Kitten Food

Hello ! 

So, on June 17th, me and my boyfriend are getting 2 kittens from one of our friends ! 

Right now, they are eating Meow Mix, 9 lives.. whatever she finds cheapest. Yes, I am aware that this is horrible, but I can not control what she does ! Once we get the kittens, we will be feeding them better !

So my question is, right now , after the shots and everything else like getting them fixed, whats the best cheapest food to buy them? We've been looking into Wellness CORE and Wellness Kitten, as well as Orijen and EVO. Those brands were named top by like 3 different web sites and have been recommend to us.  For the first month, we are going to be feeding Purina Kitten Chow because atm we do not have the money for any of the good name brands. We've been doing research and found that its best to feed kittens wet food, but have dry food offered 24/7. Our budget is $10 for at least 3-4 weeks of lasting food for wet food.

After this month, we will be feeding them Evo, as it does seem like the best brand. We've been burdened with buying 4 new tires this month for a 2013 Subaru Impreza Hatchback, that's the only reason we are out of money. 

Our kittens will be 8 weeks old when we get them June 17th.

Purina Kitten Chow is fine, its well-balanced and I've started many kittens on it. Do try to feed a little wet food just in case later on, you'll feed canned or need to due to illness or whatnot.

Congrats on the little kittens and also thank you for seeing that they'll be fixed.

Congrats on the kitties!!

When choosing a food, sometimes the cats/kittens will do the choosing! Hopefully they won't be picky, and without stomach sensitivities!

Sometimes it's trial and error until you find what works. You've mentioned some good brands. I would also add that offering some wet is a great idea! Leave dry out for now, but offer wet so that they become aware that wet food is also a food source. This will hopefully make switching easier. later on.

As far as brands go, I feed: Wellness, Weruva, Nature's Variety, Simply Norish, and Pride, for daily wet food meals. I then use Acana for a dry snack/treats. For the dry, I had to try a lot of different brands because a lot of brands gave her diarrhea. 

Good luck! Post some pictures when they arrive

New kitten family - how exciting!  I'm betting the next couple of weeks are going to seem really long, but you are very wise spending some of it preparing for your new arrivals.

As I live in the UK I'm not sure about the different brands of food you will have access to but one bit of advice I do have is not to suddenly change from what you kittens are getting just now.  The move of home and separation from their mom will be stressful and it is good to avoid other changes if you can.  Even though it might not be a great food and one you don't want to continue with, if the kittens are eating it before they move in with you then carrying on for a week or two should limit unnecessary stress, and risks of tummy upsets from food changes.  You can then start to introduce the foods you want them to eat when it feels like they are settling in, or if they don't seem keen on the existing food.  

If you try them on a wet food and they don't take to it first off and you are left with an open can / pack they won't eat you can potentially save some waste by putting it in to little freezer bags / tubs and freezing for a week or so.  Try feeding again a week or so later, defrosted and warmed back to room temperature, to see if they will take to it at that point.  You can also introduce small amounts of a new food this way without it going off the whole time.

Here's what we picked up today just to try out. The Simply Nourish and Wellness were $1 a piece and the Friskies was .50 cents.

Looks good. I hope the kittens like it. If you can get ahold of Fancy Feast Kitten in Turkey Feast, I've not had a kitten turn it down. Its made with cat milk.

My cat loves the Simply Norish Chicken Stews!

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE !!! 

Alright guy's ! Well, something tragic happened. The father cat to my two kittens passed away, so my friend ended up keeping Triton, our male kitten. Not exactly fair to us, but what can I do, you know ?

Sadly, I am afraid the father passed away due to how often she changed his cat food, it was like weekly different food. Now, I do still have Luna atm and shes doing good with all the wet cat foods i've tried her on, but i'm still worried that shes not getting enough of the good stuff. She really likes the Nourish chicken stew, but that food is no longer on sale and is now back up to $2.75 at my local pet store. I've not yet tried Friskies with her, but I fear that Friskies wet isnt a good food. I want the best of the best for her! I found a raw food called Felines Pride, i'd like to order some but I want to know how long (not exact) 5 pounds of it will last me because its not cheap, its almost $40, but I heard its the best. Does anyone else feed their cat Felines pride? 

PS, heres Luna the first day I brought her home!

Trippshep said:

 
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE !!! 

Alright guy's ! Well, something tragic happened. The father cat to my two kittens passed away, so my friend ended up keeping Triton, our male kitten. Not exactly fair to us, but what can I do, you know ?

Sadly, I am afraid the father passed away due to how often she changed his cat food, it was like weekly different food. Now, I do still have Luna atm and shes doing good with all the wet cat foods i've tried her on, but i'm still worried that shes not getting enough of the good stuff. She really likes the Nourish chicken stew, but that food is no longer on sale and is now back up to $2.75 at my local pet store. I've not yet tried Friskies with her, but I fear that Friskies wet isnt a good food. I want the best of the best for her! I found a raw food called Felines Pride, i'd like to order some but I want to know how long (not exact) 5 pounds of it will last me because its not cheap, its almost $40, but I heard its the best. Does anyone else feed their cat Felines pride? 

PS, heres Luna the first day I brought her home!

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Im also curious on how to "rotate" the different brands and flavors of wet food. I was told by my vet to not feed the same flavor wet food every week because they will get bored of it, so if someone could give me an example of how they rotate their wet food, that would be GREAT. If i need to list flavors and brands of canned foods that i currently have purchased and stored, please let me know! 

It's so sad that your kitten's father passed away. I can reassure you, though, that I've never heard of a cat dying simply because their food changed frequently. I've always fed a number of different brands in rotation with no problems. I know many other members here do the same. A mix of brands is normally only an issue if you're dealing with IBD or certain other health issues.

I think the best advice with feeding is to make up your own list of ingredients you want to avoid and go from there.

If you're interested in raw feeding, then you can get tons of help and information here http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-home-cooked-cat-food

I feed a mix of raw and high quality canned food, as do several others. That can help with the cost. I can't comment on Feline's Pride though, as it's not available in the uk. I believe its freeze dried raw though. Nothing at all wrong with that (I use freeze dried myself), but it is the most expensive way of feeding raw. Commercial frozen is often much more affordable. Check out the reviews section for more information and ideas. http://www.thecatsite.com/products/category/raw

Columbine said:

It's so sad that your kitten's father passed away. I can reassure you, though, that I've never heard of a cat dying simply because their food changed frequently. I've always fed a number of different brands in rotation with no problems. I know many other members here do the same. A mix of brands is normally only an issue if you're dealing with IBD or certain other health issues.

I think the best advice with feeding is to make up your own list of ingredients you want to avoid and go from there.

If you're interested in raw feeding, then you can get tons of help and information here http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-home-cooked-cat-food

I feed a mix of raw and high quality canned food, as do several others. That can help with the cost. I can't comment on Feline's Pride though, as it's not available in the uk. I believe its freeze dried raw though. Nothing at all wrong with that (I use freeze dried myself), but it is the most expensive way of feeding raw. Commercial frozen is often much more affordable. Check out the reviews section for more information and ideas. http://www.thecatsite.com/products/category/raw

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Sadly, she was feeding very bad brands , grocery store brands. He died of Kidney failure. 

Im so afraid my little kitten will have the same fate, thats why im trying so hard to feed her whats best. 

What kinda of high quality canned cat foods do you suggest ?

I see In that case, it may have been the ingredients, but it's highly unlikely to have been due to switching brands frequently.

Like MServant, I'm in the uk and am less familiar with US brands. I know Tiki Cat is well thought of, as is Nature's Variety Instinct (if memory serves, anyway). When I was looking for new foods I made up the following list (this is just my own criteria - everyone has different views and needs)

• Grain free
• Low carb
• Named meat
• No large animals (beef, lamb etc - Asha doesn't digest beef well, so I don't want to take any chances)
• No carrageenan, guar gum etc (Asha doesn't digest carrageenan well, so I don't take chances there either)
• Limit fish content (at first I wanted to avoid it entirely, but Shadow adores fish, and I'd rather he ate a good food with fish than a poor food without it)

You get the idea. If Asha didn't have such a sensitive tummy, I wouldn't be so rigid about points 4 and 5. Like I said, everyone has to come to their own decisions about what they're happy to feed. These articles may help you draw up your own list:-

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cat-nutrition-a-recap
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/what-makes-the-best-canned-cat-food
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/the-essentials-of-kitten-nutrition
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/grain-free-cat-food-what-does-it-mean
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat-part-2
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/raw-feeding-for-cats

Columbine has given some very useful information and links here and I hope you manage to find the right foods for your budget and which suit Luna.

How sad that the father cat died, and that you didn't get to bring Triton in to your home along with Luna.   Luna is very pretty.   Just loving her big blue eyes and pink nose! 

Along with the articles Columbine has given you the links to, you might find the food section of the Reviews usefull.  The brands covered are mostly the ones available in the US. 

http://www.thecatsite.com/products/category/cat-food

Trippshep said:

 
Im also curious on how to "rotate" the different brands and flavors of wet food. I was told by my vet to not feed the same flavor wet food every week because they will get bored of it, so if someone could give me an example of how they rotate their wet food, that would be GREAT. If i need to list flavors and brands of canned foods that i currently have purchased and stored, please let me know! 

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Some people stick with one brand and rotate between the different varieties daily. Others may rotate between more than one brand weekly. It's really preference Some cats may get really picky if the food is changed too much.

When I had a diabetic cat and fed canned food, the menu was kind of like this:

Day1: NV Instinct beef

Day 2: NV Instinct chicken

Day 3: Innova EVO cat / kitten

Day 4: NV Instinct rabbit

Day 5: Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken and NV Instinct beef

Day 6: ProPlan ocean fish

Day 7: Innova EVO 95% beef

Originally Posted by Trippshep  

I've not yet tried Friskies with her, but I fear that Friskies wet isnt a good food. I want the best of the best for her!

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There is nothing wrong with Friskies. It is an acceptable canned food and affordable for many. You do not need to feed the expensive high quality brands.

Here's a list outside of TCS with a list of grain-free canned foods: http://www.catster.com/forums/Food_and_Nutrition/thread/774137

Originally Posted by Trippshep  

 I want the best of the best for her! I found a raw food called Felines Pride, i'd like to order some but I want to know how long (not exact) 5 pounds of it will last me because its not cheap, its almost $40, but I heard its the best. Does anyone else feed their cat Felines pride?

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You may want to reconsider Feline's Pride. Here's a thread about how non-responsive and awful the company has been lately: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/291787/experience-with-felines-pride

There are many brands of commerical raw pet food you can buy at the pet store. Nature's Variety Instinct is one. Petco and independent pet stores sell this brand. Stella and Chewy's is another good brand but only sold at independent pet stores.Some people here on TCS feed Rad Cat. Some independent pet stores sell this. Most of these brands and others can also be bought online.

You can look over on the Raw Forum for more info on raw diets: http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-amp-home-cooked-cat-food

Trippshep said:

 
Im also curious on how to "rotate" the different brands and flavors of wet food. I was told by my vet to not feed the same flavor wet food every week because they will get bored of it, so if someone could give me an example of how they rotate their wet food, that would be GREAT. If i need to list flavors and brands of canned foods that i currently have purchased and stored, please let me know! 

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When I rotate foods, every day is a new can. For example, I buy 5.5/6oz cans, and split them into 2 meals: breakfast and dinner. I open the can for breakfast, cut the amount in half, and serve that as 1 meal. Refrigerate the rest. For dinner, I then open the left overs, add water, and feed the rest of the can for dinner. 

If the can I feed that day is low in calories, I give a pinch of kibble (Acana) for an evening/night snack.

Foods I feed are:

Nature's Variety Instinct - chicken, turkey, rabbit

Nature's Variety Pride - chicken, lamb, rabbit

Wellness - Turkey, and turkey and salmon

Simply Nourish - chicken stew

Weruva - all chicken and turkey flavours (low calorie cans)

Organix - chicken, turkey

My cat loves rotation and I think enjoys a new can every day. Keeps her appetite healthy

I really appreciate all the advice ! 

Luna is only 3 months old about, so is it okay for her to eat adult wet food?

The point about kitten food is that it's higher energy to meet the needs of growing kittens. If you feed adult food you may need to feed more to compensate; this is, after all, how raw feeding works - kittens and adults have exactly the same food, but kittens just get more of it.

I just got my sample pack in of Felines pride. They gladly sent me samples for free, which is great ! Luna is doing amazing , but we now also have a rescue kitty. He is 8 weeks old and is a rescue little kitty . He's so tiny and has a URI . We are doing our best to get him better .

:cross: that Luna and your newbie love the Feline's Pride

Our new little guy's name is Yager . He ate it all up! Loved what I gave him!