Best Dry Kitten Foods And Fish Question

[Artistwolf]

Hi! So you might have seen my other post which explains that I just got two kittens and I've decided to feed them a mix of wet and dry food (a third of a cup of dry at breakfast, lunch, and dinner and a 3-oz can of Fancy Feast at breakfast and dinner).
1. Right now I'm feeding Fancy Feast tender liver and chicken, turkey and giblets, and Tender beef and chicken (all classic pates). My mom just bought Fancy Feast Ocean Whitefish and Tuna, Savory Salmon Feast, and Cod Sole and Shrimp Feast. I told her that feeding fish can cause cats to be addicted to the fish and not eat anything else and she said, "Is that a bad thing? Cats like fish!" So... firstly, is this food good for kittens and secondly, should I keep trying to discourage the fish? The kittens seem happy to eat basically anything. And if I should, how do I go about that because my mom is obsessed with the idea of cats eating fish.
2. What dry food is best for kittens? Right now we're feeding Paws Kitten food but that's only temporary (would still like to know whether that's a good food or not though). After that we're planning on feeding either Royal Canin kitten food or Hill's Kitten Food. That's what my grandfather, who bred and showed Birmans, recommended so I'm assuming he knows what he's talking about.. but I'd like your advice anyway I've only really researched wet food because I didn't really want to feed any dry but my parents insisted after my grandfather says he always fed only dry and his show cats were fine. I argued the point and we settled with a mix of both. Anyway, so I'm not sure what to look for. I know the first ingredient should be meat, but every time I look past that I just kinda cringe because there's so many grains and carbohydrates and stuff cats can't digest! But I need to find something good, so suggestions are welcome.

Oh, and Pepper has been having diarrhea ever since we got him on Friday. I'm hoping that's just the food change.. he's drinking a lot it seems so I'm not too worried about dehydration but I want him to feel better soon! I'm guessing it should pass by the end of the week? If it doesn't I'll talk to my parents about taking him to the vet (where they're from, vets are only a last resort for cats and otherwise you just wait for them to get better on their own. Same with us and doctors actually XD So before you say I should take them to the vet anyway just for a checkup, remember that it's going to be nearly impossible to convince my parents of that :/ They will take them for something serious but it needs to really be worth their while to make them want to pay for it).
Thanks in advance!

 

[MissMolly08]

The fish foods are ok once in a while but I wouldn't continue to buy them. It isn't going to hurt the kittens to finish up the ones your mom bought though. The problem with fish is not just a risk of addiction but also that they are high on the potential allergen list and can also contain heavy metals which can build up over time and cause health issues.

Commercial Cat Foods

Fish – I do not feed fish to cats for the following reasons:

• high allergy potential (manifested as skin allergies or inflammatory bowel disease, and possibly asthma)
• toxin/mercury contamination
• PBDEs (fire retardant chemicals) – PBDEs are potent thyroid disruptors
• often high in phosphorus and magnesium
• highly addictive – the cat will not eat anything else

As far as dry food, I have not heard good things about Hill's or Royal Canin here. People use the prescription diets when 100% necessary but otherwise they are not great and expensive for what they are!
I have not used dry kitten food in forever (my cat is 9) so I will let someone else chime in on the best one's out there now.

 

[Neo_23]

To be honest, I don't think any dry food is "good" for cats. It's convenient for us.
If you must feed dry, royal canin and hills are not the healthiest. I would recommend a grain free brand that doesn't have too many fillers (potatoes, peas) and that is high in protein, low in carb.

 

[Artistwolf]

M MissMolly08 Thanks! I'll tell my mom about that and see what she says. I'll mention occassional treats so that she doesn't feel like she's depriving our cats of fish

Neo_23 I totally agree. But alas, as long as I'm living at home and not paying, I have to yield to some of my parents' wants. I'm just looking to make what they want as healthy as possible for dry food to be. After I move out, though... they're immediately switching to all wet food

I'm looking at the Wellness CORE natural Grain Free Whitefish and Chicken Dry Kitten Food. It's got fish in it but other than that, the ingredients seem fairly good. It does have potatoes in it but only listed after a lot of good protein sources. It's also cheaper than Royal Canin so that's definitely a plus

 

[Artistwolf]

Okay, so question time, kinda unrelated but still.
The kittens still have soft stool (not fully diarrhea but not fully formed either... I saw one website called it "soft serve" which seems about right (sorry if this is TMI lol)). So I was wondering...
1) if this was caused by diet change, how long should it take to clear up if we got the kittens on the 15th (Friday)?
2) If this isn't caused by the diet change (been too long or something) then it could be because of the relatively low-quality dry we're feeding. I ordered Merrick Purrfect Bistro Grain-Free Healthy Kitten Recipe Dry Cat Food because it looks good. How soon should I switch over? Should I wait until their stools are solid and fully-formed before starting a gradual switch in food? I don't want to aggravate the stomach issues but I'm also worried that maybe the Paws food is causing at least some of the issue.
Thanks guys! I'm hoping we get through this quickly.. it's rather stressful for all of us, haha.

 

[Artistwolf]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Neo_23]

They should really be checked for parasites. It's not unusual for kittens to have them and since it's more than one kitten with soft stool it may be parasites that's the culprit. Food change won't fix it if it is.

 

[Artistwolf]

They've already been dewormed

So, update! Switched them to Merrick Grain-Free Kitten food and Pepper's poop is now absolutely perfect. Salt's still.. not so perfect but I think he might be getting there slowly. We've been giving them each half a teaspoon of pumpkin with their canned food too.

 

[Neo_23]

They've already been dewormed

So, update! Switched them to Merrick Grain-Free Kitten food and Pepper's poop is now absolutely perfect. Salt's still.. not so perfect but I think he might be getting there slowly. We've been giving them each half a teaspoon of pumpkin with their canned food too.

That's good!

Sometimes they need to be dewormed several times before they're 100% good, so if you find that there's persistent diarrhea it might be worth doing a fecal test, but sounds like it may have been the diet for at least one of the kittens.

 

[Artistwolf]

Okay, that's good to know, I'll look into getting that done Yes, that definitely seems to have been Pepper's issue! I'm fairly certain I'm getting the right cat at least lol.

 

[sargon]

Merrick grain free kitten is decent stuff. Merick grain freekitten was the first kibble Freya would eat, when i transitioned hr off of raw food(I know raw works for some people and cats, but it didn't work for me or Freya.).

Of the foods that have worked for my picky cat, I like nature's variety ultimate protein, for ingredient quality, but it is very expensive. Solid Gold Indigo moon is the staple of her diet, since she loves it and it, and it is fairly reasonably priced (for a premium catfood anyhow.)

If you are going to feed dry, be sure to feed a quality grain free (the Merrick kitten is fine, though you'll want to transition to a quality all life stages food when your kittens are a bit older), and get a cat fountain for hydration. The two potential issues with dry food are that for the lower end, the ingredients used are horrible, and that they don't help with hydration, so you will want to be sure your cat drinks well. As long as your cat is healthy(cats with kidney issues, dental issues, etc are almost always better off with wet food), drinks well, and is fed good quality dry food, you'll avoid most of the issues people talk about with dry food.

 

[EmmiTemmi]

My two kittens absolutely love Petsmart's Simply Nourish Kitten food. It's got a pretty good ingredient deck and isn't too pricey. There's also a grain-free version of the kitten food I've been considering trying. And then same as your kittens, they get Fancy Feast as their wet a couple times a day.

 

[destinyz12]

Merrick grain-free dry is a good choice for kitten food, but if you continue using Merrick as they become adults- try going for one of the varieties that doesn't contain cranberries (I know the only choice for kittens do contain them unfortunately) since over time they aren't so good for cats- i've frequently read that the benzoic acid in them is toxic to cats.

 

[Artistwolf]

sargon Thanks! Yeah, I was looking at this website: CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat to see what foods were the best and the Merrick looked pretty good. Any suggestion for an all life stages dry food? Do you known when I should transition them to that? I'm feeding a mix of wet and dry (basically half/half) so is the hydration issue still as big a problem? My kittens seem to be drinking quite well. I'll see if I can get a fountain anyway though.

EmmiTemmi Cool! I'll have a look at that then. Sounds like our kitties have similar diets, wgucg is nice ^_^

destinyz12 Oh wow, I didn't even notice that! Thanks so much for telling me. Hm, I'll have to start checking for cranberries then. Funny how cat food companies advertise ingredients that are actually bad for cats—I've seen treats that brag about their cranberry content. I'll be sure to avoid them!

 

[destinyz12]

yep unfortunately so many "high end" cat foods I've noticed do contain cranberries among way too many other fruit/veggie fillers that cats don't need. With Merrick, for adults they have the Purrfect Bistro Duck & Turky recipe which has great ingredients compared to others ive seen, and also their Limited Ingredient Diet line with the chicken and the turkey flavors. For a healthy all-life stages food, the brand Canidae has a great one called Pure elements, but go for the chicken flavor and not the fish ones: CANIDAE Grain-Free PURE Elements with Chicken Dry Cat Food. One of my cats loved it, but one of my cats wouldn't touch it, so hopefully your cats aren't too picky.