Kitten to Cat

I have a kitten...well, now a cat...that just turned 1. We have another kitten who is 5 months old.

Up until now they have been eating from the same bowls - I have them with two separate water and food bowls, but they just eat from whatever they want.

Now that our one kitty is 1, I know she needs to be switched over to adult food. How do I do this? Is in necessary to switch her now, or can I just wait until the younger one is 1 year old also?

Thanks for all your help in advance.

I am not sure .. I think it may not hurt the older cat for 5 month . But I am sure somobody in here know's more , maybe Hissy will find her way in and read this .Hissy would know ....

That's a good question I'll be interested in hearing about!

I am interested in this as well. I have an 8-mo, and an 12-wk. I was planning not to move over to adult food until the little guy was 1 year. My 8-mo has had a rough life thusfar, and I thought she might benefit from a longer period on kitten food.

Ok....I have asked the very same question to my Vet. I have 5 cats varying in age from 5 months to 7 years. My vet told me that little kittens under 4 months of age really need to be on the kitten food because they need the extra protein. However, she told me that if you using a really good cat food that is not full of fillers, its ok for kittens past 4 months of age to just eat the cat food.

She went on to tell me that the only real difference between most cat food and kitten food is protein content. She told me that many kitten foods are sold to compensate for the fact that most grocery store brand cat foods have lots of fillers (meat meal, byproducts, corn glutein). She told me brands like NutroMax, Iams, Science Diet, have a better balance of ingredients and a kitten eating these brands gets more of what they need during the growth stages.

Now, I'm not a Vet, I'm only relaying what I was told. We moved Yoda and Futch right over to the cat food (NutroMax) after 4 months. Believe me, they are not undersized. Yoda is 1 year old and pushing 13lbs.

SystemXpert