So confused about what to feed my kitten

[Chestnutx3]

I'm still very confused about what to feed my 5 month old kitten. His previous owner only gave dried food, and an odd tit bit of roast dinner on a sunday. We've sort of continued this, given the odd bit of leftover tinned tuna (is that too salty?). Cat got neutered today and the vet said give is something light to eat like chicken or fish - I don't whether this is cooked or uncooked or if he is fine to continue on dried food.

Also he is about to go to the cattery for a week - he will be given a mix of dry and wet I've been told and was lectured over the phone about the importance of wet food.

My life is busy enough so will not be doing raw only food, it needs to be out of a packet/tin. Dried is so handy when we go out for the day which is not every day but at least once a week he is left for 5-7 hours alone during the day.

My two cats share a packet of wet food in the morning, same again at night. They have one dish of biscuits (small and shallow, not overfilled) between them per day. Tuna once a week on a Saturday night as a treat, small treats throughout the week.

They look pretty good on this diet, although one is a bit chubby as she's lazy and does sod all.

Be aware that tuna doesn't have any added taurine in it - cats need taurine for their eyesight. This is added to commercial brands of catfood so you don't need to worry about them getting the right taurine levels - without this they can go blind, so tuna should only be given as an occasional treat.

Cats will eat meat raw or cooked, either is fine.

Wet food is important as cats don't drink much water (being desert animals originally, they get most of their fluids from food) and can suffer from kidney / urinary issues later on in life as a result.

I'd feed on a mixture of dry and wet, with a higher ratio of wet than dry. Just my opinion though.

They mean cooked chicken or white fish - just because one of the side effects of anaesthetic can be stomach upsets.

Wet food is supposed to be bad for their teeth, dry food is supposed to be be bad for causing UTIs...you can't win really, lol.

My vet feeds her cats purely on dry food for what it's worth. Mine have a constant supply of dry food, but I feed them on wet food through the day. My friend leaves a constant supply of dry food down and gives them one meal of wet food a day - none of them are unhealthy because of feeding.

So basically, do what you want as long as you're feeding them cat food with anything else only being an occasional treat.

I'd be more worried about the cattery changing his food against your wishes tbh, especially as a sudden change like that is likely to upset his stomach when he'll already be a bit stressed just by being there.

Personally I'm not a fan of dry food at all, but it wouldn't do any harm now and then. Though you can get automatic feeders that you can set for when you are out of the house for any period of time.

Tuna should only be given as a very occasional treat as the salt content is far too high.

Raw meat is better than cooked for Cats as cooking alters the nutritional content. Cooked meat is okay if just given now and then but shouldn't make up more than about 20% of their diet.

www.zooplus.co.uk- things like smilla and cosima and bozita from there are considered high level, good for cats food - things like felix and whiskas are high in sugar and contain a lot of filler, which basically just gets pooed back out!! Sometimes the cheapest food is a false economy, and definately avoid Go Cat as it causes many many problems including blocked bladders in boys (iams is another iffy one!!)

There is no reason you couldn't feed just dry food, or just wet, it all depends on what suits you :) I have dry food down all day, then my lot get wet food to get them in at night, and within that, one will only eat wet food so has top ups throughout the day :) I use a mix of Bozita and Cosima wet and am feeding 3 cats. The bozita does 3 cats for 2 meals, and the cosima tins do 3-4meals for a single cat, so go further then you'd think. Pets@Home might be easier to get food from but we don't have one so can't comment on the brands, but generally I'd expect them to have things like hilife (expensive) and whiskas/felix which as i said before, you pay to feed them to poop it all out!!

Hello, raw food diet for my two boys, highly reccommend it and if you go to the bengal forum there is some excellent advice or indeed a search on here will give you more info.

ok so i'm still confused only thing i've ruled is raw food diet. Why are people anti dry - is it that it looks boring to eat the same thing each day. Oh well kitten will be allowed out soon - lots of wild baby rabbits and mice to eat in the country.

I am anti dry food for various reasons. It doesn't resemble anything a cat would naturally eat in the wild. It's full of preservatives, it can be left out for days on end without going off so what does that tell you ?

It can cause health problems due to the lack of water content. Cats aren't naturally big drinkers and obtain most of their water requirements from food. Obviously on a dry food diet this isn't the case.

I also don't believe the claims that dry food helps clean teeth. It's only benefit is that as most cars swallow it whole it doesn't cling to the teeth like wet food does.

In my opinion the best diet would be raw food ( and it's not easy so I don't blame you for ruling it out) or high quality wet food. Look at the ingredients list on some wet foods and they only appear to contain 4% meat. I also find that cats fed on a better quality diet need to be fed less as they are getting the nutrition they require from smaller portions.

Anyway I shall put my soapbox away now (wink)

same as Cailleach

2 kittens here (age 4½ months so soon to be spayed) & they share a pouch morning & evening - sometimes one in the middle of the day too - with small dishes of dry food, water & kitten milk available all the time. They're on Royal Canin for both the wet & dry & have lovely glossy fur & wild amounts of energy

I started them out on HiLife kitten food which is 60% meat, but it's all chickeny & seemed a bit bland & they were leaving quite a bit of it.

the vet said to take them off the wet food & that on dry only they would drink more water, but I'm not convinced, & dry alone does seem terribly boring they do like water out of people's glasses though. maybe I should leave those in strategic spots around the house.

My two cars share a small bowl of wet food in the morning ( I buy swedish Bozita online because it has less rubbish in it) and share a small bowl of Vet's Kitchen dry food throughout the day then have another very small helping of wet food at bed time and a little more dry food. One is greedy and a bit overweight.

thanks for the advice. the kitten does drink a fair bit of water, I do wonder if the anti dry is our personal view that it looks a bit of a boring way to eat. However, people give babies formula milk which is sort of the same, not variety.

For me its nothing to do with it being boring, and everything to do with what is in it and the fact that it just doesn't resemble their natural diet at all. It's also linked with urinary tract problems in male cats.

Years ago cats were fed fish-flavoured cereal (Kit e Kat) and milk. Most lived long vet-free lives. Now we're told to feed Rag Doll/ 3 months old/ 70% caviar at a price which would keep 2 children.
The easy way is wet food twice a day and leave down a bowl of dry. Which brands are entirely up to how much you want to spend.