Best Kitten Food

House cats are descended from the arid climate of the middle east, which has left its mark on many of their behaviors. Among their desert-ready instincts is a dislike of drinking sitting water, in favor of hydrating through their food. That’s why, even though you should always ensure your cat has access to fresh clean water, they probably won’t’ make too much use of it.

All cats need food with high moisture content, and because they’re small, kittens can be especially susceptible to dehydration. Because of this, the majority of your cat’s diet should consist of wet food.

Tiny teeth can also struggle with kibble and harder consistencies, which is why many kitten foods are produced in mousse form. That said, you may want to occasionally use dry food in order to build up familiarity with different textures, and reduce the risk of pickiness later on.

A small body size plus highly calorific, nutrient-dense food means that kittens can’t have their dinner all at once. Portions should be divided throughout the day, which will help minimize nasty litter tray incidents. Most kittens and owners find that three or four meals are manageable.

Within reason, though, kittens should be allowed as many small portions of food as they like. Many owners prefer to leave out food for grazing throughout the day, instead of a mealtime routine. This is fine, so long as the environment doesn’t contribute to food going bad—but be sure to observe for signs of overeating, and bear in mind that a meal schedule can help integrate positive routines into your cat’s day.

By the time they turn six months old, most cats can make the transition to a twice-daily feeding schedule, though this can depend on breed, and be partly dictated by the cat themselves. Some cats may prefer to stick to three smaller meals throughout their life.

Unfortunately, we live in a nation of obese moggies. A 2018 survey by the Association of Pet Obesity Prevention found that as many as half of US cats classify as overweight. While growing cats need calorific food, excess energy and nutrient intake can create their own health problems.

Eating habits begin during the weaning stage and continue through adulthood, with bad habits much harder to remove than good ones are to instill. When obesity becomes a long term issue, a slew of health complications emerge, including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and osteoarthritis.

As anyone who’s owned a cat knows, switching between food brands and types can be a nail-biting experience. Cats are the fussiest of eaters and are more than willing to go on hunger strike if the menu doesn’t match some mysterious set of requirements.

If you are considering changing your kitten’s food or graduating them to young adult options, you can choose from two opposing schools of thought:

One side maintains that new food should initially be combined with a cat’s current meals, with owners slowly increasing the rations of new to old, until your cat is fully eating their new brand. Others contend that this method risks turning the cat off both types of food if they happen to dislike the new kind.

Unfortunately, we can’t tell you which is more likely to work with your kitten. Though, evidence suggests it can be easier to switch foods when kittens have been pre-exposed to a variety of flavors and textures.

If you are looking to adopt the mixing technique to help your cat transition, vets generally recommend taking 7 to 10 days, slowly adjusting ratios until you can completely remove the old food:

Day No. 1/2 Fill your cat’s dish with 75 percent kitten food and 25 percent other/adult food.
Day No. 3/4 Mix new and old food in a 50-50 ratio.
Day No. 5/6 Feed your cat a mixture that’s 75 percent new food and 25 percent old food.
Day No. 7-10 Switch to 100 percent new formula.

Recently, an increasing number of owners have looked to switch their cats from a processed to a raw diet. While the jury is still out on the benefits and possible risks of allowing our pets to consume raw meat, animal care professionals are clear about the dangers of a raw kitten diet. Especially when it comes to:

• Raw meat, which may contain dangerous amounts of bacteria and parasites.
• Raw eggs could affect your kitten’s absorption of certain vitamins which will harm their coat. Raw eggs can also contain Salmonella.
• Raw fish, which may cause them to become deficient in a B vitamin which affects their appetite. Some cases of seizures, and even fatalities, have been reported to vets after kittens have eaten raw fish.

As mentioned, kitten food has a higher calorie and nutritional density than food for other feline life stages. If a fully grown cat eats kitten food, they might develop an upset stomach as a result. If a kitten eats adult food, they’re unlikely to receive the nutrients they need to grow.

To help choose the right type of food for your cat, spend some time browsing product labels and descriptions. Most states have legal labeling requirements that match the Association of American Feed Control Officials’ (AAFCO) life stage nutritional adequacy claims. While these labels don’t necessarily speak to ingredient quality, they do ensure that food contains the recommended nutritional balance for the four main dietary stages in a cat’s life:

• Growth/Kitten
• All life stages
• Maintenance
• Gestation/Lactation

If you feel that your kitten would benefit from a more specific diet, it’s worth starting up a conversation with your vet. Kittens can frequently experience gastrointestinal irritation, which may sometimes require a prescribed diet plan.

Feline species are considered obligate carnivores, which means that unlike dogs or humans, cats can only derive essential aspects of their diet from meat. While recent research is suggesting that house cats may be far better at metabolizing carbohydrates and plant-based proteins than their more ferocious cousins, a good source of animal protein will always be the most important element of your cat’s diet, from kittenhood through old-age.

Kittens need the most protein during the weaning stage and maintain relatively high requirements throughout their growth. Your tiny carnivore has adapted to gain the ingredients for growing bigger and stronger—essential amino acids—from natural prey foods, things like chicken and chicken liver, fish, and eggs. Always look for good sources of whole protein to headline the ingredients list. Ideally, the top three-ingredient should be human-grade, fatty animal proteins.

Be wary of meat by-products or substitutes. While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with chicken or salmon broth, if it’s listed as the second or third ingredient, it’s negligible weight means there’s going to be a whole lot more broth in your kitten’s food than whole meat. The same goes for meat meals.

Putting a percentage on exactly how much protein your kitten should eat can be tricky, for two reasons. First, every cat is different, and kittens destined to become larger, more active cats may have higher requirements. Protein percentages can appear different depending on the moisture content of foods. While fresh chicken will have a much lower protein concentration than a bowl of dry kibble (thanks to its high water content), it will likely be more nutritious and digestible in terms of amino acids and macronutrients.

In general, look for kitten foods with 15-30 percent minimum crude or ‘as-fed’ protein, or 35-50 percent on a dry matter basis. When converting from as-fed to dry matter, nutrient concentrations will increase, while the weight will decrease. Here’s an in-depth explainer on how to convert as fed protein amounts in wet food to dry matter percentages.

All cats love fat. It’s a concentrated source of energy and carries many of the most essential vitamins and compounds. Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids are often quoted as the most desirable of these fatty acids, thanks to their role in developing and maintaining brain, eye, and nervous system health.

Omega-3

• Supports the development of a kitten’s nervous system
• Enables learning and energetic play
• Helps to develop vision
• Improves overall skin and coat health

Omega-6

• Facilitates the proper function of tissue
• Promotes healthy fat storage
• Improves the functioning of a kitten’s liver and kidneys
• Supports the development of lean muscles

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is one omega-3 fatty acid particularly crucial to kitten development. Also found in fish meat and oils, kittens do naturally produce some DHA, but their bodies don’t easily put it to use, which is why dietary sources are so valuable. DHA enhances cognitive function and is associated with an improved inflammatory response. As a result, look for fish oil supplementation even in non-fish flavored kitten food options.

A healthy brain contains about 60 percent structural fat, with nearly one-third of that fat consisting of DHA, making the importance of a DHA-rich diet for growing animals obvious. For the full science behind the benefits of DHA, here’s our article on the subject.

We’d recommend feeding you kitten foods with a 4-10 percent fat content as-fed basis, or  15-30 percent in terms of dry matter. While well-sourced fats are great, even kittens are capable of consuming more energy than they spend.

‘Grain-free’ is one of today’s most popular marketing claims across the pet food industry. It’s great that more cats have access to food that’s not stuffed with low-value ingredients, but at the same time, it’s critical that owners don’t take ‘grain-free’ as a synonym for health.

Unfortunately, there are major food brands on our shelves using the ‘grain-free’ label while simply replacing grain with another source of carbs, such as soy. It’s true that potatoes, soy, and legumes have other minor nutritional benefits over grain, but none of these ingredients should comprise a major part of your kitten’s diet.

In other words, small amounts of carbohydrate ingredients are present in most cat foods, and shouldn’t be a cause for concern. But, if carbohydrates start creeping up the ingredients list—grain or otherwise—you may want to shop elsewhere. By the time carbs make it to the fourth, fifth, or sixth spot, their lower weight means that they’re compromising a significant proportion of the food.

If your kitten is eating plentiful, well-sourced proteins and fats, and not consuming large amounts of carbohydrates, then they’re 99% percent of the way towards a great foundational diet. Because they are carnivores, kittens are great at deriving all their vitamin, mineral, and essential acid needs from animal products.

Because even the best kitten foods are processed products, however, the nutritiousness of ingredients is inevitably lowered in comparison to real live prey. Because of this, most food will supplement whole ingredients with vitamin, mineral, and fiber additives, filling in any potential gaps in your kitten’s dietary needs.

Beneficial additives to look out for in kitten food include:

• Pre-biotics: supports the colonization of bacteria in a new feline immune system
• Taurine is an essential amino sulfonic acid that is naturally found in meat, but it can often be diminished during processing.
• Calcium. Kitten growth formulations should contain 0.8-1.6% calcium on a dry matter basis.
• Vitamin A. Cats must eat a form of vitamin A that has already been converted from carotenoids to its active form. In other words, from an animal, not a plant source.

Once an appropriate nutritional product has been chosen, no additional vitamin or mineral supplements should be given.

Here’s a brief overview of the vitamins that cats crave most, and their function:

Vitamin B1 or thiamine

• Aids the metabolizing of good carbs
• Support the nervous system of a growing kitty

Vitamin B2 or riboflavin

• Supports the overall use of oxygen in the body
• Helps to convert food into usable energy
• Good for a kitten’s skin and coat health

Vitamin B3 or niacin

• Helps to maintain a healthy nervous system
• Good for overall gut health
• Supports a glossy coat

Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine

• Maintains good red blood cell function
• Supports a kitten’s immune system
• Helps to metabolize a protein-rich diet

Vitamin D

• Allows for the absorption of calcium for strong bones (and more stuff we’ll get into a little later!)
• Helps with the retention of phosphorus which supports kidney health
• Also, it’s the sunshine vitamin! Have you ever met a cat that didn’t need a good ray of sunshine?

Vitamin A

• Supports a strong immune system
• Stimulates vision development