How old should kittens be before giving them dry food?

I am currently feeding Jasmine (11weeks) dry Iams food, and Senja (8 weeks) receives Iams moistened with water, or canned. When should I start feeding her the dry without moistening it? Should I go gradually like for when you switch to a new food? Is chewing the bits necessary? She gobbled up a bunch when I first let her have it, and didn't chew hardly any pieces...

Well both of mine had the kitten kibbles from being a couple of months old, but i still gave them the wet food as well.

Sophie never used to crunch on her kibbles properly either but she did eventually.

Jasmines a little cutie btw

I would say a few more weeks if kitty desires

How old? Never. Its is wrong to feed them dry food at any age.

That's not true at all. It's actually better to feed them dry then just wet.

They are both old enough to eat dry. She probably scarfed it down with barely chewing because she liked it so much. lol My cats do that, especially when it's a new food. My kits (one at 9 months and two at 5 months) now eat mostly dry food but still get a small amount of canned at night.

Hi, when I had kittens, I let them tell me..if they were eating easily (chewing well) and an adequate amount, I let them have both kitten kibble as well as canned.

I do not want to start a debate - that would side track your thread, but I do not agree that dry food only or mainly, as a diet, is the best choice for any cat. It is a fallacy that a wet food diet causes dental issues, and I prefer a quality canned or homemade diet (with the formula being approved by your vet) to a dry diet. That said, we all do the best we can, and if dry kibble fits your budget best, then just get the best quality dry food you can (no by-products, no animal digest, no colorings or artificial flavors, no corn gluten meal as the first or only protein source, no multiple carbs such as containing wheat and soy flour, ground or whole or cracked corn).

They can eat hard food as early as 4-5 weeks. No need to wet the food anymore

Originally Posted by catguy

How old? Never. Its is wrong to feed them dry food at any age.

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This is not true. It is best to feed them a balanced diet of both.

To the original poster. I switched mine slowly over to dry with less moisture in their food and they quickly went to the dry. They still like the wet on occassion but prefer the dry food more.