How To Select The Best Kitten Food For Your Munchkin?

It’s an exciting time when a new four-legged munchkin moves into your house. However, this joy might also be accompanied by some worry about the additional duties, especially if the newly adopted pet is a small puppy or kitten. How, for instance, can prospective cat owners ensure that their new kitten is fed the best kitten food which provides a healthy, well-rounded diet?

Kittens at this growth period require substantial protein intakes to create new tissue, but adult cats mostly require protein to keep up their body mass. Additionally, there are several foods that kittens cannot eat, even if adult cats may be able to consume them.

Now without further ado, let’s discuss the special feeding instructions for kittens.  

WHAT DIETARY DIFFERENCE DOES A KITTEN HAVE FROM AN ADULT CAT?

The levels of micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) in cat chow for kittens and adults vary slightly. The main distinction is the quantity of macronutrients, such as protein.

Compared to adult cat food, kitten food has increased protein and amino acid content. Taurine and lysine are two examples of amino acids that are necessary for the general health of felines; they are especially important for immune system development and tissue growth. 

Food for kittens also contains a greater fat content; fat contains nine calories per gramme, which is twice as much energy as either protein or carbohydrate. In kittens, fat also promotes normal cerebral development.

SELECTING THE BEST KITTEN FOOD 

Making sure the food has all the nutrients needed for the stage of life of the kitten is the first step in selecting cat food. 

Food labelled “All Life Stages” or “Growth and Reproduction” is designed for young, pregnant, or nursing cats. Kittens are included in this life stage. Although this statement suggests that a kitten’s fundamental nutritional demands would be satisfied, it’s not nearly that easy to assess the food’s quality.

GETTING HEALTHY KITTEN FOOD

Large-scale marketing promises, like those made for pet meals that say they are “human grade” or “custom-formulated,” have generally made people wary. However, because pets’ best kitten food labels must adhere to strict regulations on nutritional correctness, the data is usually accurate.

The ingredient list will, above all, reveal the precise composition of a certain cat food. As with food for humans, a product is often considered less “natural” the fewer components it has. Partition-based ingredient lists are arranged descendingly, so start your search for cat meals with less processed animal proteins, organ meat, and produce towards the top of the list.

You may also evaluate a product’s ingredient providers to make sure your kitten is receiving high-quality nutrients. Verify an organization’s industry certifications on its website. 

Items to Steer Clear of in Kitten Food

When selecting cat food, pay close attention to the amount of “filler” carbs, particularly in items made from maize. Carbohydrate-rich foods are viewed as fillers in the cat nutrition community since cats are obligate carnivores who do well on a diet high in meat and have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates. 

Foods with chemical preservatives should be avoided by kittens and all cats, as they may have negative effects on the growth of the feline. Artificial preservatives with potential carcinogenicity and organ damage, including butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), can have more detrimental effects on growing kittens.

DO KITTENS NEED TO EAT DRY OR WET FOOD?

Cats need to drink enough water throughout their whole lives. Even domestic cats do not normally have a high thirst drive that would cause them to drink less water since cats have evolved to get all their daily hydration through the meat they eat. 

Growing kittens should be fed mostly kitten gravy food to guarantee enough hydration, and eating kitten dry food will help preserve their tiny, developing teeth.

We are effectively comparing apples to oranges when we compare kitten gravy food with high moisture content (like raw or canned) to those with low moisture content in kitten dry food (like kibble or freeze-dried). 

Foods must be examined on a dry matter (DM) basis after the water has been removed to compare their varying moisture contents. The proportion of vitamins and minerals will be larger after water is removed than it is when compared to AF, where the figures are indicated on the assured analysis. 

Apart from food consistency, a kitten has to be fed the best kitten food more frequently since their metabolism consumes calories faster and more regularly than an adult cat’s. To better meet their kittens’ metabolic demands, new cat owners can consider feeding their fur babies three times a day as opposed to twice.

Cats should be exposed to a range of textures and proteins from kitten gravy food to kitten dry food at an early age since they also imprint on certain tastes, scents, and textures when they are kittens. This will make it more likely that an adult cat will accept a greater range of tastes and textures in food.

HOW OFTEN IS IT SUITABLE TO FEED A KITTEN?

There are two ways to feed a kitten: mealtime feedings or free feedings. While meal-feeding entails dividing up your kitten’s daily food intake at set times, free-feeding lets them have access to food all day long. For kitten dry food, it is ideal to meal-feed; however, for kitten gravy food, free-feeding is the best way to preserve freshness. 

While kittens require anything from three to five feedings each day due to their smaller stomachs and higher metabolisms, adult cats are often content with two meals per day. Your ability to keep up a regular feeding schedule will depend on your schedule; if your kitten is extremely young (six to ten weeks old or less), you may need to modify your daily routine to make time for them.

FOODS TO STOP FEEDING KITTENS

Not only should kittens stay away from items that are bad for cats in general (such as chocolate, onions, raisins, etc.), but they should also not eat human baby food or cow’s milk. Both of these foods have the potential to give kittens diarrhoea or loose faeces. It is advisable to completely avoid giving dairy products to cats, regardless of age, as they lose the capacity to digest any type of dairy from cows after they are weaned off their mother’s milk.

Visit Royal Canin and get the best royal canin kitten food for your fur babies now!