How long do kittens eat kitten food?

My Lucy is a 7 months old, recently spayed Maine Coon cat.  She is beautiful and healthy and growing fast.  I feed her Merrick all life stages wet food (various flavors, but no pate's) and Friskies canned food various flavors.  I also feed her Wellness kitten dry food mixed in.  One of the reasons I ended up with such a variety is that I have an 8 year old spayed mixed breed - Sparky.  He is finicky and I've had trial and error to see what he will eat. That's why I do not feed them any pate's.  Sparky simply won't eat it.  I share one 6 oz can of Merricks between them with dry food mixed in, in the morning, and one 6 oz can of Friskies between them with dry food mixed in, in the evening.  Occasionally I'll give a small amount of dry food during the day if they seem hungry - usually Sparky is hungry because he may have turned up his nose at the morning selection.  The difference between his food and Lucy's is that I mix Purina one dry food into his wet food and the kitten chow into hers.  Usually they keep to their own food. 

Until what age should I continue the kitten food for Lucy?  

@GovtLawyer   I typically wait until they are a year old to give them cat food vs. kitten food...I am however not keen on wet food...Oh i used to be...I would mix a 1/4 wet with a 1/4 dry until a vet told me that wet food causes tooth decay...so since then I do not give wet food on a daily basis unless it is solely for treat and even so I very rarely use wet food...Our cat Prince that was left to us by my father-in-law fed him mostly wet food and with that came extremely stinky breath and his teeth look terrible compared to my other cat who's teeth are white...now not everyone agrees with me so it is best to consult your vet then glean from others and decide what will work best for you...hope this helps...Blessings

It has been awhile since I had a kitten, but I do believe that a kitty should remain on kitten food till they are at least one year old. Kittens need the kitten food for the extra nutrients and fat that kitten food contains. They should also have as much as they want. Kittens need lots of food to grow and thrive. I doubt they would overeat. In fact, I have two cats, age 3 years and 4 years and they never overeat. Now, I believe in wet canned food. I have two males and I don't want them getting blocked. I don't feed any dry food, only in treats. I know kittens need both wet and dry food, but adult cats don't. They can just eat wet canned food. This is just my opinion. Each of us needs to do what they feel is best for their own cats. All of us here love our cats and will always do what is best. I am certainly no expert, and I am sure others with more experience will be on shortly to help you.
Also, love pictures here. One of my cats is a Maine Coone, and he is sure a big kitty!

Sometimes the options for kitten specific foods seem thin.  My cat was 7 months old when I adopted her.  I exclusively gave her kitten kibble for the first month or so.   Afterwards I wanted to ensure that she ate a broad variety of high protein food, therefore I began to add boiled eggs, sardines and cooked pork chop meat to her meals.  This is in addition to the canned food I started giving her beginning seven weeks after I brought her home.  She's also eaten adult kibble for a while now, but I do have an unopened package of Iams kitten kibble in the cupboard.  My cat is 10 months old.

I believe they need kitten food for a year

My Aby has never eaten kitten food. He was weaned right onto raw food by the breeder. I continued the sawm raw when I got him. My Aby is now 6 years old and in perfect health My rescue cat didn't start eating raw until she was 6 months old (no idea what she was fed at the rescue) and she has also grown up just fine.

Adult cat foods can be fed to kittens. You typically have to feed more of it to keep a kitten satisfied and growing. Some people like to feed both kitten and adult foods around 6 months or so and then completely switch to adult food.

My vet took Salem off kitten food at 6mos. She is healthy and active. She will be a year old in August. Only gets dry food though, none of my cats get canned food unless its their birthday Then they get a treat

imjustacatmom said:

@GovtLawyer   I typically wait until they are a year old to give them cat food vs. kitten food...I am however not keen on wet food...Oh i used to be...I would mix a 1/4 wet with a 1/4 dry until a vet told me that wet food causes tooth decay...so since then I do not give wet food on a daily basis unless it is solely for treat and even so I very rarely use wet food...Our cat Prince that was left to us by my father-in-law fed him mostly wet food and with that came extremely stinky breath and his teeth look terrible compared to my other cat who's teeth are white...now not everyone agrees with me so it is best to consult your vet then glean from others and decide what will work best for you...hope this helps...Blessings

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It is a myth that canned food causes tooth decay any more than dry food does. It is also a myth that dry food cleans teeth.

Dental disease is nearly solely due to genetics. Of course a poor quality diet can contribute as well, just as a poor quality diet can lead to other health issues.

I feed an "All Life Stages" food to all our cats (personal and rescue). I particularly like Merrick as the kibble is small enough for little kitten mouths (most kitten food is not.)

Being a Maine Coon (not sure if Lucy is Purebred or a mix?), Lucy may continue to grown until she is 3-4 years old. So, the key will be giving her high quality calories to support this growth. You can certainly do this feeding an all life stages dry food.

Aside from that, compare the ingredients and nutritional information between the good you are currently feeding. I do feel like Purina One is a better quality food that Purina Kitten Chow. (I believe the Purina One has more actual meat ingredients. I know the kitten/cat chows contain a lot of grains, which can increase the protein content, but it is not ideal protein.)

My gal ate Purina One Kitten for the first month or so.  Very high meat content.  Unfortunately the stuff later proved to be hard to find in the supermarkets and department stores.  I've discovered that few supermarkets near me stock kitten food except for the ubiquitous cheeseburgers-for -cats 'Kitten Chow.'

Lucy is a pure bred Maine Coon.  She is currently, at 7 1/2 months almost as large as most female cats I've had.  Whatever I feed her has to be OK for Sparky, other than the kitten dry food vs the Purina one.  I can put the dry food in her dish and a different one in Sparky's.  You mentioned all life stages dry food.  What about all life stages wet?  That is the Merrick I feed them.

An all life stages canned food should be fine as well. The important thing to look at with this is caloric value, as well as ingredients...you want high meat protein and low carb.

Also, since Lucy is purebred, you'll basically be tweaking her dietary needs for several more years, until she reaches her full adult size, then you'll focus on maintenance.

My Max if a Maine Coon mix. He just turned 5 and had his last major growth spurt at 3. He has some health issues, so I still feed him as much as he wants to keep weight on him (he's on the small end of the scale at 12.5 to 13 lbs).

Due to severe food allergies, Max was switched off kitten food at 5.5 months old and placed on a limited ingredient diet after failed attempts with prescription hypoallergenic diets. All the LID diets were All Life Stages...the prescription were labeled for adults.

The only canned kitten food I use in the rescue is regular Wellness Kitten. I prefer Nature's Variety, but also use Merrick LID and Wild Calling.

Agreeing with so many posters to this thread; as a cat is technically considered a kitten for the first year, I would feed either kitten-specific or approved-for-all-ages, high quality food (preferably wet) for at least 1 year.

My kitten, Miss Mia, is 10 months old and the vet told me to give her kitten food until she is 1 year old, then put her on adult cat food.

I changed to adult food at 1 year but recently found a packet of kitten food left over.  I gave it to Sukie, now 18 months, and she enjoyed it so I occasionally give kitten food to her if it is on a "special' at the supermarket.

She occasionally eats dry food and I leave a handful on her paper, but she enjoys wet food more so I go by what she wants.  If she were a male, which she is not, I would never feed only dry food!!

With regards,

Geoffrey