Arghhh! No kitten non-chicken foods exist!

I've been researching kitten foods extensively and haven't found what I'm looking for. Wondering if someone here knows if I've missed something.

Spirit (6 mos.) has chronic soft stools. He had worms and distemper and all that good stuff, treated and doing well, except the diarrhea persists. The vet wants to put him on Hills Z/D or was it I/D?..... anyways, rather than going back to Science Diet I'm looking for an alternative-protein kitten food.

When he was at the shelter I think he at Meow Mix sometimes and Science Diet other times. I'm thinking that if he was ill with worms during that whole time maybe he "grew" a sensitivity to chicken/turkey. I put him on Blue Spa Select (a new natural food), but that's chicken based also and hasn't made much of a change. Maybe just a little for the better.

So I've been searching for a kitten lamb and rice or venison and rice formula, and can only seem to find adult formulas. Especially if I want to avoid corn or corn gluten!

Does anyone know of a kitten food I'm missing? Thanks!

Click on the link http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/cat...as/VenCat.html to go a page fully describing Natural Balance Venison and Green Pea. It is formulated for all life stages, and this page includes the feeding guidelines for kittens, as well as the full ingredients list. The only hesitation, it does also use a fish oil, other than that, it is a single protein source food, and comes in both canned and dry. I'd ask your vet about trying this.

I would imagine it was Hills Z/D that your vet was recommending, as that is what my Joshua was on for his issues, and was the only food that gave him relief.

HAs your vet also ruled out any other parasites like coccidia or giardia? My two boys had mild diarrhea for a couple of months till we treated them for monoclonal bacterial parasites. Even then, it took some weeks to clear.

Garfield had SEVERE distemper as a kitten. It seemed like it took forever for his tummy to finally settle down. If you think poultry is the issue, you could try an adult food with the ingredients you like for a week or two, and see if it helps Spirit. Then you would have an idea of which food to look for...

And for your info, although my housecats eat Science Diet, my outside cat Will turns his nose up at it. He would rather feed himself by hunting, than eat it! It must not taste very good.

Originally Posted by Pat & Alix

I would imagine it was Hills Z/D that your vet was recommending, as that is what my Joshua was on for his issues, and was the only food that gave him relief.

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I think the Natural Balance venison might be a good idea. But for Joshua on Z/D, did he ever get over his issues and was he able to be put back on a different food? I'd like to have Spirit on a more natural food but of course I'll do Z/D if that's what brings relief.

Originally Posted by jennyranson

HAs your vet also ruled out any other parasites like coccidia or giardia? My two boys had mild diarrhea for a couple of months till we treated them for monoclonal bacterial parasites. Even then, it took some weeks to clear.

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That's a good point I forgot to mention - Spirit tested negative for those parasites, but they put him on meds anyways just in case, and of course it didn't help.

Originally Posted by rblaude

I think the Natural Balance venison might be a good idea. But for Joshua on Z/D, did he ever get over his issues and was he able to be put back on a different food? I'd like to have Spirit on a more natural food but of course I'll do Z/D if that's what brings relief.

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I am afraid not, but Z/D had *just* come out, and we had tried everything, in his case, it was his last chance - he really had issues...so it helped give him several more years before he developed cancer and passed on.

Another interesting option (canned only and currently only sold in OR, WA in the US, is Addiction canned food, which is using australian brushtail (similar to possum) and unagi (eel). Their website is: www.addictionfoods.com

You could feed Spirit an adult food. There is nothing wrong with that. I don't put my cats on kitten food, they go straight onto raw food. Anyway, as mentioned Natural Balance has a venison based food. Eagle Pack Holistic Select has a duck based one and Nature's Variety has a lamb based one aswell. I suggest feeding canned, because many many brands have chicken based kibble, but numerous non-chicken based canned food. Canned food is way healthier anyway. Good luck!

Solid gold is another all stage that is lamb and fish based... it had lots of grains that may be good for this issue

But like Pat said discuss with vet Z/D may be nessasary

Actually sharky, Solid Gold kibble has chicken meal as the second ingredient.

Originally Posted by Apric0t

Actually sharky, Solid Gold kibble has chicken meal as the second ingredient.

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not the bag I saw ...lol off to check the book as there ingrediants have shifted..lol.. humm I need to call about that .. cause the book say s yes and the bag didnt have chn ... scratch that off the no chn list for now...

The website lists chicken meal as the second ingredient. We are talking about Katz-N-Flocken here, right?

Originally Posted by Apric0t

The website lists chicken meal as the second ingredient. We are talking about Katz-N-Flocken here, right?

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lol.. yes...

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I'm trying Natural Balance venison for the moment, switching him over as we speak. I'm going to keep in mind the other options in case this doesn't pan out.... and I think getting him on canned food would be good as well. We'll see how this goes!

Hi!
I have a 1 1/2 yr old kitty who is underweight. I took him to work with me, I am a veterinary technician and talked with my vet and we decided that he should go on kitten food for a while to beef him up a little. I too also have an allergy problem to chicken/turkey. I went to Petsmart where I proceeded to spend I think 1-2 hours reading every label out there on kitten food. I did find a few that were fish or beef based. I believe that Nutro as well as Pro Plan and Sophisticat all had either a fish or beef base to them. I must warn you though I found a few that said they were fish or beef flavored and AFTER I bought them and got them home I found way down at they bottom they had chicken in them (very upseting) but luckily Petsmart does take food back! I have not had much success with the client at my hospital and the Z/D food, most cats won't eat it and beside it looks disgusting! I think that IVD also makes a duck and green pea, but once again not much success with that either. You may want to consider a veterinary allergist, they can sometimes make up an injection to help comabt the food allergy problems, but most allergist are pretty expensive, but it may be an alternative.