Thread: Orijen Vs Life's Abundance vs Before Grain dry food

Hi Joey, bet you can't wait for the new arrival, such an exciting time.

Healthy kittens do eat quite a lot and when they are growing you should let them eat as much as they like. This will settle down in adulthood, when they should eat about 2-3% of their bodyweight per day.

Cats are 100% carnivores and as Peter says, they can't digest carbs. So it's best if you can feed them a grain-free or low grain food, which contains a lot of good quality meat protein. Unfortunately most of the mainstream easily available cat food is high in grain/carbs and contains rubbish quality protein. So it could be that we have to look a little further than the supermarket in order to do the best for our furbags.

Check the ingredients of the brands you have mentioned - I think Orijen is completely grain free. Try to avoid high quantities of maize/rice/wheat/gluten meal. These are cheap fillers reclaimed from the food and brewing industry, with hardly any nutritional value, which will create a smelly mess in the litter tray. High quality meat protein is expensive so this is what you are paying for. For the long-term health benefits it is well worthwhile.

I agree that kitten food is a marketing gimmick. Kittens will thrive on good quality meat protein, no matter what it says on the label.

Also really important: wet food is better than dry food, because cats need the moisture content. If they eat too much dry for too long, they never drink enough water to make up for it, which can lead to highly concentrated urine, painful UTIs and bladder stones. So I would find a good quality wet food and feed it daily.

Looking forward to seeing some pics of the new baby!