Is a kitten formula food really necessary?

Hi everyone,

Sadly, we lost our boy of 12 years, Bailey, to renal failure this past Friday.  I am still in shock and miss him more than words can describe.  He had been doing so incredibly well for a while after his diagnosis, but then he crashed and that was it.  

For a very young kitten, yes, because your kitten requires tons of nutrients that just aren't in adult cat food.  A kitten's metabolism is extremely high and all the extra nutrients in kitten food will help him grow strong.  I feed kitten food until they're about 6 mos old, then supplement with adult food, gradually tapering off of the kitten food by the time they are 12 mos. old.

IMO, kitten food just has extra nutrients to support kitten growth. You could feed regular adult food and supplement the kitten with something like NutriCal. My Aby was weaned right onto commericla raw pet food (a "for all life stages" one) by the breeder and he's grown up just fine without any added supplements  

So I guess it's just a personal choice whether to feed kitten food or adult food with or without supplementation. As to when to start feeding adult food, it's also a matter of choice. Some say around 6 months, others say at 1 years.

Thanks!  I'm pretty sure we'll just go with a kitten food for the first 6-12 months, probably the Chicken Soup kitten formula, and then switch him over to the adult formula that our other cats eat.  

What I did when I adopted a 9-10 wk old was feed him Innova EVO cat/kitten canned and Royal Canin baby cat dry until he was about 3-4 mos old.  At 3-4 mos, I added our regular grain-free dry to the Royal Canin in about a 75% RC to 25% Taste of the Wild dry.  Continued on the Innova EVO cat & kitten canned.  At about 6 mos, I introduced to the canned food, Innova EVO venison and cut back on the amount of cat/kitten.  From about 8 mos on, he was on only the Innova Cat/Kitten canned with the venison and adult TOTW dry.  He weighed almost 9 lbs when he was neutered at 5 mos, so I knew he was healthy. 

I use all-stages food a lot in my rotation for my kitten- that is always a option.