Premium Kitten Food Ratings: Types and Descriptions

Choosing the right pet food is essential for its longevity, happiness, and well-being. A diet should be carefully considered even before the animal arrives. This is especially true for cats.

One way to feed a kitten is with commercial cat food. Supermarkets offer a huge variety of foods, so it's easy to get confused. Not everyone has the time or desire to examine all the packaging (if that would be effective), and what's even worse is when a kitten's owner simply cuts corners by choosing the cheapest option.

In pet stores, especially the fancy and specialized ones, you can find a whole kaleidoscope of cat food. But these aren't so much special developments as a marketing ploy by large companies to expand their food line. And 90% of them are economy class foodWhat types of food are available today and how to create the optimal diet for your cat from them? Read on to learn more.

Types and ratings of feeds

Any good pet food, manufactured and packaged in a factory, is divided into four types, each qualitatively different in its contents:

• economy;
• premium;
• expert premium;
• holistics.

Each one needs to be discussed separately.

Economy class

In fact, the demand for them is very high. This is explained by their low cost and constant advertising. Economy feeds mainly contain grains, as well as cellulose and by-products; There is the least amount of meat here - no more than 6%The preservatives are clearly greatly overpriced.

There are thickeners, preservatives, and colorings that are prohibited for addition to food products. Unfortunately, cat food is not considered such a product. Regulatory agencies lack strict oversight of manufacturers. While they exist only in some countries, all products that can be sold on the domestic market are subject to strict oversight. Examples of budget cat food:

• Felix;
• Darling;
• Whiskas;
• Cat Chow;
• All Cats;
• Kitekat;
• Vaska;
• Our Brand.

Premium class

The line between premium and economy class is often quite thin. In these cat foods increased amount of meat: not less than 15%, but the maximum amount is unlikely to exceed 22%. Cereals also play a special role; the increase in meat reduces the amount of by-products.

The result is a relatively good, tolerable food. When purchasing this product, read the label carefully—it should list the ingredients in detail.

Example of premium cat food:

• Pro Pac;
• Animonda;
• Happy Cat;
• ProPlan;
• Premature, etc.

These foods also contain preservatives, colorings and flavorings.

Super premium class

Cat food in this class should not contain any harmful ingredients, only by-products and grains, as well as a small percentage of meat. If the packaging lists meat, there must be a description of this ingredient.

Examples of super-premium cat food:

• Blitz;
• Leonardo;
• EaglePack;
• Iams;
• Arden Grange;
• 1st Choice;
• Bonita.

Holistics

Holistics are new generation feed, created specifically for cats. They contain high-quality ingredients and are even suitable for human consumption. These foods do not contain GMOs, plant proteins, artificial flavors, or other harmful additives. The nutrition is completely natural, but the price is also high.

Example of feline holistics:

• GO NaturalHolistic;
• Grandorf;
• NOW NaturalHolistic;
• Farmina ND;
• 1st ChoiceHolistic.

A properly selected, high-quality, and balanced food is excellent nutrition for your kitten throughout its life. Balanced cat food ensures it contains all the necessary nutrients for a pet.

Rules and features of cat nutrition

To provide energy to the kitten animal protein is requiredThis protein is found in fish, poultry, and other animal meats. It's the most important ingredient, so it must be labeled on the packaging along with the type of meat used.

Minerals and vitamins are also very important; every cat needs these nutrients. Primarily, these include vitamins A, E, D, and C, phosphoric, folic, and niacin acids, ferrous sulfate, taurine, and so on.

A little about cat feeding frequency. Typically, owners simply ensure the bowl is not empty. But this isn't always necessary: ​​if a kitten is neutered, this almost always leads to obesity. It's important to follow the recommended feeding guidelines on the packaging.

As for animal fats and grains, they are not essential for a kitten. The manufacturer adds them. to increase the carbohydrate compositionAlthough certain grain crops (for example, corn and rice) are even included in elite nutrition.

The main rule: food quality is not dependent on its price. There is no direct correlation or rating between a good brand and quality, or quality and an attractive package.

If you're considering switching to a higher-quality cat food, don't do it all at once. This could cause, at the very least, discomfort for your kitten. Switching to a different food, even if the ingredients are similar, should be done gradually, in small portions. Also, don't, for example, feed budget-grade kibble in the morning and premium kibble in the evening. If you're using the same food, use it all the time. When feeding dry cat food, no need to replace, supplement, or alternate etc. Many owners, for some reason, think that kittens get tired of eating the same food. This is a serious misconception.

How to read a cat food package?

When you take a pack of food from the display case, don’t read everything that’s written on the front (except the name), immediately move on to the back.

The advertising department handles the front of the package, while the laboratory handles the back labeling. These people are the ones who list the exact ingredients, calculating them in percentages, calories, grams, and so on. Incidentally, the same rule applies to human products. Phrases on the front, like "GMO-Free," are just advertising.

The first ingredient we'll discuss is organ meats. For the average person, this word conjures up images of something natural, but what exactly?

Offal is meat waste.. It could be anything. Skin, bones, hooves, feathers, beaks, cartilage, and so on. Only the "cat god" knows what the manufacturer meant by this definition, so cat food with an increased amount of animal protein, and of unknown quality, will simply not be good.

The next ingredient is meat. It's a must in dry food, and it's best to make up the majority of it. Everyone knows that dry food undergoes a process of dehydration, which is a process that dehydrates the components of the food. If meat is listed as an ingredient—but not labeled "dehydrated"—remember: during dehydration, its percentage has decreased by a factor of five.

Another strange ingredient is meat mealEssentially, these are the same offal, but ground into flour.

Minerals and vitamins. Most manufacturers don't bother to list anything beyond these phrases. All minerals and vitamins must be clearly listed. You should definitely see taurine as a key component. This amino acid is familiar to all professional cat breeders.

Sometimes the food contains lactobacilli, a wonderful substance that aids digestion. The name is often written in Latin.

Caramel and sugarThese ingredients are typically found in economy-grade foods. Sugar is necessary to stimulate hunger and a certain addiction to the food, but it is very harmful for kittens.

According to our legislation, the ingredients on the package must always begin with the ingredient in the highest percentage and end with the one in the least. The question is: are these rules being followed? In any case, you'll be able to spot the catch.

Top 10 Trustworthy Pet Foods

Let's look at today's cat food rankings, now that holistic options have appeared in stores. To that end, we'll present a ranking of the 10 best cat foods, leaving the choice up to the consumer.

1st Choice Hypoallergenic

This brand's food is very popular in our country. This is one of their varieties, and we'll use it as an example to describe the ingredients of this seller's dry food.

• Manufacturer: Canada.
• Ingredients: chicken liver hydrolysate, duck meat (18%), sweet potato (35%), pea protein, rice protein, beet pulp, vegetable oil and other ingredients.

Berkley Fricassee No. 1

High-quality wet cat food. The brand also produces holistic dry food.

• Manufacturer: France.
• Ingredients: rabbit 18%, beef 21%, sauce 51.47%, chicken fillet 9%, cranberry, plant extract, thyme, vitamins and minerals.

ACANA Orijen Cat&Kitten

This brand's cat food line includes 10 high-quality products. The one featured in this rating is one of them, made for kittens.

• Manufacturer: Canada.
• Ingredients: chicken liver and meat, turkey meat and liver, salmon and herring meat, eggs, chicken fat, peas, lentils and other ingredients.

GO! Natural Holistic Fit+Free

The list includes three holistic dry cat foods: one for food allergies, one grain-free, and one with grain. Let's look at the latter.

• Manufacturer: Canada.
• Ingredients: trout, turkey, chicken, salmon, duck, peas, chicken fat, eggs, potatoes, pumpkin, and other ingredients. Contains fish oil and lactobacilli.

GRANDORF HolisticIndoor

A line of dry cat food consisting of seven products, three of which contain probiotic bacteria. HolisticIndoor is one of them. It is hypoallergenic food for kittens aged one year and older.

• Manufacturer: Belgium.
• Ingredients: duck, turkey, rabbit, lamb, rice, flax seeds, turkey fat, arctic krill and other ingredients.

Now Fresh Grain FreeFish Adult RecipeCF

A line of dry food from Pet Curran. They produce four products in total.

• Manufacturer: Canada.
• Ingredients: herring, salmon, and trout fillets, peas, eggs, potatoes, flaxseed, tomatoes, apples, duck, pumpkin, carrots, and other ingredients. Contains lactobacilli.

Farmina ND Matisse Chicken

It is a gelled cat food, but this manufacturer has many varieties of dry food, for example, in the Cimiao line.

• Manufacturer: Italy.
• Ingredients: offal, chicken, eggs, cereals, 0.030% glucose syrup, minerals. The syrup is a preservative.

Animonda VomFeinsten Select Huhnchenfilet+Schinken

Special chicken food with added ham for adult cats. This food is a wet food. The manufacturer also offers high-quality dry food.

• Manufacturer: Germany.
• Ingredients: ham, broth, chicken fillet.

Almo NatureHolistic Turkey&Rice

The holistic food from this manufacturer is quite good in quality.

The company produces wet and dry food designed for adult cats.

• Manufacturer: Italy.
• Ingredients: offal and meat (15% chicken meat), vegetable protein, barley, wheat and other components.

Holistic Blend Feline Formula All Life Stages Chicken&Salmon

It is also a holistic food with a high-quality formula.

The company produces several varieties of grain-free and grain-containing foods, as well as special dietary foods. This food is an example.

• Manufacturer: Canada.
• Ingredients: rice, chicken meal, chicken fat, barley, millet, chicken meat, egg powder, flaxseed meal, salmon meat and other ingredients.

Naturally, these aren't all the cat foods worth considering, but these examples and ratings can help you make a final, good choice. Keep in mind that the manufacturer may change its ingredients over time. When choosing a diet, follow this basic rule: we are responsible for the animals we tame.