Updated: March 21, 2023 by CanCat Eat
Finding the best kitten food sometimes can leave you in stress. We’re here to guide you through finding some of the recommended best kitten foods available.
Kittens require a high protein and fat for rapid growth. Kitten food provides all important nutrients and nutrition a kitten needs to go through their rapid growth stage.
In the growth stage, kittens need a high calorie food in their diet, for healthy growth and overall development of their body.
Kittens need a nutritionally complete meal with proper hydration. Dry and wet kitten food both provides proper nutrition. But, if the hydration is not taken care of by the food. Then, you need to keep on their water intake.
To help you to find the best kitten food for your kitten’s healthy rapid growth, we have made this list of our favorite kitten food. These foods are healthy and perfect for kittens to become a healthy and fully grown adult cat.
Contents
- Instinct by Nature’s Variety Original Kitten Grain Free
- Kitten
With our own experience with our cats and further research, we have made this review. This article is segmented into wet and dry kitten food review and guides for both the foods. You can use the section to move the suitable section to read.
Best Dry Kitten Food
Dry kitten food are commonly loved by cat owners. Because, you could leave on a bowl for whole, and it wouldn’t get spoiled. And, you can eat it at any time of the day. This is also called free feeding. But for wet kitten food, you can’t leave it out for more than 15 to 30 minutes.
Good quality dry kitten foods contain the perfect balance of nutrition, meat to provide healthy protein and fat in your kitten’s diet. Growing kitten need high-calorie food in their diet for rapid growth. So, most kitten foods contain high-calorie content.
Below, we have listed our top picks of dry kitten foods. These foods contains high protein, fat and high calorie for kitten’s healthy and raid growth stage.
Best Dry Kitten Food Comparison
Kitten foods we have listed different are calorie content per cup. For, proper feeding portion, we recommend you to check the package or visit respective band’s website.
Best Dry Foods for Kittens
To find the best suitable kitten food, it is important to know what the top ingredients are, protein source, if the food is grain free, absence of by-products and artificial ingredients and enough moisture content in the food.
So, to get a clear idea about individual foods, we reviewed each dry kitten foods for you. You will get all the information you need before buying the best food for your kitten.
I have faced the same issue before when I had to choose suitable kitten food for my 6 month old kitten. We making this review to help cat owner to remove doubts and confusion and choose the best food for your kitten.
The review process is based on my personal experience, research, consumer’s feedback. We have put together best dry cat food that provides nutritionally complete meal for your young growing kittens.
Instinct by Nature’s Variety Original Kitten Grain-Free
This kitten food is made to satisfy your growing kitten’s need. Nature Variety formulated this food with high protein and calorie to provide enough energy to your kitten.
We love this food because it contains DHA for brain and eye development. This food is guided by the belief in raw nutrition to unlock your kitten’s ability to thrive.
Nature Variety made this food with balanced wholesome finest ingredients like real protein, fruits, natural probiotics, natural omega fatty oils, and antioxidants. And, kittens love the taste of this food. One of the reasons, with chicken flavor, it also have the taste of turkey, lamb, salmon, carrot, and cranberries.
Another thing, we like this food, it is made with grain free ingredients. It means, your kittens are getting their important ingredients in the diet like animal protein, fat for rapid growth.
They made this cage free chicken in the first ingredient for high protein source. It should, they care for kitten’s health and their energy need for growth and play.
Your cat will be eating 81% of real animal protein and nutritious oil with this dry kitten food. And, the remaining 19% ingredients are from vegetables, fruit, and other wholesome ingredients.
Every kibble of this dry food is made with pure, real nutrition of a raw diet. Nature Variety earned a reputation for being very natural and provide the finest ingredients in their food.
So, your kitten will get their require ingredients in their diet. Nature Variety believes raw diets unlock pet’s full potential. We recommend this kitten food for kittens under 12 months old. Also, this is our favorite dry kitten food.
Blue Buffalo Wilderness Kitten Chicken Recipe Grain Free
Blue Buffalo is a popular brand and well known for proving high quality cat food. This is why this kitten food listed on our review.
Why we love this food? This food is made with grain-free recipe. It is made with real deboned chicken in the first ingredient. Chicken provides high protein to build strong muscle growth from an early age.
This food is made with omega fatty oil, taurine, an excellent blend of antioxidants, vitamin and minerals. It is good for eye, heart health and overall wellbeing and happy lifestyle.
We love this food it is made with LifeSource bits feature that this brand include in all of its dry cat foods.
Blue Buffalo made this food taking care of your kitten’s nutritional need.
This food supports healthy digestion and nutrient absorption with prebiotic fibers. It provides balance calorie from protein and fat.
Another reason, we love this food, because, it contains DHA for healthy growth and brain development. Also, contains omega 3 fatty acid, taurine for vision and heart health.
This dry kitten food does not any by-product meal, wheat, soy, or corn. So, we are getting food that does not contain a filler ingredient that does not enhance your kitten’s health.
With all the important ingredient and delicious taste, this dry food will make sure that your kitten gets all the nutrient they need in their diet. Overall, this food provides great for the price it asks. We have not heard any negative reviews about this food so far.
Iams ProActive Health Kitten Dry Cat Food
This is another dry kitten food from our favorite brand Iams ProActive. This formula is designed to deliver the nutrition need of kitten to keep them growing strong and healthy.
They made this formula featuring strong muscles and providing rich nourishment that is easy to digest. On top of that, this food is protein rich, contains Omega-3 fatty oil and DHA to help your kitten’s brain and vision development.
Iams Proactive kitten food is made with chicken in the first ingredient and they promise there are no filler ingredients in this food. Although it is a complete grain free food. But this food provides all the nutrient and benefit your kitten need in their diet for rapid growth.
You will find Vitamin E in the label of this food, Vitamin E is good for Immune system health.
Kittens will love the taste of chicken and will also help them to build strong muscle. This is totally a meat based formula. They have maintained the mix of protein and carbs properly, so your kitten gets full nutrition.
Iam Proactive Kitten dry food is very healthy and same time affordable kitten food. We recommend this food because they research their food and made an excellent formula for our kittens.
Also, we have not seen any kitten turn their face from this food. We have heard the same story from reviewers and consumers.
Hill’s Science Diet Indoor Kitten Dry Cat Food
Hill’s Science Diet Kitten dry food is a bit expensive than the kitten food are listed above. This dry kitten food provides great tasting ingredients to your young kitten.
Hill’s Science Diet is a brand recommended by veterinarians. This formula is made with wholesome ingredients like savory chicken, and nourishing recipe to provide balanced nutrition in your kitten’s diet.
This food contains natural DHA, this is an important nutrient for both brain and eye development. There is antioxidant and vitamin blend to keep your kitten’s immune system healthier.
We recommend high quality protein food for kittens because they are easy to digest and provide vitamin, minerals and amino acid in your kitten’s diet.
Why we love this food? You will not find any kind of artificial ingredients like artificial coloring, flavors, and preservatives in this food.
It is a recommended food for both for kitten and nursing cats.
This food provides a great taste from chicken recipes kittens loves it. We are not the only one who is saying this. Many reviewers and consumers recommend this food. We have seen many picky eaters love this food. You can read the review from the button above.
This food provides high nutrition and important nutrient in your kitten’s diet. If you have the budget. This is food is worth considering.
Wellness CORE Grain-Free Kitten Formula
Wellness core is a popular brand. They are well known for high-quality protein food in the industry.
They made this formula for growing kittens to provide product nutrition in their diet. This food is made with deboned turkey and deboned chicken in the first two ingredients.
Wellness core kitten food is a grain free recipe and contains high protein to provide nutrition and energy for your growing kitten.
This food is packed with DHA Omega-3 fatty acid for brain and eye development. Also, this food contains taurine, vitamins, and minerals to support a healthy immune system and a happy lifestyle.
Why do we like this food? Because this food contains every nutrient your kitten need in their diet. And, it contains no grains, filler ingredients or any animal by-products.
This dry kitten food provides optimum calories for your kitten’s growth and development. And, antioxidant rich fruit in this food helps with the immune system health.
Wellness core dry kitten food comes with acticoat probiotic coating to help healthy digestion.
This food comes at an affordable price and contains all the important nutrition require for your growing kitten. We have heard many positive reviews from consumers about this food. It is one of top rated kitten food you can find in the market this price point.
Blue Buffalo Healthy Growth Kitten Chicken
Blue Buffalo Healthy Growth Kitten food provides balanced nutrition your kitten needs to grow. This food made with real chicken and fish meal in the first two ingredients.
Your kitten is getting food with a delicious taste of chicken and fish. This food is packed with nutrient your kittens need to fuel all growth spurts.
Unlike any Blue Buffalo food, it also has LifeSource bit with amino acid, taurine, antioxidants, vitamin and minerals for kitten’s overall health and wellbeing.
Another thing we like about this food. It provides DHA Omega fatty oil to boost brain development, cognitive development, and healthy growth. It also helps your kitten’s tummy with probiotics and prebiotic fibers.
You will not find any corn, wheat, soy, artificial color, preservatives, or flavors. This food is made with natural flavors that your kitten will enjoy.
According to many reviewers and consumers, kittens love this food grows faster. We have not found a negative review of this food yet.
Purina ONE Healthy Kitten Formula Dry Cat Food
Next, we have Purina One Healthy Kitten Dry food. It provides 100% complete and balanced nutrition to your growing kitten.
This dry kitten food is designed with high quality protein like chicken in the first ingredient. It provides your kitten healthy grown.
This food contains a good blend of vitamin and minerals from real vegetables. It contains an antioxidant rich blend of vitamin A and E.
Why we like about this food. It contains an optimal level of DHA, it is a nutrient found in mother’s milk. It supports brain and vision development.
Purina One promised to have zero filler in this food. With a brand like Purina, you will not find any artificial ingredient in the food.
This is food is made with total natural recipes contains essential nutrient your kitten need for her overall health and growth.
The crunchy kibble also helps your kitten with dental health by removing plaque and tartar.
Kitten Dry Food Buying Guide
Most cat owners often prefer feeding on dry food as they spend most of the time working. It is important to feed high quality food to your kitten for healthy growth and overall health. Dry kitten food provide lot of calorie and protein in cheaper price compare to wet kitten food. But, dry food miss out moisture. So, it is important provide enough water to your kitten’s diet.
We will look at dry kitten food feeding guide and some important to consider while choosing a best dry kitten food.
You may read: Best High Protein Cat Food
Important Ingredients to Consider In Dry Kitten Food
We will look at some important ingredient that makes your dry kitten food better than other options.
High Protein
High protein should the main ingredient of your kitten food. Because, cats are carnivorous anima. They need high protein diet for healthy growth and overall health. We recommend protein rich food in your kitten’s diet. Minimum 30% of protein in dry food is important. Most high protein kitten food contains on an average 30%-40% of protein.
A healthy protein source is important to consider. A protein source from real chicken, turkey, lamb, or fish is high-quality meat than lower quality by-product meat. It is important to provide your kitten with healthy food for them to grow faster and stay healthy.
Adequate Fat
With high-quality protein, your kitten also needs fat for energy. Protein and fat is part of the cat’s diet. In wild, cat eat their prey, that generally contents protein, fat, and water. So, it is important to consider good quality fat in your kitten food. For, example a good quality fat is chicken fat. There is omega fatty acid from fishes. They are good for your kitten’s skin, coat, and overall health.
Calorie Count
The calorie count in kitten food you need to take in consideration when choosing a food for your kitten. Kitten is much more active and energetic than the adult and older cats. They need high-calorie food in their diet to fill their calorie requirement in their diet.
A high calorie kitten food is important for kitten’s growth and initial development of their body. Some cat owners prefer to free feed dry food to their kitten. It is totally okay for kittens. But, they turn into adult cats, you need to change this habit. Because free feeding to adult may lead to overweight.
This happens because they get way more calorie but their activity level is low compared to their calorie intake.
You will find many high calorie dry kitten food above. Each of them has different calorie density. For, proper feeding instruction, you can check behind the label of the food.
Essential Nutrient
You always need to check the ingredient list behind the label before buying kitten food. There are some ingredients are important for kitten’s growth. Taurine is an amino acid, it is very essential for kitten’s health. Taurine plays an important role in kitten’s brain development and for healthy eye and heart.
Often, you will find DHA omega fatty oil in kitten food. It is a good nutrient in kitten food to benefit healthy brain development.
Vitamins like Vitamin C and Vitamin E are essential for kitten’s immune system healthy and important for mental development.
It is important to check if the food is made without any artificial ingredient. Your kitten food should be free of artificial color, preservatives, flavoring. Normally high-quality kitten food uses natural preservatives in kitten food.
You need to look for real meat source in kitten foods. Often in healthy kitten food, they contain real meat sources (like chicken, turkey, fish) in the number one ingredient. Real meat sources are better protein source than animal by-product or meals.
Young kitten doesn’t require grain in their diet. We recommend choosing a grain-free kitten food for your young cat.
It is good to buy a small package rather than a big package. This way you can provide fresh food to your kitten.
Taking Care of Moisture
If your kitten is on a dry food diet. Then, you should provide her enough water with the food. If your kitten does not show interest in drinking water, you can invest in the cat water fountain to help them to drink water from a freshwater source.
Low Carbohydrate
Cat or kitten does not need much carbohydrate in their diet. A food containing low carbohydrate best for kittens. Because, while adding too much carbohydrate in the food, it compromises on protein content. And, carbohydrate is not a natural diet of cats. So, we should avoid too carbohydrate in kitten’s diet.
Texture
Kibble texture helps to reduce tartar. It is always a debate that dry food helps to clean teeth. But, some dry food is designed to provide dental benefit. Taking care of her dental health from the beginning mean, your kitten will have extra clear teeth from the early stage of her life.
For kittens, it is good to provide soft kitten food. And, soft kibble texture and delicious taste make your kitten want to eat the food.
Taste
A delicious taste and natural flavor from chicken, fish, and turkey will make your kitten want to eat the food. So, it is good to choose a delicious food for your young furball. So, she does not leave the food in the bowl.
Foods contain real meal source in the 1st ingredient is more appealing to your kitten’s taste buds. Real meat will bring the natural flavor and she will also love her meal.
We recommend feeding kitten high quality meat. Because it provides all the important nutrient and energy they require for healthy growth.
Price
You will find dry cat foods are cheaper than wet food. But, there is a wide price range of dry food available. But, which is best for your kitten. Brand cat food often cost a lot of money.
But, you will some good food offer a good blend of nutrients at a better price. If you followed our guide, you already have the idea of what to look for in dry kitten food.
Your budget will play a role to choose your kitten’s dry food. It is good to choose a food specifically made for kitten rather than for adult cats.
We have mentioned food that covered different prices range. Our recommended list of dry kitten food contains all important nutrient a young kitten require in their diet for a healthy growth.
Feeding Guide
Just like we have mentioned above, you need to keep those in consideration while choosing kitten’s dry food.
For dry food, it is important to provide enough water for your kitten. Your kitten should be able to access clean drinking water. Your need to drink more water if she is not dry food.
A real meat based diet is important in kitten’s diet.
Some peoples prefer free feeding for the kitten as they require, it is totally okay. You can also invest in an automatic feeder for your kitten to provide an adequate amount of energy to her diet.
Avoid cat food in your kitten’s diet.
Conclusion
Choosing high quality cat food is important, it makes your kitten healthy and makes them grow rapidly. To find 100% balanced kitten food, you should look for natural ingredients, healthy protein, and fat source, texture, calories, natural flavor. You will find food in a different price range. But, you should try not to compromise on this factor for a young kitten.
Best Wet Kitten Food
Next up, we are looking at Wet kitten food or canned kitten food. Most cat owners like to provides combination of dry and wet kitten food to their young cats.
Wet kitten foods are little expensive per meal than dry foods. So, feeding the balance of both the food work best for your wallet. It also more enjoyable for the kitten as well.
Many cat owners feed the feed wet food as primary meal leave dry kibble rest of the when they out for work. So, their kitten can eat when they are hungry.
Best Wet Kitten Food Comparison
We are going to look at some healthy balanced kitten wet food that you can feed your kitten as a complete meal. Also can provide topping with dry kibble.
Normally, you will find protein and fat content in wet kitten foods are lower than dry food. Because wet food is made with 70% to 80% of moisture.
You will find, it is recommended to feed 2-4 cans of wet cat food to kittens. To provide a nutrition-rich diet, it is required to give them 2-4 of cans of wet food which is equitant to half of cup of dry kitten food.
It gets expensive to feed your cat on exclusively on wet food. Mixing with dry food will save some money.
Best Wet Food For Kittens
Kitten’s Canned food comes in many flavors and texture. There is wet kitten food with soft texture good for a young kitten. You will find loaf, pate texture wet food for kittens.
Our recommend food provides complete nutrition meal to your growing kitten.
Wet foods are a good way of proving hydration to your kitten. We recommend easily palatable wet canned food that provide important nutrient in your kitten’s diet.
Below, we have listed wet kitten based on category and according your budget. Each food are tested and reviewed to mention their core benefits.
Royal Canin Mother & Babycat Ultra-Soft Mousse Canned Food
Royal Canin Mother & Babycat food is great food specifically made for growing kittens from 1 to 4 months. It is also good for pregnant or nursing cats. This food is considered as a first stage food.
This food feeding instruction mention it is recommended for kittens under 4 months.
The food is made with fluffy mousse texture in the sauce. It is easy to eat and digest for newborn kittens. This food helps kittens to transition from mother’s milk to solid food.
Young kitten needs a strong immune system health. This food provides important nutrient with a mix of antioxidant and vitamin they need to keep them healthy and grow stronger.
Royal Canin made this food with highly digestible proteins and prebiotics. This food is also good for a healthy digestive system.
Another reason for loving this food, it contains DHA which helps to build strong brain function.
This is the only food u found providing 100% balanced macronutrient to your young kittens to keep them healthy from an early stage. It provides a natural balanced diet that a kitten requires in her diet.
Newborn kitten loves the flavor of this food. It is made with chicken and chicken liver, so it provides a great flavor. Only thing, we don’t like about this food is by-product meat.
Overall, it is the best newborn kitten food recommend for a kitten from 1 month to 4 months.
We are not the only one we love this food, they are many reviewers and consumer who said the same thing, “it is a best young kitten food”. Your baby kitten will surly love this food.
Although it is an expensive option. But, worth every bucks.
Royal Canin Nutrition Kitten
We have discussed a kitten food for under 4 month’s old kitten above. This Royal Canin Kitten food made for kitten above 4 months old up to 12 months old.
This food is made right nutrition that your kitten needs in their diet. It is made with slices in gravy which is easy to eat and digest.
This food made with a good level of an antioxidant blend to support your kitten’s developing a healthy immune system.
Royal Canin made this food with an optimal ratio of protein, fat, and carbohydrate to provide lot of energy to your growing kitten.
It is good food that promotes healthy growth and digestion. This food made digestible protein, fiber, and probiotics. This is a good food to avoid any sensitive digestion problem in the future.
This is great kitten food to transition to after baby kitten food. It is also a perfect complement to kibble.
Why do we like this food? You will find all high quality meal like chicken, chicken liver, pork in the first five ingredients. Kitten loves the flavor of this real meat of this food.
It contains by-product and wheat. Wheat contains after top first ingredients.
Overall, it is a good kitten food for growing kittens above 4 months older.
We have not found any negative review from cat owners about this food. It is a little expensive food. But, it worth the money. Your kitten will enjoy every cans of this food.
Wellness Chicken Pate Kitten
Next, we have wellness chicken pate kitten canned food. This food nourish your growing kitten with high protein nutrient content.
Wellness Chicken Kitten food made without any grain, corn, wheat or soy. It is also pea fee.
This is protein rich wet food to help your young kitten to grow big, healthy and stronger. It contains all the essential nutrient a young kitten need in their diet.
The high protein content helps your kitten with growing muscle and provide enough energy to them. Taurine content in this food help with eye and heart development.
It is also contents omega fatty acid, antioxidant, vitamin and mineral for healthy skin and overall healthy life.
We love this food because it supports 5 sign of kitten wellness. Healthy skin and coat, healthy stomach, eye health, strong teeth and gum, and provide a lot of energy and immune system health.
Your kitten will get enough energy from this food to play around.
This food is a natural kitten food, it contain no by-product, no artificial ingredient or any grain. So, you will get 100% natural diet that your kitten requires in their diet.
Overall, it is a quality food that your kitten will love and enjoy to eat.
Nature’s Variety Instinct Original Canned
This is a very high protein (12%) kitten food. Nature’s Variety Instinct made this food with chicken, beef liver, chicken broth, and salmon. Your little kitten is going to get a variety of protein source from early age.
Salmon is a good source of DHA, which help to mature brain and helps with eye development.
The thing we like about this food, it contains no grain, corn, wheat, soy, or pea. And, there is no by-product meat in this cat food. So, your kitten is getting high quality natural ingredient in her diet that she will enjoy.
The pate texture of this canned kitten food is delicious and easy to chew and digest. This is defiantly perfect for your kitten’s small mouth.
This food contains natural sources of vitamins and minerals from real fruits and vegetables like cranberries, blueberries, pumpkins, cabbage, tomato, broccoli, kale, and parsley.
Natural’s Variety is a popular brand and known for providing high quality natural ingredient in their food. This is why it is loved by many cat owners.
Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Canned Kitten
We have already talked about this food in dry variation. Let’s look at Wellness Core Natural Canned Kitten Food.
This food is made with turkey, chicken liver in pate texture to provide a lot of energy to your young kitten. Your kitten will love the taste of both turkey and chicken in pate.
It is a total grain-free kitten food. It has no grain, gluten, soy, corn or soy. And, you will not find meal by-product, in this food. So, your kitten is getting high-quality neutral ingredients in their diet with this food.
This first five ingredients contains Turkey, Chicken Liver, Turkey Broth, Chicken, and Chicken Meal. Your kitten is getting a protein-rich from this young age.
Wellness core kitten food also contains DHA to support healthy brain and eye development in growing kittens. We love this food because it is crafted with carefully selected ingredient for your kittens’ overall health.
This food is made without carrageenan, artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. So, you will be totally worry free with Wellness core kitten food.
We have not seen any kitten leaving this food. This is also an affordable wet kitten food than the other kitten wet food listed above.
Purina Pro Plan Focus Kitten Classic Canned Food
Purina Pro Plan Focus Kitten Canned Food is another great food for kittens from Purina. This food is made with Chicken, Liver, and Fish in first ingredients.
This kitten food has a delicious taste that will give your kitten a tasty start. It is made with chicken, fish, and liver. So, it provides protein and amino acid from multiple sources to maximize amino acid absorption.
This food also contains taurine to improve healthy eye and heart health. You will also find calcium and phosphorous in this food to build strong bones and teeth in young kittens.
Overall, it is good protein rich food (12%). Reviewers note their kitten love this food because of the natural flavor and texture of this food.
It is quality, protein rich kitten food and comes at a reasonable price.
Iams Perfect Portions Healthy Kitten
Iams made a great wet canned food for kittens. This is a perfect food for your young kitten. It is made with grain free chicken pate recipe.
This food made such a way it is easy to open, and you can store the leftover easily in the refrigerator.
IAms made this food with real chicken in the very 1st Ingredient. You will find no by-product, artificial color, preservatives, or flavors in this food. So, your kitten is getting quality food in their diet.
We like the Vitamin E content in this food. It helps to provide healthy immune system. Also, you will find DHA for brain development which is an important nutrient for growing kittens.
Overall, it is a well balanced nutrition rich formula. You can use it as a whole meal. This is good for enticing topper over dry kitten food to bring verity in your kitten’s diet.
Blue Buffalo Healthy Gourmet Pate Kitten Food
Next, we have Blue Buffalo Pate Kitten Food. It is made with real chicken in the first ingredient.
We love this food because it is packed with powerful protein support your little hunter need and energy requirement.
This food is loaded with vitamin and minerals and taurine for overall health. You will also get omega fatty acid in this food to provide healthy skin and coat.
The real broth in this food helps your kitten to stay hydrated and supports digestive and urinary health.
We have seen many picky kittens ate this food. Overall it is the best food for growing kittens. You can reviews from other consumers about this food from the button above.
Purina ONE Healthy Kitten Chicken
This is high protein wet kitten food from Purina One. It satisfies your kitten’s taste buds.
Purina One made this food with palatable pate and real chicken in the first ingredient. Also, you will find real chicken in first ingredients.
This food provides all the important nutrients your little kitten need in their diet to keep them growing stronger.
It is made without any grain, artificial color, flavors, and preservatives. Each cans made with vitamins, minerals, and nutrient. This is why we love this food.
This is one of top rated kitten food you will find at a reasonable price. You can read more reviews about this food from the button above.
So, if you are looking for a premium kitten food, this is the best option to go for.
Wet & Canned Kitten Buying Guide
Wet kitten food (Canned Kitten food) are moisture rich. But, content less nutrient per weight than dry kitten food. This why most manufacturers recommend feeding 2-4 cans to the growing kittens.
You could mix canned kitten food with dry food to provide moisture with the perfect nutrient balance to your growing kitten. Also, you can also refrigerate your kitten food. To learn more about refrigerators click here.
And, you will find different texture in wet food. You need to find texture and flavor your kitten likes to eat. It takes some try and guesses. But, there are a few more things, you need to take care while buying canned pet food for your kitten.
You May Read: Best Soft Cat Food
High Protein
The high protein content is important in your kitten’s diet. At the growing stage, kitten requires high protein, energy dense food in their diet.
Choosing the right kitten food can ensure your kitten get sufficient protein in their diet. Protein is the building bock your kitten’s organ, tissues and everything in their body. It also helps them to function well. And, protein is part of their natural diet.
We recommend food that contents essential amino acid, taurine in it. You will notice these ingredient in label behind of the food.
So, right canned kitten food will keep your cat healthy and provide the nutrition to maintain overall wellbeing.
Often, Pet owners mix wet cat food with dry food for the best outcome. This way, your kitten get the optimal level of moisture, high protein and adequate amount of calorie in their diet in a reasonable budget.
Moisture Content
Water is an important element for kitten’s health. Often, we have seen some cat does not like to drink from bowl water. Best solution is to provide them wet kitten food. Wet food will provide them enough moisture from each cans. But, too much canned food means not enough of other nutrients they need in their diet.
Wet food contents 70% to 80% of moisture in 3 oz cans of kitten food. So, after doing the math, it is 2.4 oz of water in each cans. And, rest 0.6 oz provides them protein, fat and other nutrients. This is the reason most manufacturers advice you to feed 2-4 cans a day.
But, it can get expensive sometimes to feed wet kitten food exclusively. But, if you are feed dry food with wet food. The amount of cans will go down to two. This is also a good way to provide them both moisture and high protein through their meal.
If you are prefer feeding dry food to your kitten, cat water fountain might come handy to bring your kitten’s attention and provide them fresh water.
Fat Content
Often we think fat is bad for our diet. Many of us also have the same feeling over our cat food. However, some healthy fat is necessary in the cat’s diet as well as for kittens. Let’s see why fat is important in kitten’s diet.
There are different types of fat present in kitten food and cat foods. Each fat plays a role in your kitten’s diet. Fats are used in kitten food are highly digestible and the body can use it as energy source.
Cats unable to synthesize essential fatty acids. So, omega-3, omega-6 fatty acids, DHA and EPA are often added in cat food as a supplement. They provide many benefits like brain development, healthy skin, and coat etc.
Fat play many different role in the cat’s body. It also enhances the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K.
Calorie
High calorie food is important for a kitten to help them grow healthy and stronger. Kitten food contains adequate calorie will provide your kitten the energy they need their body.
You can normally find how many cans of kitten food you need to feed your kitten from the manufacturer site.
Food Texture
You will find few food textures in kitten food. Mostly you will find pate. We also recommend pate texture as it is easy to chew for young kittens. Any texture contains chunks is not good for kittens.
Pate texture is easy to chew and a good start for your kittens before they move to any solid food.
But, as your kitten gets older you can introduce other texture to their food. There are texture like minced, flaked, cubed, minced, morsels, sliced, stews, blend, and broths. But, it also depend on your kitten what she prefers to eat.
Taste
A good natural flavor is important in wet food. There are many natural flavors you will find wet kitten food. Flavor is like chicken, turkey, salmon, pork are common in kitten food. You might mix of two or three in some high protein kitten food. It brings a good taste for your furry kitten and she will love to eat it.
Price
Best canned kitten food gets expensive. This is the reason most cat owners prefer dry foods. We recommend mixing both wet kitten food and dry food together. This way she to get the best out of both food and also save your wallet. So, your cans of wet food will last longer with dry foods.
Often you will notice high protein rich wet food are more expensive and they contain less carbohydrate.
To help our readers, we have listed kitten food by categories on different prices range. You will find the most affordable kitten food with high protein-rich meat ingredients in our list of kitten food.
We recommend providing balanced calorie, protein rich food to your kitten at their growing stage.
Feeding Guide
Kitten has different nutritional need than adult cats. A kitten’s weight might doubt or even tripe during the first few weeks. They also have a high activity level. So, the kitten might need a lot of energy.
So, your kitten needs lots of energy from their food. Most kitten eats at least three to four meals a day. Kittens have high requirements of amino acid, protein, vitamins, and minerals in their diet. They also need some fat in their diet.
You need to provide plenty of fresh water to the kitten. Here, canned kitten food plays a big role proving enough moisture to kittens.
It is important to get a high quality kitten food for your kittens. This way you can keep your kitten in a healthy weight. We recommend getting food from a reputed brand or get food that recommends by your veterinarians.
Conclusion
Wet kitten foods are good for providing an adequate amount of moisture in your kitten’s diet. Sometimes the prices get expensive. But, feeding wet food alongside with dry food will save some money and also provide all important nutrient to your kitten.
How To Choose Right Food For Kitten
At this stage of their life, kittens require a balanced diet for their overall development. There are several nutrients needed in their diet for healthy growth. As a cat parent, it becomes our responsibility to provide them the best kitten food that contains all the important nutrient. Many cats face the issue while buying kitten food. We made this guide to help you to choose the best kitten food that your kitten love to eat also containing all healthy nutrient.
Nutritional Needs For Kittens Vs. Adult Cat Food
Kittens need kitten food in their diet rather than adult cat food. Before, choosing kitten food, we should understand what is best for your kittens.
Little Kittens require lots of energy. They are growing at an incredible rate. Within two or three months’ time, they become double or triple time their birth weight. So, kittens need a good level of energy to grow.
Kittens also spend a lot of energy for play, high activity level is important for kitten’s cognitive growth. So, it means your little kitten requires a good amount of energy in their diet compare to their adult counterpart. Kittens also need almost twice amount of Vitamin A in their diet than adult cats.
Young kittens require a special diet containing important nutrients for overall development, healthy life. Kitten food provides many important benefits like brain development, healthy immune system for kittens.
Kittens are small, they have tiny teeth. So, easy to chew and digestible food is important for them.
Choosing High Quality Kitten Food
It is important to check for the right nutritional ingredients in the kitten food. Kittens need Protein, fat, fatty acids and plenty of energy in their diet for healthy development.
Getting the basics right
You should check the label for important nutrients:
- Minimum 30% protein for dry food and minimum 7% protein for wet food
- Good amount of fat content (minimum 12% fat content for dry food)
- DHA Omega Fatty Acid ( for brain development)
- Amino acids, Taurine content
- Vitamin E and Vitamin A
- Moisture
Good quality kitten food will content (35%-40%) high protein and (12%-20%) fat from a quality meat source. Canned kitten food will have less percentages because they mostly (70%-80%) moisture content.
High quality kitten food is very important during first year of their life. We recommend avoiding grains and by-products, meals for growing kittens. To determine the best kitten food, you should read the label to find out the meat source (chicken, salmon). The meal should content in the first ingredients.
Wet Food Vs. Dry Food
We have talked about kitten food and adult cat food.
In the beginning stage of their life kittens are very young. It will be only possible to chew wet food for your kitten. Their baby teeth are small and hard to chew kitten dry food.
But, as kitten grows up, from 3-4 months, they adult teeth started to come out. And, by 7 months of old, most kitten get their adult teeth. They will be ready by then to try dry foods.
It is a good choice to feed your kitten different kind of food and different types of textures when they are still young cats. Otherwise, when they grow up, they might end up a peaky eater.
Wet food get expensive because to provide complete nutrient, you need to feed 2-4 cans of food to your kitten daily. So, many cat owners prefers feeding dry food. But, feeding only dry food can have a bad effect on your kitten’s health. We recommend feeding both wet and dry food. A good amount of hydration is important to keep your kitten health and to avoid any future urinary tract issues.
Dry food contains a lot of carbohydrates, so, feeding only dry food can lead to problem like overweight later when they become older.
This is the reason, many cat owners find feeding both dry and wet kitten food is the solution for their kittens ( with adult teeth).
If you have followed what we have discussed by now, you have already got the idea what kitten food to choose for your kitten.
AAFCO is a good place to most rated cat foods. This is a quick way to identify healthy food. Just keep an on their “growth and reproduction” category. The Association of American Feed Control Officials site has a nutrient profile and feeding trials. So, before buying dry or wet food, check it out if the label states at least meet the requirements.
How to Know I Choose The Right Kitten Food?
You may be choose the best food in the market. But, you will only get the answer of your question, when you start feeding it your kitten. There are some ways to identify if kittens is enjoying the food and it is benefiting her.
If you have noticed boost in their energy. They are playful, active alert. Then, they are totally healthy. These are the right indication of the right nutrients.
Another indication is how is your kitten looking? You will notice her eyes bright, healthy glossy coat, your kitten is on a healthy weight. Then, you got the answer.
If above mentioned questions are yes. Then, your kitten food is doing a good job by keeping your kitten healthy in every way.
If you say no, then, you need to look for a better kitten food. Your veterinarian might advise you choose the best food for your kitten.
How Often And How Much Should I Feed My Kitten?
Kitten needs a diet that provides them high protein and energy dense food for rapid growth. Kittens have very little stomach, they can’t eat too much in one sit. So, you need to feed them few small meals a day.
Many cat owner can’t stay in the house the whole day to feed their kittens. An automatic cat feeder comes handy to schedule feeding time. This will manage the portion and timing perfectly when you are working outside.
Free feeding is okay for kittens. But, for some pet, it leads to obesity. It can only work for dry food. Leaving out wet food is not recommend at all because it will spoil. Once your cat becomes an adult, you need to stop free-feeding. And, feed them regularly on schedule to avoid overweight problem.
As, we have already talked about it, for canned food you need feed 4 cans four times a day. But, if you are feeding dry and wet food together. You can cut the amount to 2 cans a day. This ways she will get all the important nutrient she needs to grow.
You need to provide enough water to your kitten throughout the day. It will keep their whole system hydrated.
Does Kitten Food Have More Calories?
Yes, kitten food tends to be higher in calories, protein and fat. Because kittens need more calorie and protein to grow faster. There is no issue feeding this food to adult cats. During pregnancy and nursing cats require high calories and high protein food. In other hand, an indoor less active cat should eat indoor specific food rather than kitten food.
Kristen is a cat parent. Love to keep my cats happy always and playful. Also, It became my passion to help another cat owner with caring tips for their cats and kittens. Stay tuned with my personal blog to know more caring tips, review of cat food and feeding guides. I’d love to know about your cat. If you something to share with about your cat. I will be happy to read.