My kitten was fed a mixed diet by the breeder - raw chicken, dry food, tinned food and Natural Instinct frozen raw. I couldn't get any more Natural Instinct once the two packets I was given by the breeder were used up, as they will only ship 5kg and I do not have the freezer space to store that much and there was no local stockists within 30 miles of me. I did find a stockist of Natures Menu and actually thought it was better, because it came in frozen cubes so was easier to portion and defrost just the right amount. However the kitten didn't seem as keen on it (I tried all the 3 flavours, she did eat one of them, but reluctantly). Also, her stools were always loose in the first month.
I took her to the vet and they said that the diet is too varied and that blood in stools is generally due to a diet too high in protein. I was told that with her being an indoor cat, dry only diet is perfectly fine. This actually suits me too (I guess this is why we have dried food - more for 'the selfish humans' convenience?) as with the raw food I was struggling to find the time to get up early enough to get it out of the fridge (defrosted it in there overnight) to allow it to warm up to room temperature before feeding, then go to work, then come back and make the kitten wait at least 30 minutes before the defrosted raw food warms up again... whilst she miaows the house down because she is hungry.
I now just feed her a mixture of 1:1 Royal Canin Kitten - Digestive Health and James Welbeloved Kitten Turkey. She even seems to prefer it to wet food now and the stools have been much firmer after a month of this diet. Furthermore, she has been gaining weight as expected and isn't short on energy etc.
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