I've noticed some people feed a variety of canned food, even among different brands, but I'm not sure
if switching a kitten to a new food would be different. I would also be switching to a grain-free food,
so I'm not sure if that requires more adjusting. The breeder feeds her cats Science Diet and I would
like to switch to Blue Wilderness.

Should I wait a bit? Should I mix the foods, similar to the way you would switch dry food?

I'm thinking about adding in dry food, mainly for variety/texture, but also so he has something available
during those rare occasions that I leave the house for a bit and between meal times.

I'm also curious if it's safe to feed food or treats that contain salmon. Isn't it bad for Bengals?

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The little monsters 3

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The little monsters 3

Thank you for mentioning the litter! I didn't even think about that when I got to meet the kittens. I'll be sure to ask on the next visit.

Agree with Brian, do not change the kitten's food for a few weeks /months until you are very familiar with your kitten and it has settled down completely.
Minimising stress is very important and a young kitten is very vulnerable to illness, its digestive system can be shaky anyway so changing foods may be difficult for it to cope with easily.
Making sure a young kitten is eating well, means it is growing and developing, a food upset due to just changing its food can set it back a long time, as it may not be just a case of swapping the food back to the original again.
ALSO kittens need to eat a LOT, so starving it to try and get it to eat the new stuff, or a reduced intake of the new stuff, will not do it any favours either
If it ain't broke don't try and fix it.

The jury is out on what types of commercial foods are truly best for cats/kittens, so whilst Blue Wilderness may SOUND like a good food, there is no real evidence that it is any better than any other commercial cat food.
I am not saying Blue Wilderness is BAD, only we don't really know how really good it is for cats, compared to other diets long term...

There is a lot of marketing hype around grain free.
An interesting graph re grain free vs normal dog food. Reduced carbs in the grain free? Not significantly.
grainfree4_600.png
http://slimdoggy.com/worst-reasons-to-c ... rain-free/

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The little monsters 3

This is a common problem for kittens, they go home on the food that the breeder has given them, that they like and that they are thriving on, the new owner knows "better", they change the food and then all hell breaks loose in the cats digestive system.

Breeders of any standing and longevity have tried loads of foods, they have tried and tested all sorts of foods with each kitten litter and then they finally chose the food that goes down best, the kittens like and there is little upset.
That is the food that the kittens go home to their new owners with, BUT the new owner then knows "best", so the kitten is put through a series of foods that cause upset, that the kitten doesn't like, that gives it diarrhoea, vomiting, needs vet visits and all in all is often caused by the simple change in food.
NO food is "better" if it ends up with all that upset and that is what usually happens.

So DO NOT change the kittens food is my advice, as very rarely is it indeed "better" for the kitten.

As an aside:
I am talking about breeders with uninfected kittens primarily here, of course digestive upset can also be caused the multitude of parasites including TF that can commonly occur in kittens, often from breeders that are either ignorant of those parasites or who have not addressed parasite problems in their cats and kittens.

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The little monsters 3

I honestly think Royal Canin and Science diet tend to get chosen a lot because they often cause the least upset.
Having spoken to a lot of breeders and IME too, some of those high meat content foods are either not tolerated or not liked or end up causing diarrhoea and/or vomiting in kittens, and that is not "better", no matter how much marketing hype says that it is.
I do agree cost is an issue too for some breeders and it would be naive to suggest that some foods are not chosen purely on cost considerations, but no breeder wants to send kittens to new homes with stomach upsets either.

Alrighty so we are just going through this now. It is information overload !!

We are expecting our 2 new additions any day now, and the breeder has told us they use Royal Canin Kitten mixed with Iams, and a can / packet of wet in the morning. We are content using the same to start and not reinvent the wheel initially. Obviously, this thread being a prime example, there are positive and negative opinions abound everywhere.

Can anyone speak to some other food choices?

A 7LB bag of Royal Canin runs just under $40, which I would not consider cheap. Blue and what appeared to be a 1000 others were on the shelf as well. We got what seemed like a reasonable break down from our Pet Store guy, who did bring up the breeder programs with some companies. He also spoke a bit to filler food, but expressed that some premium foods were also overkill.

He (Pet store guy) also had a differing opinion than the breeder on leaving out dry so that they could eat as much as possible. He saying not to, and the breeder saying it was fine. My past experience has always been to leave out the dry, and my cats would eat as they saw fit.

Can anyone add some more insight?