Help evaluating wet food

Hi all, new to the forums. While visiting my parents in GA I seem to have acquired a new feline family member, a stray kitten who'd been coming around for food. We fed the little guy of course but after no momma cat for several days we decided to bring the kitten in and get him (or her) to the vet. The kitten will be coming home with me in a week or two (my parents can't take on a kitten right now) but in the meantime I don't have access to the usual foods I feed my cats (hound & gatos and Stella & chewys). So, having to make due with the limited options available to me locally, I was hoping to get some second opinions on this ingredient list:

Chicken, water sufficient for processing, liver, fish, meat by-products, artificial and natural flavors, corn oil, calcium phosphate, guar gum, added color, potassium chloride, salt, taurine, magnesium sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, sodium nitrite (to promote color retention), calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide. A-4321

Crude Protein (MIN) 11.0%
Crude Fat (MIN) 5.0%
Crude Fiber (MAX) 1.5%
Moisture (MAX) 78.0%
Ash (MAX) 3.0%

I don't love the fish or the meat byproducts, but I'm ok with them. Thoughts?

And of course a pic of the cutie:

Welcome to The Cat Site! And what a sweet kitten! I wouldn't be thrilled with the fish and by-products (or menadione) either but the main thing is that the food is high-protein with no carby fillers. Which is just what a hungry kitten needs. I'd definitely feed it!

Hi Susan1430! 

I guess almost any brand is fine as long as you feed him for just a few weeks. Though Hound & Gatos and Stella & chewy's are far better options!

Controversial ingredients in the food are:

liver
They don't specify what animal the liver comes from.

fish
They don't list what species of fish.

meat by-products
They don't list which animal or which organ. Legally, they use almost everything else after the meat for human consumption was stripped away from the carcasses.

artificial and natural flavors
We don't know how many flavors were used. They shouldn't need many flavors if they use high quality ingredients.

added color and sodium nitrite
Cats don't care about the color of the food, they care about the smell. These additives were used to appeal to humans so that their food looks better than it really is.

As you probably know, when they don't tell what animal a particular ingredient comes from, we just can't expect quality. One also contains more additives, and controversial items like corn oil or salt than higher-quality foods.

According to the guaranteed analysis, this food carries less than average carbohydrates.

Carb (WM) 1.5%
Carb (DM) 6.8%

As cats are carnivores, they can't metabolize carbs well. Since this food can be estimated to contain not much carbs, it's a good food at least carb-wise.

I personally think this food is good enough, especially when your options are limited and you use it only a few weeks. Though I'd switch to your the other brands as soon as possible.

Your kitty looks like an ancient wildcat by his color!  Very cute!!

Ty for the responses, I appreciate the input. I'm happy to report that Dash is doing very well... I'd forgotten how much energy kittens have! Hopefully my two current cats Phoebe and Boyd will adjust quickly to the new addition because I could use some assistant playmates for the little guy!