Best food?

Is blue buffalo wilderness kitten formula good for an 8-10 week old kitten? I bought the dry food and the wet food to give to the little guy. I have never used this kind for my cats and want to know opinions on this band and particular food.

Well, it depends on your definition of what good food is. Cats are obligate carnivores who need their nutrition from animal based sources. So, I am not a fan of any carbs in their diet. The Blue Wilderness kitten Chicken grain-free wet food is not bad. It has flaxseed meal as a source of Omega 3s which cats can't utilize very well, and it has some potatoes and carrageenan, but overall it's a pretty good food. The dry version has a lot more carbs from the potatoes, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc. that really don't belong in cat food. Unfortunately, dry foods require some starch to bind the ingredients together into kibble.

Here's a site written by a vet that explains what good food means for cats and why. http://www.catinfo.org/

It seems like it is good quality food. Carageenan, by the way, is just a type of seaweed. It is a thickener that probably is much less problematic (if it is at all and I don't think it is) than gluten.

There are all sorts of cat foods billed as premiums. They all cook them and mix various ingredients and fillers that have different levels of appeal to kitties. Interestingly I just found out that while the long-term family of cats would leave Wellness Core untouched, the new kitty we brought in (and recovering in his little room) absolutely loves it.  The long-term residents are all about the gravy in the cubed Wellness and Instinct brand stews. The new guy is all about the pate. They all started out with me on the expensive premium foods with varying levels of success. I supplement with Purina products-Purina one cans and Fancy Feast.

I had a Maine Coon, Hazel, that lived to age 19 on Friskies large cans and Fancy Feast. Heresy to the raw food and premium foods folks but that's what she adored and she lived a long, healthy robust life. This brood I have now started  on only the super premium foods and I rotated Blue Buffalo among them. They liked some and completely shunned others. They hated California Naturals and Felidae and thought Instinct was okay and Wellness was okay sometimes.  No one liked Merrick. Evo was hit or miss.

 Carageenan, by the way, is just a type of seaweed. It is a thickener that probably is much less problematic (if it is at all and I don't think it is) than gluten.

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I'd disagree with the concepts here on a couple of fronts.  Firstly gluten is in there not as a binding agent (primarily) but as a cheap source of protein.  It is not very accessible to cats though, as it is from a  plant.  I steer clear of any products that have plant proteins - if you look at the ingredient list you might notice that it is 'needed' as the actual meat sources are scarce or low quality, so they want to boost the protein levels somehow so that they can positively market it.

Carageenan being 'just a type of seaweed', while true, implies that it is safe.  It is actually linked with colon ulcers and cancers.  They use it in larger quantities in animal trials for human medicine, to INDUCE ulcers, so they can then test out the drugs to alleviate the ulcers.  There is currently research going into the effect of carageenan on human health in this respect (one piece of research I know about is being done by an American Crohns association from vague memory), given that so many of our human products contain carageenan.  I have ulcerative colitis, and I know many others with this or crohns, who swear carageenan sends them into a flare and avoid the stuff like the plague.  In terms of kitty health, I like to avoid it where I can - and vet Lisa Pierson at the link vball91 posted also writes a note of caution about carageenan in cat food because of its known link as a colon irritant.