Am I Doing Right? :(

[mmin]

As mentioned in a few previous threads, i was previously feeding my 9 month old kitten on royal canin (as instructed by his breeder when i got him)

However, after reading up and etc, i started to change his diet and am now currently feeding him feline natural + ziwipeak

I recently talked to his breeder again re his panting after playing, to which she kind of brushed off and said it was natural because he's excited. and that his parents have both been checked and have no hereditery diseases. But she also brought up the food change and said that i'm doing harm as he's still a kitten and needs kitten food that has high protein, royal canin kitten is a top premium brand and gives him sufficient protein that ziwipeak/feline natural do not.

Whilst i was insistent that feline natural and ziwipeak are better foods, a quick glance at the cans got me worried as royal canin kitten has 12.5? % of protein vs 8.5 on fn/zp.

Am i doing it wrong? the conversation ended rather coldly with her telling me to do as i see fit but her opinion is that royal canin is the food he needs. if anyone is willing to lend a listening ear, please message me in conversations! the conversation i had with the breeder got me really worried and i will be willing to share screenshots in private

 

[Minxxy]

As mentioned in a few previous threads, i was previously feeding my 9 month old kitten on royal canin (as instructed by his breeder when i got him)

However, after reading up and etc, i started to change his diet and am now currently feeding him feline natural + ziwipeak

I recently talked to his breeder again re his panting after playing, to which she kind of brushed off and said it was natural because he's excited. and that his parents have both been checked and have no hereditery diseases. But she also brought up the food change and said that i'm doing harm as he's still a kitten and needs kitten food that has high protein, royal canin kitten is a top premium brand and gives him sufficient protein that ziwipeak/feline natural do not.

Whilst i was insistent that feline natural and ziwipeak are better foods, a quick glance at the cans got me worried as royal canin kitten has 12.5? % of protein vs 8.5 on fn/zp.

Am i doing it wrong? the conversation ended rather coldly with her telling me to do as i see fit but her opinion is that royal canin is the food he needs. if anyone is willing to lend a listening ear, please message me in conversations! the conversation i had with the breeder got me really worried and i will be willing to share screenshots in private

I say he's your cat , feed him what you want. You're not doing anything wrong. I think the Ziwipeak and Feline Natural are better foods. Maybe add an extra meal of you think he needs more.

 

[LTS3]

I say he's your cat , feed him what you want. You're not doing anything wrong. I think the Ziwipeak and Feline Natural are better foods. Maybe add an extra meal of you think he needs more.

The breeder can't control what you now feed to your cat. ZiwiPeak is a much better brand than Royal Canin.

The panting after playing is normal Cats get excited and worked out and need a few minutes to catch their breath. Not so much different from an average runner who needs to slow down to catch his or her breath before starting back up again.

 

[di and bob]

Yes, panting after exertion is normal. If he looks overweight, (which I doubt, being a kitten) and pants after a walk or jumping up on the bed, that is something to worry about. Panting and coughing can indicate a heart defect, so if it continues and gets worse, bring him in for a inexpensive x-ray the next time you go in for shots if it is close.
Feed him what you feel is right There are many good foods out there, and they all vary in their formulas. I usually feed what brand I liek in teh kitten formula, it has more calories and nutrition. it's great fro fattening up elderly cats too. Just make sure he gets as much as he wants, several times a day for the first year, they are growing so fast and have so much energy, they need as much as they can get!

 

[lisahe]

One of our cats panted a fair bit when she was younger -- she plays very hard and loves to run up and down stairs and hallways! I seem to recall finding that this is especially common in kittens and they usually outgrow it. Our cat did. We always slowed her down when she started to pant, just in case.

Feline Natural is great food, though some of it is relatively low in calories so you might need to feed a lot to keep your kitten full! The breeder may be wrong about brands but she's right about protein -- that's something Feline Natural is very good for. Plain old protein rather than fillers.

 

[Richard2121]

Don't let people bully you into feeding anything other than what you are comfortable with! High protein, low carb, and preferably wet food is better than dry. Anything else above and beyond that is typically just marketing bogus!

"Kitten formula" food is usually not all its cracked up to be. Sure some formulas are higher protein but really you're just paying a higher price premium for something with the word "kitten" printed on the label.

And about the panting, my 4 young guys do that all the time and its totally normal after some rigorous play. I just try to slow things down for a bit once they get to that point. It usually happens when I get the laser pointer out!

 

[GalaxyGirl]

I feed my kittens all these foods. Royal Canaan is a terrible brand with lots of fillers such as corn and wheat gluten. If I feed these to my kittens they’d have explosive diarrhea. The better brands don’t do this. As they don’t have those fillers.