A friend recently adopted a kitten from a local rescue organization. (Yay! Adopt don’t buy!) She’s been listening to my lectures on feline nutrition for years now, but checked in to make sure there wasn’t anything “else” she needed to know regarding feeding a kitten.
In short, there isn’t.
All cats need high protein wet diets, including kittens.
The “kitten” food manufactured by pet food companies is higher in protein than those marketed for “adults” – because kittens can’t survive on the lower protein “adult” diets for the six months necessary to pass a feeding trial. Adult cats do not benefit from those lower protein diets.
Most good canned foods don’t have a “kitten” versus “adult” formula for that reason. They don’t need one. Certain brands, where the company wants to use as much inexpensive carbohydrate content (corn, wheat, potato, rice, tapioca, etc.) as possible and still pass AAFC minimum requirements have “kitten” versus “adult” formulas. Therefore one quick gut-check of a brand – if they have a “kitten” versus “adult” (or “indoor”) formula, they’re cutting corners.
A quick gut-check of a particular canned food – if it’s meets AAFC minimums for kittens (not just adult cats), it contains a decent amount of protein.
So, short answer – all your cats will do well on a low-carbohydrate wet diet, including kittens.
More of my posts on feline health and nutrition. In particular, see “Canned food – which one?” and “Six reasons not to feed dry cat food“.
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Great! These are excellent points. And yay to your friend!
Do you also have any tips or guidelines for transitioning kittens from a canned/ground raw diet towards a frankenprey/whole prey? e.g. before or after their baby teeth come out, what is too tough for them to eat (e.g. which bones)… I was just wondering