Kitten food advice

Nody

Instead of writing a review I'm looking for advise

First of all on food, I'm currently feeding usually:
Applaws (kitten & adult)
Almo Nature label (green or brown label)
Grau (Kitten, new one to try but looks like good quality stuff at a very good price)
Cosma (trying to keep the fish versions down)
Sushi cat (looks decent from content but can't find the detailed breakdown of content which annoys me and I've stopped buying it)
Royal Canin (only to ween the kittens off it to better stuff but our shelter is supported by RC so I can't fault them for serving it )

Further kitty food makers can be found on this excellent page as reference.

I'm rotating the cats around to not get them tied down to a single type of diet (we're a foster family so need some flexibility for when we shift them on) and mix in some salmon oil in their soft food every couple of days (royal canin kitten and Acana kibbles available 24/7). The kittens are now 5 months old and they get a 50/50 mix of adult food and kitten food. How ever would you say it's to early to move them on to more adult food (less rice is the main reason I'm looking at it, 5% vs 1%)?

Secondly are you aware of any similar quality foods (wet) out there that we can/should rotate in with them? They get chicken wings (frozen for a week and then thawed and cut down to size with bones and all) to crunch once or twice a month as well but we're always looking at more ways to get them used to a variety of foods (beyond the fact I think it's good for them to eat varied types of food but I don't want to feed them McD style cat food as Whiskas, Felix etc.).

ABajaninCork

Burns do a very good dry cat food. Not sure about wet food for cats though.

*Goes off to have a look. BRB *

EDIT: Nope! Seems that Burns do only dry for cats. Have a look at Zooplus. They recommend several wet cat food makes that might be suitable.

Nody

Sorry but the Burns food appears quite bad actually (and they got no wet stuff for cats):

Chicken & Brown Rice for Cats wrote:

Brown Rice (min 46%), Chicken Meal (min 36%), Maize, Chicken Oil, Chicken Livers, Seaweed, Minerals & Vitamins

Duck & Rice for Kittens wrote:

Ingredients:
Duck Meal (min 39%), Brown Rice (min 21%), White Rice (min 20%), Maize, Duck Fat, Chicken Livers, Seaweed, Minerals & Vitamins

Compare that to Acana (60-65% meat and 35-40% fruit/veg; all human grade):

Wild Prairie Cat & Kitten wrote:

Chicken meal, russet potato, boneless chicken, boneless walleye, whitefish meal*, peas, chicken fat, sun-cured alfalfa, chicken liver, boneless Lake Whitefish, whole eggs, salmon oil, sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach, turnip greens, tomatoes, carrots, apples, organic kelp, cranberries, blueberries, juniper berries, black currants, chicory root, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile flowers, lavender flowers, summer savory, rosemary.
* ACANA whitefish meal contains wild-caught Alaskan cod, pollack, sole, and haddock.

The things I don't want to see in any cat food is cheap gluten (corn, maize etc.) and rice should be kept to a minimum.

mymo

I sometimes feed bozita wet food and cats were great on it, mostly meat. They seemed to have changed the recipe now though, cats not as into it and not one meat source anymore. (Just meat in it though so might be worth a look)
Reasonable price in large packs, was getting two meals for two cats (big meals) out of a packet, buy in bulk.

Also tried James well beloved, not great, very mushy, not much in it, bit expensive.

Applaws was a hit here, but works out expensive too.

Looking myself at the moment, will probably go for the bozita again.

Nody

Looked up Bozita (did not know they were Swedish) and you're right it looks quite ok on food content:

Bozita Kitten wrote:

Composition: Chicken (88% in the chunk), pork, special processed oat (SPC, 1%), calcium carbonate, yeast (ß -1.3/1.6-glucan 0.01%).

Additives per kg: Vitamin A 2280IU, vitamin D3 230IU, vitamin E 14mg, copper 2.3mg (copper(II)sulfate, pentahydrate), manganese 2.0mg (manganese –II & -III oxide), zinc 16mg (zinc sulfate, monohydrate), iodine 0.1mg (calcium iodate, monohydrate).

Analytical constituents: Protein 8.5% (taurine 0.07%), fat 4.5%, fiber 0.5%, ash 2.0% (calcium 0.3%, phosphorus 0.3%, magnesium 0.02%), moisture 83%.

Bozita Steralised indoor wrote:

Composition: Chicken (90% in the chunk), pork, calcium carbonate, yeast (ß -1.3/1.6-glucan 0.01%), L-carnitine (0.001%).

Additives per kg: Vitamin A 2090IU, vitamin D3 209IU, vitamin E 13mg, copper 2mg (copper(II)sulfate, pentahydrate), manganese 1.9mg (manganese –II & -III oxide), zinc 14mg (zinc sulfate, monohydrate), iodine 0.1mg (calcium iodate, monohydrate).

Analytical constituents: Protein 8.5% (taurine 0.07%), fat 4.5%, fiber 0.5%, ash 2.0% (calcium 0.3%, phosphorus 0.3%, magnesium 0.02%), moisture 83%.

I'll need to get some now to feed kittens :P

Pumpkinseeds

I've been looking for a replacement for the wet pouches my 2 cats are on, I've decided on Porta 21, I can't remember exactly what the break down of ingredients is, but it looks like its very high grade. They have a very good range of it on Zooplus and I think its on offer at the moment.

Both of mine are on Applaws dry food since last month and they're thriving on it. One of my chaps is prone to weight gain and piled it on while on the RC dry food, he used to be behind me every time I went in to the kitchen looking for food. Thats all stopped now and I want to get them off the Felix pouches on to a much better quality pouch.

maggiepip

Porta21 wet food (although excellent ingredients) its only a complementary food which is fine if its fed alongside a complete food (like youre obviously doing pumpinseeds) but if fed as a sole diet it lacks the correct amount of nutrients etc... Taurine being one to mention. Just for people to be aware:)

spookymuffin

I'll second Bozita here, my kitten loves it. Other decent foods that aren't too expensive and are nutritionally complete are Animonda and Smilla.

My girl gets a combination of Animonda, Bozita, Smilla and Grau (100g in the morning and 100g at dinner time) with a small amount of Applaws dry food for when I'm in work, and at night when we've gone to bed. Once or twice a week I give her a complementary cat food like Applaws wet, Cosma or Almo Nature for dinner just to mix things up.

If you're buying from zooplus, I have to recommend buying from their German site instead of the Irish one. A lot of the cat food is much cheaper.
The only thing is that to get free delivery you need to order over €70 in one order so you'd need to be buying for a month or two at a time (depending on how many cats you're feeding).

Dublin21

I think the Grau wet food is amazing..
I've been feeding my 10 month old kitten this since he was about 3-4 months.
His coat is gorgeous, stools are fine and it seems to satisfy his hunger.
Funny actually the only time he seems to come back for more is when i feed him the Yellow tin of Grau which is actually the 'low fat' option!
My OH's father has said it smells so nice he would try it himself!

I've been feeding our older cat (about 12-13 months) the applaws kitten dry food for the past few months.
Chose this because of the meat content and that its grain free.
He eats it but is constantly coming back for more - this could be just due to his general appetite as we have given it to our younger kitten a few times and he would only eat about half a serving.

Our older cat is actually about 1/2kg overweight so im going to switch the adult applaws (im presuming this would have less calories?) and cut it by 10%.

Ive also tried the natures best wet pouches recently.
The younger kitten who adores meat and anything raw etc walked away from it but its high enough in meat content so it could be worth a go?
They both adore the natures menu treats!

Pumpkinseeds

Dublin21 wrote: »

I think the Grau wet food is amazing..
I've been feeding my 10 month old kitten this since he was about 3-4 months.
His coat is gorgeous, stools are fine and it seems to satisfy his hunger.
Funny actually the only time he seems to come back for more is when i feed him the Yellow tin of Grau which is actually the 'low fat' option!
My OH's father has said it smells so nice he would try it himself!

I've been feeding our older cat (about 12-13 months) the applaws kitten dry food for the past few months.
Chose this because of the meat content and that its grain free.
He eats it but is constantly coming back for more - this could be just due to his general appetite as we have given it to our younger kitten a few times and he would only eat about half a serving.

Our older cat is actually about 1/2kg overweight so im going to switch the adult applaws (im presuming this would have less calories?) and cut it by 10%.

Ive also tried the natures best wet pouches recently.
The younger kitten who adores meat and anything raw etc walked away from it but its high enough in meat content so it could be worth a go?
They both adore the natures menu treats!

We switched both of our cats to the Applaws about a month ago and they love it. 1 of ours is overweight and its made a huge difference to him. He's full now and he doesn't mooch for food anymore. We cut right back on the wet pouches and when we do put some wet food down he sometimes ignores it and eats the Applaws nuts instead. They're both thriving on it. I've noticed that since he's been on the Applaws he has much more energy and wants to play whereas before he wasn't really interested.

Dublin21

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

We switched both of our cats to the Applaws about a month ago and they love it. 1 of ours is overweight and its made a huge difference to him. He's full now and he doesn't mooch for food anymore. We cut right back on the wet pouches and when we do put some wet food down he sometimes ignores it and eats the Applaws nuts instead. They're both thriving on it. I've noticed that since he's been on the Applaws he has much more energy and wants to play whereas before he wasn't really interested.

Unfortunately our Kitty seems to be the exact opposite
He will eat it all, want more and isn't interested in playing with us/toys (Although he will run around with our younger kitty for ages!)
My O/h is looking for a good harness to start walking him instead as we don't let them outdoors.
Out of interest are they on the adult applaws or the kitten?

Pumpkinseeds

Dublin21 wrote: »

Unfortunately our Kitty seems to be the exact opposite
He will eat it all, want more and isn't interested in playing with us/toys (Although he will run around with our younger kitty for ages!)
My O/h is looking for a good harness to start walking him instead as we don't let them outdoors.
Out of interest are they on the adult applaws or the kitten?

They're on the Adult. I've both the Chicken kibble and the Salmon and chicken one as 1 will eat the one with chicken and the other won't eat it unless it has salmon:rolleyes: I'm careful about the amounts I put out as we just put it in the bowls and they eat it throughout the day. Its easy to forget they need less of the high protein food. We got a Da Bird toy for them at Christmas and I cannot recommend it enough. My overweight chap was a real couch potato, now if I'm upstairs for more than a few minutes he's behind me meeping for me to play. Actually right now they're both upstairs jumping around with it now. Its my husbands turn to play with it tonight. The heavier chap loves to leap from side to side of the bed and tumble in the air. It was that to knock the weight off him or the vet was gonna put him on diet food:(

Dublin21

Yeah we've been told if he doesn't drop the weight in 6 weeks we need to put him on diet food.

Funny enough we actually have a 'da bird' toy!
He will sit there look at it, try bat it for a few minutes and then just lose interest!
Whereas the other guy (Who we predominately feed the grau to) will literally somersault off anything to get it!
Could be no connection at all there but maybe something else would suit him better.

We weigh out the food so haven't been over feeding him going off the recommendations.
I'll def try the adult food next though before i give up on it!

Pumpkinseeds

Our heavier chap had no interest in it at first. It was just chance that I had brought it back upstairs to put it on top of a bookshelf(otherwise smaller chap would destroy it). Hes not really interested in playing anywhere other than on the bed or in the office. I pull back the duvet and he goes mad on the bed. I think its more comfortable for him for jumping and once he got into it he wanted to play more. It might be worth giving it a try on the bed.

I've noticed that he likes it dangled just in front of his eyes, then he jumps up at it, whereas the leaner chap loves to gallop after it in circles on the floor and from sofa to sofa.

I'd say the kitten food is a lot higher in calories as kittens have higher calorie needs than adults as far as I know

Armaiti

I use to refer to this board when I want some hint on cat food: http://www.micimiao.net/forum/showthread.php?t=76226

It's a very professional italian board (more than one admin is a vet), but I can easily translate for you:

(note that G.F. stands for grains free, C.F. for cruelty free and G.D.O. means that you can easily find this brand in the supermarket)


COMPLEMENTARY WET FOOD

Very high quality:

Almo PetShop
Animonda (Carny Ocean Fish or Von Feinsten select): online/petshop
Applaws: online
Boos: online
Cosma: online
Leonardo: online/petshop
Porta21: online
Olistika Vetline: petshop/online (C.F.)
Schiress: petshop
Superior: petshop

High quality:

Adoc GDO
Bayer Progres: petshop
Dreesy: GDO (C.F.)
Forza10: petshop (C.F.)
Febel: petshop
Felis: petshop
GreenFish: petshop
HappyCat: online
Miamor: online
Monge Natural: petshop (C.F.)
MaxiCat: petshop
NaturalLine: petshop
Natural Cat: petshop/online
Petreet Natura & Class: petshop/GDO
Schesir: petshop C.F.
SushiCat: petshop
ShinyCat: petshop
Silver: petshop


COMPLETE WET FOOD

Very high quality:

Animonda Carny: online/petshop
Biopur: online
DRN: petshop
Grau: online
Hermann’s: online
Mac’s: online
Miamor: online
Pet Nature: online
Olistika Vetline: online/petshop (C.F.)
Trainer Fitness and Natural: petshop (C.F.)
Tiger Cat: online
Ziwi Peak: online/petshop

High quality:

Aniwell: petshop/online (C.F.)
Bozita: online
Club Prolife: petshop/online
Forza10 bio: petshop (C.F.)
Hill’s: petshop
Le Chat: petshop
Leonardo: petshop
Nutro: petshop
Precise Feline: online/petshop
Proplan (Purina): petshop
Porta 21: online
Royal Canin: petshop
Schmusy: online
Yarrah: online/petshop



Medium quality:

Almo bio patè: petshop (C.F.)
Animonda Rafinè: online/petshop
Iams: petshop/GDO
Monge LeChat – Gemon: petshop/GDO (C.F.)
Mr StuzzyCat: petshop (C.F.)
StuzzyGold petshop: (C.F.)
Specific: petshop

Medium-low quality:

Nutrena: petshop
Purina One: GDO
Whiskas: GDO/petshop


DRY FOOD

Very high quality:

Acana: G.F. online
Orijen: G.F online
Solid Gold: online
Ziwi Peak: G.F. online

High quality:

Alfa Pro: online
Almo Easily Digestible: PetShop - C.F.
Animonda Vom Feinsten: PetShop/Online
Applaws: G.F. Online
Aniwell: PetShop/online - C.F.
Biomill: PetShop/online - C.F.
Enova: PetShop/online
Eukanuba: PetShop
Grau: Online
Hill’s: PetShop
Nature’s Best Hill’s: PetShop
Royal Canin: PetShop
Schesir: PetShop - C.F.
Trainer Fitness: PetShop - C.F.
Trainer Natural: PetShop - C.F.

Medium High quality:

Affinity Advance: PetShop - C.F.
Almo Holistic (with complementary wet food): PetShop - C.F.
Brit Care (Eagle Italia): petshop - C.F.
Cimiao (Farmina): PetShop
Club Prolife: PetShop
Forza10: PetShop - C.F.
GreenFish: PetShop
Josera: online
HappyCat: online
Iams: PetShop/GDO
Leonardo: PetShop
Monge SP: PetShop
Nutro: PetShop
Natural Pet: online
Olistika Vetline: PetShop -C.F.
Progres e FitoProgres Bayer: PetShop
ProPlan (Purina): PetShop
Porta 21: online
ProNature: online
Sanabelle: online

Medium quality:

Burns: online - C.F.
Bozita: online
Cat Evolution: online
Crancy Pro34 with chicken: GDO - C.F.
Defu bio: online
Flatazor: online
Matisse (Farmina): PetShop
Nutrexa IndiCat: PetShop
Opticat: GDO
Perfect Fit: PetShop/GDO

Medium/low quality:

April (Affinity): PetShop - C.F.
Amì: PetShop - C.F.
Animonda Rafinè: PetShop/online
Charli (Farmina): PetShop
Felidae: online
Flatazor premium: online
Purina One: GDO
Petreet Specialist: GDO
Specific: PetShop/GDO
Purina Tonus: PetShop
Yarrah: online - C.F.
Ultima (Affinity): GDO - C.F.


Hope this can be helpful