Kitten Food

Got a new, young, furry love in your life? This is the place for you to ask all of your questions - big or small! Just remember that you are receiving advice from other cat owners and lovers... not professionals. If you have a major problem, always seek the advice of a vet or behaviorist! Most important is to remember to have fun with your new fur baby.

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Tiger Lily- Tess

Oo, shiny.

Purred: Tue Aug 30, '11 4:45pm PST


	Hi! I've been a Catster member for years, but this is my first post on the forum. A friend of mine's cat recently had kittens, and we got on the subject of kitten food. I might be adopting one of the kittens from her, and since it's been awhile since I've had a kitten, I've been doing a lot of (online) research. All the articles I've read have said that kittens should preferably receive canned food, because it has more protein and more water, and less carbs. She says that three vets told her kittens should have dry food, because it helps strengthen and clean their teeth and canned food causes cavities. And also, that kittens shouldn't have canned food until they're a year old. So.. what should kittens be fed?

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Ralphie & Randy

1201140

Purred: Wed Aug 31, '11 7:23am PST


	I've heard the thing about dry food cleaning teeth, and it seems so illogical. I thought it was old-school thinking, so it's odd that it would be recommended to your friend by multiple vets. I mean, how clean do your teeth feel after eating, say, potato chips? It seems to me that dry food would be MORE likely to stick to their teeth than wet food. This is all just my personal opinion. My kittens were both on a half-wet half-dry diet, but recently transitioned to all-wet. Their vet said that it's better to have them on a high-protein low-carb diet, not speaking specifically about wet versus dry, but about making sure that kittens get plenty of protein and fat. From my research I learned that it seems to be easier to provide such a diet with wet food (or raw, but I don't have the skills or confidence for that). For my kittens, one now about a year old and one about 5 months, an all-wet diet has worked very well. I've done the best I can to make sure that their foods are good quality with no grains or by-products, and that they have a variety of flavors and types. We're currently experimenting with a few new brands to add to the rotation. Since being on all-wet, they both drink less water but they pee just as much. That alone tells me that the wet food is providing more of what they need than the wet-dry combination diet. Please post an update when you've decided whether or not to adopt one of these kittens! I hope you do. Good luck!

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Nellie

cause thats what- i am a princess

Purred: Wed Aug 31, '11 10:08am PST


	when nellie and alexis were kittens they ate half wet half dry diet. and i never noticed that the dry food was keeping their teeth super sparkly.

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Kosuteh

Biting means I- love you..- right?

Purred: Wed Aug 31, '11 12:51pm PST


	Mom is a Pet Nutrition Specialist for Nutro Products, and they work with the Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition to develop all their formulas. According to a study done by Waltham, a diet of both wet and dry foods is very beneficial to cats for more than one reason. Some of the benefits found in the study were better weight management, improved oral health, enhanced eating enjoyment, better metabolism, and improved urinary tract health. A link to the article about the study can be found here on Nutro's website. http://www.nutro.com/pet-center/mixing-wet-and-dry-cat-food.aspx Mom has always given Jack, Kiki, and I dry food left out throughout the day, (They get Nutro Natural Choice Indoor Senior Chicken and Rice Formula and I get Nutro Max Cat Indoor Adult Salmon, though sometimes Kiki and Jack come steal a nibble from my bowl!) and half a large can of Nutro wet cat food to share every day. Mom gets several different flavors to mix it up so we're never bored! We're all very healthy and have beautiful skin and fur!

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Shade

My name is not- Kittyfloss!

Purred: Fri Sep 2, '11 5:51am PST


	Hi there! Well, since I'm reading this I can't help putting in my 2 cents. Kibble is not a species appropriate diet for cats. Kibble has too many carbohydrates for an obligate carnivore, too much of the protein in kibble is plant based, it contains no moisture and "most" cats will not drink enough water to make up for that defiency in their food, and it does not clean teeth. If the cat even chews the kibble, many swallow kibble whole, then little pasty bits of kibble get pushed up under the gums which can lead to gum disease. The only thing that cleans a cat's teeth is brushing them. Shade, Smudge, and Chaucer, once I adopted them, were raised on canned and raw. They love their food and are very healthy. At well care exams, and the few other times they've been to the vet's, I always here comments on how beautiful their coats are and how great Shade and Smudge's teeth are (Chuacer came with inflamed gums, but his actual teeth are great). I can't think of one reason to feed kibble to my cats. Why don't you check out catinfo.org. The site is written by a vet and she has a lot of great info. Purrs, Shade

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Memphis

World Domination- Is Easier With- Thumbs

Purred: Fri Sep 2, '11 11:17am PST


	One person once phrased it to me like this: "Saying that kibble cleans a cat's teeth is like saying eating cheetos cleans a kid's teeth!" Kibble is useful for people who can't afford to feed canned or can't feed the cat on a good schedule. However, it's not the best to feed a cat, since canned offers more moisture/water (cats are desert animals and don't drink a lot instinctively) and doesn't have as many preservatives. Dry kibble is dried out, losing some of the good nutrients. I've spoken to vets and to dental specialists, and they think that kitty cavities and teeth problems spring mainly from genetics -- just like humans. I think something like 80% of cavities in the US are found in about 20% of the population. Anyway, canned food doesn't cause cavities. If anything, I found the opposite. Memphis and Tenny have always been mainly canned fed with a little bit of crunchy food. Memphis has eaten canned since 6 weeks, kibble since 4+ months. Tenny ate kibble exclusively until I got her at 4 months. Guess who went to the kitty dentist first? Tenny! Fortunately, no cavities, just really bad tartar. You can feed kibble as an enticement or a treat, but I wouldn't make it the backbone of the cat's diet. If you do feed kibble at all, go for a grain-free brand. I actually couldn't feed Memphis kibble until she was older because she couldn't crunch the kibble with her baby teeth. She lost her baby teeth around 5 months. You'd be fine can feeding the baby exclusively. There are a lot of misconceptions about cat and dog food out there, and the kibble debate is a very common one. ibdkitties.net is a site for grain-free food recommendations. Check it out.

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Kyubey

PLAY!!! Play- play play play- pl...zzzzzzz

Purred: Sat Sep 3, '11 1:27pm PST


	Kitties almost never GET cavities, so there is certainly no need to prevent them! We get FORLs and other tooth problems, but crunchy food is not what is going to prevent those.

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Member Since
08/30/2011

Purred: Sat Sep 3, '11 11:36pm PST


	This is the OP here - got a new account. Tigy really just belongs to herself, and Grace and Friday are both gone now, so looking at that account was a little depressing.. but I don't want to delete their pages, either. Thanks for the responses! I'm definitely feeding the kitten canned when I adopt her next month (it's been decided) - I was just trying to.. I'm not sure, prove that I was right and perhaps change her mind for the sake of her other 5 kitties? After what happened to my Grace, I don't really trust low-end canned or dry food anymore (I've been reading petfoodratings.net, it's horrifying what my parents used to feed our cats!), and I'd rather start out healthy right away. So it'll definitely be canned with no grains She told me that if the kitten takes after her mama canned will make her "smelly", but I imagine that that's because she doesn't give them quality cat food. Edited by author Sat Sep 3, '11 11:38pm PST

my posts

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Ralphie & Randy

1201140

Purred: Mon Sep 5, '11 8:35am PST


	Yay! I'm glad you've decided to adopt one of the little sweeties. I hope you'll post pictures when you get him or her!

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Member Since
08/30/2011

Purred: Wed Sep 14, '11 1:14pm PST


	I visit her every week! Trying to get her used to me. She's been through a lot already in her month-old existence - she survived.. I think the simpler name is 'distemper'? but last night my friend and I discovered that she can't seem to see out of one eye So she'll be going back to the vet soon.