Cat vs Kitten food. Need Help

[GuyandCat]

Hello my Name is Jim and I am a first time Cat (kitten) owner. He is a Russian Blue who is 10 weeks old. His name is Guy. He's already my best friend. Love him to bits. I have a Question regarding the Requirements that Kittens need differently than Cats.. Guy is currently on Wellness Kitten. I read that kitten food should have higher protein and fats. kitten food must contain a minimum of 22 percent protein and 8 percent fat. Adult cat foods contain a minimum of 18 percent protein and 5 percent fat.. My can of wellness has 11% protein and 6% fat... It has less fat then the regular cat food and basically the same Protein.

As I searched different Cat foods and their kitten counterparts I cannot really see any difference.. I also do not see the 22% of protein that the FDA recommends. Am I missing something... Are there any wet cat foods that meet those requirements .. My main concern was I was gonna start a Raw Frozen diet But it's for Cats not Kittens. The ingredients are
Turkey Meat, Turkey Bone, Beef Heart, Beef Liver .... What would my kitten need extra? I am so confused. I thought I was buying decent wet food with Wellness but it seems like there is no difference between Cat and Kitten.

I hope someone can help me. Am I missing something. Are Cat foods basically the same? Are there Cat foods that have a kitten formula that they say Kittens need.....

Thank you

 

[maggie101]

You are right there is no difference my cats 7,8 and 9 yrs old eat the same food as kittens. My cats eat 3/4 5.5 oz cans plus a food timer at night for wet. Kittens eat more. Only difference. Wellness core is a good starter but expensive. My cats eat dr elsey,hound&gattos, tiki,weruva, . I use catfooddb.com for protein,fat,carbs,price. My 9 yr old is only 7 pds.she eats less. My 8 yr old is 9pds long and tall very active eats a lot

 

[maggie101]

I know many people will disagree with me, but if you feed raw, wait til she's a little older to make it easier in making sure she is eating enough. My 9pd cat goes back 2 more times in the morning. Hard to do if only fed raw

 

[Kieka]

Nutrition labels include moisture in their percentage which impacts the percentages of everything else since the grand total adds up to 100%. When they say the amount of protein a cat needs it is in dry matter so you have to do some calculating. When calculating nutrition for wet food you have to account for moisture percentage to find out the dry matter percentage. This website has a calculator to help: Dry Matter Basis Online Calculator | Feline Nutrition Awareness Effort

With many high end cat foods, they are all stages which is suitable for all ages and stages. With some of the lower quality cat labeled products there will be a difference. Some of those cat labeled will have nutrition percentages that wouldn't support healthy kitten growth. Those guidelines were started because commercial companies were reducing the quality of food to the point it was killing animals. However, right now, a lot of consumers are paying more attention to their pet food and some stores are only carrying food that exceeds standards. Which can give the misimpression that there isn't much (if any) difference.

For the raw, I'd recommend asking on our raw forum: Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food Most raws will be suitable for all stages but not all raws are created equally. The people who frequent the raw forum can provide better insight.

 

[GuyandCat]

You are right there is no difference my cats 7,8 and 9 yrs old eat the same food as kittens. My cats eat 3/4 5.5 oz cans plus a food timer at night for wet. Kittens eat more. Only difference. Wellness core is a good starter but expensive. My cats eat dr elsey,hound&gattos, tiki,weruva, . I use catfooddb.com for protein,fat,carbs,price. My 9 yr old is only 7 pds.she eats less. My 8 yr old is 9pds long and tall very active eats a lot

Thank you so much for your quick response. I got worried because every site was saying Kitten food is so different in protein and fats but the more I looked the more confused I got. Your Post helped me a lot. Thank you

 

[GuyandCat]

I know many people will disagree with me, but if you feed raw, wait til she's a little older to make it easier in making sure she is eating enough. My 9pd cat goes back 2 more times in the morning. Hard to do if only fed raw

I will do that. Thank you for your response

 

[GuyandCat]

Nutrition labels include moisture in their percentage which impacts the percentages of everything else since the grand total adds up to 100%. When they say the amount of protein a cat needs it is in dry matter so you have to do some calculating. When calculating nutrition for wet food you have to account for moisture percentage to find out the dry matter percentage. This website has a calculator to help: Dry Matter Basis Online Calculator | Feline Nutrition Awareness Effort

With many high end cat foods, they are all stages which is suitable for all ages and stages. With some of the lower quality cat labeled products there will be a difference. Some of those cat labeled will have nutrition percentages that wouldn't support healthy kitten growth. Those guidelines were started because commercial companies were reducing the quality of food to the point it was killing animals. However, right now, a lot of consumers are paying more attention to their pet food and some stores are only carrying food that exceeds standards. Which can give the misimpression that there isn't much (if any) difference.

For the raw, I'd recommend asking on our raw forum: Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food Most raws will be suitable for all stages but not all raws are created equally. The people who frequent the raw forum can provide better insight.

Thank you for replying I will check it out

 

[Heart For Cats]

Welcome to TCS Jim! Thank you for posting these very good questions. I am a big fan of grain-free wet and raw cat foods. The closer to nature Guy's diet is, the healthier he will be.

Nature's Variety explains on its website the reason they have "for cats and kittens" products is in the wild, cats kittens and adults share all prey animals the only difference is how much they eat. So they recommend feeding twice as much of the same wet food to kittens to get them more protein and fat calories over a 24-hour period. But you save a lot of money by simply buying kitten food until he is a year old.

BTW the FDA does not determine calorie percentages in pet food. The AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) does it - and not very well, giving all companies the right to pretend they are high in protein when most of it comes from plants. That is why TCS has a section specifically for homemade cooking and raw feeding - people want to make sure cats and kittens eat digestible and useful proteins and fats without the nutritionally useless stuff.

 

[mani]

I feed kitten food to kittens. As Kieka said, there are sums to be done when working out the difference between the two. Wellness, in my experience, is a good one.
Remember kittens should be fed three to four times a day.
I agree about waiting until he's older to try raw, if that's the way you want to go. It's very important to get it right, and you don't want to compromise your little guy's health.

 

[maggie101]

This true. I guess raw scares me because I leave food out too much. Just had to throw away 3 cans!

 

[tabbytom]

Are Cat foods basically the same? Are there Cat foods that have a kitten formula that they say Kittens need.....

and welcome to TCS!

In fact, there are 3 types of food that we feed our cats with.

First, if your cat is a kitten, best is to feed them with food meant for kittens. Meaning it's formulated for kittens. As to is formulated for kittens, it aids in the growth in their formative year. They need all the proteins and nutrients that comes with it and best is to feed them wet food (canned food) as wet food is full of the nutrients they need and it also keeps them hydrated and they are of real meat. Dry food is full of carbohydrates.

Second, once they have past their I year old (normal cats mature at one year while bigger breeds takes 2 - 4 years to mature), you can slowly transit them over to adults' food.

Third is one that is labeled 'For All Life Stages'. This can be fed to both kittens and adults. My boy was on food labeled 'For All Life Stages' since the day he was rescued when he was around 3 weeks old till now. He's coming to be 6 year old soon.

Since your kitten is only 10 weeks old, he's old enough to eat solid food. A kitten needs lots of food in his growing year and they need to be fed 5 - 6 times a day (based on my boy). Feed him as much as he can eat at one sitting and once he's full, he'll stop eating and that will be a clue to how much he eats at one sitting. Kittens are very active and they just play, eat and sleep and so they need at least 300 calories per day to keep them up and active.

Once they past the 7th month, their adult teeth are all in by then and they'll go through a period called 'Growth Spurt'. During this period, they tend to eat more than usual and this will carry on till they are a year plus or so and after that their food intake will taper off. Once he's in the 1st year, you can slowly transit him over to adults' food.

As for the type of ingredients or meat or flavor, it all depends on your kitten. If you start feeding him different flavors and different kind of meat, likely he'll have no problem adjusting as he grows older. Some cats are more fussy eaters and they tend to stick to one or two flavors or even only one flavor.
So you have to do a little experiment on food tasting with your kitten and see what he likes.

As he's a male cat, very adding a little extra filtered water to his food each time he eats or have fresh filtered water everyday for him to drink if he does drink from a water bowl or water fountain. Male cats are prone to UTI and so much water intake is important.

Do feel free to ask questions if you have any and there's no such thing as a stupid question here and do post your questions other than nutrition under the appropriate forum headings to get a speedier reply.

Here are some articles for you to read being a first time cat owner :-

bringing-home-a-new-cat-the-complete-guide.29657
first-time-cat-owners-guide.33669
how-to-help-a-new-cat-adjust-to-your-home.32804
common-foods-that-are-harmful-to-cats.30181
household-chemicals-and-your-cats.29641
first-aid-for-cats.22464
cats-lilies-avoid-the-danger-lurking-in-your-home.33397
the-litterbox-what-every-cat-owner-needs-to-know.33457
how-to-choose-the-right-litterbox.32515
spay-and-neuter

 

[GuyandCat]

Welcome to TCS Jim! Thank you for posting these very good questions. I am a big fan of grain-free wet and raw cat foods. The closer to nature Guy's diet is, the healthier he will be.

Nature's Variety explains on its website the reason they have "for cats and kittens" products is in the wild, cats kittens and adults share all prey animals the only difference is how much they eat. So they recommend feeding twice as much of the same wet food to kittens to get them more protein and fat calories over a 24-hour period. But you save a lot of money by simply buying kitten food until he is a year old.

BTW the FDA does not determine calorie percentages in pet food. The AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) does it - and not very well, giving all companies the right to pretend they are high in protein when most of it comes from plants. That is why TCS has a section specifically for homemade cooking and raw feeding - to make sure people know where all protein and fat calories come from.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome and the timely response.. I still am not sure if I am feeding Guy too much or too less. He eats 1 can of Wellness Kitten a day. Half in morning and half at night. I also bought Orijen Kitten kibble and leave it in his bowl to nibble on. He doesn't seem to care for the dry. When he meows for Wet I pick him up and put him to his food dish. He finally gives in and eats some of it.. I read feed kittens as much as they wanted . I have much I to learn. I love my Guy so much. Just want to do what is best for him.
I am so happy I found this site. U guy's Rock....

 

[Heart For Cats]

I know many people will disagree with me, but if you feed raw, wait til she's a little older to make it easier in making sure she is eating enough. My 9pd cat goes back 2 more times in the morning. Hard to do if only fed raw

My vet told me it is important to feed a cat wet food every day to make sure if she ever needs it for a medical reason (UTI, CKD, etc.) the removal of kibbles from her diet will be very easy. I have personal experience with this problem. My first cat would not touch wet food her entire life and was only 12 when her kidneys shut down. If I could have known better in 1994 (before many people had Internet access) I would have fed her wet food when she was a kitten. I figure why shouldn't we do this with raw food too, since after a year of only canned food, a cat might think raw meat is not cat food? Not saying it should be exclusively raw, of course; I like a mix of wet and raw food for kittens.

 

[GuyandCat]

and welcome to TCS!

In fact, there are 3 types of food that we feed our cats with.

First, if your cat is a kitten, best is to feed them with food meant for kittens. Meaning it's formulated for kittens. As to is formulated for kittens, it aids in the growth in their formative year. They need all the proteins and nutrients that comes with it and best is to feed them wet food (canned food) as wet food is full of the nutrients they need and it also keeps them hydrated and they are of real meat. Dry food is full of carbohydrates.

Second, once they have past their I year old (normal cats mature at one year while bigger breeds takes 2 - 4 years to mature), you can slowly transit them over to adults' food.

Third is one that is labeled 'For All Life Stages'. This can be fed to both kittens and adults. My boy was on food labeled 'For All Life Stages' since the day he was rescued when he was around 3 weeks old till now. He's coming to be 6 year old soon.

Since your kitten is only 10 weeks old, he's old enough to eat solid food. A kitten needs lots of food in his growing year and they need to be fed 5 - 6 times a day (based on my boy). Feed him as much as he can eat at one sitting and once he's full, he'll stop eating and that will be a clue to how much he eats at one sitting. Kittens are very active and they just play, eat and sleep and so they need at least 300 calories per day to keep them up and active.

Once they past the 7th month, their adult teeth are all in by then and they'll go through a period called 'Growth Spurt'. During this period, they tend to eat more than usual and this will carry on till they are a year plus or so and after that their food intake will taper off. Once he's in the 1st year, you can slowly transit him over to adults' food.

As for the type of ingredients or meat or flavor, it all depends on your kitten. If you start feeding him different flavors and different kind of meat, likely he'll have no problem adjusting as he grows older. Some cats are more fussy eaters and they tend to stick to one or two flavors or even only one flavor.
So you have to do a little experiment on food tasting with your kitten and see what he likes.

As he's a male cat, very adding a little extra filtered water to his food each time he eats or have fresh filtered water everyday for him to drink if he does drink from a water bowl or water fountain. Male cats are prone to UTI and so much water intake is important.

Do feel free to ask questions if you have any and there's no such thing as a stupid question here and do post your questions other than nutrition under the appropriate forum headings to get a speedier reply.

Here are some articles for you to read being a first time cat owner :-

bringing-home-a-new-cat-the-complete-guide.29657
first-time-cat-owners-guide.33669
how-to-help-a-new-cat-adjust-to-your-home.32804
common-foods-that-are-harmful-to-cats.30181
household-chemicals-and-your-cats.29641
first-aid-for-cats.22464
cats-lilies-avoid-the-danger-lurking-in-your-home.33397
the-litterbox-what-every-cat-owner-needs-to-know.33457
how-to-choose-the-right-litterbox.32515
spay-and-neuter

Thank you so much for the Links... Lots to learn

 

[Heart For Cats]

Thank you so much for the warm welcome and the timely response. I still am not sure if I am feeding Guy too much or too less. He eats 1 can of Wellness Kitten a day. Half in morning and half at night. I also bought Orijen Kitten kibble and leave it in his bowl to nibble on. He doesn't seem to care for the dry. When he meows for Wet I pick him up and put him to his food dish. He finally gives in and eats some of it.. I read feed kittens as much as they wanted . I have much I to learn. I love my Guy so much. Just want to do what is best for him.
I am so happy I found this site. You guys rock....

Guy needs to eat whenever he gets hungry. I would add half a can to his daily intake unless he is a couch potato (which is very rare for a kitten)..

I am 100% against dry food unless it is freeze-dried raw and the cat will not eat anything else. It is pricey, but a Nature's Variety Instinct recipe is freeze-dried kibbles.

 

[GuyandCat]

Guy needs to eat whenever he gets hungry. I would add half a can to his daily intake unless he is a couch potato (which is very rare for a kitten)..

I am 100% against dry food unless it is freeze-dried raw and the cat will not eat anything else. It is pricey, but the Nature's Variety Instinct brand includes freeze-dried kibbles.

Thanks so much. I wasn't keen on feeding Kibble and assumed Orijen was a better quality then most. I will add the extra wet and will look into the Freeze dried for nibbling on if he's still hungry... Is Orijen a bad kibble or is kibble in general not the greatest in term of feeding...

 

[Heart For Cats]

Thanks so much. I wasn't keen on feeding Kibble and assumed Orijen was a better quality then most. I will add the extra wet and will look into the Freeze dried for nibbling on if he's still hungry... Is Orijen a bad kibble or is kibble in general not the greatest in term of feeding...

Orijen is not freeze-dried raw, just regular kibble. It may be better quality than some others but still has the same problems.

If you are not ready to go full freeze-dried raw for kibble, you can buy NVI Raw Boost as a mashable treat.

 

[GuyandCat]

Orijen is not freeze-dried raw, just regular kibble. It may be better quality than some others but still has the same problems with all of the nutrients being lost in cooking.

I understand thank you... I was looking to get Guy "Naturawls Raw Kitten food. But I will read more on these forums and see what my options are going forward... Thank you

 

[Heart For Cats]

I understand thank you... I was looking to get Guy "Naturawls Raw Kitten food. But I will read more on these forums and see what my options are going forward... Thank you

My favorite raw teat brand is Stella & Chewy's.

 

[GuyandCat]

Thank you. I will look into that Company... Do you have any idea how much a Raw meal plan would cost a month for a kitten in regards to Stella & Chewy's.. I am not too worried about price. Was just wondering what the approx cost would be.. Thank you