Picking Foods For My 10 Week Old Kitten.

[Lindsay1126]

So we just adopted a 10 week old tuxedo kitten on Wednesday. He came home eating mainly Purina kitten food . They also fed him a small amount of Fancy feast kitten food. So when he came home I just fed him the Fancy feast for a few days. Now I still for 3-4 feedings of the FF but I leave out tki cat chicken dry food (abiut 2.5 tbsn) all day and night for when he gets hungry. I've been doing tons of research and as much as I would love to do raw, it's just not feasible right now. So what I am thinking it about 85% wet and 15% dry. I'd like him to be accustomed to dry food somewhat bc a few days a month I have to take my son for his many doctors appointments at John Hopkins and we are gone most of the day.
Now that I've done more research when the tiki cat is gone I want to use Dr. Elseys. But I am still really unsure what wet food to use. I was thinking natures variety instinct kitten? Is kitten food important or it just a gimmick? I was thinking of doing as t least 1 week a month of cheaper mid grade wet food just to make it more cost effective? Thoughts? Any suggestions very welcome as this is our first family kitty.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh my goodness what an absolutely darling sweetheart!!!

Kitten food has more protein/nutrients, (depending on the brand), but the thing of it is, you could also feed All Life Stages foods.

If you wanted to do that but also wanted to keep lots of protein in, you could always add some egg, raw egg yolk, or whole, but egg white must always be cooked. Some people cook the white and then make a slurry of sorts by adding the raw yolk. Maybe once or twice a week or so.

I personally like all your thoughts--a rotation of brands is considered to be a good idea, and here are a couple databases that may help.
Pet Food Guide

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

The one additive that's not tracked by cornucopia's data is menadione but you can see it (typically listed as menadione, or vitamin K3) in the ingredients list on the cans and bags.

 

[Lindsay1126]

Thank you. I will definitely take a look.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh, and I added some more info about eggs to my post, at the same time you were posting

 

[Lindsay1126]

Oh that's a great idea. Thank you. Do you have any suggestions of brands that you like?

 

[Furballsmom]

I have a older cat who insists on fancy feast, which wouldn't be my first choice but he rules the food bowl LOL. This is definitely one of the reasons to get babies used to different brands, I've had a heck of a time getting him to eat any other foods.

You already tried tiki cat, I also like pouches of Merrick Backcountry, Natural Balance, tactor supply's Paws and Claws, also their cans of 4health. I also like Almo, both the supplemental and Complete lines.

 

[Lindsay1126]

Yeah thats my goal. To be clear the tiki cat is their dry food that gets left out all day. It says none of the protein comes from plant sources. Also for cat food carbs aren't horrid, but I will prefer Dr. elseys when it's gone. He eats maybe 1.5 tbsn, I put down about 2 tbsn. I feed him 2 3oz cans of FF kitten some days he just eats about 1.5
Cans though. He only weighs 3.2 lbs and the FF says 1 can per 3-3.5 lbs but my guy would starve. Does that sound like too much?

I am thinking of doing part 4health, instinct kitten, tiki cat chicken (wet), and I'll look into Almo. I think I will FF into the rotation just not as much, so just in case I have a time where I need food and only have a grocery store I can find something he will eat. This all depends on what he like too. He seems to love the FF, so hopefully it won't be painful.

Will switching wet foods mess with his stomach at all?

 

[Furballsmom]

Some felines tolerate switching foods easily, some don't. I saw a comment here on TCS a little while ago where the poster was wondering if switching is easiest when the brands' ingredients//formula is similar, but I don't know.
Sometimes my boy handles a new food well, sometimes not so much.

If you aren't familiar, the suggested process is starting with a quarter of the food dish with the new and three/quarters old food. Then gradually increasing the amount of new food.

You want to feed kittens as much as they will consume so as to fuel all that growth that's going on, and it sounds like you are just about right