Hi everyone!

I've only just joined the forum this evening, so I hope everyone doesn't mind me posting a question already.

I just brought home 2 happy, healthy kittens. I've never owned cats before, but I've read up as much as I can and they seem to have settled in nicely. They're bounding around the room playing with each other as I type this!

I'm very cautious about processed food for humans, and wanted to be the same for my new kittens. The lady who I got them from (who's lovely and had cats for many years) said they had been eating Felix kitten food, so I bought a box of that to get started. However, they don't state the ingredients and it mentions a 4% meat content, so I'm thinking it's probably full of additives and rubbish.

So I would like to find a better food for them, but I've no idea where to start. I've started taking a look at the wet food A to Z, but feeling a bit overwhelmed with information at the moment! I'm not too sure what things like Kibble pH and ca/p ratio actually mean!

Having looked around my local supermarket, I can see that all the foods available there are basically the same as what I've already got. I wondered if there is a general consensus on where is a good place (online or otherwise) to buy a better quality food?

Really appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Many Thanks

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You are on the right track reading the A-z! The 'guide to feeding' is also a good thread to read.

When I look at the foods I don't look at the technical bit as I do not understand then, I tend to look at Hobbs comments about how good it is and the actual meat content ( a lot declare 4% as thats what they have to declare of thenamed meat I think, most 'rubbishy' ones are around 40-50% meat)

As a guide the best ones you will find are above 90% so ones to look at on the wet a-z are animonda carny, bozita pate, and grau which are available on zooplus.com

You can also look at ordering from germany which offers a greater range of foods, many of which are close to 100% meat.

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The one on the left is going to be the naughtiest, guaranteed!

As Gloworm has said, stick to one of the easy options of Animonda Carny, Bozita or Grau. You can't really go wrong on those, but I'd recommend having at least two different brands so that they don't get 'particular'. Keep in mind that if they have Felix at the moment then you'll need to transition them for about a week onto the better stuff, but they'll be fine and this is just a case of mixing the foods together in increasingly large ratios.

If you are looking for something intermediate that you can get from a pet shop or supermarket then try Hi-Life or Natures Menu, although these cost an absolute bomb compared to the brands mentioned above.

The Bozita Pate only comes in two flavours which is a little restrictive. The Bozita jelly is fine and the meat chunks are of a high meat content, but it ends up costing more to feed due to the jelly, therefore most people recommend the Pate. We find that our two will go through around 600g daily between them of pate type foods (Bozita Pate, Animonda Carny etc...) but more like 800g with the jelly food. The difference is around 50p per day.

One thing to look out for when making changes to diet is the consistency of their poo, you need to keep an eye on it in case they are sensitive to something that you change.

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Thanks so much for your replies, I really appreciate your help. You guys are the best

Ah, I thought 4% was a bit low! Glad to hear there is a bit more meat in there than I thought! Will still get them on the better stuff as soon as possible, and keep a close eye on them to make sure they're are ok with it. I'll have a good look at zooplus.com and get my order in for Animonda Carny, Bozita or Grau.

I'll also take a look at ordering from Germany. That's an interesting tip; how come food is better quality in Germany? Do they have better regulations or something?

Spot on there, Ape! He is already showing off his boisterous personality! I'm so glad we got both, as they are a good mix. The girl (on the right) is more gentle and shy, but she loves to follow him around and play!

You're right about supermarket food being basically the same quality.

To be honest you are better off ordering online because as AnimatedApe said, the good ones available in the pet shop are ridiculously expensive, you'll just end up with more cupboards of cat food than your food

I read Hobbs comments on the A-Z to make sense of the numbers and go from there. I look mainly for the meat % and the meat make up, I prefer the food I feed to have more meat than offal.

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Food standard regulations are better for pet food in most european countries I believe, I'm not sure of the specifics, but I think that it relates to using things like Beaks, Hooves etc... as meat content. You can still buy crap pet food from Germany with high cereal and ash content though, so it's not just the meat content that you need to look out for.

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@peterjamesmorris I joined this forum to ask the very same question. I too only eat and feed my human family good quality food. I have had cats in the past but have all been adult rescues. I now have a gorgeous little boy kitten of 16 weeks. I have had him for 4 weeks. I really enjoy preparing healthy and occasionally indulgent food for our family and was hoping some one on here could advise me on a home cooked/raw diet for my Keith the cat? And also if its possible to feed him a high quality (suggestions please) bought food as well as home made? I type this as Keith is fast asleep on my lap his heading lolling back and forward! Too cute for words! Thanks in advance. x

If they are fussy and don't take to the quality food right away, which is what is happening with my cat, console yourself with wet food being better than dry so they're part of the way there!

(Can't believe how much wet Biffy is eating now, he eats practically no dry now!)

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Hi there, you are on the right track. I too don't like the idea of feeding my cats processed food, as we don't eat processed food ourselves for very good reasons. As has been mentioned here, there are lots of alternatives to the mediocre offerings available in vets and supermarkets. Generally, wet is better than dry. If you want to look into the raw diet, check out the sticky on this forum which is full of great information. And here are a couple of other starting points:

Feline Nutrition
cat nutrition - home
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health

I am a novice, thank you to share, learn a lot.