Best canned cat food for kittens?

I don't have my kitten yet (not old enough to leave mom) but I'm getting everything together for when she moves home

I know that wet food is definitely the better food for cats (next to raw, but I'm going to be using wet food) but I can't for the life of me find the proper wet food to feed a kitten. Can anyone provide some insight? I'm sorry if there's a topic, I just stumbled upon this website! 

Thank you

CourtneyLA said:

 
I don't have my kitten yet (not old enough to leave mom) but I'm getting everything together for when she moves home

I know that wet food is definitely the better food for cats (next to raw, but I'm going to be using wet food) but I can't for the life of me find the proper wet food to feed a kitten. Can anyone provide some insight? I'm sorry if there's a topic, I just stumbled upon this website! 

Thank you

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Nutro Natural Choice makes a good one http://www.nutro.com/natural-cat-food/nutro/canned/kitten-soft-loaf-chicken-recipe.aspx

Most cats like the Fancy Feast for kittens. my cats (all grown) all love the turkey one. I give it to them sometimes as a treat. https://www.fancyfeast.com/gourmet-cat-products/kitten-food

Kittens can also eat canned foods that are labeled as "all stages". This makes it easier to find a rotation of foods that your kitten will like

Kat0121 said:

 
Nutro Natural Choice makes a good one http://www.nutro.com/natural-cat-food/nutro/canned/kitten-soft-loaf-chicken-recipe.aspx

Most cats like the Fancy Feast for kittens. my cats (all grown) all love the turkey one. I give it to them sometimes as a treat. https://www.fancyfeast.com/gourmet-cat-products/kitten-food

Kittens can also eat canned foods that are labeled as "all stages". This makes it easier to find a rotation of foods that your kitten will like

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I agree with Kat0121 about Nutro Natural Choice!! My cat is now 7.5-8months and has done very well with this in his wet food rotation. He likes the Turkey Chunky loaf the best The ingredients are really good. Also he has done really well on Wild Calling Pates. There are a bunch of flavors to choose from. I feed him as much as he wants right now so I look for calorie dense foods (pates seem to be more calorie dense than other non-pate foods). Another thing to keep in mind is food rotation. Rotating the brands you feed your cat is a good idea (especially when they are a kitten) because it will minimize the chance of the kitty becoming a picky eater. Cats pretty much learn what food IS when they are a kitten so it's good to expose them to a lot of flavors and textures Rotation is also a good idea because it minimizes the risk of a bad batch of cat food from a specific brand really affecting them. 

Here are some generally good brands that I personally like: 

Wild Calling

Nutro Natural Choice

Hound and Gatos

Fancy Feast Classic (Pates)

Sheba (not complete but good for a snack when they are really hungry)

Whole Earth Farms

Weruva

Natures Variety Instinct

Red Barn

GhibliTheCat said:

 
Sheba (not complete but good for a snack when they are really hungry)

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Sheba is a complete diet, both the canned foods and the Perfect Portion. Sheba does not have a kitten specific formula.

CourtneyLA said:

 
I don't have my kitten yet (not old enough to leave mom) but I'm getting everything together for when she moves home

I know that wet food is definitely the better food for cats (next to raw, but I'm going to be using wet food) but I can't for the life of me find the proper wet food to feed a kitten. Can anyone provide some insight? I'm sorry if there's a topic, I just stumbled upon this website! 

Thank you

Click to expand...

Any kitten specific canned food is good Fancy Feast has two kitten specific formulas. Wellness has a regular kitten formula and a grain-free kitten formula. Blue Buffalo has several kitten formulas. Nutro Max cat has two kitten formulas. You can try a variety of brands to see what your kitten likes.

You can rotate in some 'adult / for all life stages" canned food into the diet as well Kitten canned food tends to be limited in meat variety and it's ideal for ktitens to be exposed to different types of meat so they don't get picky and only want to eat one thing. Nature's Variety instinct is a good brand.

no way sheba is a complete diet? I heard that they weren't (but I can't remember where). YES!!!

Thank you everyone! Would it be alright to do a mixed diet of soft and hard food? Leave a little hard food out, and give soft food twice a day?

GhibliTheCat said:

 
no way sheba is a complete diet? I heard that they weren't (but I can't remember where). YES!!!

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I think years ago Sheba was a supplement only type food. Now everything has vitamins and minerals http://www.sheba.com/Products

CourtneyLA said:

 
Thank you everyone! Would it be alright to do a mixed diet of soft and hard food? Leave a little hard food out, and give soft food twice a day?

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Most people will recommend 100% canned food only. Catinfo.org goes into why canned or raw food is best. However, a little dry food in the diet is perfectly fine. It's actually good to get a kitten used to different types of food. I suggest limiting the dry to no more than 1/2 cup or so daily.

Kittens are rapidly growing and need a lot of food so just feed the kitten as much as he / she wants to eat several times a day. Kittens can't get fat from eating a lot. Extra calories just gets burned off as the kitten runs around and plays A programmable timed feeder works great to provide several small meals of eitehr canned or dry food daily.

I gave Fancy Feast kitten food for the canned food, and use the Science Diet indoor kitten formula for dry. They aren't on the canned kitten food anymore, but the dry is still there. We'll be transitioning to adult formula over the next few months.

If you do go for some dry food i recommend wellness core kitten or orijen cat and kitten. Both have an amazing ingredient list. A cheaper but stil good alternative is
Only one carb ingredient in the ingredient list still. Its high calorie so its fine for a kitten. Try to stay away from those grocery store brands. So many non meat and fat ingredients in the first 5. Keep in mind that kitty will be getting more nutrients from meat based food vs the ones filled with filler.

Wet is so much better so try to feed mostly canned if you can. A good quality one is nutro natural kitten. Grain and carageenan free and its more affordable. You can mix it up with fancy feast classics and sheba to save money.

CourtneyLA said:

Thank you everyone! Would it be alright to do a mixed diet of soft and hard food? Leave a little hard food out, and give soft food twice a day?

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That's exactly what I did with my baby, although he didn't eat much of the dry food.
As far as types/brands of food go, what worked for me was to just buy add many kinds as I could and see what he liked (We ended up mostly using Royal Canin "babycat" for the most part. They've got a regular kitten pate as well, but my guy was picky about texture)

I always give my kittens both kibble and wet food so they get used to a variety of foods. I like Orijen cat & kitten for kibble and when my kittens were small i fed Nutro Kitten, but now that they're all between 6-10 months I don't feed specifically kitten food any longer. 

Thank you everyone ! Turns out I get my kitten this weekend (weather depending) and I'm so excited I'll be using all your suggestions and probably mixing hard food and soft (mostly soft, I may add water to the hard food like I did with my puppy, just to be sure she gets enough). 

Thanks again I'll still be reading all the comments if anyone has anymore suggestions 

I would not mix dry and wet and I would not add water to dry only to wet. It breeds bacteria, adding water to dry! I would feed dry in a separate dish than wet, this helps prevent choking. Post pictures when you get her, good luck!

bonepicker said:

I would not mix dry and wet and I would not add water to dry only to wet. It breeds bacteria, adding water to dry! Feed dry in a separate dish than wet. Post pictures when you get her, good luck!

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I know to feed in separate dishes, no worries. And if I do add water to dry it would only be out long enough to eat, I wouldn't allow it to sit all day. I had really hoped to do a strictly wet food diet but I simply don't have the money for it so I'll add in dry to ensure she has the right amount of calories! 

Thank you And I'll definitely post one! 

CourtneyLA said:

I know to feed in separate dishes, no worries. And if I do add water to dry it would only be out long enough to eat, I wouldn't allow it to sit all day. I had really hoped to do a strictly wet food diet but I simply don't have the money for it so I'll add in dry to ensure she has the right amount of calories! 
Thank you And I'll definitely post one! 

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You're off to a great start!

This

Donutte said:

I gave Fancy Feast kitten food for the canned food, and use the Science Diet indoor kitten formula for dry. They aren't on the canned kitten food anymore, but the dry is still there. We'll be transitioning to adult formula over the next few months.
I just had Andy and Charlie (4 months) for their 1st vet visit and that is exactly what the vet recommended. She said to make the wet food their primary diet and supplement with dry, and let them eat as much dry as they want the 1st year. After that, limit the dry as it tends to make them gain weight--just like people, too many carbs.
Andy and Charlie were given to me with a large bag of Purina Kitten Chow, which they eat with gusto. Don't think they ever even had canned food yet. Will run out tomorrow to get the Science Diet Kitten dry and a few cans of Fancy Feast Kitten to start transitioning them.
"Fixing" surgery Feb. 4!

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I would say buy kitten Fancy Feast at the store, maybe a week's worth. Then buy online. Definitely cheaper. 

I've slowly trying to transition a bit more to wet food. Especially for my Maple, who is fat as heck. I had to put the food bowl where she couldn't reach it. I'll put it back down for about an hour around dinner time, then put it down at night. I've bought so much wet food lately I have canned food all over the place, lol.

I've had many cats and the one that lived the longest (18.5), Fred, only ate wet food--he refused to eat dry. Not the fancy stuff either, just 9 Lives. I hope to get my new babies on an all or mostly wet food diet eventually.