Orijen Vs Life's Abundance vs Before Grain dry food

Hi, I am a very excited first time cat owner. I am picking up my kitty soon and I asked my breeder what food I should buy. She told me she feeds her kittens purina one chow for dry & fancy feast wet. Ive been doing my research and I keep reading about those brands not being good healthy choices for cats and in long term end up being more expensive than high end food as you would need to feed more of the cheaper stuff to satisfy your cat. So Ive come up with 3 brands that seem to be most raved about.

Orijen
Life's Abundance
Before Grain

Does anyone here have tried these 3 or recommend one over the others?

I have ZERO concept of what would be best or how much a kitten or cat should be fed. I see that the prices of these are noticibly higher than most brands I see at petsmart. So If I buy somthing like a 15 lb bag, how long would that last for one kitten? Can somebody school me on how much exactly I am supposed to feed my kitten and how many x a day? I know there are directions on the back of the bags but I plan to serve with wet food so I am imagining I wouldnt need to serve as much. I was reading one brand of wet food that called for 2 3.5oz cans per every 6 lbs. So that would mean when my cat is 20lbs he will require 6-7 cans of wet food a day??? That sounds like A LOT of food for one kitty and expensive! I dont want to waste or overfeed my cat.

Which leads to my next question... is Fancy Feast a good choice to serve with high end dry food or would I be defeating the purpose? If not, can anyone recommend some fair priced better wet food choices?

Sorry so many questions. I just need to figure out a good healthy wet/dry combination and how much of it to feed. My head is spinning! I feel like a nervous new parent!

I am guessing you are in North America, it doesn't say. What I've heard about Fancy Feast is that it's just another crappy dry food but seems to appeal to cats - probablly like trying to bring up a human baby on McDonalds. But then you don't say which part of the US or Canada you may be from ;-)

More seriously though, I have only tried Orijen and my boys liked it for a while. There is very little difference between "kitten" and adult versions of most foods. Just marketing and maybe some extra fat content. For Orijen a good place to start is Library | Orijen Pet Foods .co.uk - the White paper in particular is good reading and I notice they have a feeding guide too.

Unless you kitten(s) have specific problems with eating too much I would recommend free feeding - they need lots and lots of calories to grow. In my case I have always had dry food down and fed wet twice a day, sometime more if I am at home and they look cute ;)

Do not overstock on any brand or flavour because your fussy little fur ball will go on and off food at random. I have discarded quite a few open but gone stale bags of dry as they stopped eating it. "We" have now settled on Sanabelle Grande which is a large kibble but not grain free food from Germany. The boys have not got bored of it and I am now on my 4th 10kg bag - stored in a air-tight dog food storage container as they don't do cat painted ones :)

Remember, cats do not digest carbs and so any grain (rice, wheat, maize, etc.) just rots in the gut and comes out stinking. Less or no grain means less and less smelly litter trays :)

Peter

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! :smile:

Joey, I'm in North America where luckily Orijen is more readily available. I used to feed my adult cats the low-calorie indoor Royal Canin, but recently I switched to Orijen because I got my first Maine Coon about 6 weeks ago. Not only does the kitten love the Orijen (I mix the fish with the chicken flavor), but my once scrawny Scottish fold is now much heavier but not fat, and my older Russian blue (almost 12) has a much nicer coat and actually plays with the kitten. I free feed the dry Orijen and feed Evo kitten canned twice a day.

It is very important to keep wet food a part of their routine because that is how I administer supplements (my cats get lysine every day to boost their immune system), probiotics (important when switching foods, especially for kittens), and any medicines. I buy the large 12-oz cans of Evo kitten and feed about half a can each day. My kitten eats most of it and whatever's left goes to the cats. Like Howlinbob said above, wet food is important also for the moisture content. Some people think feeding dry is better for their teeth, but my vet pointed out that cats swallow most of their kibble and aren't actually chewing kibble enough to abrade their teeth. Besides, someone else has pointed out that feeding dry for better dental health is like you and I eating pretzels instead of brushing.

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Originally Posted by jay60642

J Some people think feeding dry is better for their teeth, but my vet pointed out that cats swallow most of their kibble and aren't actually chewing kibble enough to abrade their teeth. Besides, someone else has pointed out that feeding dry for better dental health is like you and I eating pretzels instead of brushing.

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You are absolutely right. Dry food being good for their teeth is the biggest myth about dry food.