Affordable dry food for 5 month old kitten

miameblues · Sep 14, 2016

I recently took in a four month old kitten from a feral litter in our back yard and she is the sweetest thing ever. She has had all her tests and shots and is due for spaying next month. She is currently about 4 pounds. I want to make sure she has proper nutrition through her first year, but I cannot afford expensive kitten food, since I do not have a job currently. I am feeding her one 5.5 oz can of 9 Lives a day and cheap grocery store bought dry food, since I do not know any better right now.

I need advice on affordable, well balanced dry food for kittens so that I can supplement her wet food. I haven't yet taken her to a private vet, all her testing/shots were done by a non-profit where she will also get her surgery done. As such, I have not been able to ask a vet what would be a good dry food.

Her mom is kind of skinny and I want this little one to put on some weight during her first few months.

Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Primula · Sep 14, 2016

I am no expert on cat food, but all our cats have thrived on Fancy Feast wet & dry. I like the wet since it comes in 3 oz cans (about 59 cents each) & there are many flavors. There are 3 flavors in the dry. Can't remember how much a bag costs, but not expensive. My cats will not touch 9 Lives. At 4 lbs at 4 months your kitten is right on target. Don't give her milk - only water. We have bags & bags of fancy dry food in our basement that none of our cats will touch.

tuffsmom · Sep 14, 2016

tuffsmom · Sep 14, 2016

Fancy Feast wet is what I highly recommend, classic only since it is lower in carbs. When my Tuff was a little kitten I started him on Purina Kitten Chow Nurture for dry food. He did real good on both---healthy and shiny coat. Now I feed him just the wet Fancy Feast Classic with a tablespoon of water added to it since many cats on wet food only drink very little additional water. Good luck with your kitty.

Kieka · Sep 14, 2016

Make sure your getting a kitten version, they typically have more fat and growing kittens need a high fat and calorie rich diet.

Look at the labels on the ones you can afford and try to find one that has a meat listed higher in the ingredients. You also want the one with less fillers like corn and wheat listed. I believe Purina is slightly better then 9Lives and within that price range you are looking at. You can also do subscription home delivery food through amazon or chewy's which might save you some money. You can also do Target where you save 5% with their store card plus they have cartwheel sales and coupons. My coworker does that and stocks up when she has coupons or her dog food is on cartwheel, I think she usually saves at least 15% when she buys it.

Personally, mine eat Nature's Variety and a 12.1 pound bag is $34 (auto delivery subscription and no shipping charges). Which feeds 3 adult cats for a month (plus 1 can of wet food split between them every day so another $30 there). My view is the food costs more per ounce/pound but they are eating less because they are full quicker on a more energy dense food. I also have less worry about them becoming obese and any medical costs that could lead to. It's a trade off just like when it comes to picking out your own food. Totally get the position on money though, I worked 5 years a minimum wage and barely scrapped by for me. Buying their food too was hard. So I get the struggle so don't feel bad if you can't get the higher quality food. Just do the best you can with what you have and coming here to ask for opinions is a good move.

miameblues · Sep 15, 2016

Kieka said:
Make sure your getting a kitten version, they typically have more fat and growing kittens need a high fat and calorie rich diet.

Look at the labels on the ones you can afford and try to find one that has a meat listed higher in the ingredients. You also want the one with less fillers like corn and wheat listed. I believe Purina is slightly better then 9Lives and within that price range you are looking at. You can also do subscription home delivery food through amazon or chewy's which might save you some money. You can also do Target where you save 5% with their store card plus they have cartwheel sales and coupons. My coworker does that and stocks up when she has coupons or her dog food is on cartwheel, I think she usually saves at least 15% when she buys it.

Personally, mine eat Nature's Variety and a 12.1 pound bag is $34 (auto delivery subscription and no shipping charges). Which feeds 3 adult cats for a month (plus 1 can of wet food split between them every day so another $30 there). My view is the food costs more per ounce/pound but they are eating less because they are full quicker on a more energy dense food. I also have less worry about them becoming obese and any medical costs that could lead to. It's a trade off just like when it comes to picking out your own food. Totally get the position on money though, I worked 5 years a minimum wage and barely scrapped by for me. Buying their food too was hard. So I get the struggle so don't feel bad if you can't get the higher quality food. Just do the best you can with what you have and coming here to ask for opinions is a good move.

Thank you, Kieka! The Amazon subscription is a great idea.

miameblues · Sep 15, 2016

Thank you, I will try and feed her some Purina kitty chow and see how she likes it. I want to make sure she gets enough calories and nutrients, she is a very energetic kitten.

miameblues · Sep 15, 2016

Thank you, I will get a couple of cans of Fancy Feast and see how it goes. They sell for 60 cents each at the local Walmart.

Tuffsmom said:
Fancy Feast wet is what I highly recommend, classic only since it is lower in carbs. When my Tuff was a little kitten I started him on Purina Kitten Chow Nurture for dry food. He did real good on both---healthy and shiny coat. Now I feed him just the wet Fancy Feast Classic with a tablespoon of water added to it since many cats on wet food only drink very little additional water. Good luck with your kitty.

Thank you, I will get a couple of cans of Fancy Feast and see how it goes. They sell for 60 cents each at the local Walmart.

Affordable dry food for 5 month old kitten

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