I Have a 15 Week Old Ragdoll Kitten. I'm Wondering What Is the Best Brand of Food for Him?
July 16th, 2010
He is currently on Iams Haiball Remedy as that is what the breeder suggested but I’ve heard it’s not the best food. He also has very foul smelling poops Yikes help.
The same thing is best for him that would be for any cat even at that age. it is never to late to feed the proper food
Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingredient a muscle meat like chicken or is it meal or other things? Learn what meal and other things mean here.
http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea...
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms of food allergies probably from the grains. Constipation? Dry food, not enough moisture. Blockages? Again not enough moisture in the food and you are risking something serious. People on this board say feed fiber but this is a cat not a dog and cats are obligate carnivores unlike dogs an they don’t eat cereal and don’t need fiber.
The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food (Cats are not naturally big drinkers) but in
Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don’t use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn’t have corn at all or grains at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food as it uses a muscle meat as the first ingrediant. 9lives, friskies whiskas are lower grade canned but still better then dry and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods.
Many foods are not mentioned here but if you read the labels you wiull know if it is qualaty. The price offers no guideline.
The optimum food to feed cats has no grains whatsoever, cats have no use for them and many have trouble processing them as well as the carbs. IBD is another disease that is rapidly becoming common amoung cats because of the inappropriate diets being fed.
Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? Why do people constantly repeat this old wives tale and put teeth over the organs like the kidneys?? (I have no clue) http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...
Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht...
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...
I like purina kitten chow and friskies kitten food. they are both made by purina. Just make sure it is kitten food so they get the nutrients they need.
Just asking about food will open up a lot of strong passions.
Foul smelling output often suggests worms, especially in a kitten, so I hope he has been checked. Kittens get worms from their mother’s milk, and while I would expect this not to be a problem from a breeder, checking is always wise. Perhaps your kitten was checked before you got him; that would sort of be expected.
However, all cats have a short digestive system, and the enzymes in the foods they eat help them digest their food. Normally, IAMS food is well digested, and output is in the normal odor range. Really smelly output suggests incomplete digestion.
If you are going to switch, do it slowly over a period of at least a week to avoid tummy upsets. And remember, no matter what other’s state is the finest food in the world, if your kitten won’t eat it, it doesn’t matter.
Ideally, for the first year of life, kitten chow. But it is not essential, as I have two kittens who are now a year old who refused to eat kitten chow, and they thrive on adult chow.
While I will probably get negatives for stating this, but my cats are living long and healthy lives on IAMS. My oldest cat is over 13 years, and the longest one I had made it to over 15 1/2 years, succumbing to complications from thyroid disease.