Please share your advice on feeding a larger cat breed

[olafandmaui]

Hi guys,

Parent of a ragdoll here. Hoping to ask those with bigger cats (ragdolls, coons, etc) a question about food.

• How long do you keep them on kitten food? I heard you should wean off in a year but also heard that coons and Ragdolls can grow for almost four years - so does it make sense to wean them off it if we want them to grow bigger?
• Anyone here have experience with breed-specific food (e.g. RC Maine coon kitten) and know whether these things are actually better for big cats?

Thanks so much!

 

[Furballsmom]

if we want them to grow bigger?

Hi
It's not you wanting them to grow bigger that is the point. The purpose of feeding food with more/higher nutritional values is to support the continuing growth of the entire cat (nervous system, brain, skeleton etc etc), and larger breeds mature later, (--although four years later seems a bit on the long side of things).

If you compare ingredients and the nutritional makeup of breed specific varieties, more than likely you'll find they are very similar to varieties that are labeled as being appropriate for All Life Stages.

 

[Kieka]

My boy is no particular breed but he is 16 pounds as an adult. To keep things simple, he's been on an all stages food his entire life. Once he hit a year, I started paying attention to his body condition to make sure he didn't become overweight. But for the most part he always ate as a kitten and started slowing down at about 2 years old. His vet would like to see him loose a smidgen but it's more of "he looks good but don't let him gain".

Breed specific foods are a scam IMO 99% of the time. Cats are cats. There is not enough difference between breeds to justify any different food. Feed a good quality low carb high moisture food and any cat will thrive. And the 1% where it isn't a scam? Persians because of how their mouths are shaped having a kibble properly shaped is better for them.

 

[olafandmaui]

I see, so I should really just transition to adult food because there are other aspects of the growth spurt that the adult food supports. Did I understand that right?

because of how their mouths are shaped having a kibble properly shaped is better for them.

And thank you for that advice on the breed specific. I didn't know this is a real thing. Fascinating. Thank you both for the info!

 

[Furballsmom]

I think All Life Stages foods will be just fine for them, and you could start a kitten on an All Life Stages food at probably six months of age, perhaps sooner but again, I'd read the ingredients/nutritional values pages - a lot of cat food websites are becoming more and more transparent, so they'll have some nutritional information right on the product page, but then there will be a more indepth analysis and breakdown of the product's nutritional content available, sometimes by clicking on a link.

Also, as a side note, you might want to try different varieties (again, watching that it is All Life Stages), brands and textures with them for several reasons. Manufacturers have a tendency to change their recipes and sometimes the cat doesn't like the new version, or a favored brand becomes hard to find or is discontinued. This can be extremely helpful in the future, to help avoid a cat becoming finicky and picky

 

[lisahe]

Also, as a side note, you might want to try different varieties (again, watching that it is All Life Stages), brands and textures with them for several reasons. Manufacturers have a tendency to change their recipes and sometimes the cat doesn't like the new version, or a favored brand becomes hard to find or is discontinued. This can be extremely helpful in the future, to help avoid a cat becoming finicky and picky

I so agree with this advice -- feeding a variety is useful in lots of ways! I still feed our nine-year-old cats a little kitten food every now and then since there are a few that they like.

Our cats aren't ragdolls (they're Siamese mixes or wannabees!) but their appetites didn't ease up for a few years. As Kieka mentions, it's a good idea to keep an eye on how your cats look, to see if they look like they're gaining too much.

 

[Furballsmom]

This is an adult cat body condition chart - there are others online as well;
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms...19-8bd4-656c8e3ec094/jsap12905-fig-0001-m.jpg