Friskies Canned Food

namelessaria

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I'm working on switching my new kitten over from the Purina dry kibble (for adult cats) they had him on at the shelter to a wet food that is either for all life stages or for kittens. I got him a dry kibble from Purina that is the same type he was on, only for kittens, to help him transition without too much digestive upset. I've been trying different types of the Friskies pâté canned foods for him also to switch him to dry. I picked Friskies mostly because I didn't know how resistant he would be to switching to wet food and if I was going to be throwing a lot of it away I wanted it to be cheaper. But he seems like he is loving wet food so I'm wondering if it is okay to leave him on Friskies pâté or if I should switch him over to a different canned food.  I'm not sure how good Friskies pâté formulas are. 

I also have been leaving some dry kibble out for him to free feed on during the night since I wake up late and whenever I'm going to be away from home for a meal time. Right now since I have the Purina kibble that I'm using to transition him I've just been leaving that out, but once it is gone is there a better dry kibble I can use when I'm not around to feed him wet?

I appreciate any and all advice! I'm completely new to kitten care as this is my first cat ever and I've had him less than a week. 
 

vball91

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The Friskies pates are on the low end of the ok foods. If you can rotate those with other high animal protein/low carb wet foods, it would be better. Variety is better anyway in case of discontinued flavors/brands and recalls as well as offering nutritional profiles. www.catinfo.org has a comparison chart of canned foods that is really helpful in making those decisions.

The best dry foods I know of are Wysong Epigen 90, Ziwipeak and Young Again Zero Carb.
 
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namelessaria

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Thanks for the info vball 


I was looking up the Young Again food and it looks like you can only buy it on-line from their website? It was pretty expensive there but it seems they are claiming that cats eat less of it to be full/well nourished so in the end it is cheaper. Has anyone fed this food to confirm? I can't imagine an 8 pound bag lasting all that long.

I'll definitely look into some of the other options also!

And yeah I was worried that Friskies is low end. I've also noticed that almost all their flavors include fish. I read somewhere that you shouldn't feed fish more than once a week or so. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage that as Dexter loves fish and won't eat much of the other flavors I've tried with him. Hopefully I can find some good non-fish flavors in other brands that he likes if it is true that fish should be fed that little.

As far as treats go I just brought some canned meat for people (chicken, tuna, shrimp, stuff like that) and I've been using little pieces of that for treats. I've tried to feed Dexter some of the Temptations cat treats and he was 100% not interested. He wouldn't eat any of them, at all. Not even a bite. Is it okay to feed him meat for people as a treat? 

Sorry I'm a n00b!
 

vball91

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I haven't fed Young Again, but as a general rule high animal protein and fat are most satisfying and nutritious so cats do eat less. I don't know how that translates for dry food as I don't feed dry any more.

As for fish, the bigger fish like tuna contain a level of toxic minerals like mercury that can be an issue over time. Fish is known to be an inflammatory agent for many cats. So, yes it's good to not feed fish too often. Smaller fish like sardines and mackerel are better than larger fish.

The canned meats are ok as long as they are not too high in sodium (less than 100mg per serving) and less than 15% of his total diet. The Temptations treats are actually full of terrible ingredients, so it's actually good he doesn't like them. An even better treat for cats are freeze-dried meats and organs (only one ingredient).
 
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namelessaria

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I sent my fiance to the store to pick up some groceries and ask him to get Dexter a couple of things of kitten food while he was out. I sat and went through what I had looked up, based largely off your input so thanks 
, and suggested some good foods for him to get kitty. He comes back with Meow Mix kibble. 
 Clearly I'm going to have to do all the shopping for kitty from now on.

The chart on catinfo lists foods by phosphorous also. Stupid question I guess, but why does phosphorous matter? And is it better if it is low or high? Other than that it looks like TikiCat is probably the best food (at least if you look at the brand as a whole) as far as protein and such goes. I'm not sure how to tell if the protein is coming from plants or animals though. It seems like the foods labeled with things like 96% Beef should have more protein. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong?
 

vball91

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LOL yeah the Meow Mix kibble is not good stuff. You might need to do some fiance training. :)

Generally looking for low phosphorus foods is more of a concern for cats with kidney issues. Tiki is high in animal protein which is good, but it's very low in fat which is not good for a growing kitten, so I would use that in rotation with a higher fat food like any of the 9x% foods which are all animal based and high in protein and fat and low in carbs.

It is hard to tell which ones are high in protein from animal sources without looking at the ingredient list. You want to avoid corn, wheat, soy, rice, peas and potatoes as much as possible.
 

mewlittle

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I don't really like friskies wet pate and i would never ever feed friskies dry again

brands i like and my cats like dry

nature variety instinct chicken >raw boost chicken >LID turkey

diamond naturals

chicken soup

before grain< dont know if its being made anymore

solid gold

brands i like in wet

nature variety instinct LID

soulistic in gravy
 
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