Brands to Feed my Kitten

Hi,

  I'm expecting to collect my kitten, Pumpkin, really soon so I've started to research appropriate brands of kitten food. The problem I've found is that, as a student, I can't afford the recommended brands (wellness, royal canin, science diet) that cost over $20 per kg. Almost every source agrees that Whiskas is poor quality but the other brands readily available that I can get (Purina Supercoat and Optimum) receive a lot of negative feedback as well. Incidentally it seems that Australia has less brands of kitten food than the USA or UK.

  Would it be acceptable to feed her either Supercoat or Optimum until I can afford better or should I tell my friend that I can no longer take the kitten? She's currently being fed Whiskas kitten pouches by my friend who found mum and bubs in their shed (bubs were going to be drowned by the mum's owners so my friend was given all of the cats to rehome). 

  Also, would it be alright to purchase premium brands when they're on sale at my local petbarn and switch back to lesser brands or would this just cause stomach upsets and fussyness? I feel bad for denying her consistent top quality but there is no guarantee someone else would feed her any better  if I pass on her. :/

Gonger said:

 
Hi,

  I'm expecting to collect my kitten, Pumpkin, really soon so I've started to research appropriate brands of kitten food. The problem I've found is that, as a student, I can't afford the recommended brands (wellness, royal canin, science diet) that cost over $20 per kg. Almost every source agrees that Whiskas is poor quality but the other brands readily available that I can get (Purina Supercoat and Optimum) receive a lot of negative feedback as well. Incidentally it seems that Australia has less brands of kitten food than the USA or UK.

  Would it be acceptable to feed her either Supercoat or Optimum until I can afford better or should I tell my friend that I can no longer take the kitten? She's currently being fed Whiskas kitten pouches by my friend who found mum and bubs in their shed (bubs were going to be drowned by the mum's owners so my friend was given all of the cats to rehome). 

  Also, would it be alright to purchase premium brands when they're on sale at my local petbarn and switch back to lesser brands or would this just cause stomach upsets and fussyness? I feel bad for denying her consistent top quality but there is no guarantee someone else would feed her any better  if I pass on her. :/

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Hey , Congrats on your new kitten ..   I think it would be  a good idea to continue feeding what your friend is feeding to avoid upset . It is perfectly fine to pick up different brands and rotate  with the Whiskas Kitten Pouches . 

Out of the two dry foods you mentioned I think the Optimum looks  better than the Supercoat ..

http://shop.stefmar.com.au/optimum/optimum-cat-kitten-chicken-450g

Optimum does generally have better reviews than Supercoat so she'll be getting some of that when I introduce dry. My partner thinks I should just feed her an all Whiskas diet as that's what his cats have always eaten but the pouches are probably bad enough.

Gonger said:

 
Optimum does generally have better reviews than Supercoat so she'll be getting some of that when I introduce dry. My partner thinks I should just feed her an all Whiskas diet as that's what his cats have always eaten but the pouches are probably bad enough.

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That sounds like a good plan .  

When and how do I introduce wet/dry kitten food? He was a month old 10/23/15 We found him in the garage under a dead kitten from the litter. Momma did not want to no part so we took it in about 3 days old He is coming along fine. Thank God so he is #9 It is very hard to find wet kitten food. Any suggestions

fullcard752 said:

When and how do I introduce wet/dry kitten food? He was a month old 10/23/15 We found him in the garage under a dead kitten from the litter. Momma did not want to no part so we took it in about 3 days old He is coming along fine. Thank God so he is #9 It is very hard to find wet kitten food. Any suggestions

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If you are in the US  Petsmart sells a  kitten food for very young kittens . It is made by Royal Canin  . You could start with that mixed with kitten milk maybe . I don't know much about feeding young kittens like that ..  Here is the link to the food .. http://www.petsmart.com/cat/canned-...var_id=36-18&_t=pfm=category&pfmvalue=faceted

That food is also carried in Aus by Petbarn. I am certainly no expert but forum posts seem to agree you can introduce a kitten to wet food mixed with MKR around a month old but they still require MKR or mum's milk. If you do a search you should find a thread with more expert advice about weaning kittens

Hi! I'm also in Australia and have a kitten and have done (way too much) research on what is available here.

How old is your kitten? Applaws dry food is 50% meat content and available for about $8 for 800g at Coles and is also grain free. It's suitable from 12 weeks onwards (I emailed and asked)

VIP pet foods also do grain free. Same deal, although they use a variety of meats, also soy meal and my cats got sick of the fish variety. It's at woolies and coles and about $6 for 500g.

Wet foods Fancy Feast kitten is fine. It does use by product but no cereals or grains and comes in turkey and fish varieties. It's also a complete diet which a lot of them aren't and my little girl loves them (incidentally some of the pate adult varieties do not contain grain either, all the one's in gravy do though, the super fancy one's like the chicken florentine have wheat gluten but no actual cereal content).

Dine in the red tubs do 2 kitten varieties. Again with by product but otherwise cereal and grain free. My kitten loves those also and they come in chicken style and a seafood one.

VIP petfoods do a tub of wet in a few flavours (beef and kangaroo, salmon and fish and a chicken and cranberry one) that are suitable from 3 months onwards and Natures Gift also (about $1 a tub) have 2 different chicken one's and maybe a fish variety. I know they also do kangaroo, duck and a few other flavours but I can only find those online. Both these brands in the wet are grain free and low filler. 

Petbarn often do multibuys on Fancy Feast and also on wellness so you can stock up on wellness when it's on special

Food rotation is fine, as long as you transfer her to a new food over a couple of days and not all at once.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for your detailed brand knowledge
Pumpkin is 6 weeks old and should be with mum but the situation is far from ideal. I am considering giving her Applaws when she's 12 weeks (wellness if I can get a job soon).
Turkey fancy feast is on sale. So I might pick some up. Should she have 2-3 tins a day?

Are you giving Pumpkin dry food as well, or just wet?

If free-feeding dry (and she is eating it), you can offer 1/3-1/2 of a can of fancy feast 4-5 times a day. Adjust according to how much she eats. If she gobbles it all down quickly, you can either increase the amount fed of the frequency.

The rule with kittens is to allow them to eat as much as they want.

Wet maybe mixed with MKR (I've been watching her and she is not interested in Mumma cat unlike her brother). Around 8 weeks I'm going to start putting out dry food for her.

Thank you for the feeding advice the tins didn't say when I was looking at them. At the moment the bubbas and mum are getting maybe 4 pouches a day to share. I was planning on seeing how she goes with 1/2 a pouch tin 3 times a day. Then adjust accordingly.

I've been offered the brother too. Out of the four kittens one has died and the other gone to a new home so my friend might keep the mum. Would I just double my amounts?

You're welcome, I'm not so much help on how much to feed. I got my current kitten who is 24 weeks at 12 weeks and she always has dry out as well as 3 half cans of Fancy Feast (or wellness or dine occasionally) a day. She's very young though, she might benefit from a mixture of the fancy feast and something like the royal canin mother and babycat wet, I believe it has some extra nutrients for very young kittens in it that fancy feast may not. At least until she's 10 weeks old or so. It's not too expensive as it comes in a bit of a larger can.

As for doubling, do you mean just putting double the amount out? I'd give them each their own plate with their own portion and make sure each is only eating their own

My friend decided to keep the other kitten after all.

First day with Pumpkin .

As she was on Whiskas pouches before I've been offering 1/3 of a pouch every 3-4 today to see how much she eats (not a lot).  Going to a vet tomorrow to inquire about KMR and flea treatment (poor baby is riddled!)

Gonger said:

Thank you for your detailed brand knowledge

Pumpkin is 6 weeks old and should be with mum but the situation is far from ideal. I am considering giving her Applaws when she's 12 weeks (wellness if I can get a job soon).
Turkey fancy feast is on sale. So I might pick some up. Should she have 2-3 tins a day?

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  Hi @Gonger  

I would forgo the Applaws.  I know it's incredibly expensive and so you'd assume it is complete, and cats love it, but if you read the fine print you'll see it says:

'This product is intended for occasional or supplemental feeding only.  This product may be fed daily along with a complete and balanced cat food diet'

There are absolutely no additives but the meat is cooked, so no taurine!  

Thank you Mani. That could have been bad. I thought the dry was complete while the wet was supplemental but I haven't researched them thoroughly since she's only a bub at the moment. I know an all wet diet would be better but I was thinking 60% wet and 40% dry with raw meat added throughout the week. Would that be an alright mix? When she grows I might alter the ratio.

Sorry to keep pestering you guys but I honestly had no idea how complex cat nutrition was.

I didn't realise you meant the dry Applaws.. to be honest I haven't even seen it. 

Nutrition isn't my area so much, but that does sound like a good ratio.  Others will chime in with more. One thing I've always done is introduce chicken neck or wings when they get to about 3 months.  To me that's better than just raw meat but then I've never had much luck with getting my two to eat it.  But the bones some meat  and it's great for their teeth. And they're cheap! They can be a bit constipating  so I don't overdo it.  And of course they have to be raw.

It's wonderful that you're taking so much care with this little girl, so pester-away! 

Gonger said:

 
Thank you Mani. That could have been bad. I thought the dry was complete while the wet was supplemental but I haven't researched them thoroughly since she's only a bub at the moment. I know an all wet diet would be better but I was thinking 60% wet and 40% dry with raw meat added throughout the week. Would that be an alright mix? When she grows I might alter the ratio.

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In the US, the canned / pots / pouches of food are not complete diets. It doesn't look like those are complete diets in Australia either: http://applawspetfood.com.au/product-category/cat-food/ In the UK there is also a pate food that is a complete diet.

The dry food is a complete diet.

Keep the raw meat to less than 10% of the diet. You don't want to throw your cat's nutrition off. Don't use ground meat from the supermarket. That may contain bacteria throughout it (it's killed when cooked properly). Buy a whole cut of meat like chicken breast and cut it up into cat sized pieces.

The Applaws dry is a pretty good food

In terms of wet, don't get too fixated on brands. Some of the Whiskas foods are pretty decent - just look for the less fancy versions and read the labels. In the UK, the chunks in jelly are grain free, though I don't know what the equivalent is in Australia (labeling seems to alter from country to country). As a basic rule of thumb, anything 'in gravy' will almost certainly contain grains. Jelly or paté style foods are more likely to be grain free. The only real downside with brands like Whiskas, Felix etc is that you don't know which animal(s) the meat is from. That's only an issue if your kitten has sensitivity issues though. Hope that helps

Hi just go to www.catinfo.org Which is a huge read all about foods,canned raw,dry & you will learn a lot.Written by a vet & nutrition is huge for cats.No fish .BTW.I once dealt with a lady who;'s catfood was fish.I contacted the company & I can find the brand for you .When I contacted the company for a "Guaranteed Analysis" of the food.All the percentages of protein.magnesium ,etc.I was emailed back that that INFO was PRIVY to that company.Not a good company & told her to stop immediately.Getting them off fish is way harder.Can you order online?.Royal canin baby cat depending on how small your kitty is.Excellent.All  my feral babies are fed it & do great!!!Hugs C.

Applaws just sent me a sample of their chicken flavour (she ignored it for the whiskas pouch). I was going to spoil her with chicken wings or necks occassionally as well as cut up beef and breast. I've read fish can make them fussy eaters so been avoiding it. Other than that im just waiting for decent wet to go on sale to see what she likes.