Scratchings-and-Sniffings

Posted by Animals at 5:37 PM Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Scratchings-and-Sniffings

Life Stage Pet Foods

Posted: 16 Jun 2009 10:15 AM PDT

Dr.-Larry-with-Miles We had an interesting comment from a reader recently in response to the kitten food post we did a while back. Her point was that you can feed complete and balanced cat food to kittens and that they'll do just fine. Her other assertion was that kitten foods are are more about marketing than nutrition. 

I'd have to say that the first point is true in certain circumstances. On the second point, I think there is more to kitten food than a profit motive alone.
 
Some Cat foods are labeled 100% complete and balanced for all life stages. Cat Chow Complete is a good example of this type of a product. By altering the amount you feed per pound of body weight you can deliver the right amount of nutrition for each life stage. You would have to feed kittens proportionally more Cat Chow per unit of body weight to get the additional calories, minerals and protein needed for optimal growth.
 
You would have to do the same for a nursing queen. Growth diets are often recommended for pregnant and nursing mothers because they need more energy to supply the needs of lactation in particular. During peak lactation a queen may need 3 to 4 times the calories she'd normally require to maintain her body weight for the increased demands of milk production.
 
Kitten foods are typically higher in protein and fat content than adult foods. Higher levels of protein are useful to supply the amino acids used for the building of various body tissues like skeletal muscle and just about everything else. Kittens are doing more than getting bigger during this phase. They are developing their immune system and adequate protein is essential for the development and ongoing maintenance of a nimble defense system.
 
It is during this phase that kittens are challenged by various bugs and when they are vaccinated. Adequate protein helps them respond to vaccinations by building up cellular immunity.
 
The extra fat in kitten food supplies the extra calories they need. They can require up to two times the energy per pound of body weight during the rapid growth phase. Some kitten foods are supplemented with special fatty acids like DHA that are thought to help with the development of vision and brain.
 
Kitten foods are also slightly higher in certain minerals like calcium and phosphorus for bone growth and development.
 
Take a look at this side by side comparison of Purina ONE Kitten food and Purina ONE Adult Chicken and Rice Cat Food. The guaranteed analysis shows the higher levels of protein and fat as well as the addition of DHA in the kitten food.
 
Purina ONE Healthy Kitten food has also been tested in feeding trials with kittens specifically designed to measure nutritional adequacy for growth. Feeding trials for growth are an important indicator of a products performance during this critical developmental phase.
 
Cat Chow has also been tested and met the requirements for growth. For my money though I'd rather feed a kitten food. I think they are more targeted specifically against the demands for growth and I like the fact that kitten foods are more nutrient dense meaning they pack more nutrition in each kibble.
 
A kitten will have to eat less kitten food to meet their needs and in the long run this off sets the higher cost of kitten food. I like the additional DHA in kitten food, too. As I mentioned before, this omega 3 fatty acid is crucial to the development of the central nervous system in kittens. Queen's milk is the primary source of DHA and studies have shown that DHA helps with brain and vision Buddy_kittens development in kittens. 
 
Most of you know that I'm an avid cyclist and I think bicycles can provide a good analogy for my case for kitten food. I can walk down to my bike shop right now and buy a hybrid bike that combines elements of a road bike and a mountain bike. It's a fine alternative for many people. These bikes are also less expensive than pure mountain or road bikes. They don't perform the specific tasks as well, though.
 
At my advanced age I need all the help I can get from my dual suspension, disk brake, equipped mountain bike. My road bike weighs in a sixteen pounds and is made of titanium and carbon fiber. The wheels on my road bike cost three times as much as a hybrid bicycle, but when I'm riding up a seven mile climb or chasing some of my younger buddies, the higher cost and tremendous specificity of my custom made road bike are well worth it.
 
I can get from point A to point B on almost anything with two wheels but that's not the point for me. I prefer something designed and tested for the task at hand and if that test is growing a kitten in the most propitious fashion, I'll go for the kitten food every time.

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