Tiki Cat Baby Mousse Chicken, Duck & Duck Liver Grain-Free Wet Kitten Food, 2.4-oz pouch, case of 12

All seven of my cats loved this mousse so it must taste great. It does have a very smooth, mousse-like consistency, a lot like the popular treats that come in tubes, so in that sense it's appropriate for kittens' little mouths and would work as intended to help them transition from mom to solid food. Overall, though, I wouldn't use it as anything other than an occasional treat in small amounts and here's why: The protein comes from chicken, chicken broth, duck, duck liver, and dried egg, in that order. But the reason I rated the product with two stars is because the third ingredient listed is sunflower oil. It might be in there to help produce the mousse consistency or to add calories, but it's not something I would give to a growing kitten even as a treat, because while it supplies some nutrients they aren't from a source that's naturally found in a carnivore's diet. Farther down the ingredient list is tuna oil. Tuna's not something that wild cats would ever encounter, either, but fish oil is a better source for the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids cats need. Because of the seed oil I would't feed this as primary calorie source or even as a supplement. Cats need low-carbohydrate, high protein diets with specific vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, and in my opinion seed oils don't contain species-appropriate nutrition. I'm not a fan of food that comes in pouches because it's hard to get everything out without cutting the pouch open on three sides and using a spatula, but since young kittens need to be fed 4-6 times per day the pouch format would make it easier to serve and to store the leftovers. Each pouch contains 77 kcals. Tiki Cat recommends 1.5 pouches per pound of body weight, so a 3-pound kitten would get 4.5 pouches per day for 346 calories. (For comparison, about 200 calories is a maintenance diet for a moderately active adult cat.) That's a lot of pouches per cat per day.

Our 10 year old cat has been dropping weight and the vet said to up his calories any way we can. When the Baby Mousse arrived I thought since Lenny is so picky I would see if I mixed it with his food. Thank goodness, he is starting eat again.