Kitten food / Adult food

lochnessmonster

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I am sorry if this question has been asked before (and I am sure it has).

My two are now 7 months and are still on kitten food. I know the packaging says they should stay on it until 12 months, but what do you guys do?

I am not concerned with the expense I will do whats best for them, but the range seems some what limited and cant wait to be able to give them other stuff.

Cheers guys!
 

chinakit

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When my crew were kittens they had Royal Canin kitten food, although they did steal adult food from the older cats too. I think as long as the food is really good quality, it's ok to put them on to adult food at around 8-9 months.
 

althekitty

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Hi Epona,

I hope you don't mind me sending you a message uninvited and asking for more advice! I have asked this question a couple of times but have not really had an answer. As you gave me great advice about what food to feed, I was wondering if you could advise me more! I am feeding Alan the kitten Hi-life pouches and the kitten Natures Menu pouches for variety and he loves them both, he also has the Royal Canin kitten dry that he eats if he has to! I was feeding half a pouch in the morning, another half midday, another half in the afternoon and the last half in the evening and dry left out which a lot of the time he won't eat!! The thing is is that he seems to still be hungry after his half pouch and cries for more. He can eat a whole pouch in one sitting now, although I don't think he just stuffs himself. He looks as though he is going to be a big cat, he has big paws. I was wondering if I should feed him more or if I should take him off the kitten pouches and put him on the adult ones like some have said, even though he is only 6.5 months old. I just don't want to over feed him!! I know that I can feed up to three pouches a day but would appreciate your opinion if you don't mind!! Sorry for the long message!!! Thanks!

No problem at all! I started feeding a mix of adult and kitten pouches when Radar was about the age of your cat, but Radar is a small cat he's only 7 1/2 lbs at 11 months old and I didn't want him getting fat on kitten food.

I think if your cat is quite big in terms of bone size/height then he may need the kitten food for a bit longer, just keep an eye on him to make sure he's not putting weight on around his belly - if he starts to, switch him to adult food.

I don't see a problem with feeding more wet food if he prefers it to dry, most cats of that age won't eat more than they burn off playing and racing around! If he's active and wants more food then try him on 3 pouches a day, just cut back if he starts getting a belly. Wet food is less likely to make him fat than dry, so giving more wet and less dry shouldn't be a problem. You could introduce adult food as the third pouch, it doesn't hurt to feed a mix of kitten and adult at that age.

The thing you need to beware of if switching him to adult pouches is that Hi-Life adult is not a 'complete' cat food and he won't get all his nutritional needs met from it - so when you do eventually switch him over to adult food make sure it isn't all Hi-Life. Nature's Menu adult is a complete food so you can alternate with that.

I hope that helps!
This is a message that I sent to Epona who comes on here and I thought I would share it with you! She has been a great help to me. I have just been out and got the kitten and adult food and am going to feed this way now. On Eponas advice i use the hi-life and the Natures Menu that Alan loves!!as it is one of the best, higher meat content and less rubbish. I hope it all goes well.
 

bnwalker2

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My 8 month old Tabitha is currently eating adult food... she is a BIG girl and the vet was worried that she was growing too fast, so she's been on adult food for a couple months now.
 

Asteria

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We're going to switch my girls to adult food this week. They just turned 1 year today.
I think it depends on the kitty when they're ready.
 

goldenkitty45

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For my cats, since they were smaller breeds, they were only on kitten food till 4, maybe 5 months of age - then gradually switched to adult food - fine. The rexes are only supposed to weigh 5-7 lbs when full grown. If they ate higher calorie kitten food for a year - they would weigh 15 lbs! and be VERY fat


At 7 months - I'd be switching them to adult food real soon. I NEVER went by what the bag recommended - and I had very healthy cats at the proper weight for their age and body build.
 

pippen

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I waited until 1 year and wished I'd made the change earlier because my big guy really started packing on the tummy weight those last few months. Now I'm having to trial some adult foods because he's not done well on those I've tried even though I've made the changeover gradually. I'm wondering if he's somewhat sensitive to diet changes--even when he was a kitten he reacted terribly when I made the change from canned KMR to the dried powder.

Are there any adult foods that are tolerated better? He hasn't liked canned since he was very little.
 
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