The best Kitten/Cat food out there?

skyegsd

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Hey guys!

A few days ago I recently adopted a kitten from the local SPCA. Its been almost a year that i've been cat-less so this was a pretty big deal!! I currently breed/train German Shepherds with my mom so I am a lot more educated in the dog world than I am with cats. So my question for you guys is, what kitten/cat food do you guys feed, and why? I know with dogs there are a lot of food controversies! (And i'm assuming its the same with cats??)

Although I did make one mistake with my new kitten... My mother and I have been going to the same vet for quite a while, who we have had Great luck and strongly trust their knowledge/judgement. But recently a close friend of mine who happens to work at another vet clinic, talked me into trying out her clinic. Well I ended up taking Cooper their for his first vet visit, and wasn't super impressed. They strongly urged me to feed Cooper "Science Diet Kitten formula" and said on multiple occassions that it was simply THE BEST FOOD! Well I know Science Diet in the dog world is often referred to as "Science Death". With the first 2 ingredients being Chicken By-Product Meal, and Ground Whole Grain Corn I dont see how this could be the best possible food out there? I wasn't so sure I liked the idea of these vets and their technitions so forcefully promoting one type of food with no possible alternatives? Any insight? (i'm guessing this particular vet clinic may be recieving a portion of sales with each bag of Science Diet sold, but thats just a guess)

What cat food recommendations can you guys give me, and I was just wondering if any of you has gone through a similar situation?


BTW, great board! I'm glad I found you guys!
 

cearbhaill

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Welcome to The Cat Site!


There is no shortage of opinions around here about feeding.
Rather than recommend any specific brands I would encourage you to browse this Health & Nutrition section for a day or so to get some different ideas.
This is a great website, as is this , and this.

I can recommend that you look into feeding at least a partially 'wet food" (canned) diet, as getting enough moisture into our cats is a goal many of us share.
 
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skyegsd

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Hi Cearbhaill

Yep he gets canned food twice a day! (its also a good way to give him his lysine powder, i just put a pinch in with his wet food morning/night)

I'll definitely check out the links you posted, thanks
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Cearbhaill

Welcome to The Cat Site!


There is no shortage of opinions around here about feeding.
Rather than recommend any specific brands I would encourage you to browse this Health & Nutrition section for a day or so to get some different ideas.
This is a great website, as is this , and this.

I can recommend that you look into feeding at least a partially 'wet food" (canned) diet, as getting enough moisture into our cats is a goal many of us share.
there is a start

Welcome to TCS
 

jaycee

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ive noticed that my cat drinks plenty of water, is wet food still necessary? (i dont have anything against wet food and would probably feed it anyway im just wondering)
 

denice

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It's good they drink a lot of water. That's really the idea behind the fountains to get them to drink more water. I think the idea with the wet food is they get the water the way they would in nature. The original desert animal got most of their water from the prey they ate.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by jaycee

ive noticed that my cat drinks plenty of water, is wet food still necessary? (i dont have anything against wet food and would probably feed it anyway im just wondering)
dry food is on ave 10-12% moisture
wet food is on ave 75-85% moisture
cats natural prey about 85% moisture


It takes alot of water to make up for lack of moisture in dry
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by SkyeGSD

They strongly urged me to feed Cooper "Science Diet Kitten formula" and said on multiple occassions that it was simply THE BEST FOOD! Well I know Science Diet in the dog world is often referred to as "Science Death". With the first 2 ingredients being Chicken By-Product Meal, and Ground Whole Grain Corn I dont see how this could be the best possible food out there? I wasn't so sure I liked the idea of these vets and their technitions so forcefully promoting one type of food with no possible alternatives? Any insight? (i'm guessing this particular vet clinic may be recieving a portion of sales with each bag of Science Diet sold, but thats just a guess)

What cat food recommendations can you guys give me, and I was just wondering if any of you has gone through a similar situation?


BTW, great board! I'm glad I found you guys!
You will find that "most" vets have no knowledge about nutrition. They tend to promote whatever the sales reps leave at their offices. There are instances where cats have to be on a special diet for IBD or other such things and the Hills is often recommended and apparently is better for them.

For a normal, healthy kitten, IMO you don't need to have a special diet. A good quality kitten food is fine. Read your labels, avoid by-products and have the first ingredients listed be meat and your kitten will be super. Try to feed a wet diet with dry as "grazing" back-up. Another good thing is a PetMate or other type of fountain as it seems to encourage cats to drink.
 
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