switching to adult food

Mamie will be seven months old at the beginning of April. She's two pounds underweight (she's not too skinny, she's too small--she's in great health and starting to get a little round). I've been feeding her Nutro Natural kitten food, which has given her the softest, loveliest coat imaginable! She was also spayed a few weeks ago.

When should I switch her to the adult food? Is it based on size or age? Also, does anyone have any advice on feeding regimens? I've heard various theories on how much and when to feed cats in order to keep them from becoming overweight. How do you feed your cat?

Thanks in advance!

Chester is just turning 7 months too...actually he even looks like Mamie, which I think is fun! I've been feeding him the petsmart brand, Authority, which I like as well. I've heard Nutro is great too! I've found that he has been getting chubby, and then has a growth spurt, then starts getting chubby again. I figure it's part of the growth process, but man, since I got him 3 months ago, he's grown about 4lbs!
Personally I'm going to wait the full 12 months that the foods reccomend before I change over to adult food. I feel that they need the extra "stuff" that they put in kitten food to help them along with the growth process, and I'd hate to cut back on that too soon.
As for regimens, I probably feed him wet food too often. He gets a quarter of a can in the morning, at dinner time and in the evening at bedtime. I plan on cutting back to twice a day once he stops growing though, because I also feed him dry throughout the day. From reading the posts around here, I get the feeling that your feeding regimen is up to you, whatever works.
Jess

Rosie was on kitten food until she reached 12 months, but Sophie stopped eating her kitten kibbles from about 9 months and preferred Rosies adult ones, so i mixed the kitten kibbles in with adult ones until the bag was used up.

i switched Marsh at about 12-13 months. He was on Royal Canin Kitten #34, now he's on #27 (indoor).

so it sounds like 12 months is the standard....
i'll look around for more food threads. right now she eats no wet food and basically has a bottomless dry bowl. ooooh she's going to get so fat if i'm not careful.

Originally Posted by sarahlu78

so it sounds like 12 months is the standard....
i'll look around for more food threads. right now she eats no wet food and basically has a bottomless dry bowl. ooooh she's going to get so fat if i'm not careful.

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She may not.. but I am conserned that you say she is underwt .. I would leave her on kitten for the full yr... Yes adult food is safe at her age but her wt worry me .... My Zoey eats only dry and fresh meat and she too is under only had one chubby dry food mostly eater.. this is my personal experience