Struggling to find kitten food

[woofadu]

I've been searching for a while now to find some good kitten food for my kittens who are having some soft and smelly stools.

They are on the dry kitten Tiki Carnivore and Wellness kitten chicken pate right now. I'd like to find both a dry and wet replacement but am prioritizing the wet right now.

Ideally, I'd like to find something without any peas, flaxseed, tapioca, or soy. Grains are fine, but I'd really like low carb (10-20%) and mostly animal protein (no fish preferable). Why is it so hard to find cat food without peas in it these days? This has been an extremely frustrating and exhausting search. The whole commercial cat food industry seems to be horrible.

 

[woofadu]

I've been searching for a while now to find some good kitten food for my kittens who are having some soft and smelly stools.

They are on the dry kitten Tiki Carnivore and Wellness kitten chicken pate right now. I'd like to find both a dry and wet replacement but am prioritizing the wet right now.

Ideally, I'd like to find something without any peas, flaxseed, tapioca, or soy. Grains are fine, but I'd really like low carb (10-20%) and mostly animal protein (no fish preferable). Why is it so hard to find cat food without peas in it these days? This has been an extremely frustrating and exhausting search. The whole commercial cat food industry seems to be horrible.

I should add no lentils/beans as well.

 

[Kieka]

You can search for "all ages/stages" which will open up some more options. The nutrition profile for all ages/stages is good for kittens.

Are you looking for dry or wet? Wet will usually have lower carb content and be better for cats in general. Dry foods its hard to find low carb since the very nature of being dry food means it has to have some carbs for binding.

This dry https://www.chewy.com/dr-tims-chase...3M3AKaaxR3WiHFkrVMeZNzOREWkZyiYxoCwA0QAvD_BwE is a smidgen higher in carb (22%) and has some catfish but hits your other requirements.

 

[woofadu]

I'm prioritizing wet right now but ideally would like to replace both. I don't like the catfish or flaxseed in that one but otherwise looks like a decent option to consider. Thank you for sharing

 

[woofadu]

So far for wet food I'm leaning towards the Tiki After Dark series (the shredded/ non-pate version): https://www.chewy.com/tiki-cat-after-dark-variety-pack/dp/141403

For dry food, I'm leaning towards First Mate Grain Free Limited Ingredient Dry Cat Food: Amazon.com

I don't really like the potatoes being in there and it has a higher carb content than desired, but it may be the lesser of all the evils.
Does anyone have any experience with these foods/brands?

 

[fleshflowers]

Edit: sorry I just realized someone already said that!

I believe you can also get food that says "for all ages" and doesn't have to just say kitten. That might help a bit.

 

[woofadu]

I am looking at "for all ages" foods now as well, but it is certainly a struggle to find a good dry food.

 

[fleshflowers]

I am looking at "for all ages" foods now as well, but it is certainly a struggle to find a good dry food.

IMO there is no good dry food. I did use Dr elseys clean protein chicken dry food for my diabetic boy, but only a little bit here and there. It is low carb, but still dehydrating as it's a kibble. I only feed wet now to all 7 cats.

 

[woofadu]

The old formula for Dr. Eisley's looked perfect. I'm sad they changed it and now it has awful reviews and may have high cyanide.

What do you use for wet food?

 

[msserena]

The least worst dry food I have found is Young Again & Ziwipeak. Most of their products have low carb content, that's why those are the only ones I would purchase.

 

[IndyJones]

The old formula for Dr. Eisley's looked perfect. I'm sad they changed it and now it has awful reviews and may have high cyanide.

What do you use for wet food?

Wait, cyanide? As in the deadly suicide pill?

Wth is that even doing in cat food?

 

[woofadu]

Dr. Eisley's was reviewed and lab tested by the cats.com site:
Review: Unbiased Dr. Elsey's Cat Food Review In 2023 - Cats.com
Lab Test: https://cats.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Dr.-Elsey_s-Clean-Protein-Cat-Food-UPDATED.pdf

The lab test is linked in the review but the only indirect mention of the high cyanide is from the blurb at the top of the review:

*Recently, questions have been raised about some of the results of a lab test on Dr. Elsey’s cat food. This lab report is currently being reviewed and verified, and additional clarifications will be released following analysis by a 3rd party.

The 36 comments for this review are hidden which is abnormal for this site, so I'm pretty sure that is also related to the high cyanide in the lab test. I do not have the link handy, but I remember reading a thread on here discussing this as well. It was theorized that the high cyanide could be from the flaxseed.