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  #1  
Old January 22nd, 2007, 04:23 PM
peagreen peagreen is offline
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Question Kitten/Cat food-I'm soooo confused!

I have a 5 month old kitty, named Patrick. When I adopted him, he was on IAMS. I switched him to Nutro-Max for kittens because my cat-lover friend has her cats on this food and she swears by it. After reading all these threads, I am so confused!! Is there really ONE good dry food for kittens/cats? How does one decide? what does one look for?? and what kind of human food can a kitten eat without it being bad for them? I'm so confused now.....
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Old January 22nd, 2007, 06:24 PM
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RolandsMom RolandsMom is offline
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HI. i also have a 5 month old kitten and when i got him he was on natura. i switched him to the neutro max kitten (the one in the pink bag, its supposed to have more in it than the one in the yellow bag) and i tried to intergrate it slowly into his old food. he just picked out all the neutro bits and left the rest. now he eats the neutro and is is very fine form. his coat is wonderful, hes a healthy weight and seems very happy. apparently they should be on kitten food till about a year unless they are getting fat! as it has all the nutrients that they need. i agree with your friend that this is a really great food!
as for human food, we used to give our cats snacks but i have not given my kitten any and he doesnt ask for any. i think you have to be careful cause it can cause bad habits and you have to make sure that its not interfering with his normal eating as he can lack nutrients if he doesnt eat properly. i also googled this information and found lots of useful websites.
hope that helps!
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Old January 22nd, 2007, 08:08 PM
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meb999 meb999 is offline
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I've only researched dog food, but I imagine the basics are the same :

- stay away from anything 'by-product' -- those are the icky spoiled scrappings off the slaughter room floor that they can't possibly use in anything else.

- Stay away from any unnamed meats (like fish meal, poultry meal, meat, poultry fat, etc)

- Cats are carnivores, so you want a food that has a named meat source as a first ingredient. It's important that the meat source be a '-meal' (for example chicken meal instead of just chicken) because if it's just written 'chicken' then that means it's inclusive of it's water content so once it's cooked, you can expect it to be actually lower down the ingredient list.

- stay away from fillers such as corn (you definetly don't want to see corn in the first five ingredients)

- make sure it doesn't have any Menadione bisulfate (Vitamin K -- it's an artificial vitamin K that has been removed from human consumption because it's linked to cancer.

So that's a little summary.

This is a really good cat food : Felidae -- http://www.canidae.com
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Old January 23rd, 2007, 12:50 AM
peagreen peagreen is offline
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Thanks SO much for your help!!! I also have Chihuahua's...fed them Science Diet- lamb meal...what do you think about Science Diet?
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Old January 23rd, 2007, 12:58 AM
Prin Prin is offline
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Not good. Canidae has a lamb and rice formula for doggies, too, if you want to take a look at dog side of the link that meb posted. If you don't like that one or can't get it, we can suggest better ones.
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Old January 23rd, 2007, 01:10 AM
peagreen peagreen is offline
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I will definitely check out the web site for this canidae food- I've never heard of it- but will check it out= thanks again for the suggestions and help..I just get so confused with what to feed my pets- way too many choices out there...and I thought Purina One was always a good one....thanks....
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Old January 23rd, 2007, 07:03 AM
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Scott_B Scott_B is offline
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I've been really happy with Innova EVO cat food. Finding a food 3 cats all like can be tough, but they all love Evo. I agree, Canidae/Felidae are great kibbles!
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Old January 23rd, 2007, 09:08 PM
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Yep, Innova makes good stuff too.
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Old January 24th, 2007, 12:21 AM
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My cats eat Wellness but even there, it is suggested by almost everything I have researched that there is too much fiber (which is not too bad but can be) and because cats are carnivores and need meat more than anything so I try to feed as little as possible of dry food. (I refer to it as their junk food and since I myself occasionally eat at McD or have fast food now and then, I figure they are a bit like me but better - they really don't care that much for dry food.) A totally dry food diet puts cats at risk for kidney problems which is NOT good!! Before I knew this, I have to admit I thought nothing of feeding cats some Meow Mix (grocery store junk) amg other dry food. It's great for the human but less so for the cat.

That said, as I said mine do eat a wee bit of it each week - sort of in the same way they might have a bit of tuna - maybe a spoonful a week. They love it but obviously, it is dangerous for them. It's great to attract cats if you need to rescue them tho - and I have to say I have always wondered about the irony of that.


I apologize for the length of this article but it explains better than I (at this late hr when I need to be getting home from the hospital) why wet food is better:

Cats Need Wet Food

By Beth Taylor and Steve Brown

The natural diet of cats is meat.

Cats are meat eaters, designed to thrive on a wide variety of small prey animals, eaten fresh and whole. Their natural diet is high in water and protein, with a moderate amount of fat, and a very low percentage of carbohydrate.

Dry cat food is high in grain.

A diet of dry food is high in carbohydrate, between 35 and 50 percent. "Diet" and "Lite" foods have even more.

Dry food contains almost no water. Dry cat food is convenient to feed, and relatively inexpensive, but it's the opposite of the natural diet of cats. Cats have no dietary need for any carbohydrate.

Cats need to get water from their food.

Cats are descended from feline desert dwellers. They couldn't stroll over to the watering hole for a drink, and cat tongues are not very well designed for drinking water.

Cats are adapted to obtain most of their water from their prey, which contains more than 75 percent water. Cats who eat dry food consume only half the water they need, compared to those that eat wet food, and live in a state of chronic dehydration.

The common health problems of cats are related to diet.

There is increasing evidence, published in peer-reviewed veterinary journals, that many of the health problems seen in cats are the result of diets inappropriate for a feline. Dry, grain-based foods fed to a meat eater, over time, result in both chronic and life-threatening diseases, like these:

Obesity: Since cats are designed for a high-protein, moderate-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, it is not surprising that obesity is often seen in cats. Diet cat foods have even more carbohydrate than regular ones, and less fat, so they depart even further from the natural diet of cats, making it harder for them to lose weight.

Diabetes: The high level of carbohydrate in dry cat food contributes directly to the development of diabetes in cats. Blood sugar levels rise when cats eat dry food. When this is an ongoing event, insulin-producing cells "downregulate," which leads to diabetes.

Kidney disease: Kidney disease is the most common cause of death for cats. The kidneys require an abundant supply of water to do their job. Without water to process the byproducts of the digestion process, the kidneys are overloaded, become damaged over time and unable to do their job.

Bladder Problems: Cystitis, bladder irritation and bladder/kidney stone formation are also strongly connected to dehydration. If the body is well hydrated, these problems are minimized.

Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome and Disease: These problems are often characterized by vomiting and diarrhea and are very common in cats. Cats who eat a species-appropriate diet rarely suffer from these issues.

Dental disease: Dry food has a high sugar (carbohydrate) content, which has been shown to cause dental decay.

For cats to derive any supposed abrasive benefit from dry foods to be seen, they would have to actually chew their dry food. Since dry food shatters in their mouths and they then swallow the pieces, there's no abrasive action from chewing something hard.

Cats who eat dry food often have very severe dental problems. Many factors contribute to dental health, but it is clear that a high-carbohydrate diet is not beneficial!


Additions and Considerations

Add sardines for good fats, or use fish oil. A meal of sardines once a week or one small sardine a day adds omega-3 fatty acids in their best formĘ-- whole food. Because cats can't use plant sources of omega-3s at all, animal sources are necessary. If sardines aren't appealing to you, use a fresh, high-quality omega-3 fish oil supplemented with vitamin E.

If you choose to feed a meat-based canned diet, find a way to simulate components lost in cooking or processing.

One way to add live food is with "cat grass," very popular with cats. It's often available in the produce section at the grocery store, or you can grow your own from a kit. This addition often takes the burden off the house plants! Dry "green stuff" is another choice ("Barley Cat" is one product). It takes a very small quantity of a dry product to do the job. Too much can make urine PH too alkaline, and cause some of the problems you're trying to avoid! Tiny pinches of dry green stuff go a long way.

For cats, good diet can make the difference between "Old Age" at 12 and 23. Cats who eat dry food are often old and feel quite ill at 9 or 10. Healthy cats can live a very long time, and that's what we hope for your feline carnivore!
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  #10  
Old January 24th, 2007, 12:25 AM
Prin Prin is offline
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Evo cat and kitten is much lower in carbs too:
http://www.naturapet.com/display.php...D%271255%27%5D
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