Kittens and Protein and Adult Food.

If my cats are 5-6 months old, how much protein should they be receiving and can I ever use adult food before 12 months?

What are the best kitten food brands/products? 

Any home DIY remedies that are better than the store products?

Thank you! 

The Meow Factor said:

 
If my cats are 5-6 months old, how much protein should they be receiving and can I ever use adult food before 12 months?

What are the best kitten food brands/products? 

Any home DIY remedies that are better than the store products?

Thank you! 

Click to expand...

Cats do well on high protein (ie meat) diets so the more the better, IMO. All  cat foods are formulated to meet minimum AAFCO requirements so you can't go wrong with any particular brand (min 30% for growing cats, 26% for adult maintenance).  Some brands set their minimum protein % slightly higher. Look for food that has real meat, not lesser quality by products or meals.

http://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/Site...osed_Revisions_to_AAFCO_Nutrient_Profiles.pdf

You can feed cats under a year old adult food, even kittens. Most adult foods have a statement on the pacakge that says the food is complete and balanced for all life stages. Kittens can eat adult food, they'd just need more of it to meet their needs. A 6 month old is plenty old enough to be on on adult food. Some vets recommend feeding adult food around 6 months old. Personally, my Aby was weaned onto "adult" (raw) food as a kitten and he's grown up just fine.

There is no "best" brand to feed. The best one is the one that your cat will eat and you can afford There are lots of good kitten foods out there: Wellness, Blue Buffalo, etc. Here's some threads with suggestions:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/106239/best-brand-of-kitten-food

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/69420/your-favorite-brand-of-food-for-kittens

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/298825/kitten-food

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/164519/best-brand-kitten-food

Lots of good brands of adult foods, too. You can search the forum for threads on that subject.

What kind of DIY remedies are you looking for?

I have 4 kittens that are 6 months old and they eat mostly regular adult food because I have other cats that are adults and don't need to get into kitten food. I feed a lot of diff brands including Weruva, Nutro natural choice, Pride by Instinct, Ziwipeak, and some Orijen kibble.  

Thank you for the information MISSMIMZ and LTS3! 

I just want to make sure that I am maximising my kittens' potentials. I will look into these brands. Currently they are eating LUVSOME kitten dry mix. Is this okay, or is it too cheap?

They were on wet food, but they drink a lot of water so I did not think that it was necessary to keep them on the wet food. Not to mention that only one of the kittens likes wet food. 

Concerning DIY meals I wanted to see if I could make anything from raw meat or grains. I had a friend who once fed her cats raw rabbit et cetera from a farmer's market. Is anything from the grocery safe and viable for a kitten meals creation? I am attempting to emulate a "natural" diet for half of their diets to balance with the processed bag dry food. Or is this going too far and I can settle with the pre-made mixtures purchased at the store? 

Thanks!

The Meow Factor said:

 
I just want to make sure that I am maximising my kittens' potentials. I will look into these brands. Currently they are eating LUVSOME kitten dry mix. Is this okay, or is it too cheap?

Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with that brand. http://www.luvsomepet.com/our-products/cat-food/kitten-formula/#simpleContained2 It looks high protein but contains grains and lesser quality chicken meal instead of real chicken meat. if you want to stick with dry kitten food, try one of these brands:

The Meow Factor said:

 
They were on wet food, but they drink a lot of water so I did not think that it was necessary to keep them on the wet food. Not to mention that only one of the kittens likes wet food. 

Click to expand...

Canned food is a lot healthier than any dry food. Feeding canned food is the easiest way to keep a cat well hydrated. Some cats will stll drink water from a bowl and that's fine. I suggest offering some canned food to the kittens. There may be a point in time where a canned food only diet is necessary for health reasons and if your cats don't recognize what canned food is, getting them to eat will be difficult. Cats can be picky so try different canned food textures and flavors.

Catinfo.org is a good place to read through about cat nutrition.

The Meow Factor said:

 
Concerning DIY meals I wanted to see if I could make anything from raw meat or grains. I had a friend who once fed her cats raw rabbit et cetera from a farmer's market. Is anything from the grocery safe and viable for a kitten meals creation? I am attempting to emulate a "natural" diet for half of their diets to balance with the processed bag dry food. Or is this going too far and I can settle with the pre-made mixtures purchased at the store? 

Click to expand...

Grains, no since cats have no use for those in the diet.

Raw meats and organs can be fed So can raw bones like raw poultry necks and wings. Since you will be feeding commercial cat food, keep the raw meats and organs to no more than 10% of the diet. Avoid pre ground supermarket meat. That type of meat may contain harmfl bacteria mixed throughout it (cooking the meat kills the bacteria). Buy whole cuts of meat and chopr or grind it up into easy to eat cat sized pieces. Some brands of whole cuts of meat are enhanced with stuff like broth, flavorings, salt solution, etc. Avoid those. A butcher shop or farmer's market will most likley have plain fresh unenhanced meat and organs. Or consider buying raw meat from a commercial raw pet food supplier such a Hare-Today.com

Commerical raw pet foods can be fed. Most are complete balanced diets. Popular brands include Nature's Variety Instinct, Primal Pet, Rad Cat, and Stella and Chewy's. There are frozen raw foods, freeze dried raw foods, air dried raw foods, and dehydrated raw foods.

Thank you very much for all of your tips and help! Much appreciated. They were eating wet food, but I stopped providing it after the male (Zukas) began vomiting and having diarrhoea. The other (Zylee) does not eat the wet food so she was unaffected. It seemed to be the common denominator that led to his illness. I can always try wet food though, I just have to be careful and find out what was causing the problem with the other.