What kind of food does a kitten eat?

Answer 1

A kitten gets fed from their mom, for the first 6-8 weeks.

High quality kitten food is best. As long as the food has plenty of meat in it and no cereals, grains or corn in. For young kittens, soft food will be easier for them to eat.

Kittens are constantly growing and developing, so they need all the nutrients they can get. Typically, a kitten will need twice as much protein as an adult cat, so it is usually best to feed the kitten as much as it needs until it is around a year old.

Answer 2

Cats are strict carnivores, so get all their nutrients from meat. Good quality wet foods are high in Protein and Fat, cats use these two nutrients as their primary source of energy. Be sure to look at the ingredients - The best cat foods are the ones with a very high named meat content (labeled as Chicken, Turkey, Rabbit, Lamb, Tuna, etc.) as the first, or first three, ingredients.

It is advisable to stay away from brands that include Corn, Wheat, Cereals, Soy and various Sugars in their foods - cats have difficulty in digesting these and do not provide any nutritional value to the cat whatsoever. Wet food with these specifications are much easier to find than in dry food.

A kitten can eat up to four times as much as an adult cat, so the more meat in the food, the more nutrients the kitten will get, thus will eat less than a kitten fed lower quality food. Be sure to feed small portions four or five times a day.

Canned food is preferable to feed a kitten (and adults) due to the the amount of moisture in this type of food. Cats are notoriously bad drinkers, even when they are thirsty. This is because they have evolved to get all their needed moisture from their prey (their ancestors were cats that lived in very dry and arid environments where water was hard to come by), so therefore have a low "thirst drive" and will not often seek out water on their own. This is a trait that has been passed down over the thousands of years.

Canned or pouched food has anywhere between 60 to 80% water. Seeing as in the wild a cat's prey is around 65%-75% water, wet food provides a cat with more than enough water each day. Most dry foods have either zero or 10% moisture in.

If your kitten is male, it is especially vital to make sure he is thoroughly hydrated. Male cats are much more susceptible to urinary tract infections (UTI's) which is often caused by not enough water over a period of time.

Many dry foods and low-quality wet foods are often packed with carbohydrates - "filler" in the way of grains and cereals, none of which cats can digest or gain any nutrients from. Grain is used instead of meat because it is cheaper to produce and helps kibble pieces hold together. Cats need MEAT based protein, not PLANT based protein. Cats will often overeat on lower quality foods because they are not getting all the nutrients they need, which often results in obesity and Diabetes.

Lastly, it is not proven that dry food cleans a cat's teeth. Kibble is hard and brittle, so shatters at the tips of the teeth - providing little or no cleaning friction. Dental issues usually start under or around the gumline, so kibble is usually ineffective. Some cats don't even chew; they will just swallow the kibble whole. However, some cats will have perfect teeth no matter what food they eat, while others will not benefit at all.

Many owners feed both, and for growing kittens the option of a bowl of biscuits left out during the day may be ideal. There are some decent dry foods out there such as Applaws, Orijen and Felidae with a height meat content in them and zero grains.

For high-quality cat food there is: Blue Buffalo, Felidae, Weruva, California Natural, Instinct, Prairie, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack, Wellness, EVO, Bozita (the canned stuff is 90+% meat and can be bought from zooplus.co.UK), Applaws (70+% meat and comes in both tinned and dry), HiLife (60% meat), Feline Fayre, to name a few.

Answer 3

For the first 6 weeks, kittens should only have their mother's milk. Then, around 6 weeks of age, humans need to introduce dry Kitten Chow mashed with warm water. As they learn to lap and to chew, add more dry but not mashed into the mashed mixture. Slowly decrease the water, until all they get is dry Kitten Chow and water separately in its own bowl.

Answer 4

well this is your answer kitten's whiskers you get it from Woolworths