Kiki’s Diet – What She Ate & Reactions

Just like every cat purr-ent out there, we wanted to make sure Kiki ate only the best food available from the very beginning. So, we spent a lot of time learning what she liked and disliked, which food was best suited for her little tummy, and how different foods affected her health and well-being.

Over the years, we have tried numerous foods, treats, routines, and we paid close attention to how she reacted to each of them.

Here’s everything Kiki ate over the years and how each choice shaped her happiness, health, and well-being.

Basic Diet for Kiki

From the very start, we wanted to keep Kiki’s diet simple and balanced, so we weren’t experimenting with usual diets or giving her human food. Our sole focus was to provide good quality cat food with plenty of fresh water, and then we just paid attention to how her little body reacted as she grew.

1. Dry Food – Kibble

Dry food was and still is the foundation of Kiki’s diet. From the day we brought her home she happily ate her kibble and never had any issues with it. As she grew older, we tried different brands, from Purina to Whiskas, mixing kitten food and then adult food, and lastly, healthy food for the urination tract, food for a healthy coat, and food for sterilized cats.

She enjoyed both Purina and Whiskas, but we found she didn’t quite enjoy the kibble that was meant to support a healthy coat, so we decided not to feed her too much of it.

Takeaway – dry food always kept her satisfied and she never ate more than she needed to. Today, it still remains the biggest part of her daily meals and continues to work really well for her.

2. Wet Food – Canned

Wet food, or canned food, is also still part of our routine. We gave Kiki wet food in forms of pouches and cans, and she absolutely loved it, especially Whiskas’. She would get sooo excited when we were opening the pouch and she couldn’t wait to get her meal.

At first, she was adorable and ate the food, but never ate it fully or more than needed. She would eat as much as needed and leave the rest, oftentimes never going back to it again. Wet food has a short life span so we would end up throwing the leftovers away.

However, we noticed a change in her behavior as Kiki went from an adorable little playful kitten to a full-on beast, becoming very aggressive in our playtime activities.

Moreover, her skin and coat got very greasy and she would attack, in a playful manner, everyone close to her, even the guests.

This was the moment we reached out to our vet for consultation and researched the reasons why she would do this. After that, we dialed down the wet food and would feed her pouches only on rare occasions.

Soon after, Kiki returned to a normal lovable little furry baby and her coat and fur also returned to being normal, smooth, and silky.

Takeaway – wet food is a good appetizer and has many benefits, though regular wet food obviously took a toll on our baby, and we now feed her only on rare occasions.

3. Water – Fountains & Bowls

One of the biggest benefits of wet cat food is that it contains a high level of moisture, which is important for cats as many cats rarely drink enough water.

However, the one thing that surprised us the most was how much water Kiki drank each day. Many purr-ents struggle to encourage their cats to stay hydrated, but fortunately for us, this was never the case with Kiki.

We always made sure that she had plenty of fresh water available and we placed multiple water bowls around the apartment, so whenever she feels thirsty, she would immediately have a source to drink from.

Additionally, we also bought her a water fountain and instantly became her favorite place to drink from. But not before playing with it, of course, she’s a cat after all.

Takeaway – drinking a good amount of water is a must for cats to stay hydrated, and our Kiki drinks plenty of water, which makes our feeding routine pretty easy, as we would just feed her dry food with wet food on rare occasions.

Kiki’s Reaction to Dry & Wet Food

We mentioned earlier that Kiki reacted in different ways to both the dry and wet cat food. As she grew, we noticed what influenced her energy levels, her behavior, and how it affected her overall health and litter habits.

Looking back, the changes became impossible to ignore so it’s always good to keep a close eye on your cat’s food intake.

We hope this will help you whenever you have struggles with your kitten or cat’s eating habits or routines.

Dry Food

This was always the safest and most reliable choice. Her coat remained smooth, silky, and healthy, and she maintained good weight. Additionally, her personality remained the same and she loved it.

Takeaways:

• Safe and reliable choice
• Good on her health
• Maintained steady weight
• No digestive issues
• No unusual behavior changes
• Occasionally she would get bored
• Liked only certain types of dry food

Wet Food

Our experience with wet cat food was very different from other purr-ents we discussed food with. Namely, she seemed perfect at first, and even became very playful and engaging.

However, over time she became very aggressive in her playing attitude, jumping and pouncing aggressively, and her coat and fur became very greasy as a result. We believe this is likely due to the high Taurine levels within the wet food we brought home.

Our sweet, cuddly little girl suddenly became much more aggressive during playtime. She would stalk us around the apartment, launch surprise attacks, grab onto our legs with her claws, and refuse to let go. Instead of ending with a happy, tired kitten taking a nap, our play sessions often ended with scratches on our hands and legs.

Takeaways:

• Very palatable and Kiki loved
• High moisture content, though we didn’t have hydration issues
• Gained a lot of weight
• Made her coat very greasy
• She became very aggressive
• Good to give wet food on rare occasions as a form of treat

🐾There was a vast difference in giving Kiki dry and wet food, and nowadays, we feed her dry food only, and give her wet food when we come back from a few days vacation, or rarely as a form of treat and reward, and also for additional hydration benefits. We also mix it with water as we find it very concentrated and she only likes to drink the soup and leave the little pieces of food, so this way she has more to drink. However, she never finishes the entire bowl and always walks away when she’s had enough.

Kiki’s Story Continues

Learning what kind of food Kiki should eat was an important milestone for us and it took a bit of trial and error to find the most suitable food for her. Every single experience helped us better understand her and allow us to keep her happy and healthy.

As Kiki continued to grow, our knowledge did as well, and we are now happy that she enjoys the meals and routine. We hope this will help other cat purr-ents out there who are still figuring out their furry babies’ diet.