What is the BEST food for my kitten?

Question

I have an 18 week old kitten named Destiny. Here's a pic of her.

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm10/mheather83/IMG_1613.jpg

Shes the most spoiled kitten EVER. She loves everybody and everything. Shes not scared of anything. Anyways, I want to give her the best food you can get. But I don't know what kind to get. Which kind of food is best? I don't want anything with by products or that kind of stuff. Also, whats the best cat litter to get? She inside all the time so I need somethng that controls odors good. And it cant be anything with clay cause he eats it. Thanks.

Answer 1

i buy iams naturals for my cats, tidy cat litter i think is the best, i have 4 cats and you wouldn't know that i have 3 litter boxes.  petsmart has a whole aisle to premium cat food.  that where i shop for all my pet needs

Answer 2

I work for pet smart and the best top of the line cat and dog food we carry is by a company called Blue Buffalo theres several different cat foods and its all natural with humane grade products and no by products. It also helps prevent uti in cats, helps prevent other infections and disease and donates to finding a cure for cancer in pets. Its also the only food company that carries wilderness food lines which carries ingredients that is the closest to what a wild dog or cat would eat if it was still in the wild. You can check their site out ofr more info.

Answer 3

Another vote for Evo! http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp

I have 6 kitties ranging in age from 10 years to just under 3 months and it's very popular and healthy for all life stages. All the corn, wheat, and soy found in other foods is completely useless for your adorable little kitty.  She's a carnivore, she needs meat.  Wet food is great too, try to at least work in a bit of that in the mornings.  Evo makes several great wet foods. Wellness Core is another really good food.

My preferred litter is Feline Pine (or the generic equivalent, the Petsmart version works just as well).  It smells like pine and absorbs the urine smell very well.  Plus it's flushable so as soon as she poops you can just flush it away.  The regular version isn't clumping, so it shouldn't hurt her to take a taste.  

She's beautiful!  I'm glad you're taking such great care of her!

Answer 4

The best answer is talk to your vet.  It can depend on the breed sometimes.  Personally, my boss - a vet - and I both use Purina brand cat foods, and they are great.  But ask your vet - you can do this during your kittens first visit at 8-10 weeks or call the office and ask to speak to the vet's assistant or supervising vet tech.

Answer 5

my cats are picky about cat litter. i tried a cedar chip (supposedly better for envirnment) one but she wouldn't use it and went on the floor so i had to run to the store get the fresh step scoop she likes...

as for cat food the best is can. i know, people think this rots teeth but really it doesn't any more than dry food if it's good. i mix dry and can though because females are a little less prone to UTIs/kidney disease like males.

start your kitty on the good food now because it's hard to wean them off it! mine was eating "candy" and she refuses the good food.

innova and evo are the brands i'd trust the best.

Answer 6

My foster kittens are fed with Innova's EVO - and they thrive!  Grain free, by-product free, and plenty of nutrition in there for growing kittens.  And you can continue to feed it as she grows into an adult.  

Cat box odor is controlled two ways - one, by feeding good wholesome food, and two, by scooping at least twice a day.  But a good litter for a kitten is World's Best. You can scoop it, and it won't hurt them if they eat a bit of it.  

Good luck with Destiny - she's cute!  A dilute tortie?  

Answer 7

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to dump cheap leftovers in. Will it kill your cat? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent cat foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Meow Mix.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Felidae, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timber Wolf Organics.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less p**p!

A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Diets high in grain have been attributed to problems with diabetes in cats. Cats are obligate carnivores, so why should there be grain in their diet? Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diet's include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now!, and Sold Gold Indigo Moon, Taste of the Wild.

Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.

Remember that foods should be switched gradually, especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.

Another option for feeding cats is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:

http://www.barfworld.com/

http://www.rawfedcats.org/

http://www.rawfed.com/

http://www.wysong.net/controversies/rawm...

Now the question is, do you feed wet or dry? Wet is the correct answer. The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just don't drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least. Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cat's natural diet. More on why canned food is best:

http://www.catinfo.org/  (Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)

http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canne...

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

Another option to get cats to drink more would be a cat fountain. Cats tend to like to drink from running water and cat fountains see to that need, encouraging cats to take in more water.

More:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_... (Dog food reviews. It's for dogs, but most of the high quality brands also put out excellent cat foods. Four stars is a decent food, five stars is a great food, and six stars is an excellent food.)

Answer 8

What a cutie!

If you're up to it, I highly recommend raw feeding.  This is not something you can start tomorrow.  It requires research because there are many different methods.  You'd need to select one that works for you, and you'd need time to find a supplier and choose a supplement.  (http://runeamok.multiply.com/journal/ite...

I do it myself as do a few others out here and many others in the world.  I highly recommend it!

But for now - or if you're not interested, then the next best thing is grainless canned food.  Cats are obligate carnivores who do not need carbs in their diet, nor do they need fruits and veggies.  Their teeth are designed to rip through flesh and bone.  Because this is the way nature designed them, they don't have a strong drive to drink water.  That's why cats who eat dry food tend to be dehydrated which can lead to a number of issues.  Although they will drink water they don't get enough of it.

And that's also why dry food doesn't keep their teeth clean.  How could it when cats don't chew?  

There are many varieties of grainless canned foods on the market - see the What to feed link for suggestions.

It's best not to introduce any dry food, but if there's a compelling reason for you to do so, then there are some good brands out there that you could use.  See my link for suggestions.

I'm probably forgetting a lot, so for now I'll just conclude with a bunch of links where you can learn more.

Answer 9

Feed Natural Balance Ultra Formula.  It's very good canned food.