Pet Food News

So I have a 4 1/2 month kitten and I am feeding him the Purina Kitten Chow (dry cat food). When can he start eating regular cat food?

You can transition a kitten to adult cat food around 1 year of age, however, you can adjust that. For example if your kitten is on the small side, you can keep him on the kitten formula for longer. Or say you are going to run out of kitten kibble at 11 months, you can start transitioning him to an adult food sooner.

Hope that helps,
Olivia
Pet Nutrition Specialist
Nutro

I want to buy enough cat food to last for 6 months.
I know that most human foods expire after 6 months.
Is it the same with cat food?
Or does cat food last longer?
I’ve never noticed an expiration date on cat food.
And I don’t have a cat food bag with me right now.
Can you check yours?

Canned cat food, just like people food, lasts longer than the expiration date.

Cat food in a bag keeps longer if you put it in a plastic sealed container to keep the bugs and moisture out. Cats eat dead mice and puddle water, if their food is out of date, they won’t care, they will eat it anyway…

I was told to make sure I get complete cat food for my new cats (they are 4 and 3 years old), but the advanced nutrition brands look much better. I have started them on Pets at Home Advanced Nutrition cat food, which they both seem to like, but I need to get a brand that I can get from my local supermarket so not sure whether to get another advanced nutrition brand (Iams, Purina or Nutricat) or a complete brand (Go Cat)?

They are indoor cats and advanced nutrition and complete with an indoor brand.

"Complete" is the only legitimate designation - other claims are advertising only. Complete means that it contains all nutrients a cat needs to survive (note that I said "survive" and not "thrive"). Just about any food you’re going to get from a grocery store will meet the complete - but they are generally cheap, poor quality foods. They are nothing more generally than cheap fillers - corn and by-products - and while they will meet your cat’s minimum needs, they won’t create a healthy cat. Sort of like you eating hot dogs and raman noodles every day for your meals - you will survive, but won’t be as healthy as you could be. It’s worth the trip to get a better quality food for them.

Right now, I have my cats on Science Diet (Mature Adult) and Friskies Selects for wet food, but one of my cat’s urine has started smelling really strong. He seems fine otherwise, but am thinking about changing their food out and don’t mind paying a bit more for the cat food.

Any suggestions of a good quality food that you’ve either researched on your own or that was recommended by your vet?

Buying food from the vet is not the best quality food you can find. In most vet schools the nutrition classes are given by a pet food company without charge to the University, they of course promote their products and the cheapest products for them to make and earn the biggest profit is the dry ingredients as it is mostly carbs and cheap protein like from corn or rice not meat. The canned foods if they have a carb % of over 10 % they are not good for any cat either.
Please go to Janet and Binky’s food chart and choose a canned food that is under 10% carbs and high in protein.
By feeding only wet good high protein cat food you will find she will have far less problems if any at all, with crystals and avoid urinary infections. Also she will have a better coat of fur and it will not have dandruff and it will be glossy. She will reach a good weight - whether she needs to gain or lose weight - and she will eat less than a cheap can of food filled with bad protein and carbohydrates. Not saying all cheap cans are no good. There are some very good ones available. The other place to read is what Dr Lisa Pierson DVM she has devoted her life to proper diets for cats and tells how to get a cat to change over from a dry to wet diet etc. I will put the URLs at the end.

Dry food is bad and does nothing to clean a cats teeth. I have seen cats that are a year old with rotten teeth and all they ever ate was dry.

My family adopted a cat from a shelter. Shes only a kitten, around five months old. When we adopted her, the people at the shelter gave us a small bag of cat food, which I’m assuming is healthy. The problem is, she doesn’t like it. She refuses to eat it unless shes desperate for food. My mom bought meow mix and she started eating a LOT more often. But I’ve been told that,meow mix is poor as far,as the quality of the food goes. Whats a cat food that is good for her that she will like?

Since it is still a kitten you should feed it a food that specifies for Kittens only for the first year. Try Purina One, its not expensive and you can hunt around for coupons too. When it gets older try a food that is for indoor cats, hopefully you will be keeping it indoors only. Good Luck!

My older cat who is 10 has had a sensitive stomach since she was young. My younger cat is very picky and does not like a lot of cat food made for sensitive stomachs. What cat food is there that would be easy on my older cats tummy and taste better for my younger cat?

Try a canned food or a grain free dry food like EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Taste of the Wild. Most foods have a lot of carbs and grains in them and cats were designed to eat meat.

Why don’t they make cat treats into just regular cat food if cats love that so much? Is it perhaps fat content or something?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
By JCK 4 years ago.
My husband picked up a pack of treats, $3 for 3oz so they’re not cheap. It’s ‘Grilled Salmon Flavor" and the ingredients are: Ground wheat, chicken meal, corn gluten meal, rice, chicken fat and flavor. There isn’t much nutrition in here and it’s mostly filler (wheat and corn) that the cat can’t digest. Yes, the cat loves them. I use Fancy Feast dry as a treat. It’s better quality than the pack of treats and less expensive (less than $3 for 1lb). The cat loves them too.

For regular cat food, I feed my cat Innova Evo. It’s high protein, low carbohydrate, and doesn’t have any grains. There’s a huge difference in it’s nutritional value compared to the treats.

A cat treat is like a dessert. It tastes good and generally has many calories and not much nutritional value. Using a treat as a reward is fine, just be careful it’s not too much too often.
4 years ago Report Abuse 0 Rating: Good Answer 0 Rating: Bad Answer
Askers Rating: Askers Comment: Eek! it’s funny because I have looked at the ingredients but didn’t think about it.. i hate giving my cat grains

So, I wanted to make a cat food omelet, with cat food in the center of it and serve at a social gathering. Do any of you have recipes?
I’m actually serious — people in my family enjoy cat food.

I made cat food quiche once. It was delicious. I’d go with the quiche instead as it is a fancier dish. Just a thought.

I find it remarkable that a dog or a cat can live a long healthy life by eating only one thing their whole lives. My cats eat nothing but Purina Indoor Formula dry cat food. They’ve been doing it for years, and they seem healthy and happy. Apparently, this one food has everything they need.

Why isn’t there something like that for people–an all purpose food? It seems like it would be the perfect thing for college students and other people who live in financial dire straights because you could make it really cheap. Maybe you could even have it in different flavors for the sake of variety.

Dog and cats are do not have the same digestive systems that you and I do. In the wild, they would eat raw meat and nothing else. While I’m sure kibble contains all the "nutrients" they need, I’m not sure they’re as "happy & healthy" as they would be if they ate their natural diet. I give my dog dry kibble, but I mix in either some canned dog food, or a little bit of cooked chicken.

Humans require sugar, fiber, and protein to survive, so it’s not as easy to make a "one-stop food." Other than perhaps a meal replacement bar, which I wouldn’t recommend anyone live on, I don’t think your "human kibble" exists. Although… did you ever see the movie Soilent Green? lol!

I keep reading about different kinds of cat foods you should feed a pregnant cat. My cat is an outdoor cat and is due to deliver kittens in a while. What type of food do you recommend?

It is important to feed her a high quality kitten food during her pregnancy and after the kittens are born. I personally feed and recommend, ‘Orijen Cat and Kitten dry formula’, it is a grain free food and IMO, the best dry food out there!

I also agree if you can get her inside it would be best for her and her kittens and since she has not delivered them yet, now would be a good time to get her use to being in the house. I would also keep her limited to one room.

Kittens are wonderful, little joys but unfortunately the world is full of unwanted kittens. I too would recommend getting your female spay.

Good luck!