okay just been on the felix website and looked at all the nutritional info - the only difference between adult and kitten food it this line (very ambiguous I feel)

20% ADDED PROTEIN ENERGY RICH FOR GROWTH

that's only on the jelly kitten pouches NOT on the rest of the range

typical analysis is for kitten
ingredients:
4% meat or meat derivatives, minerals, various sugars -
analysis
protein 10%, oil 4.5%, ash 2.5%, fibre 0.5%, moisture 82%, copper (as copper sulphate = 1.15mg/kg),
vitamins
A-1180 IU/kg, D-145 IU/kg, E-10mg/kg

typical analysis is for adult - same product in the adult range, I've highlighted differences
ingredients:
up to 8% meat or meat derivatives, cereals, minerals, various sugars -
analysis
crude protein 7%, crude oil 4%, crude ash 2%, crude fibre 0.5%, moisture 82%, no copper sulphate
vitamins
A-1110 IU/kg, D-140 IU/kg, E-10mg/kg

haven't got a clue what the crude bit is all about - the vits are very slightly lower, and it has no copper sulphate (but I don't know what that does) - other than that very, very similar.

the seniour is very similar but the vitamin levels are almost double.

Not sure now they get the kitten protein level higher than the adult when they use half the amount of real meat but that might be what the crude bit is about. And the kitten must have cereal in it too or it doesn't make sense - the other 96% of the food surely can't all be sugars!!!

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Processed kitten food has a slightly higher protein and fat content than the adult varieties, but nothing much else different apart from that.

You get a better source of protein from raw meat, chicken and various other foods that a cat/kitten can be fed on such as scrambled egg yolks or some grated cheese sprinkled over a main meal, even a little bit of peanut butter (no added sugar) licked off the finger on the odd occasion as a treat - cats love it.

Yuk they are both disgusting, I would never feed that rubbish to my cat, i really cant see how people can even debate that those ingredients are ok!!

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Good find, spid!

What I find of most concern there is the "4% meat" for kittens and "up to 8% meat" for adults. With these treats, ambassador, you really are spoiling us carnivores... not!

So, if we can effectively discount kitten soft complete food as being not significantly different from the adult equivalent (especially if you give them the extra protein via some "human" food)... what constitutes the best of a bad job?

I notice that Sheba Terrine has 10% protein (of which 8% is meat) and Gourmet Gold has 11%... that's the highest I can find among the assortment we bought to entertain our fussy buggers. But then Sheba is a Mars product, and Gourmet Gold, like Felix, is a Purina product. We're still in multinational industrial hell, folks!

Anyone found any good alternatives, or are the high quality dry foods the only real solution regarding processed foods?

I used to feed mine kitten biscuits and kitten wet but now all mine have a different diet I don't bother anyways. My new kitten who is now 5.5months has never touced a biscuit since coming to me. Won't even try them. So at first he has kitten nature's menu, but now he has adult stuff along with everyone else, along with cooked and raw. He is huge so must be doing somthing right.

Dry food is never better than any wet cat food, regardless of quality.

HiLife pouches contain 60% meat and are among the best of commercial cat foods - not counting the raw commercial food that's starting to become more common.
Turkey & Chicken

Other good options are Bozita and Porta21.

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Also tesco's finest is 50% meat and Natures menu is 70%, as well as applaws. There's plenty of stuff out there. Hi-life is available in Tescos and Acorns and Pets at Home. Natures menu Natures Menu Natural Dog Food & Natural Cat Food | Feeding as Nature Intended is available on the web and at Pets at home.

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the added protein will be vegetable protein, probably gluten - of no use whatsoever to cats
Copper is an essential mineral so not sure why it isn't added to the adult food.

I had a book that gave a formula whereby you could work out the actual protein and carbohydrate percentages in any food, but i lent it to someone and have never had it back

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Why's that? As far as I can tell, the wet food is at best the same stuff, with added water... or am I missing something?