Kitten Food/Feeding Questions

Lynk is 5-6 months old and was adopted from the Humane Society last Friday.  He came with a bag of Science Diet Kitten.

I have two adult male cats at home, Bailey and Cooper who are both 5-6 years old (again adopted so exact ages are hit or miss).  They get fed wet food and I leave dry out during the day.  Both Bailey and Cooper were raised on dry only, so it was a pain to get them to eat wet, I went through all the high quality brands of wet and they wouldn't even touch them.  What they both do eat for wet is Fancy Feast Elegant Medley's.  Deffinetly not my first choice but I'm happy they are eating wet.  During the day I leave out dry pH food for them (I lost a male cat to urinary blockage thus the switch to wet and dry pH food).

The issue.

Lynk is eating a combination of his Science Diet Kitten dry food, the pH dry food and he goes wild for the wet food.  Obviously because of this his stools aren't as firm as I would like (I have dogs, I know what it's like switching foods and how slowly you have to do it).

So Questions!

1.  At his age should I keep him on kitten food?

2.  How often should I feed him?  Because he likes the wet so much I've been giving him three 3oz cans per day (morning, noon and evening) in addition to his dry kitten food (plus the dry pH food he eats).

3.  Since he is liking wet food so early - should I try to get him on a higher quality wet food right from the get go?

Congrats on the new kitten and that he likes wet! Kittens do need to eat as much as possible but can eat adult food (kitten food is largely a marketing ploy). I would stick to giving him wet so he does not become a kibble addict. You can also give him some raw or cooked meat as a snack so he gets used to different types of foods in case you decide a food change in the future. It is funny kittens tend to naturally love meat it is like they know they are carnivors while adults seem confused. I would try him on a good grain free food there are cheap options like the fancy feast classics but I like natures variety (the pride converted my picky eater to wet) and hound and gato is good too. I also like tiki cat but it is very low in calories so not great to feed in large amounts to your kitten but is another brand picky eaters like so it may be worth trying for the older cats if you haven't yet.

For your other cats I would seriously think about stopping the free feeding of kibble. I too have a kibble addict who is also a picky eater and for a long time I resisted stoping the free feeding bc I was worried he wasn't going to eat enough. Having set meals for dry really worked well and now he only gets a small amount of dry as a topper and eats almost one hundred percent wet but it did take me almost 6 months to get here. Have you taken a look at www.catinfo.org which has amazing resources and a great section on urinary health.

Lynk is not picky about what he eats - or tries to eat.  Made chili this past weekend as it was rainy/cool and I'm sitting there eating a bowl and he wants to eat it as well.  Now, I may not be up on the latest for kitten/cat nutrition and diet needs, I don't think chili is on that list.

On the way home from work I'll grab a variety of canned foods of better quality from the store and see if he likes one more so then the other that way I can keep him on it and firm up that poop of his.

Congrats on the baby!  I work for Nutro and from a nutritional standpoint; I would recommend a wet food that is higher in quality.  I would also suggest a different kitten food. 

Wet food - I really like the Nutro Max kitten - it comes in pate for kittens.  It's nutritionally complete and will keep him full longer.  If your older cats like wet food; the 5 oz cans would be cost effective to feed all 3.

Dry food wise - I really like Nutro's wholesome kitten food because again it's nutritionally complete; kibbles are small and easy for kittens to break so it hits all those taste buds.  Since it's made with natural ingredients; what the kitten discards in the cat box is what his body didn't need verse fillers in other brands.

Finally you are concerned with the ph.  Nutro is a balanced formula that regulates the acidity of the urine and helps prevent crystals.

That is my thought.  My cats all eat Nutro Max wet food and Natural Choice wet and dry foods.  My oldest cat, my daughter adopted 1.5 years ago and we came to me with one eye and a bag of SO perscription food because she had crystals so bad.  She has been happily feeding her face Natural Choice dry and the vet told me to keep up the good work and she can come off the SO.

NutroBricca

I think it is a little strange that nutro has various representatives on these boards. I was thinking about trying their wet but I am very concerned that they were involved with the menu food recall and there have been numerous complaints about the safety of their food over the year, so I don't think I will risk it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutro_Products#Food_safety_and_criticism). I also think it is really dangerous to advise people to give cats with urinary problems dry food as this will cause chronic dehydration (though I do understand having to use dry during a long transition or as a way to get enough calories into a cat but it should not make up more that 50 percent of their diet-hopefully less)

Another good brand that has never had any recalls and is a small family run company is fromm. I have fed my dog this brand for years and she is 17 now. They sell wet cat food and I am trying it for my cats as they both love the wet dog food and always try to steal it. It does have fish in it so should be limited especially for cats with urinary health problems. 

Both my labs are on Fromm.  When I tried to transition Cooper (one of my older cats) from dry to wet and he went on a food strike he started to eat the dog's kibble.  He must like Duck and Sweet Potato I figured  .