Maincoon kitten

[Tomanynames]

Does anyone have a maincoon kitten/cat.

I have been giving my kitten dry kitten food whiskers. But now I'm reading I should be giving her wet food and biscuits and that I should be giving a heigh quality more expensive brand.

A high quality wet food and minimal biscuits is fine. I wouldn't advise a supermarket diet and I buy most of my food online. I feed high quality tinned wet food - Canagan and Applaws generally. I've also switched my cats over to Virbac biscuits from Royal Canin biscuits and they've definitely improved in terms of health, weight and coat condition.

Virbac isn't cheap, but I would recommend it for quality. You have to buy it from their website site.

My two are fussy. They would eat starve than eat expensive biscuits and robustly refuse any other than purina or whiskas. They also refuse Applaws, anything fish flavoured, or any meat without jelly (gravy or pâté type foods are unacceptable).
They are both in great condition though, not overweight despite being indoor cats and having free access to biscuits, and a good size.

Our Siamese have Felix wet food , they won’t eat any other we’ve tried and Applaws dry and are both in perfect health .

I wouldn't feed Whiskers dry tbh.
I have had three Maine Coons (one still alive) and while they are partial to a bit of Whiskers wet, if feeding dry, get a higher quality food.. Canagan, Applaws and others.
Also... , PLEASE feed wet food as well as cats are prone to kidney and bladder stones which is excruciating (and can be fatal.. more so in males but still)

Congrats on your MC... get grooming from the start as they WILL get knots and trust me, trying to groom a reluctant very large (in my case 10kg! cat) is not fun

Thank you for that . What wet food would be good ?

Mine started off on the Royal Canin Maine Coon biscuits - they are bigger biscuits so apparently promote better dental health. Ended up on Applaws dry foot for years. Whiskas isn’t very good nutritionally, aim for a dry food with high protein and as low a cereal content as possible. It’s all filler with little nutritional value.

The only kibble my 2 cats will eat is Purina too. They have wet food pouches but won't eat anything with gravy. They like to eat 1/2 a plain cooked chicken breast each on Sundays and Tuna in springwater once about every 10 days too.

I think we need to see a picture of said kitten, OP!

@SatinHeart

Oh Bless! I was going to say, if you wrote this in the Litter Tray you would have to pay cat tax (a photo!)

I feed my MC Concept for Life dry food along with Untamed wet food, He also has the usual treats. He’s 2 years old and weighs just over 11kg.

😅🐱

Please don't feed Purina and other supermarket foods. These foods are full of sugar, fillers and very poor quality ingredients. They can barely be classed as food. I'm a cat carer and the cats I visit which are fed these foods are lethargic and sluggish with poor coats. I'm clearing up vomit sometimes at every visit. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not normal for a cat to vomit every day. People will endlessly justify why they feed them, but it's not difficult to transfer them onto proper nutritionally balanced foods, I know because I've done it. You wouldn't feed your kids McDonald's for every meal, so why do it to a pet? Apart from my allergic cat which is on hydrolysed protein, my other two cats (11 and 5) have never vomited in their lives. No diarrhoea either. You can claim that your cats are healthy, but you can't see inside them. Cats are also adept at hiding pain and illness so you won't necessarily know if they're feeling sick or experiencing pain.

Problems associated with poor quality foods include gastrointestinal discomfort and intolerances - vomiting and diarrhea.
Sugar leading to obesity, diabetes, arthritis and tooth decay.
Generalised poor condition which can leave the cat susceptible to other diseases and infections.
And the big problem of pancreatitis which is intensely painful and a cause of death if a cat is fed inflammatory causing foods for too long. Cats are not designed to eat sugars, cereals and other fillers.

People can get away with feeding poor quality foods for so long, but it will catch up with them as they age and have increasing problems digesting and processing these products. It is not a kindness to allow your cat to dictate to you what it will eat. They can be transferred into proper food with some time and patience and trying different high quality products. Kittens are even easier to transfer.

If all you can afford is cheaper foods, then at least don't feed Whiskers, Go Cat, Felix and Sheba. Buy Sainsbury's own brand fish or something like Encore. These are intermediate quality foods and probably won't cause harm at least.

Zooplus have a good selection of foods. Look for higher protein and fewer fillers and sugar.

My cats on go cat and been no issues

I have never known it as a normal thing for a cat to chuck up. That's odd 🤔

Anyway thank you for your post.

And yeah I agree cat food cat definitely be changed . It's just finding what is good for her but not to expensive it feels like it from one extreme to the other 3.00 to 30.00

I'm going to look at your suggestions now . Thanks 😊

Not a Maine Coon, but my cat is on Purina Gourmet wet and One I think for dry. These were recommended for him by my vet. He is fussy and won’t eat any fish or we let with jelly. He was on Whiskers and Iams at the rescue but it upset his tummy, no vom but unpleasant poops. Spoke to the vet and changed to food that he liked and resolved all the tummy issues.

I personally wouldn't feed any cat just dry food.

but I can understand why you chose Whiskas kitten - the power of advertising and I believe Whiskas is probably the ' biggest ' of cat food manufacturers.

beautiful kitten !

I was thinking about using dry food to have available in the bowl but also giving wet food . I just want to find something that's not to expensive

I have 3 rather large Maine Coons who are fed on James Wellbeloved hairball blend (for obvious reasons with the long hair) but they are partial to Purina one, and although they are pedigree ladies they're certainly not above eating Felix wet food. In fact Felix is one of the few wet foods they will eat, they turned down Hills, Royal Canin and all the 'premium' brands. Make sure your MC has access to loads of water, and keep old towels handy. All 3 of mine chuck water EVERYWHERE.

My 3 MCs.

How odd some people think vomiting or diarrhoea are normal! Neither of mine have ever vomited, and the only diarrhoea was following theft of a side of salmon…
My vet recommended the Purina One dry food.

We need more photos. I'm slightly obsessed with these cats and aren't quite convinced that they are not actually people in cat costumes.

Aww they are lovely . They are pretty big. If mine is like yours she will be bigger than my dog . I'm glad they are friends now 😅

Yeah I thought that was very odd to

Not MC but I have 3 Norwegian Forest Cats (similar but slightly smaller) and they are fed a mix of raw, with access to Acana Cat Food, if given the chance they’d scoff the cheap and cheerful stuff from Aldi 🤣 my male is particularly fond of go cat if he’s ever offered it.

My 19 year old moggy lived happily on go cat/ whiskers with no issues until he died 🤷‍♀️

I do in all seriousness highly rate raw food mine do very well on it but understand it’s not for everyone.