Food

At what age do I stop feeding my cat kitten food? My Max is 6 months old. Thanks for any advice.

 

usually around a year, i think. they are still growing and need the nutrients that kitty food gives...

i have a kitty named max too!!! hes ten months old....

 

Sorry, can't help you. I have no idea. When we got Socks and Mittens as kittens we had an adult cat. They were more interested in his food than the kitten food. After awhile, I gave up and just fed them all the same food....probably by six months. Socks and Mittens are very healthy at 8 years old.

This is just what I ended up doing. I'm not giving you advice.

 

I think I've heard it's supposed to be around a year.

Do you have a bag or box of kitten food right now? Can you read the label and maybe it gives suggestions?

I just got a 4 month old cat a couple weeks ago and she mainly eats adult cat food. I try to get her to eat the kitten food, but she likes the adult cat food and the adult cats won't leave the kitten food alone. My adult cats are the last ones who need kitten food. They're fat enough.

Anyhow, it's happened to me twice before where my kitten started to eat adult cat food (even before six months). Since I free feed the cats, I can't control the kitten eating the older cat's food.

Either way, all my cats have turned out fine.

 

Wait until Max is a year old:

http://cats.about.com/cs/kittencare/a/kitten_food.htm

 

I've always used "all life stages" foods when I've had kittens so its never really been an issue here because its suitable for kittens and adults.
I think a year is what most manufacturers suggest on the bags and I'd probably go by that unless you notice the kitten starting to get pudgy. I'm pretty sure my vet recommends adult food after they are spayed/neutered.

 

okay...vene...really good link. but...she talks about feeding almost exclusively canned... vx. dry food. and states dry is not good for cats. now i am really confused...

did anyone else read the article on canned vs dry cat food???

i dont feed my cats canned....mostly because of max. i have tried to limit his food to only one source....because of the diarrhea and trying to identify what works and what doesnt. i have him on chicken soup...kitten....dry. i sprinkle an enzyme on their food...it supposedly helps them absorb the nutrients more.

help!!! what does everyone else do?? does everyone feed their cats canned? and wasnt there a post recently that says canned is mostly water??? ugh... :0011:

 

I do a combo of wet and dry foods. The dry food is out all day long. Currently I'm using half Wellness and half Chicken Soup. They just got sick of Solid Gold. Then I split a can of Pro Plan in the morning and at night between the four kitties. Ginger gets the entire can and lots of dry food but she only gets fed 1x per day. It's not better or worse to feed them exclusively 1 way or the other. It depends on whether or not their systems can tolerate the food. Anyway, that's what my vet told me. But they do prefer that kitties get fed can foods because of the water content. Some cats don't like to drink water too much and can foods adds that extra H2O. BTW, my vet said outdoor cats that hunt for food have fewer incidences of dental problems. Commercial foods are so processed that there's higher incidences of teeth decay.

 

I try to feed both but its very expensive to feed canned food with as many as I have so they mostly eat dry food and only get canned when I can get it now. It was my vet (that I previously posted about) that said you are paying for water when you buy canned food....I don't agree with her though. I personally feel that canned food is better than dry for cats but thats just my opinion.
If Max does well on dry food then I would just stick with it.

 

thanks you guys. both of them eat chicken soup....they love it, and their weight is good. their coats are really shiny.....

i like chicken soup because of all the protein its got...the first four ingredients are protein, and it has no corn.

ive been thinking about giving max acidophalis though...and mix it into a little bit of wet food. to restore the natural bacteria since hes been on antibiotics so long. anybody have info on acidophalis...amt given, frequency, etc????

btw...he wont eat yogurt....

 

Yes. At a year old u switch their food (gradually over a couple days as to prevent the runs.)

At one year old their bodies generally slow down considerably their growing progess and they tend to grow more 'out' then 'up' hehe

 

lynn: I used to sprinkle Prozyme (contains acidophalis and other digestive enzymes) on my cat dry food and I've used Wysong Denta treat (contains acidophalis and other good stuff) which smells like parmasian cheese to get picky Bella to eat canned food sometimes.
BTW, my cats love plain yogurt...too bad Max does'nt like it.

 

hi nern!! thanks...i didnt know that prozyme contained acidolphalus....that is what ive been using for about four months...oh good. well gee, might help if i read the label. my vet told me to use it, so i use it daily.

im gonna try to mix yogurt with canned food....maybe he will eat it that way...

 

Oops. Sorry lynn...I was mistaken. Prozyme does'nt contain it but Wysong dentatreat does.

 

thats okay nern...thanks for the info though....im gonna look into wysong

 

Related to cats and tooth decay....do you guys brush your kitties' teeth???
I was thiking about his yesterday, and thought I needed to do something for Hunter's teeth....
Just curious..


and as answer to the question, I feed Anna and Hunter Purina One Weight Management and Hairball Formula dry food...they get about 1/4ish of a can of wet food per kitty per day and we use 9lives for that. Hunter started getting Adult food about age 6 mos, Anna was having Senior food, so we just moved it down to regular for the both of them.
I am going to look for this chicken soup stuff though...perhaps we'll switch their food.
DH is kinda attached to 9lives and Purina because Anna is 14 and has always eaten that and has had no problems.

 

Do you have any new pics of Anna and Hunter? I don't brush their teeth, but we really should. Some cats are very prone to dental disease. I wouldn't worry about food switches as long as Anna has never had any problems with her old food. If you are going to switch, you can try giving her a little bit at a time by mixing it with the old food and see if she'll tolerate it.

 

okay...i am thinking of doing a home cooked diet for my kitties...to see if it helps max and his soft stools...

ive been reading on this issue...it seems to make alot of sense...here is a part of one article...

does anyone know where you can mail order home cooked meals?? :0011: