What did you feed your kittens?

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Just looking at options, obviously we'll continue what the breeder is using for the first week or so and gradually wean. Did you feed any dry? Did you fed raw? Did you feed kitten specific tins/pouches? Any lessons learned? Many thanks.

my kitten arrived eating whiskers kitten wet food, we started her on the dry after a couple of weeks and now mix feed. she has dry food down all day and gets half a pouch of the wet food every evening.

she's 6mo now and a dainty cat at under 5kg.

Whiskas kitten until he was 6 months but I didn't know any better.

If you feed raw research it properly. If you just feed raw meat it won't work & a lack of taurine can be fatal for them.

Whatever you choose feed on demand, kittens can really put it away.

Thanks, am doing a lot of reading. All raw is a bit intimidating for me, especially with the taurine concern, although Natural Instinct seem to offer a complete option for feeding raw.

Science diet kitten biscuits, always had some down so if they got peckish there was food available, also a pouch or two of soft food. I bought the kitten version but the kitten decided she much preferred my adult cats food so gave up trying to feed them separately as it was futile

I don't know much about the raw food thing but tbh it sounds a bit gross to me! My 6mo girl kitten swiped a bit of raw chicken off the side last week and that resulted in her being violently sick a few hours later so not something I would attempt.

I used Morrisons own brand pouches, the cats now won't eat anything else.

I've seen frozen raw in pets at home for dogs, I think it will take off here eventually but you can't take it lightly.

Dh hates me giving our cat raw tit bits because its not natural according to him.

Lol that it's not natural, he he.

Mine are just over a year old and I rotate natural instinct raw with Mac's tinned meat.

They love them both. I've fed them raw since they were kittens. One major benefit is their poop doesn't smell - they still use a litter tray in the house.

Ours are eating Natures Menu wet pouches and Orijen cat & kitten dry food. That's what their mum's owner fed them and it seems like really good quality food so we think we'll keep them on it!

My kittens were fussy eaters.

They were rescue cats and one had digestive problems early on. He could only eat dry and we had some from the vet and then James Wellbeloved.

They now eat a combination of that and Felix wet pouches.

I'm pretty sure one prefers wet and one dry but can't be sure.

He's on Royal Canin kitten, I leave out some for him all day than add more in the evening.

The whole feeding thing is very confusing and unclear isn't it? I feel I'd prefer his to be on wet food (because my eight year old, when out with his dad, bought him a pouch as 'a treat' and the kitten hoovered it up (well the quarter I gave him!)

I think the dry food is very good for leaving out, can't do that with wet, but obviously there's such a variety of quality of dry. Wet food strikes me as more 'natural', though looking at the ingredients of them it doesn't really seem natural.

Also I think it's an important factor to have them on food you can source easiest. I'd like my kitten to be on a mixture of dry and wet, and reading the back of the dry food packet there's the suggested balance, however I can't go out and buy Royal Canin pouches easily, and I've no idea how the other brand pouches compare to subsitute.

As I said it's a minefield this feeding lark!!!!

I think you will need to make sure what you end up with suits your lifestyle (I'm out for a good amount of the day so dry seems sensible here as I can leave it out), and a food that is easier for you to get (in case of a sudden 'oh no I'm out' rush to the shops) and also, and this is definitely a last but not least situation, one that is healthy for your cat (I'm finding this part the most difficult to settle on, I feel I need to compare all ingredients of every dry/wet food out there, we need a comparison site!!!)

Probably not much help to you OP, sorry!!!

Loki has approx 10 different wet food brands (with different flavours) on rotation.

I only use a handful of dry food as a treat (Applaws Kitten) a couple of times a week.

I buy all his food from either Zooplus or Happy Kitty Co, I'm happy to send you a list of his prefered brands if that's helpful?

moln if you google a-z of wet foods you should find a word doc that someone had helpfully created as a comparison. I would link it but it's on pet forum and not sure if that's allowed??

This might be helpful. Slightly out of date and lots of good food missing but it might be a good start for you

Thanks everyone. SmokingGun yes please pm me a list that would be fab, thanks

Thanks SmokingGun

Royal canin kitten wet and dry.

We feed raw to our 20 week old kitten and the vet has advised us no kibble/dry so just raw morning and evening and water bowl down obviously. This week he is eating chicken and duck supplied frozen from our vet.

Wanted to mention breeder bought him up on raw.

Do you mince and supplement it MinimalistMommi or do you buy it prepared from a specialist raw food supplier?

code its human grade meat bought direct from our vet. It's a Minced ‘prey model’ diet apparently.
It is a minced meat, bone and organ mixture. We defrost a portion in the fridge every night to feed the following day. We split it into two portions once defrosted. We put the food down in the morning and lift it after 10 minutes if it hasn’t all been eaten and we feed twice daily. I think the block we defrost is about 120g but I would have to weigh it to check. Our Ragdoll kitten is having health check tomorrow at vets so I'm going to ask about supplementing it (I know breeder bought kitten up on Natures Instinct and did supplement with a powder)

...vet also suggested giving him the odd chicken wing so he can chew at it...
Also to try him on Lilly's Kitchen pouches/tins so we have a convenient food he can eat if he goes to a cattery/our freezer breaks etc etc

I'be heard that the raw frozen cat meat available at Pets at Home etc isn't meant to be that good quality but I don't know if that's true or not.

...also meant to say it costs us 65 pence per day.

I've been reading a bit about this, dry food and grains, protein content in all types of food and the different balance a kitten needs to an adult cat.

I looked at the back of the packet of Royal Canin kitten I have and the second thing listed is rice. Rice is a grain isn't it?

Rice is classed as a grain.

Loki had a really poorly stomach for a few weeks after I got him, fecal and blood tests were clear of everything so I did a fair bit of research and started buying grain free food and we haven't had an issue since.

If you are feeding kittens high quality adult cat food then that's perfectly fine. Kitten food is a bit ifs marketing ploy.

Is it?

I was wondering - obviously the amount feed should be different. I am getting the idea that supermarket stuff isn't the best about.

I would have thought (admittedly with a air of scepticism) that due to the price of Royal Canin and that vets stock it, it would have been a decent food source.

My guy came with his food as Royal Canin Kitten, so I stuck to that, but I'm going to look into what else I can get around here.

OP sorry for high-jacking but I suppose I'm asking similar things to what your OP was about!! Here's a few things I've picked up so far:

-The most important ingredient is meat. Meat should be the first ingredient listed and should be identified and not ‘meat,’ ‘animal’ or ‘poultry’
-Cats have no need for carbohydrates, there should be no grains in the first five ingredients. Preferable no grains at all though.
-If there is a meat source (ie 'meal') listed it should be identified as to what it is, but avoid 'by products'
-Whole fruits are ok (once past the first three ingredients)
-Avoid anything containing corn or soy
-Avoid colours, flavours, sweeteners and preservatives: e.g. "carrageenan"

Have to say though a lot of the sites I've been reading about cat food labels so I'm not exactly sure how it related to UK and Ireland (where I am), I'm working on that now..