Kitten food?

Ok I need some suggestion with kitten food. I just got a 8 week old kitten and he is on Kitten Chow (yuck!)
I am going to free feed dry (for now) and also feed wet. On a big cat forum I have been visiting, most seem to recommend Nutro Max (even the "resident" nutritionist rec's this) I just can't see how Nutro Max is a good food? Or is it different from dogs and cats?

Any suggestions?

No not that different at all, Nutro is the same quality for cats as it is for dogs which is basically middle of the road food. Go with one of the good brands, Innova, EVO, California Natural, Felidae, Nature's variety, Taste of the Wild etc. Also remember the more wet you can feed the better! Cats do not drink enough water to stay properly hydrated so wet food helps to hydrate them and prevent crystals (especially in males) and UTIs. As for wet food there are more brands I consider good because the wet food ingredients tend to have more meat and less grains so even if their dry formula is pretty grainy the wet food might not be.

I fed Innova cat food and also California Natural which they are on now. They love the flavor.

All my cats are on California Natural and do great on it.

It was the only one I found that they all like and with three cats who are free fed they need to all eat the same food.

I agree with you, Nutro is not such a great food.

Good Luck

If that's "The" biggest cat site/forum on the web.. I totally know what you mean. I thought it was REALLY weird that the nutritionist recommends crappy foods, middle of the road foods, and gives dire warnings about the GOOD foods. I asked her what she feeds her own cats, and it was pretty darn good.. and when I asked her why on earth she doesn't recommend good brands all the time (and attacked me in PM for suggesting a few high quality brands because I was pretending to know more about food than she was) her answer? Because not all people can afford it. WTF. That's NOT a good reason to not at least suggest the best foods, and be open and honest when people are feeding a low-level food. I mean, not that anyone should flame them, especially if they can't afford it, but why withhold information?

Maxy gave you a pretty complete list of good foods.. There are plenty of others, like Safari, Wellness, and Serengeti (or something like that), too, so you don't have to stop there.. but a good quality and well-priced food is Felidae. If you can find it I suggest it.

Yes it is the "biggest" Cat forum. I don't understand it either!

LOL all I suggest is that you don't get into it with her..... when I first joined, she gave me the NASTIEST PM ever because I had dared suggest the foods she recommended were low quality (I think Purina something?) and suggested a few high quality foods.. and gave them basic things to look for in a good food.

I had no idea she was a nutritionist from her posts.. it was only when she said it in the PM I found out... and she basically said she knew far more than I would ever know about nutrition and I needed to read up. I told her I was definitely interested in the books and websites she said she had mentioned she could tell me about, and took her up on her offer to suggest them to me... no response back. LOL

Needless to say I do not have a high opinion of her.

Ya, I can see that "Attitude" about her in her posts (that's if I can even understand what she is typing lol)

You get used to it...

I think I know what forum you are talking about. Nutro is not so great BUT compared to the grocery store crap that many people pick up, it is a huge step up. I think she may also recommend it because it is a lot easier to find then some of the others. So getting people off Purina and Whiskas and that crap and onto Nutro is step one. That is how I see it anyways.

Can someone PM me and tell me what forum you are talking about??

I used to be a part of that forum but left...Don't remember why (assuming I know which one you're talking about). I joined a different one who recommend better foods but still mention low quality ones on occasion. Their big thing though which I really like is they are VERY pro wet food a little bit too anti dry food but oh well I learned something. They also have a Vet there who they constantly refer to for food recommendations and it sometimes is annoying since everyone drops and listens to what she says and ignores everyone else but it's not too bad, not too often that there is a disagreement. I still have never found a cat forum with people as knowledgeable about cats as the people on Chaz are about dogs. I like the cat forum I go to now a lot though, It's smaller than the "other" one.

It's the DIRE warnings about the good foods and the attacks on people who recommend the best foods instead of the middle range stuff that get me.

My god, I can't tell you how many people saw her posts about EVO and thought it was the end of the world that they fed it. She was really snide to me when I told her I fed EVO. I remember several people actually SWITCHED from EVO to a lower quality food because of her comments about it... EVO isn't the best for urinary-tract prone cats, and it's very rich, but otherwise there's really nothing wrong with it.

Maxy, I left the forum due to many of their unsavory policies..... they sit very, very wrong with me. As much as I like some individual members and like talking about my cats.... I just cant compromise some of my values like that and stay there. I do NOT believe in censorship, and they practice it to the max. Since it's a privately owned forum they can feel free to do whatever they wish... but I don't agree with it and I wont stay there.

If anyone wants to guess what forum we're talking about, just remove "biggest".. and voila.

OH, it's also directly linker to in Tankstar's thread.

This forum's policy on linking to other forums confuses the crap out of me, I swear....