What to feed advice please as a bit confused?

[hulahoopsilove]

We have a kitten and are feeding on baby/kitten royal canin as the rspca had him on this at 4 months will go to the next level royal canin till he's 1 year.

Bit out of touch as our 18 year old kitty died last year and I cant remember what we did when he was a kitten.

Anyway my old cat always had whiskars tinned food and then biscuits down with water.

Having read up on here it appears cats nowadays have dried food with a wet meal at night - as the dried food has more meat content. Also lots of you are saying Iams isn't that great.

Is this right Im abit confused

[thecatneuterer]

There are no hard and fast rules on wet versus dry. The worst thing you can give a cat, particularly a male one, is cheap (think Whiskas) dry food as it is the major cause of urinary/bladder problems and the even potentially fatal blockages caused by crystals.

If your cat likes wet food you're probably better off feeding this as much as possible with as little dry food as possible. The dry food you do give needs to be a good quality (Applaws/Jameswellbeloved/ Royal canin/ Arden Grange etc etc).

A good cheap but 'healthy' wet food is Butcher's Classic, which contains less nasties, particularly cereals, then most other tin brands.

[hulahoopsilove]

so am I right in saying cheaper brands pack out with "cereal" rather than meat? Gosh I hadn't realised well known brands like Whiskars were a no no.

He;s on 11 weeks old but really loves this royal canin and it's much less messy and smellier than wet food so thinking of sticking to this but perhaps give a pouch at tea time when he's old enough obviously - its a new world all this dried food, Im assuming the above mentioned brands are readily available from pet stores etc

[thecatneuterer]

Yes a lot do contain cereal, but I don't think it's that that is responsible for the urinary crystals, I think it's probably the additives, but I'm not sure.

And yes as I said on your other thread it's generally cheapest to buy online. Some large supermarkets do sell a good range, and of course Pets at Home has the largest range of the physical shops.

Of course if you shop around online you may be able to get Royal Canin much cheaper than you're currently paying and so may want to continue with that.

[issey6cats]

at 11 weeks hes old enough for tinned food just mash it i feed my lot butchers classic meat or asda fish in jelly which does not have any cereal either

[hulahoopsilove]

thanks for your advice everyone. He;s happy with the Royal Canin and I can get a 10kg bag online for £39.99 free delivery so will go with this for the time being - but Im still thinking some wet food at tea time or is it ok to give dried food only

[cozietoesie]

Does he like wet food very much? If so, I'd let him have some.

[hulahoopsilove]

never tried him just been on his dried which he seems fine with

[mrsnec]

Watching this with interest. Our cat if fussy and won't eat tinned food or at least most brands. She always has biscuits down but we give her a pouch or small tin of gourmet twice a day. We thought this might be too much and we're thinking of cutting this down to once a day. She's 3 and weighs 4.5 kg. She also has either prawns or liver once a week.

[mrsnec]

Sorry didn't realise yours was still so young. Ours lost some teeth before she came to us and our vet thinks that's because she had biscuits too early which is why she's so fussy now because of her teeth.

[hulahoopsilove]

this is dried kitten food - very tiny pieces

[cozietoesie]

If he's happy, healthy and getting good quality food, I'd give him what he likes.

[lookdeepintotheparka]

What you are feeding sounds great and he's happy and healthy

Our kitten has royal canin dry food although she also has a pouch of Waitrose wet kitten food just before we go to bed at night which she loves!

[Atbeckandcall]

I can only tell you what I advise at work (vet hospital).

Whiskas, Felix, lots of supermarket own brands aren't great.

The food you've got your kitten on at the moment is great. Access to water all the time is important with biscuits. As your cat gets older (and being male) his urinary tract health is of huge importance, your vet can advise on food to encourage good general health. If they are on a decent diet wet isn't compulsory for a healthy bladder. However the odd tray of a good quality wet food is fine. If it's not a great quality one or it is overly rich, it might give them the squits.

Anyway, if in doubt call the vet for advise.