# Cat Food for... 7 month old kittens



## DelsFan (Nov 19, 2010)

I've been feeding my kittens mostly Avoderm Kitten and Adult Chicken and Avoderm Kitten and Adult Ocean Fish cat food. They eat it like piranha fish!

They also have Blue Buffalo Spa Select Kitten food - dry - available to them in their bowls, whenever they want it.

I was looking for something (healthy, but) somewhat economical when I came across the Wellness canned cat foods (not cat and kitten, just cat) available in 12 oz cans. Does anyone feed this to their cats (or kittens)? Are any of the flavors like a pate (which the boys like) rather than filled with chunks (which they don't like)?

I'm thinking of trying a couple of the flavors with them, but didn't want to order a case of 12 oz cans without knowing anything about it. Any reason some of these wouldn't be OK for "older" kittens?

I think they weigh about 5 lbs (tabby) and 7 lbs (spotty), if that makes any difference.


----------



## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

Let me start by saying your kitties are gorgeous...their markings are just incredible!

I feed Wellness wet food to my girls and I did so when they were kittens. My girls are the opposite of yours, since mine love the chunks and gravy but don't like the pate. All of the Wellness canned foods are pate, whereas the Wellness foil pouches contain chunks with gravy. You can always buy a few separate cans/flavors to try them out on your cats...to see what flavors they like...prior to ordering a case.


----------



## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

Yup, adult Wellness should be just fine for your kittens. I have two kittens, one is currently about 10 months and the other is about 7 months, and I've fed them both Wellness adult. The one that's still on canned still gets Wellness as part of his canned flavor rotation.

The primary differences between kitten and adult food is kitten food tends to be more nutrient-rich, higher fat, etc. but with an already nutrient-rich food like Wellness, adult food is just fine. I've heard the Wellness kitten food is actually _too_ rich for some older kittens.

And yeah, like Susan said, you may want to try buying a few individual cans before ordering a case just to make sure they like the flavors and the brand, as of course cats can be picky. There are some flavors of some brands that mine refuse to touch, even if they like other flavors in the same brand, so it's always worth testing them out first.


----------



## furryfriends251 (Jan 1, 2009)

I think that all the Wellness wet food is pate. Make sure to get the grain free flavors and try to limit fish to once a week (or less). I agree with the others, try to get a few cans of each flavor before you order a case, you never know what ones they like/dislike.

Of course, the more wet food you feed, the better off they are going to be. Dry food is simply not a healthy food for cats, I assume you have read Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health as to why but am sharing the link again. 

I do not free feed my kittens - they eat three times a day and get all they want at each feeding. They do not get any snacks inbetween - and if they don't eat, to bad for them, they can wait for their next meal. They are fed a raw diet - explained well at Nature's Prey Model - but I would do the same feeding scheduale if they were eating wet food. Malachi is seven months old and Morey & Mitch are not quite 6 months old.


----------



## MohawkSuri (Jan 20, 2011)

Hey there! 

I am currently feeding a combination of wellness and avoderm canned food for my 8 months old kittens. 

I feed them on alternate days. They love it. I have been feeding them ever since they were 3 months old.

I notice that my male kitten seldom drink water.

May if it is appropriate for me to add warm water to the wet food? I have been adding warm water to his food nowadays and he finish it up with the wet food.:catmilk


----------



## yellowdaisies (Jan 25, 2011)

Your kittens are gorgeous!! 

I have two 5 month old kittens, and for wet food they eat Merrick Before Grain and Wellness. They both hated the kitten Wellness, but they love the regular Wellness! Their foster mom also fed them Wellness before we adopted them. We've tried the pouch kind, also, but only one of them will eat it - the other will ONLY eat pate. 

Although it's probably cheaper to order it in larger quantities, I'll echo what everyone else said and recommend you try a few flavors with them first. If you have a Petco near you, they sell it there, though they charge a little more for it than what I pay at a smaller pet store. 

My kittens LOVE all the varieties they've tried, but I think their favorite is the turkey/salmon flavor, or maybe the plain turkey flavor. It's a toss up. 

I really love Wellness because our kittens love it, it's great quality food, and I feel it's reasonably priced for what you're getting.


----------



## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

My older kittens (around 9 and 11 months old) love Wellness canned foods. The only flavor they haven't liked so far is the lobster one, but that's okay since they shouldn't have seafood too often anyways!


----------



## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

MohawkSuri said:


> I notice that my male kitten seldom drink water.
> May if it is appropriate for me to add warm water to the wet food? I have been adding warm water to his food nowadays and he finish it up with the wet food.:catmilk


It is totally appropriate for you to add warm water to the wet food. The more water he drinks the better. So, if he's lapping up the water along with his food, I'd keep adding it.


----------



## DelsFan (Nov 19, 2010)

I'll pick up some 5.5 oz cans of Wellness and see what flavors they will like. 

Thanks for your advice!


----------



## ronss (Dec 12, 2010)

my cat seems to like merrick,,,but its not cheap....the pate from wellness, and other pate type food from other brands, my cat just does not seem to like the pate type food....those cats look really nice,


----------



## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

ronss said:


> my cat seems to like merrick,,,but its not cheap....the pate from wellness, and other pate type food from other brands, my cat just does not seem to like the pate type food....those cats look really nice,


My cats also don't like pate-type foods, but they will eat Merrick. If you're looking for another grain-free food that isn't pate, you could also try Weruva. My girls like it best of all.


----------



## yellowdaisies (Jan 25, 2011)

Susan said:


> If you're looking for another grain-free food that isn't pate, you could also try Weruva. My girls like it best of all.


Sorry to jump in here - what kind of consistency is Weruva? Is it chunks like Wellness pouches?


----------



## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

yellowdaisies said:


> Sorry to jump in here - what kind of consistency is Weruva? Is it chunks like Wellness pouches?


It's neither pate nor chunks with gravy like Wellness. It's a little tough to describe. It actally looks a bit like "real" food. On the basis that a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a link to a picture of various Weruva flavors: Weruva*Super Luxe*Cat*Food!

I find the main difference between Wellness pouches (which my girls also like) and Weruva is that when I feed my girls Wellness, they tend to just lap up the gravy and leave most of the meat. With Weruva, they actually eat the food. My girls' favorite is the Weruva Paw Licken Chicken (not pictured in the link), but it looks like moist shredded chicken.


----------



## ariellelee (Jan 3, 2011)

As long as they don't know any different, is it a big deal not to feed them wet food? I feed my kitties dry kitten food that is very good and nutritious because I simply can't afford the canned stuff. I know cats supposedly prefer the taste of wet food, but if they've never had it and like their current food a lot, it's not terrible of me, is it?


----------



## furryfriends251 (Jan 1, 2009)

Wet food is much better for a cat than dry. Have you read Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health? IMO the highest quality dry food is worse for a cat that the lowest quality wet food. 

If you need cheaper foods there are some that are still fairly good quality.

From Food Products a list of grain free foods:

*Fancy Feast - Canned
*Only THESE specific cans don't contain wheaten gluten of any kind.
Chopped Grill Feast; Cod, Sole & Shrimp Feast; Flaked Fish & Shrimp Feast; Gourmet Chicken Feast; Gourmet Seafood Feast; 
Tender Beef Feast; Tender Beef & Chicken Feast; Turkey & Giblets Feast; Gourmet Salmon & Shrimp Feast; Ocean Whitefish & 
Tuna Feast; Savory Salmon Feast; Tender Beef & Liver Feast; Tender Liver & Chicken Feast; Tender Turkey Feast for Kittens; 
Tender Ocean Whitefish Feast for Kittens. (you can get Fancy Feast typically for $0.50 a can)

*Felidae Grain Free Cat & Kitten Formula - Canned
*Chicken, Turkey, Lamb & Ocean Fish
www.canidae.com/cats/grain-free-cat-food/canned.html
A 13.2 ounce can costs $1.80 here I live

*Friskie's Classic Pate - Canned
*Mixed Grill, Chicken & Tuna, Turkey & Giblets, Supreme Supper, Country Style,
Poultry Platter, Liver & Chicken
www.friskies.com/Wet-Cat-Food/Poultry/Default.aspx
I much prefer the Poultry Platter over the rest of the flavors. First ingrediant is Turkey, second is poultry by-products. As opposed to meat by-products as first ingrediant in the other flavors. A 5.5 ounce can costs about $0.40

There are a few more kinds I use on occasion for Nightmare. Sophistacat Elegant Entree, the Trader Joes nonfish flavors, and the Authority Kitten wet food. Nightmare is one of the farm cats who won't eat a raw diet - he eats all canned instead. I promised my cat Milo, when he lost the battle against CRF, that I would never feed one of my cats dry food again - that is a promise that I never want to break.


----------



## ariellelee (Jan 3, 2011)

Thank you!!!


----------



## yellowdaisies (Jan 25, 2011)

Susan - Thanks for the info! I think they have Weruva at my local pet store (although their website seems to think it's not in CA...I could have sworn I saw it there...). I'll try it out of they have it...it looks good to me! Spencer is very weird about texture, though...he won't eat Wellness pouch food. We'll see if he takes to this. 

Arielle - Not sure if you have a Trader Joe's nearby, but they have a canned cat food that has pretty good reviews online, and it's not very expensive...(can't remember the exact price - and I'm in CA, so it's probably more here, anyway). 

Also, at my local pet store, Natural Balance is fairly inexpensive, and it's a good brand...I think it's around 80something cents for a 5.5 oz can. (Which is much cheaper than I've seen online...)

I was a little shocked by the prices of good canned food, until I found a little store near me (as in, NOT a chain like Petco or PetSmart), where the prices are significantly cheaper. It might be worth searching your area to find a smaller store that may have smaller prices...who knows? I found my store by doing a store locator search on some websites of lesser known brands (like Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul). 

And speaking of Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, they are fairly inexpensive for the quality of the food..I found a lot of positive reviews online. They have canned and dry. 
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul brand pet foods Home

Hope this helps.


----------



## CassiandRJ (Jun 7, 2010)

furryfriends, are all of the canned foods you listed grain free?


----------



## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

CassiandRJ said:


> furryfriends, are all of the canned foods you listed grain free?


I'm not sure that list is accurate/up-to-date, becasuse I just checked the ingredients of some of the foods mentioned on the Friskies and Fancy Feast websites (because I was surprised that they'd have any grain-free flavors), and they're not grain-free. Some contain rice, some contain wheat-gluten (even the ones that the list says supposedly do not), and some contain corn starch.

I think the best rule of thumb is: always check ingredients just to be safe! Formulas can change and people can miss things. Any time I buy a new food, or the packaging on an old food changes, I check the ingredients list just to be safe.


----------



## furryfriends251 (Jan 1, 2009)

saitenyo said:


> I'm not sure that list is accurate/up-to-date, becasuse I just checked the ingredients of some of the foods mentioned on the Friskies and Fancy Feast websites (because I was surprised that they'd have any grain-free flavors), and they're not grain-free. Some contain rice, some contain wheat-gluten (even the ones that the list says supposedly do not), and some contain corn starch.
> 
> I think the best rule of thumb is: always check ingredients just to be safe! Formulas can change and people can miss things. Any time I buy a new food, or the packaging on an old food changes, I check the ingredients list just to be safe.


What ones contain wheat gluten? I looked and didn't see any that she mentioned with that ingrediant.

Rice is fairly well tolerated by IBD cats which is why some of the foods DO have rice yet are listed. I don't know if rice is technically considered a grain by pet food companies or not? I feel like I've seen rice listed on the ingrediant list of a supposed to be grain free food.


----------



## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

furryfriends251 said:


> What ones contain wheat gluten? I looked and didn't see any that she mentioned with that ingrediant.
> 
> Rice is fairly well tolerated by IBD cats which is why some of the foods DO have rice yet are listed. I don't know if rice is technically considered a grain by pet food companies or not? I feel like I've seen rice listed on the ingrediant list of a supposed to be grain free food.


Ahh I see my mistake now. There are several with the same name but with those, the gluten-free ones are prefaced with "classic" while the other ones are "grilled." I was looking at the grilled ones and missed the classic ones, since the website list doesn't specify the prefixes. The grilled contain gluten while the classic ones listed do not.

As for the rice, I was just responding to Cassi's question as to whether or not they were grain-free. Rice is a grain, and I've never seen it in any product that boasts a grain-free label. It may be fine for IBD kitties, but if someone is specifically looking for grain-free because their cat has grain sensitivities, then I recommend avoiding it. One of my cats has issues with grain and even rice sets her off. In fact she was never on any lesser-quality grains like corn or gluten, just pretty high quality foods with either brown or white rice in them (Natural Balance, Blue Buffalo), so her reaction to rice was led us to realize she had trouble with grains.


----------

