Kitten vs Adult diet?

Two ten month old littermates, how much longer should they be on a kitten diet?

(Siamese mix and calico, if it matters)

My 13 week old kitten is eating Wellness grain free canned cat (not kitten) food. She gets Innova "kitten and cat kibble" (that's what it's called "kitten and cat") for snacks. She's doing great.

I couldn't find a high quality kitten food she would eat. She's a slender girl, but I think that's just the way she is. She was 3.9 pounds at her check up last week. I feed her until she stops eating at every given meal time, plus she gets extra meals the big cats don't get.

How large are they? If right now they are under 8 lbs and at a solid weight( ie not slim but not fat ) feed kitten food until at least 12 months ... If they are over 8 lbs now feed them kitten till 18 months... IMHO kitten or a kitten / cat food or all stage food is ideal for most cats for the first three years of life... and an all stage or cat and kitten is fine for the whole life

Male is 10.2 lbs and female is 8.5, vet agrees that both are good weights. (Simba has a larger build than his sister)

what food are you currently feeding?

Can- Wellness, Authority, Max Cat, Nature's Variety
Wellness dry for snacks

But since I think Simba's UTI prone I'm going to change their dry in a few weeks. I was thinking Nutro but it seems like all of their kitten formulas have herring meal somewhere in the list.

In the wild, guess what, the kittens eat the same food as the adult cats. There are no kitten specific mice, heh!

So I thought that kitten food was just a scam, however, I was corrected about some specifics that are in these diets. This video highlights some of them:


So I learned that there really is a good benefit to feeding kittens kitten food, and equally important not to feed kitten food to adults. Right now I'm on Wellness Kitten which seemed to have good reviews and ingredient list, and will transition them off at 12 months.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

In the wild, guess what, the kittens eat the same food as the adult cats. There are no kitten specific mice, heh!

So I thought that kitten food was just a scam, however, I was corrected about some specifics that are in these diets. This video highlights some of them:


So I learned that there really is a good benefit to feeding kittens kitten food, and equally important not to feed kitten food to adults. Right now I'm on Wellness Kitten which seemed to have good reviews and ingredient list, and will transition them off at 12 months.

Click to expand...

She even notes about all life stage ... the side note should be that MOST kitten foods are in fact all life stage thus most of her spell is incorrect... Yes kitten foods have in general more protein and fat but look at the all stage grain frees on ave they have more calories , protein, about 50% have more fat and ALL have Minerals at a higher level than most kitten foods... None of the info I typed is hard to verify it is right on the label

Talk to YOUR vet about if your cat or kitten need to be on kitten longer or shorter than the standard year

Here are two wellness label s ....


Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein \tNot Less Than \t36.0%
Crude Fat \t
Not Less Than
\t
18.0%
Crude Fiber \t
Not More Than
\t
3.0%
Moisture \t
Not More Than
\t
11.0%
Ash \t
Not More Than
\t
6.5%
Lycine \tNot Less Than \t2.0 %
Calcium \tNot Less Than \t1.1 %
Phosphorus \tNot Less Than \t1.0 %
Magnesium \t
Not More Than
\t
0.098%
Vitamin A \tNot Less Than \t20, 000 IU/kg
Vitamin E \tNot Less Than \t250 IU/kg
Taurine \t
Not Less Than
\t
0.2%
DHA * \tNot Less Than \t0.2 %
Ascorbin Acid (Vitamin C)* \tNot Less Than \t200 mg/kg
Omega 6 Fatty Acid* \t
Not Less Than
\t
3.50 %
Omega 3 Fatty Acid* \t
Not Less Than
\t0.45 %
Total Micro-Organisms* \tNot Less Than \t80,000,000 CFU/lb



Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein \tNot Less Than \t36.0%
Crude Fat \tNot Less Than \t18.0%
Crude Fiber \tNot More Than \t3.0%
Moisture \tNot More Than \t11.0%
Ash \tNot More Than \t6.5%
Magnesium \tNot More Than \t0.098%
Vitamin E \tNot Less Than \t300 IU/kg
Taurine \tNot Less Than \t0.2%
Omega 6 (Linoleic Acid) \tNot Less Than \t3.5%
Omega 3 (Linoleic Acid)* \tNot Less Than \t0.45%
Total Micro-Organisms* \tNot Less Than \t80,000,000 CFU/lb

One is wellness kitten the other is the wellness deboned chicken formula as you can see very little difference ... Wellness Uses a formulary vs actual testing for their AFFCO seals , this makes a all life stage a bit harder to label ... Many other brands run roughly 10% more calories usually from fat

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/produ...ing-guidelines

Originally Posted by xcourtney3

Can- Wellness, Authority, Max Cat, Nature's Variety
Wellness dry for snacks

But since I think Simba's UTI prone I'm going to change their dry in a few weeks. I was thinking Nutro but it seems like all of their kitten formulas have herring meal somewhere in the list.

Click to expand...

If they are growing well which by wt they seem to be ... no need to change the food as it is working for them

As you can see at least in the dry the kitten and adult of the brand your using really are not very different

Nutro Max cat though the ingredient s may not read as well was formulated to help maintain uti health( label no longer has it as too many used it instead of a Vet RX formula for serious issues)

My original plan was to just keep them on Wellness kitten because I knew there really wasn't a different in the other Wellness. BUT Simba's pH is consistently at an eight, so I don't know if his food is contributing to that. (No crystals, only UTI) However, he was on Natural Balance (pea and duck) before, so maybe I need to wait longer for his pH to balance itself out? (Since the meat content is so drastically different between the brands)

That is a hard one... did you ask the vet for a opinion?

It didn't occur to me until I wrote that message that I may need to wait longer for his pH to adjust, lol. My vet is rechecking his urine next Tuesday. The plan right now is to keep him on the same food since he's on antibiotics and we don't want to upset his stomach right now. I'm assuming she'll address the issue further once his UTI clears up.