I have a question about kittens

[BlackVelvetElvis]

I recieved two beautiful long haired tortoiseshell kittens as a Christmas present.
They are 8 weeks old and a joy to have around.
My question: what is the best thing to feed them? Dry or canned? A friend told me to stay away from anything with by-products in them because that can cause them health problems down the road. I did some online research and only wound up more confused.
Any suggestions?

[SharonAnn]

1. Iams dry kitten food and maybe a little canned now and then for

a treat.

That's all we have fed our cats for 12 years now (Kitten, Regular, Older Cat formulas as appropriate). Great formulation, good taste (cats like it), and the cat litter doesn't smell as bad as with canned cat food.

We used to live in Dayton, OH, the HQ of Iams and got to know the people there. They've since been sold to Proctor & Gamble so I've been keeping an eye on them in case they started cheapening the food but so far it's the same (4-5 years now).

A pet store has the best selection of varieties and sizes.

And bless your kittens. Ours are much older now and we wouldn't trade them but i do remember having a couple ofkittens underfoot. They are a lot of fun!

[Catshrink]

9. Agree!

Mine do well on Iams. Two of mine had food allergies and it took some doing, but we've settled on Iams dry food. Once in a while, they get a Fancy Feast can as a treat.

Someone told me that the Costco brand is really Iams.

BTW -- congratulations! Nothing is more adorable than a kitten. A puppy is a close second, but kittens definitely outcute them!

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

18. I agree too. I have a cat with a sensitive stomach

and she likes the dry Iams. My other cat also likes it and he is picky. If you don't give them wet food or human food, they will never miss it. My one cat was obviously never given human food and he won't touch it and never mooches.

I have been told by vets that dry food is better and that cats like to eat the same food all the time, they don't need variety. If you give them different things all the time, it only spoils their appetite.

[thom1102]

19. I agree with the mixing...

You want to avoid a diet of all dry because that can lead to crystals in the urianry tract and all wet can wreck havoc on their teeth. I use Science Diet with my little guys. And

WHERE ARE THE PICTURES????

[REP]

34. DON'T USE IAMS

IAMS was bought by Proctor and Gamble and their food is now mostly filler and animalby-products.

I use Nature'sRecipe or Nutro Natural. NR is corn-free; Nutro uses only corn gluten meal (not ground yellow corn) and neither company use by-products.

[davidinalameda]

2. I raised all my cats on Kitten Chow

and they all turned out fine

but on the other hand, my ex fed our kitten the expensive stuff--wet food--not Iams but one of the other brands, and she grew up fine

you'll probably need to experiment and see what they'll tolerate

but try the Kitten Chow--sorry to say it, you can't go wrong with it

[koolkitty]

3. byproducts ARE food.

I would stay with a trusted dry kitty food. like Iams, or science diet. to get them used to it, u might want to mik in some REAL babyfood(it's the best) to get them used to it. chicken, liver, whatever. meat based.


dry food keeps the teeth/mouth clean and helps prevent digestive problems. Nothing wrong with a treat or too now and then! like baby food.

[Eurobabe]

4. try NATURA

it's all natural, and contains chicken & turkey. Esp. with the MAD COW stuff. I wouldn't feed my baby anything else.

[Randomthought]

5. Congratulations!

Quality dry food is better for there teeth; it keeps the tartar chipped off. At 8 weeks though they still have baby teeth and need moist food either canned or moistened dry.
I would suggest Nutro brand kitten food. Science diet is OK but uses reprocessed oils (restaurant grease)that can cause feline acne in older cats.
My healthiest cat has never eaten anything but Nutro brand and he is beautiful.

[ET Awful]

6. Mine gets Nutro Natural Choice in pouches. . .

Got chunks of meat and gravy in it . . . HE loves it :)

[Faygo Kid]

7. Dry is much better, and better for their teeth.

They sound absolutely horrible, and rather icky (my terms of endearment). What are their names? What about some pics?

[BlackVelvetElvis]

11. No names yet

I'm still trying to getting some pics up.
I haven't had a pet in over 25 years, so I want to pick the right names for them.
They are wild and rough when they play and when they get sleepy, they want to love.
I knew you guys would be helpful!

[Philostopher]

8. The bottom line is ...

Look for something on the label about 'provides all nutrients for a balanced diet.' Anything that does is okay, from the cheapo store-brand stuff (I originally said WalMart, but I don't know if they have a store-brand or not) to Innova and Nutro. One thing to consider -- and I can say from experience this is true -- the cheaper the food, the more 'bulk-producing' it is, which is to say the higher the nutritional density of the food, the less bulk comes out the other end.

Anecdotally, we fed our oldest, biggest, healthiest cat Purina Kitten and Cat Chow until she was over two years old. The veterinarians love her -- she only gets stress-related illnesses, like occasional bladder infections, and her teeth are good. One of our other cats has eaten Iams for three years, mostly the dry food (we use wet food as a treat/bribe only), and we recently had to have six of her teeth removed because she has an immune disorder that causes her body to attack her teeth. Her mother was probably a stray, and probably didn't eat well herself. The basic nutrition the mother cat received when she was pregnant has about as much impact on the cat's general health later in life as the food it gets, as long as it gets a balanced diet.

It's really your option whether you spend more or less. I will say that the more expensive foods do seem to give our cats nicer coats and fewer hairballs than the cheap food did -- Tink, who is a short-haired cat and the one raised on Purina food, used to gift us with a hairball a couple of times a week. Now, it's maybe once a month.

So, as long as the food is balanced and provides all the nutrients -- and I don't think they're allowed to say so on the bag unless it does -- you should be okay. How much you spend is entirely up to you.

[Looiewu]

10. Kitten chow for now...

and Iams later on. My three cats all eat the Iams with one can of Friskies for breakfast daily.

Please be sure to visit the Vet as soon as possible to have them checked out!

(little pink sock! little pink sock!)

[BlackVelvetElvis]

13. I love a Mutts reference!

[Gingersnap]

12. low carb, high protein wet food

Congratulations on the kittens. Unfortunately, the widespread belief that "high quality" dry food is better for cats than canned food is being overturned by more studies. Cats are natural carnivores (their wild diet contains no grains), and they have fewer health problems with a diet that is low in carbohydrates and grains (sort of like the theory behind the "atkins" diet with humans, although much less controversial for cats). All dry foods are higher in carbs than wet foods (although some wet food may also have grain). Our 13 year old cat has diabetes (fed science diet dry food his entire life), which is becoming increasingly common in cats that have been fed high carb diets. We now feed all our cats Wellness canned food, which has "human grade" ingredients and does not contain grains. If you can afford it, and your cats will eat it, that's what I'd recommend. Fancy Feast also makes low carb canned food.

I don't think you have to worry about "residue" unless the cats have kidney problems or IBD, that shouldn't be an issue with kittens.

[Booberdawg]

14. I use nothing but Science Diet for my pets

It is more expensive but has no filler in it like the pet food you get in the grocery store and is richer, and I will argue they don't eat as much of it so it works out the same in the long run.

And, their coats (2 cats and 1 dog) are very shiny and soft and velvety because of the better nutrition provided in the Science Diet. It's balanced to provide exactly what they need.

My vet recommends never to give them wet food. I give it to them once in a blue moon for a treat.

[Blue Gardener]

29. My kitties LOVE Science Diet

Started them on Iams but switched when Procter & Gamble bought them out, the quality just wasn't the same. I only feed them the dry stuff, canned food makes their poop stink more.

[Silverhair]

15. Congradulations on being adobted by earth's superiour species.

If you pay close attention they will soon start your training. You will be taught simple tricks at first, such as:

Fetch some food
Open the door
Pet me.
Play with me.

Failure to comply will usually cause the cat to decide that you aren't listening and that he need to get your attention. A gentle pressure of the claws on the leg usually suffices.

No, I'm not a cat hater. I have the great good fortune to be owned by a Russian Blue tom.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

20. Very good!

I've always believed that cats were at the top of the food chain over humans.
They can refer to me as the "food lady" from now on.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

21. Let's try some pics of the new babies

It works when I copy and paste the URL into my browser window. I can see them.
Can everyone see them?

[Randomthought]

22. RED X!

I don't think geocities allows remote linking try photo bucket or hpphoto.com

BTW here's my boy who only eats Nutro canned.

http://home.hpphoto.com/servlet/LinkPhoto?GUID=2ec25869-6aae-4733-bcb9-37161def1efd&size=

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

24. He is absolutely beautiful! n/t

n/t

[ET Awful]

26. And here's my kid that only eats Nutro in the pouch

[BlackVelvetElvis]

27. Honey, you stole my thunder!

What a beauty!

[ET Awful]

35. I didn't mean to steal your thunder :)

I bet my Quinn and your two would get along REAL well, they're close to the same age (within a week or two of each other). :) :) :)

[Randomthought]

28. Adorable Kid!

He looks like an Ewok!

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

23. I can't see them

They sound like they are adorable, though.

[SoCalDem]

25. You just need to copy this into the browser window and then enter

Geocities is a no-go  for linking..


http://www.geocities.com/toonheadz/twokittens.jpg

[JackDragna]

16. I feed my cats bits of ground-up Republican.

nt

[SoCalDem]

17. Dry..DRY...DRY

Occasionally I will give a special treat of a free can on the gourmet canned food..But all of mine have had dry their whole lives.. They have excellent teeth and we never have "messy" litter boxes..

The price you pay is a factor, but if you only have the 2, you can probably get the specialty dry food for them.. We feed 9 indoor and 2 outdoor strays, so we have found Costco's dry food to be a favorite and they are all healthy and happy..

[m-jean03]

30. Have you considered raw meat?

More and more people recommending this for pets, as it is their natural diet in the wild. Makes for a really healthy & happy pet (I have a dog) in my experience.
You can do a search for it on the Internet and find more info.

[jmowreader]

32. Search for "BARF diet." Really.

It means "Bones and Raw Foods." Apparently, you're supposed to run whole chickens through the meat grinder, bones and all--chicken bones don't get splintery until you cook them.

[SheilaT]

31. Dry food, one of the premium brands.

My girls will only eat Science Diet and they are healthy, happy, no teeth problems, fine coats, absolutely wonderful cats.

And even more important than which brand of cat food: don't EVER give them table food. It's very bad for them. And they'll start begging for it which can be unpleasant. Actually, dogs are worse about this than cats it seems to me. But still, give them kitty food only.

[grasswire]

33. look at this

national brands of wet food are nasty and vile.

Please go read this whole article:

http://www.homevet.com/petcare/foodbook.html

As discussed in Chapter Two, companion animals from clinics, pounds, and shelters can and are being rendered and used as sources of protein in pet food. Dead-stock removal operations play a major role in the pet food industry. Dead animals, road kill that cannot be buried at roadside, and in some cases, zoo animals, are picked up by these dead stock operations. When an animal dies in the field or is killed due to illness or disability, the dead stock operators pick them up and truck them to the receiving plant. There the dead animal is salvaged for meat or, depending on the state of decomposition, delivered to a rendering plant. At the receiving plants, the animals of value are skinned and viscera removed. Hides of cattle and calves are sold for tanning. The usable meat is removed from the carcass, and covered in charcoal to prevent it from being used for human consumption. Then the meat is frozen, and sold as animal food, which includes pet food.

The packages of this frozen meat must be clearly marked as "unfit for human consumption." The rest of the carcass and poorer quality products including viscera, fat, etcetera, are sent to the rendering facilities. Rendering plants are melting pots for all types of refuse. Restaurant grease and garbage; meats and baked goods long past the expiration dates from supermarkets (Styrofoam trays and shrink-wrap included); the entrails from dead stock removal operations, and the condemned and contaminated material from slaughterhouses. All of these are rendered.

The slaughterhouses where cattle, pigs, goats, calves, sheep, poultry, and rabbits meet their fate, provide more fuel for rendering. After slaughter, heads, feet, skin, toenails, hair, feathers, carpal and tarsal joints, and mammary glands are removed. This material is sent to rendering. Animals who have died on their way to slaughter are rendered. Cancerous tissue or tumors and worm-infested organs are rendered. Injection sites, blood clots, bone splinters, or extraneous matter are rendered. Contaminated blood is rendered. Stomach and bowels are rendered. Contaminated material containing or having been treated with a substance not permitted by, or in any amount in excess of limits prescribed under the Food and Drug Act or the Environmental Protection Act. In other words, if a carcass contains high levels of drugs or pesticides this material is rendered.

Before rendering, this material from the slaughterhouse is "denatured," which means that the material from the slaughterhouse is covered with a particular substance to prevent it from getting back into the human food chain. In the United States the substances used for denaturing include: crude carbolic acid, fuel oil, or citronella. In Canada the denaturing agent is Birkolene B. When I asked, the Ministry of Agriculture would not divulge the composition of Birkolene B, stating its ingredients are a trade secret.

At the rendering plant, slaughterhouse material, restaurant and supermarket refuse, dead stock, road kill, and euthanized companion animals are dumped into huge containers. A machine slowly grinds the entire mess. After it is chipped or shredded, it is cooked at temperatures of between 220 degrees F. and 270 degrees F. (104.4 to 132.2 degrees C.) for twenty minutes to one hour. The grease or tallow rises to the top, where it is removed from the mixture. This is the source of animal fat in most pet foods. The remaining material, the raw, is then put into a press where the moisture is squeezed out. We now have meat and bone meal.