Worried about my kitten eating not enough by far

[She's a witch]

You know, there are some opinions that the worst wet is better than the best dry (eg. dr Pierson on catinfo site); I don’t know if that’s true but something to think about and research And I wanted to say that sometimes buying cheaper dry food can backfire with huge vet bills for kidney treatment, but since you’re not in the US, I’m guessing the prices for vet services are much more reasonable in Russia than in the US so I feel I’d loose this argument But if I was to give you a piece of advice, I’d say to give her some wet at least occasionally, so that she remembers the taste and texture. That may hugely help if you ever decide to introduce her to wet food again. Many cats that are on dry only gets addicted to it and are super difficult to introduce to anything else. Variety during kittenhood helps in raising cats that are less picky.
Have you considered homemade? It may make sense price wise if you have time for it. Even if you won’t decide to prepare complete meals regularly, some occasional treats with unseasoned meat (either cooked or raw) can give her some variety as well. Also, my cat gets plain yogurt as a treat. And if I remember correctly, you have this delicious minimally processed white cheese over there that could be a perfect treat as well.
I’d avoid milk, it can really cause some digestive issues, unless you can give lactose free milk. Or goat milk, that should be good!

 

[Renne]

Neko has always been like that...I was worried that he was not eating enough according to the feeding instruction. He was also on ACANA, and ate the same amount as the adult's recommended amount. It would be impossible to get him to eat 2-3x of that. But he has been healthy, gaining weight at a consistent rate. He is 8 months old, 8.8lb now. And he still doesn't eat nearly as much as kittens should...

I'm reading a local cat forum in addition to this one, and they say that a lot of people noticed the same about Acana: their cats eat less of it than they eat other cat foods. The main theory is that the company's policy of not using any artificial flavors and odors in cat food is the culprit. However, I've encountered some contradicting posts, too, e.g. one person said that her cats grew fat on Acana and transformed back to normal on another cat food (not as good). But the fact that it wasn't as good made me think that maybe they grew thinner because it wasn't as nutritious...

That said, my sweet kitten started eating much better (maybe b\c she's growing), defying the trend of cats that supposedly don't eat enough on Acana. Hopefully that continues.

 

[Renne]

Kieka , I just realized that I posted a picture of the wrong cat food. I'm feeding Acana Wild Prairies, not Acana Grasslands, and you've analysed the latter. But they seem to be the same anyway, both contain 6-7% of greenpeas, chickpeas and such.

 

[Kieka]

Taking into account your location, it probably is your best option for now. Once she reaches adulthood you should look for a different option. The reviews are right about Acana being related to overweight adults; the combination of fat and carbs can do that. But it's good for a growing kitten.

 

[Renne]

sometimes buying cheaper dry food can backfire

Is Acana considered cheap? I can't even find it in shops here and have to order online. As one shopkeeper told me 'We don't order it, it's too expensive and noone buys it'.

I’m guessing the prices for vet services are much more reasonable in Russia

You're thinking of yourself visiting Russia, of course they'd be much more reasonable for you But you have to take into accout that Russian wages are pretty low, so comparative to our wages, vet services are quite expensive. Even bigger problem is that it's difficult to find good vets. Vetirinary care for dogs and cats specifically is more or less a recent trend and isn't well-developed here yet, and cats are usually further ignored in favor of dogs.

At any rate I'm a bit hurt that you assume I'd be fine with causing my lovely kitten to fall ill if I could easily afford vet services. Of course not. I've explained myself in this thread as best I could.

Have you considered homemade? It may make sense price wise if you have time for it.

Yes, but it requires a lot of research. I know more or less what is safe to feed to a cat (apart from meat, obviously), but I'm unsure about how much of which I'm supposed to give her. It'll require further research.

I’d avoid milk, it can really cause some digestive issues, unless you can give lactose free milk. Or goat milk, that should be good!

Why is goat milk good but cow milk bad for cats?

 

[Kieka]

Yes, but it requires a lot of research. I know more or less what is safe to feed to a cat (apart from meat, obviously), but I'm unsure about how much of which I'm supposed to give her. It'll require further research.

We do have a raw forum that might help.

 

[She's a witch]

Is Acana considered cheap

I referred to what you said that dry feeding is cheaper than wet feeding, not to any particular brand of fry food; I don’t know how much Acana costs, I don’t consider it a good brand, it personally bugs me how they market their food as species appropriate, at the same time advertising that they have 25% of fruits/veggies, but staying quiet about loads of carbs.

At any rate I'm a bit hurt that you assume I'd be fine with causing my lovely kitten to fall ill if I could easily afford vet services.

That absolutely wasn’t my intention and I’m sorry if you read that this way. I was referring to the calculations that some people do, that dry feeding is in fact cheaper than wet feeding, and it doesn’t have to be when one adds the costs associated with the diseases that feeding only dry can contribute to; Of course, there’s no guarantee that cat on also canned will never get sick, but imo the odds seem to be much lower when it comes to some problems like urinary tracks, kidney issues, diabetes, IBD. That’s why I mentioned that some say that even worst wet can still be better than dry.
I moved to the US about a year ago and the prices of vet services shocks me to this days. Back in Europe they were simply cheaper, here they are brought to another level of crazy, especially in bigger towns. I seriously don’t know how people on minimal wages can afford to care for pets. I’d hope nowhere else in the world the situation is as bad.

Homemade requires tons of research and willingness to get hands really dirty, but knowledge is there. But it’s obviously not for everyone. I’ve been feeding my cats raw but still haven’t brought myself to prepare food for them from the scratch; But with more research- if time allows- I’ll eventually get there! The sub forum Kieka mentioned is great and very informative. For me, the biggest benefits of homemade are costs, it’d be so much cheaper than commercial food, plus quality, as I’d be controlling all the ingredients that my cats eat. Obviously, it doesn’t have to be true in your part of the World.

Why is goat milk good but cow milk bad for cats?

Apparently, at least here in the US, goat milk is less processed and raw rather than pasteurized which works lighter on cat’s intestines. But please don’t take my word for it, I myself don’t give cats any milk to avoid tummy troubles. But if I considered it, it would be goat rather than cow milk. It’s often recommended to kittens in the pregnant cat’s forums as opossed to cow’s milk. And my breeder friend used to raise litters of kittens using formulas with goat milk. They grew really fast on it. So if you want to keep giving milk, I’d consider researching goat one instead.

 

[Renne]

Continuing the topic, as my kitten has now hit 2kg and eats twice less than the recommended amount again! I also think she became really scrawny, although I can't tell if that's normal for a growing cat or genuine malnourishment. I can even feel her ribs easier than before.

Anyway, so I bought a small package of another Acana flavor, and my cat eats it like crazy! Although I don't know if it's just because it's something new. But she just ate 28g in one sitting with great appetite, and she never ate that much in one sitting before. 12g was her maximum.

I emailed Acana producers to ask why their feeding requirements for kittens are so much higher than of other producers. See, I was browsing for other alternative kitten food and noticed that kitten food in the same quality range and price range (like Grandorf, Farmina) has thrice or twice less recommended feeding amounts per day! That's huge. Ksu did eat that much before, so if I used cat food by another producer she'd have had enough per day! So I'm puzzled about that, but no reply yet.

I'm now trying to decide if I should switch to a different food entirely, but food of this quality is hard to get in my city, so I'll have to order small sample packages online. And she's already running out of food, so I'll probably have to buy (the new flavor of) Acana again before I can properly test anything else out and then order it.