Best kitten food?

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As the title says. Answers on the internet are all over the place and I've done extensive analysis into this. The core requirements are that the food is available to purchase in the UK in either Pets at Home superstores, veterinarian practices, indie pet shops, or supermarkets (unlikely for the best, I'd guess, though my closest supermarket is a Waitrose in an expensive town). I don't have time to make my cats fresh food - hell, I don't have time to make *myself* proper food, let alone my cats.

I have two pure-bred Maine Coon kittens. Cost is irrelevant - no cat food I've seen is what I consider 'expensive'. However I've noted with pet food that cost isn't an indicator of quality as some of the 'expensive' pet foods are sold to the owner rather than the pet (as per the 'reassuringly expensive' concept, whereas the product itself isn't any higher quality than the average, as per Stella IMO).

I don't buy the 'dry food only' idea for cats, it's not close enough to their evolved diet (obligate carnivores) and I'm happy serving them wet food at mealtimes with a bucket of dry kibbles for snacking on.

My vet recommends Hill's but they would, because Hill's spend so much on sponsoring veterinary schools and practices. Yeah I'm cynical but there's a clear conflict of interest and I'm very suspicious as a result. If Hill's is the best then I'll get it, but I'm not convinced so far.

Currently I'm feeding them what they had when they lived with their mother at the breeder's place - Felix kitten wet food pouches and James Wellbeloved kitten dry food. I'm aware that Felix is mid-range (if that) food but the kittens like it, and have no digestive complaints. I'll switch over gradually, but I'd prefer to feed them the best possible food.


So - open to the experts here So far, Applaws appears to be a strong contender. I know there are plenty of cat lovers on here as we've had loads of arguments (cats vs dogs) in the past And everyone has different views, I'd just like to get some more UK-specific advice (plenty of internet searches come up with US-centric food recommendations that aren't easily available here, esp. when talking about Maine Coons).

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missdiane said:

We have a Maine coon too, great cats

The breeder put her on Royal canin Kitten, we duly followed, but had another think when we read the ingredients!
She is now on Applaws dry and mixture of applaws cans twice a week and tuna twice a week (in spring water)
She seems to be doing fine, apart from unrelated health stuff, she is 11lb at 9 months, so on target with weight
Got any pics?

I'm trying to put together a timeline photoalbum but that's not on the net yet. Here are a couple... Ozzie (Ozymandias) is the tortie tabby boy on the left, Edie is the rather pretty silver girl on the right. They're brother and sister, 4 months old.




They're great fun and settled into our home really quickly.

Applaws seems the best 'easily obtainable' food so far... so I'm tempted to go with that. Ozzie will eat anything, but Edie is a bit of a madam and more picky... she likes ham and has a taste for Parma ham (don't ask) which is not something I want to cultivate... that's *my* treat, not her's

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missdiane said:

They are gorgeous! They both look way too sweet and innocent, that won't last, they will soon be running you ragged.

Thanks. They are nowhere near sweet and innocent! They're both really soppy but Edie is a real handful - she's half a kilo lighter than Oz (who's a reasonable size at 2.05 kg already) but she's very inquisitive and *very* demanding. I've started calling her 'Needy Edie' because as soon as I'm within running distance she's looking up at me and meowing and demanding attention

Oz is a lot more laid back, but that's typical with Maine Coon boys and girls. He only meows at us when we're dishing out the food - otherwise it's the weird Maine Coon 'chirrup' or a lot of purring. Edie talks to me ALL the time. It's going to be difficult telling when there's actually something wrong with her, because she makes so much fuss normally!

Wouldn't be without them though - we've only had them a few weeks and it's almost as if we've always had them... I lived with 7 cats when I was young and with my parents - I wish I'd got them a lot earlier... they're astonishingly good stress relievers (and god knows I've been through enough stress in the last 5 years).

It's going to be crazy when they're adults though - Oz has the potential to be 12 kg or so (his dad was rather big and his mum was long and tall), and I've seen how big Maine Coons can get

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itsnotarace said:

Tried our two on loads of different ones (Hills, Burns, Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved etc) but they really love this Purr-Nickety one from Barking Heads

http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/for-cats/

That looks good. Wonder whether it's OK for kittens or better for adult cats?

That's mail order only too by the looks of it, but looks pretty good.

So far there's Applaws and Barking Heads - looking like proper, quality food

The problem with just feeding them chicken or other 'human' meats is that we don't eat bones, we just eat the nice lean meat bits. Cats eat the whole thing and that's how they get calcium (from their prey's bones) and a bunch of other minerals too. Since creating a proper full-spectrum cat food from human meat involves either mincing entire animals up or mixing some mineral supplements into cooked / raw meat (neither of which I have time to do for *me* let alone the cats), I'm really looking for some ready-made meals that *aren't* full of rubbish.

Looking at the ingredients on the cheaper / mass-market cat foods, there's not a lot of real meat in there so I'm sure I can do better. Also, it makes sense that the higher concentration of real meat / protein in the food, the less the cat needs - things like Whiskas which are 4% meat and the rest god-knows-what are presumably mostly excreted by the cat. I.e. more poo, less nutrition - a more 'pure' food should produce less waste. Of course this has to be balanced against a kitten's sensitive stomach - something too rich may give them a stomach upset.

I'm going to pick up some Applaws pouches / tins at the weekend and see whether they'll eat it. I gave them some Hill's (a freebie from the vet...) and they really weren't impressed... mixed it in with the Felix plaice stuff they usually love, and they left it!!! Thumbs down for Hill's then

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The Excession said:

cyberface....

It's a fking cat... like a small child, it eats whatever the fk you give it otherwise it's welcome to just go hungry.

Then they cry a bit and finaly eat what you presented in the first place....

I really don't see the problem here.....

Vets fees are expensive if you feed your cat crap and it gets ill. Anyway, I eat the best stuff I can easily buy, why not my cats? It's not as if we're talking the difference between driving a 20yr old Fiesta or a new Aston Martin - it's only a little bit more expensive for the better food, so why give crap to my cats?

Hell, I'm the bd that's responsible for them being brought into this world to be stuck in my house rather than living a free life (and probably a much harder, more unpleasant life), so it's my duty to care for them.

So yeah, they'll end up being spoilt to buggery, but I guess a spoilt cat is a damn sight less destructive / expensive / hassle than a spoilt child...

(do you feed your kids Whiskas or Hill's Science Plan then? )

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parakitaMol. said:

cyberface said:

The Excession said:

cyberface....

It's a fking cat... like a small child, it eats whatever the fk you give it otherwise it's welcome to just go hungry.

Then they cry a bit and finaly eat what you presented in the first place....

I really don't see the problem here.....

Vets fees are expensive if you feed your cat crap and it gets ill. Anyway, I eat the best stuff I can easily buy, why not my cats? It's not as if we're talking the difference between driving a 20yr old Fiesta or a new Aston Martin - it's only a little bit more expensive for the better food, so why give crap to my cats?

Hell, I'm the bd that's responsible for them being brought into this world to be stuck in my house rather than living a free life (and probably a much harder, more unpleasant life), so it's my duty to care for them.

So yeah, they'll end up being spoilt to buggery, but I guess a spoilt cat is a damn sight less destructive / expensive / hassle than a spoilt child...

(do you feed your kids Whiskas or Hill's Science Plan then? )

It's unlikely you'll find a UK product that will actually make your cat ill - regardless of how cheap it is.

It will simply have a greater cereal and lesser protien content.

On the contrary....

Some of the very expensive 'feed very little' products have a high protien content which is important you do not 'spoil' the animal as you can trigger or cause urinary tract/ kidney problems.

Do your homework with regards to the ingredients and follow the feeding quantity/age/lifestyle guidelines

Heya Anna. Cheeers, sound advice. Will be careful about moving onto 'richer' food...

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paddyhasneeds said:

Fair play if you want the best for your pet and don't mind paying but there's something a little unnerving about a pouch of cat food costing £2.50.

Haven't seen stuff that expensive - the Applaws stuff looks top notch and isn't anywhere near that money.

Presumably you're talking about stuff sold to the owner as a status symbol? I'm happy to pay, but I'm not intending to get either taken for a fool or feeding my cats stuff just to brag about it... all I want is my cats to get good, nutritious food - not a load of ash, random carbohydrates they don't digest well or proven-carcinogenic preservatives etc.

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Just before I pop out to Pets@Home - is Applaws dry any good?

I'm definitely picking up some Applaws wet and some Nature's Menu as they sound like proper meat (will read the labels).

Ozzie and Edie are happy with the James Wellbeloved biscuits though at the moment, and the biscuits are 'additional' snack food rather than their primary diet so as long as they're not toxic or Big-Mac style loaded with 'flavour enhancers' so they eat too much (they don't with the JW biccies, they just graze here and there), I'm not too worried about the biscuits.

If Applaws dry is just as nutritious as the wet then I'll end up double-feeding the kittens and Ozzie will end up a 15 kg cat, which whilst appealing from a 'hey I've got a pet lynx prowling around my house', is less practical when my house is human-sized, not particularly 'generous accommodation' (three bed Victorian end terrace, damn expensive town so I'm unlikely ever to be able to afford a bigger house) and having a 2 and half stone *cat* leaping around could knock most things over

Ozzie could, after all, grow as big as this rather magnificent chap:

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missdiane said:

... The cat with the moustache in the background, cute.

Edited by missdiane on Saturday 6th March 09:33

If it's a female, she's probably looking at that Maine Coon with a mixture of fear and attraction

I've bought a selection of Applaws and Nature's Menu wet food and, yes, the Applaws 80% chicken dry food (no cereals) was on offer, so it was rude not to give that a shot. My cats are either going to get big quick or become *very* fussy eaters

Two big bags of Catsan (which does what it says on the tin), job done. Will *gradually* change over from the Felix and see how it goes. My gut instinct is that Edie will *instantly* go for the Applaws and never touch the Felix again (as someone said, some of the chicken recipes *do* look like sandwich filling!!!) but Ozzie may not be that bothered (if he just eats what he gets served then that's OK, of course).

Is there any *specific* kitten requirement that isn't fulfilled by 'adult' cat food? Whilst most of the food I've bought is 'kitten' on the label, there was one mixed box of Applaws that looked bloody tasty looking at it with human eyes, so I bought that one too - but it's not specifically 'kitten' food. From the food constituent breakdown, kitten food just seems to have more fat in it than adult cat food. The top brands all have around 12-13% protein, whereas Felix and Whiskas kitten pouches have 8% protein, so I'm guessing that 'good' adult food may be better than 'cheap' kitten food - but not sure about the fat (which seems to be the only difference).

The Applaws 80% chicken biscuits ought to redress the balance, which are a whopping 21% fat!

Anyway at least they'll get some variety.