Frustrated With Dry Food..

I have a sweet 14 week old kitten, Kaia. So far she doesn't seem overly picky. We live in Canada, and she was a rescue. When I adopted her, she came with a bag of dry food - Authority brand....which is PetSmart's brand. I did use that, but bought Wellness Grain Free Kitten dry food to switch her onto. We are in the process of making that switch now. I thought the ingredients were ok, but after doing a ton of research I'm really questioning it. The third ingredient is peas......and it goes on from there. I have read that the first 5 ingredients in a dry food are best to be animal protein. So which one is good??? She doesn't love the Wellness so far - she actually picks the Authority out and eats it, leaving the Wellness behind (we are mixing since we're switching).

She also gets wet food twice a day. I buy good quality and she seems to really love the Wellness grain free canned kitten so far.

Hi!
I don't know how many of these are available to you but it might help in determining which you prefer;

CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

Hi and welcome! I think it's great that you are doing some good research on food to feed Kaia (beautiful name, btw!). I also have trouble finding a dry food I like. Olive (3 yrs old) eats all wet food, but occasionally we give her some dry food for snacks or if we will miss a meal. The dry food we feed is Dr Elsey's CleanProtein Chicken. It has very low carbs and meat in the first ingredients. I've also heard Orijen, Young Again and Tiki Cat are very good dry foods.

Of course, because "cats", we have to boys who are kibble addicts and have been free-fed for their whole lives. And one has IBD and is sensitive to chicken. We feed those guys Instinct LID Rabbit Kibble, which has the same problem as your food does with way too many peas. Our vet recommended rabbit for out IBD kitty, and so we are trying to switch him over to start eating more rabbit wet food.

If Kaia is getting most of her food from wet food, that's awesome! While I definitely would find a kibble with ingredients that you are comfortable with, the "filler" ingredients aren't impacting her as much as a kibble-only cat. Maybe the link from Furballsmom and some of these options will help you find it.

I don’t think we have Dr Elseys in Canada, I can’t seem to find Tiki cat anywhere (our global pet foods store doesn’t carry it) and I haven’t looked for Orijen. I feel maybe I’m over thinking this, lol. I know wellness isn’t the best, but maybe it’s good enough....it’s deifnitely better than cat chow, etc. She gets wet for breakfast and dinner....the dry is for snacking throughout the day and through the night.

Thanks for the list!! I will check that out!

I don't know if Wellness makes products with different ingredient lists for different countries (some companies do this), but I noticed the Wellness Core Grain free kitten doesn't list peas until the sixth ingredient.

The Wellness Complete Health Natural Grain free has peas as the third ingredient.

If you're able to get the Core grain free, maybe she'll like it better?

Commercial pet food can be a juggling act.
Even human food can be, if you like looking at recalls for human food.
My only suggestions are
1). Keep your kitten happy eating a wide variety of foods. Let them learn anything in a bowl you give the is the most delicious thing ever.
1A). If you're feeding a food in rotation that has a recall for something bad, you'll skip the "picky cat' stuff. Trust me, this will save you from pulling your hair out until you're 100% bald.
2). Feed dry food, wet food, raw or dehydrated food (even as a treat). Expand their little palate.
Kittens are usually pretty OK with this rotational thing. If you get an adult cat that has decided that DRY food only of X brand and X flavor is the only edible thing, ever, when that brand somehow changes or recalls or goes out of business, you're left with Hell on your hands. Kittens imprint on foods. Make that imprint as varied as you can. And don't be afraid to offer bits of leftover unseasoned meats you had for dinner as a treat, either.

I'm in Canada too and Orijen is great - but expensive. Here are the first 10 ingredients in their cat/kitten kibble:
Fresh chicken meat (18%), fresh turkey meat (7%), fresh whole eggs (5%), fresh chicken liver (5%), fresh whole flounder (4%), fresh whole herring (4%), fresh turkey liver (4%), fresh chicken heart (4%), fresh turkey heart (4%), fresh chicken necks (4%),

Orijen has a sister brand called Acana which is less expensive. Peas come in around #7 on their list of ingred.

For canned food Wellness is great. But consider Fancy Feast pates (not "dinners" or in gravy) as well. Economical and grain-free, no peas or potatoes!

My cats are not fans of Wellness dry either. I also feed Dr. Elseys dry food.

If your girl likes wet, and eats it well i would just keep that as the majority of her food. Then keep just a little dry out for snacking, as you said. If she seems to nibble the wellness then i say ok. You can try different dry as time goes along, i have used Orijen before, but i have one male that puts on too much weight with orijen. Maybe he likes it too much? My other 3 did good with it.

Furballsmom said:

I don't know if Wellness makes products with different ingredient lists for different countries (some companies do this), but I noticed the Wellness Core Grain free kitten doesn't list peas until the sixth ingredient.

The Wellness Complete Health Natural Grain free has peas as the third ingredient.

If you're able to get the Core grain free, maybe she'll like it better?

Click to expand...

Yup, that is my plan today! I'm going to go get a bag of the Core instead

I have thought about Fancy Feast....but I keep hearing that cats become addicted to it, it's the only food they will eat....the whole "kitty crack" thing. I don't know if I want Kaia going off the better quality stuff......I'm afraid once she has a few tastes of FF, that's all she will want and will no longer be willing to eat the better stuff.

You're probably fine doing exactly what you're doing.

I have one of those cats who was raised on Fancy feast before I got him. It's been a real challenge these past couple of years, partly because I learned more about cat food and wanted to improve his diet, and partly because the manufacturer made changes to the FF forumula early this year that my Big Fella didn't like.
Two things that are helping me to keep him eating is fortiflora and bonito flakes