crushed dried meat treats(Whole Life or Pure Bites brands for example), canned tuna water, etc. Good luck! It takes patience but knowing that you are doing it in their best interests makes it worthwhile.

Since they are less than a year old, they are still considered kittens.  They need to eat more than a full-grown cat.  Give them what they will eat, and in a couple of months, start gradually changing to adult food.  While you are doing that, sneak in some higher quality, high meat content food.  You might start thinking about feeding raw, too.  All the raw feeders say it is not as expensive as the superhigh quality 95% meat canned brands.  I would like to try, but I have no stores that sell it close, and the delivery (mail, UPS, FedEx) is not really reliable here.

I'll try topping the new better can food with theit FF and I will try the crushe kibble topper too! But this cats are not soo dumb. They pick or lick what they like and leave the rest to spoil lol I've found River has been picking just the flavored kibble and leaving out the Evo stuff.

Then they go all day asking me for food like I haven't feed them already! Panther paws on my legs in case I don't hear her I almost feel like giving in and serving the junk but same as my son begs for Mc Donalds with no result they will cry for their Kits and Kaboodles and FF and I'll turn deaf!

Yeah, cats are smart. And stubborn (or patient if you want the positive spin). Mine will spend forever picking out what she wants and leaving the rest. But I am dtermined to outsmart her.

Fancy Feast isn't so bad, especially the non-fish Classics and Kitten kind. It's not particularly cheap either, but for quality it's not terrible. Personally, I kind of prefer it to some of the "better" brands that are chock-full of fruits, veggies, starches, etc. that are useless for cats. So don't feel too bad if you can't get them on anything else! It's not worth stressing yourself and them over. Just feed a good variety of non-fish Classic flavors.

The Classics are low-carb and grain-free and have meat as the first ingredient. Definitely not the worst thing.

But Kit 'n'Kaboodle is definitely one of the worst brand-name dry foods available (some store-brand generics are worse). There isn't even an actual meat source in it :/.

Willowy said:

Fancy Feast isn't so bad, especially the non-fish Classics and Kitten kind. It's not particularly cheap either, but for quality it's not terrible. Personally, I kind of prefer it to some of the "better" brands that are chock-full of fruits, veggies, starches, etc. that are useless for cats. So don't feel too bad if you can't get them on anything else! It's not worth stressing yourself and them over. Just feed a good variety of non-fish Classic flavors.

The Classics are low-carb and grain-free and have meat as the first ingredient. Definitely not the worst thing.

But Kit 'n'Kaboodle is definitely one of the worst brand-name dry foods available (some store-brand generics are worse). There isn't even an actual meat source in it :/.

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I feed the ferals Fancy Feast classics (when on sale), and Friskie's pate style foods. When they were eating canned, the inside cats got EVO, Nature's Instinct, and some Wellness - though honestly, at this point, I prefer Fancy Feast to Wellness. But that was really expensive, which is why we switched to raw. But raw is NOT cheaper than a mix of dry and low-end wet foods.

Another wet food to consider, and it should be in the more affordable range, is the By Nature 95% cans. They have less fat, actually, than the EVO (and I think than Nature's Variety Instinct), and cost a lot less. (Cats do well with fat, it's just an issue of what you're paying for, IMO!).

The Fancy Feast Classic.... do they explicitly say "Classic" on the label? I'm in Canada and I just buy a can labelled "Chicken Feast Pate".

The ones l have don't say "Classics" on them. They just say Chicken Feast - Festin de Poulet, Pate.

(and it contains fish  ).

l think it's the beef pates that don't have fish.

I don't know if the labels are different in Canada. In the U.S., the cans have a little color-coded band on the can with the type--"classic" "grilled" "minced" etc. Classics are pate, so that one is a good bet.

Alright thanks!

Sorry, I must have misread about the cost of raw.

catspaw66 said:

Sorry, I must have misread about the cost of raw.

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The homemade raw that I make is cheaper than canned Friskies. Now admittedly it required a start up cost of getting a deep freezer and grinder, but those paid themselves off in about 8 months. And, I wasn't paying for a lot of meds/tests at the vets anymore.

I don't think my budget will allow for new appliances to me less to say my sooo adored cats. My husband is the only working parent in this house and he supports me and my son while I go to school to finish my degree and take care of our son.

So I try to give the best we can to our cats and that is why I'm switching them to a better food but as I stated in the first post. I need something practical under my time and budget capabilities.

Some of you on the same side will understand! I just got them some Merrick and Wellness kitten food. I used to free feed them and now I will put them on a schedule so they are more eager to try new food!

Fortunately of the FF I only use wet kitten and they prefer the poultry over the fish flavor

Thank you all for the reccomendations. I had read very good things about Evo and Innova but now they are recalling everything it is scary!

LDG said:

I feed the ferals Fancy Feast classics (when on sale), and Friskie's pate style foods. When they were eating canned, the inside cats got EVO, Nature's Instinct, and some Wellness - though honestly, at this point, I prefer Fancy Feast to Wellness. But that was really expensive, which is why we switched to raw. But raw is NOT cheaper than a mix of dry and low-end wet foods.

Another wet food to consider, and it should be in the more affordable range, is the By Nature 95% cans. They have less fat, actually, than the EVO (and I think than Nature's Variety Instinct), and cost a lot less. (Cats do well with fat, it's just an issue of what you're paying for, IMO!).

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Do you prefer FF over Wellness because it doesn't have fruit? Any other reasons? I'm curious because I feed both along with lots of other brands.

Panther n River said:

I don't think my budget will allow for new appliances to me less to say my sooo adored cats. My husband is the only working parent in this house and he supports me and my son while I go to school to finish my degree and take care of our son.
So I try to give the best we can to our cats and that is why I'm switching them to a better food but as I stated in the first post. I need something practical under my time and budget capabilities.

Some of you on the same side will understand! I just got them some Merrick and Wellness kitten food. I used to free feed them and now I will put them on a schedule so they are more eager to try new food!
Fortunately of the FF I only use wet kitten and they prefer the poultry over the fish flavor
Thank you all for the reccomendations. I had read very good things about Evo and Innova but now they are recalling everything it is scary!

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I completely understand! I'm a full time nursing student living on loans...hence I cannot afford the same variety of foods that many of the raw feeders feed their cats. But the way I see it, I'm ahead of the game feeding the raw that I make than feeding a single variety dry like I used to feeds cats in my past.

FWIW, the reason I can feed raw as cheaply as I do is because of buying grocery meats while on sale and freezing it until time to make food. Then I thaw what I need by putting it in a sink full of cold water the night before. Couple of hours to make food and portion it out into individual servings and refreeze.

In any case, it may be something you want to look at as part time (feed canned and raw), or full time raw in the future. For dental health you can throw them gizzards or any bits of raw meat occasionally without worrying about supplementing and all that jazz.

catspaw66 said:

Sorry, I must have misread about the cost of raw.

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No, you're right - it costs us a lot less to feed raw than to provide the high-end canned (EVO, Nature's Variety, Ziwipeak, Weruva etc.) only. But if some of the diet is provided as kibble, it is cheaper to feed even "high end" kibble than raw. :nod:

I actually did a cost comparison of a lot of popular brands of canned and kibble, with the commercially available raw foods: http://catcentric.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Combined-Products-Cost-Comparison-1.pdf

(And the article that went with it: http://catcentric.org/nutrition-and...y-cat-or-i-can-afford-to-feed-commercial-raw/ )

smitten4kittens said:

Do you prefer FF over Wellness because it doesn't have fruit? Any other reasons? I'm curious because I feed both along with lots of other brands.

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Exactly that - the fruit and veggies. It doesn't alter the carb profile much, but given I can usually find Fancy Feast on sale, and I can't find Wellness on sale, I'd rather buy the FF without the fruit & veggies. (Though if feeding my indoor-only kitties canned, I'd want to provide a variety, as I did. The outdoor cats, the food is just a supplement to what they hunt. I don't put out enough food to provide their daily nutritional need).

To be really honest I have only been a cat meowmy for only 2 months. I've heard of the raw food be the best diet for our furry loves and thought it was expensive and it took time and preparation and also read an animal nutrionist's article saying it is best to feed a commercial food wet or dry than to feed an unbalanced homemade or raw diet because you gotta stick strictly to certain recipes to make sure you are providing the complete nutrients and that is something you don't have to worry about when you buy a good brand food.

I know the best of the best would be a balanced not unbalanced raw diet but I don't consider myself knowledgeable enough in cat nutrition so the more practical way for me to feed my cats is to buy the canned food and it was fine with Evo and Innova 13.5 cans could cost me about $2 a can. Wellness 5.5 oz cost me about that much. I feed them one can a day and supplement with kibble since they protest if I take it away or if I don't give them any wet they also protest lol

The dry I have to mix it with the Kit n Kaboodle which lately River has been fishing out and leaving the rest of Evo or ProPlan food. Panther likes dry better in fact, today I found some Wellness kitten and brought them some which I mixed with FF. She usually just licks the gravy and the moist top and leaves it there to dry but since she had no choice today she ate it and vomited later. Idk if it was because she gulped on the food because she was starving or if the food gave her an upset tummy

My husband has tried feeding them boiled chicken and fish with no seasonings and they'll taste it and leave it there. River doesn't like human food I've tried raw food too and he won't show any interest. I think he was raised by a human family cause he's very well trained but scaredy also(God knows what methods they used on him) but my Panther grew up on the streets so she's less picky as long as you give her a share of kibble and FF.

I don't want them to become overweight or have any diabetes problems so under my budget I try to feed them the best I can but I am probably over obsesing with it lol a new series should be called over obsesive moms!

My cat would never take meat scraps either, unless it was me feeding it to her and I was very insistent. She's been an overeater / overweight since she was a kitten, so nobody ever understood why she didn't want their scraps. It's because she didn't recognize it as "food", though, since she was on dry food her entire life and meat scraps have a very different texture.

I've recently transitioned the same cat to a commercial raw diet and was very successful. The tins I were buying when I was giving them wet food were actually more expensive than one of the types of raw I get now. Maybe you will have similar success as I did?

The raw food that transitioned my kibble-addict was Feline Natural. It's freeze dried made out of chicken, lamb and green mussels. What I did was this:

- Fed my kibble addict wet food, which she wouldn't fully eat. Then I offered her some freeze dried Feline Natural, broken apart to be similar sizes as kibble. It was still dry, so she mistook it for kibble and was more willing to try it. By the second day she was happily eating it dry (though sometimes mixed in with a little "real" kibble).

- Then I reconstituted it with half the recommended water. She wasn't happy, but would eat it if I hand fed her individual pieces. 

- After that, fully reconstituted. Served as suggested.

For a full day one cat needs about 15 grams with 45mL of water. They provide a measuring scoop with the bag that makes it easy: 1.5 scoops a day reconstituted with 1 scoop of water. There was a 125g bag and a 350g bag, but I started with the 125g for 10.99 in case it didn't work out. Larger one is better value. 125 grams / 15 grams a day = 8.3 days, or 10.99 / 8.3 = $1.32 a day. 

I'm currently feeding her one scoop a day 2/3 times a day with raw chicken medallions from Nature's Variety, with kibble just as a snack when I'm not around. The medallions make it a bit more costly, but the freeze dried is a good value, I think!

It's easy to overfeed on freeze dried raw, so if you give it a go, then try just starting it with 0.25 or 0.5 scoops and supplement with other left overs that you know the calories of.  Good luck either way.

FYI--Evo was back in stock in my pet store yesterday.  They weren't fully stocked but that could have been due to what they had flying off the shelves from people like me who had run out.