Kitten food

krickette

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
79
Purraise
0
Location
Louisiana
Dumb question, I know....but...I know cats are technically kittens for a year, but for how long should they eat kitten food?
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
Most will say a year ... some say longer up to 18 months others say 4 to 5 months
 

goldenkitty45

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
19,900
Purraise
44
Location
SW Minnesota
This is a debatable question. IMO I feel that kittens only need to be eating kitten food for about 5 months. If the kitten is a larger breed like a Maine Coon or has been sick at a young age and needs the extra protein/calories, then keep them on longer (maybe up to 9 months old).

It depends on the bone structure of the cat - not by the "instructions" on the bags (I've never fed any of my cats kitten food after 4-5 months old). I bred Cornish Rex (which only weigh about 5-6 lbs when grown). If I had fed them kitten food for a year - they would be very much overweight. They stopped kitten food at 4 months old.

My Ocicats were only fed kitten food till 5 months old (they will weigh 11-13 lbs then grown).

None of my cats had a weight problem by feeding them this way.
 

snake_lady

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Messages
7,218
Purraise
13
Location
ON./Canada
I find that alot of the "all stages" foods are similiar in analysis as the kitten foods. (I mean the mid to high price range of all stages foods). I doubt you'll find an agreeable answer on this topic...as most peoples opinions vary. I like feeding an all stage food.


I read this somewhere and it made some sense to me: cats in the wild.... kittens eat the same things an adult cat eats...(rodents/birds/etc) so why all the hooplah bout feeding a "kitten" food when in natural they would just eat more or less of the prey that they caught..... (sorry if this is hijacking but I'm curious about that)
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
yes in the wild they eat the same things but for the first 6-12 months in big cats mom does all hunting and regurtiates for a period of time... remember our domestic cats live 2-5 yrs in the wild
 

furryfriends50

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Messages
717
Purraise
15
Location
USA
Originally Posted by sharky

yes in the wild they eat the same things but for the first 6-12 months in big cats mom does all hunting and regurtiates for a period of time... remember our domestic cats live 2-5 yrs in the wild
i think that is because of all the dangers we present to them. cars are a major one. the few areas that a cat could live in that would be wooded have much larger population of wild animals simply because of all of our housing developments, and the areas where coyotes, cougars, bears, raccoons, etc are getting smaller and smaller. we lay out poisen for mice and rats, cats eat those and it can kill them. there is much more open areas since people took down trees and a eagle could catch a cat better that way. also you have to take into fact all of our inventions such as antifreeze and poisens...

we are shortening their lifespans drastically in the wild and it is completly people's fault. if you took away all those factors sure there would still be coyotes and other animals that would catch cats but they would be spread further around.

also there is a larger populatoin of cats because with eating our stuff dumped in the garbage they get more nutrition which equals more kittens surviving.
 

snake_lady

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Messages
7,218
Purraise
13
Location
ON./Canada
Originally Posted by sharky

yes in the wild they eat the same things but for the first 6-12 months in big cats mom does all hunting and regurtiates for a period of time... remember our domestic cats live 2-5 yrs in the wild
Even though mom hunts and "chews up" the kittens food, they are still getting the same nutrients... That is the part I'm questioning when it comes to feeding a kitten food. I'm questioning whether "kitten food" is just a hyped up name, to allow manufacturers to charge more $ for it.

If they can eat the same things in the wild, why can't they in the home? (I don't think the shortened lifespan is due to the nutrients in what they eat)

 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

Even though mom hunts and "chews up" the kittens food, they are still getting the same nutrients... That is the part I'm questioning when it comes to feeding a kitten food. I'm questioning whether "kitten food" is just a hyped up name, to allow manufacturers to charge more $ for it.

If they can eat the same things in the wild, why can't they in the home? (I don't think the shortened lifespan is due to the nutrients in what they eat)

I personally as you know think kitten food is often better than adult
because of the higher nutrients .... when mom chews it IT becomes far MORE digestable to the baby

IMHO some is marketing but most is to help a critcal growth time
_

The asian and african small wild cats have the same 3-5 yr lifespan and they do not by in large have the people factor .... our housecats HAVE ARTIFICIALLY inflated lifespans
 
Top