Switching from kitten to adult food...HELP!

Hi

I have a ginger tom (Jeff) who is coming up to 1yr old. For the last few weeks I have been trying to switch him from Felix kitten pouches to the Felix adult pouches. He is having none of it. I have tried mixing majority kitten in with a little adult but won't touch it. As soon as he detects any of the adult meat he walks away.

Is there anything I do to get him eating the adult? Is it doing him any harm still eating kitten food at 1yr old?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Jeffs Dad said:

I have a ginger tom (Jeff) who is coming up to 1yr old. For the last few weeks I have been trying to switch him from Felix kitten pouches to the Felix adult pouches. He is having none of it. I have tried mixing majority kitten in with a little adult but won't touch it. As soon as he detects any of the adult meat he walks away.

Is there anything I do to get him eating the adult? Is it doing him any harm still eating kitten food at 1yr old?
 

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Welcome to the Cat Site, Jeffs Dad!

I looked up the Felix food (we don't have it in the US) and see that the company says it's for mischievous little rascals -- maybe Jeff is being a mischievous rascal by refusing the adult food!

Seriously, though, there's probably no problem feeding him the kitten food, particularly since he's still only about a year old and most likely very active. Most kitten food is more caloric than adult food, though, so if Jeff continues to insist on kitten food for a long time, you might want to check calories and ingredients to be sure he won't be getting more calories than he needs.

If I were in your situation, I might start slowly trying out another brand's adult food on Jeff, just to have more foods to "rotate" for him. Then again, it sounds like Jeff is a cat of habit, at least food-wise! Our cats are the opposite: they get bored with their food very easily. They, by the way, are over two years old but I still feed them one kind of kitten food every now and then, as a treat, just because they love it.

Trying some different brands is definitely a good option. There's no harm in feeding kitten food to a one year old, but it is higher calorie, and by feeding less to compensate you might be short changing him in the vitamins/minerals department.

I'm assuming you're in the uk if you're feeding Felix. Which Felix Kitten were you feeding, and which adult Felix did you try? Sometimes the ingredients can be quite different, and that can accept for the lack of interest. If you give me approximate budget and tell me where you shop (ie Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Pets at Home etc) I'd be happy to compare ingredients and make some suggestions for you.