canned cat food to kittens? is it ok?

So I am switching my 3.5 month old kitten onto a wet diet after doing some research. I keep reading that even junk wet food is better then none, but nothing about kitten food VS cat food. Castor is a big, healthy growing boy. He is up to date on shots, fixed and spritely

He still has some dry (a mix of Authority kitten, Simply Nourish Kitten and Eukanuba kitten, I had coupons for 2 free and one 8 lbs for $4!! lol) That is available, but he mostly eats the wet.

We have been trying different brands, but he eats mostly innova cat and kitten (I know, fish, im working it out) but we also have simply nourish chicken and chicken & duck (Both HUGE hits, but so $$) some authority kitten flavors, and just tried tonight the fancy feast kitten turkey

So long story shorter, is it ok to feel adult canned cat food to a fat little kitten?

Originally Posted by magickzzl

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So long story shorter, is it ok to feel adult canned cat food to a fat little kitten?

Click to expand...

Short answer, yes! The nutritional requirements of cats don't change as they age. However, kittens do need to eat more in quantity than adult cats, so you should be feeding no less than four times a day and possibly up to or more than 11 ounces of canned food per day.

Good for you for conducting due diligence on behalf of your kitty's nutritional needs, Magickzzl!

AC

The AAFCO lists minimum requirements for two profiles, kitten and adult formulas, for both macro and micro nutrients.

These are minimums, and the cheaper brands usually tend to side pretty close to minimums for both for the cost savings.

Premium food and "all life stages" food really tends to just mean that its a "rich" food, and thus is good for growing cats and fed in smaller portions per pound is fine for adults as well. So if its a premium rich food, I would not worry about adult vs kitten, and I agree its good to have some wet food in their diet as well for the added hydration. At that age, Wesley and Buttercup had dry available 24x7 to nibble on and wet usually fed three times a day and they were still skinny little things. We also feed Innova Cat/Kitten still today, since its such a great value in the 12oz cans. I wouldn't worry about the fish in it, as its not a primary protein source which you can tell from the smell. The ones that have a lot of fish, its pretty obvious (at least to me as even a slight fishy smell makes me nauseous lol).

My kittens are around 5 months and I free feed dry ( Wellness Core and Orijen) and they get a variety of grain free canned food 4x a day. Both are on the slimmer side of healthy weight. What I feed is all labeled as all stages cat and kitten food, both came to me from rescue quite skinny.

Innova, Simply Nourish, and Authority are all higher in protein than most kitten foods of other brands, so yes it is fine to feed them to your kitty.
PLEASE don't feed Fancy Feast again though if you can afford better brands. You will only find yourself with a cat addicted to icky junk food...

Also, the tiny amount of herring that's in Innova will not harm your cat. And even if you were worried about mercury, it is on the safe list of fish to eat: http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=17694

My best advice would be to go with Authority and the 13oz cans of Innova seeing as they are very cheap per oz.