I'm not sure about my current cat food.

I just got a 7 week old kitten, and I am currently feeding her dry "Special
Kitty" for kittens. Most people I know use it, and their cats are all healthy,
but would it be better if I switched to a different food? Or is it alright if
I continue using my current food. Any input is appreciated! Thanks!

lucy707 u23450@uwe wrote:

: I just got a 7 week old kitten, and I am currently feeding her dry "Special
: Kitty" for kittens. Most people I know use it, and their cats are all healthy,
: but would it be better if I switched to a different food? Or is it alright if
: I continue using my current food. Any input is appreciated! Thanks!

AFAIK special kitty is Walmart's house brand. You can do better.
However, it is more important to switch to mostly canned food.

Kiran wrote:
lucy707 u23450@uwe wrote:

: I just got a 7 week old kitten, and I am currently feeding her dry "Special
: Kitty" for kittens. Most people I know use it, and their cats are all healthy,
: but would it be better if I switched to a different food? Or is it alright if
: I continue using my current food. Any input is appreciated! Thanks!

AFAIK special kitty is Walmart's house brand. You can do better.
However, it is more important to switch to mostly canned food.

My guys like Friskie's Prime Filets and Purina Indoor Cat Chow (which
gives them some greens, too). I also have some oat grass growing for
them to nibble on. All in all, a balanced diet seems to work well.

While special kitty is at the low end for dry food it is considered
nutritionally complete and no vet in all my 26 years of owning cats has
ever recommended feeding canned food. The reason behind not
recommending canned food is because it doesn't excersise the jaw
muscles, and can also lead to excess tarter build up. With a kitten of
that age which is still pretty young to be away from its mother it is
best to use a higher quality cat food such as purina, eucanuba, and the
such. To discourage your cat from being a picky eater present a
variety of different age appropriate cat foods if he shuns the dry food
moisten it with a little water. If you find he has some difficulty
with the food you can try mixing in a little plain unflavored yogart
and unsweeten. Yogart is also good if a cat has had some problem with
diarriah. I would also recommend either going to the liburary or local
book store and getting a complete guide to cat and/or kitten care and
reading the appropriate section.
Kiran wrote:
lucy707 u23450@uwe wrote:

: I just got a 7 week old kitten, and I am currently feeding her dry "Special
: Kitty" for kittens. Most people I know use it, and their cats are all healthy,
: but would it be better if I switched to a different food? Or is it alright if
: I continue using my current food. Any input is appreciated! Thanks!

AFAIK special kitty is Walmart's house brand. You can do better.
However, it is more important to switch to mostly canned food.

EXPERIENCE WITH SEVERAL CATS wrote:
While special kitty is at the low end for dry food it is considered
nutritionally complete and no vet in all my 26 years of owning cats has
ever recommended feeding canned food.

Why not dry:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph... cleantheteeth

The reason behind not
recommending canned food is because it doesn't excersise the jaw
muscles, and can also lead to excess tarter build up.

This is true. I use nature's toothbrush for my cats - chicken
gizzards. If you don't want to feed them raw, you can always braise
them in a little butter.

As to feline nutrition, Dr. Zoran's article is very enlightening:

www.catinfo.org/zorans_article.pdf

Lauren
(and Mickey & Meesha)
Raise Your Paw for Raw!

see my cats: http://tinyurl.com/8glfv

EXPERIENCE WITH SEVERAL CATS wrote:

: While special kitty is at the low end for dry food it is considered
: nutritionally complete

If you mean it meet AAFCO standards, those seem to be so loose that
even 100% vegan diets can meet them:
http://www.vegancats.com/pages/1002/...Ready_Made.htm

: no vet in all my 26 years of owning cats has ever recommended
: feeding canned food.

That only means that vets as a group have no incentive to prevent
diseases, only to manage the conditions while you pay. If you listen to
nutritional reserachers who don't benefit from sick cats, you get a
different picture.

To OP I recommend 75%-90% canned and the rest dry. Look for high
quality protein (named meat rather than "byproducts", "dinner" "meal"
etc), low grains, low phosphorous. For different reasons, I like to
give beef, lamb, seafood no more than once a week each. Among
affordable commercial foods, chicken and turkey are best bets.

To exercise jaw, get chunky canned food they have to chew on. It need
not be a paste to lick. To clean teeth, you have to learn to brush
their teeth, unless your own experience has shown eating pretzels to be
a good way to keep your teeth clean.

SHUNGER wrote:

no vet in all my 26 years of owning cats
has ever recommended feeding canned
food.

You seem to have bad luck in choosing vets! Vets are notoriously
uninformed about feline nutrition. Those that are informed are usually
trained by reps from Science Diet (which they sell). Good quality
CANNED food is much better for the health of a cat. They are less
likely to develop diabetes and urinary infections and crystals.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

PawsForThought wrote:
EXPERIENCE WITH SEVERAL CATS wrote:
While special kitty is at the low end for dry food it is considered
nutritionally complete and no vet in all my 26 years of owning cats has
ever recommended feeding canned food.

Why not dry:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph... cleantheteeth

The reason behind not
recommending canned food is because it doesn't excersise the jaw
muscles, and can also lead to excess tarter build up.

This is true. I use nature's toothbrush for my cats - chicken
gizzards. If you don't want to feed them raw, you can always braise
them in a little butter.

As to feline nutrition, Dr. Zoran's article is very enlightening:

www.catinfo.org/zorans_article.pdf

Lauren
(and Mickey & Meesha)
Raise Your Paw for Raw!

see my cats: http://tinyurl.com/8glfv

Kiran wrote:

: To OP I recommend 75%-90% canned and the rest dry.

I just want to add as clarification that for nutritional content alone
100% canned would be better. However, I like to feed a little dry so
they will eat it when they must, eg, when I am away at the feeding
times and either I or someone else must leave food out.

I feed mine twice daily so 14 meals per week. Of those 12 are canned
and 2 dry (Purina One Chicken and Rice). In addition I give a few
morsels of dry as occasional treat.

: For different reasons, I like to give beef, lamb, seafood no more than
: once a week each. Among affordable commercial foods, chicken and
: turkey are best bets.

In our case 2 dry meals are chicken. Of the 12 canned meals, 2 are beef
or lamb, 1-2 seafood, and the rest chicken/turkey.

Zippy wrote:
We got our 9 week old kitten when he was only 4 weeks old; his mother
had too many kittens & stopped feeding him. The owners weren't in a
position to feed the mother very well either, so we took the little
guy.

He got sick, but with the vet's antibiotics he has recovered & is a
very healthy young cat now with beautiful long legs and sparking eyes.
Because he was so young then sick we gave him KMR "mother's" milk & we
are now weaning him off of it by watering it down & adding cow's milk
to it, but he laps it up with gusto either way.

Aww, he sounds very cute I'm glad to hear he's recovered.