When to switch from kitten to adult food

[Sketches]

Hi guys,

Apologies if this has come up before, but I’ve done a quick check and can’t seem to find a similar thread.

Kitten food seems to be geared to cats up to 12 months of age, but I have wondered that given MC’s are slower to mature, whether I should be sticking with kitten food a bit longer…

But then I came across this thread on another forum;

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/212731/w...ten-adult-food

Many these posters think that leaving a cat on kitten food for a year is unnecessary, and there is the suggestion that cats can become overweight if left on kitten food post neutering.

What do you all think? Obviously the above thread isn’t MC specific, so I’d be interested to hear your opinions in this.

[Howlinbob]

The whole idea of kitten food is a bit of a gimmick. Kittens will thrive on any good quality cat food. The discussion should really be about what is a good quality cat food, and see if your kitten will eat that. If you start them young enough, they will probably accept whatever you give them.

My advice would be to stop feeding dry food altogether, and offer a few different brands of wet food, preferably grain-free. Introduce some raw food.

Still, it is interesting to ponder when an MC stops being a kitten, given that they are a slow-maturing breed. Lots of them, especially the males, are great big clowns and behave like kittens their entire lives. My youngest MC Herbie is a year old and 6.2kgs, but he still has all his kitten gestures and behaviours. He is much more kittenish than his 2 big brothers. In fact, he's the biggest kitten I've ever seen!

[Sketches]

Howlinbob - thanks for the reply.

Casco is on Felix kitten pouches for his wet, but I am concerned about the meat content, or lack thereof. I really like the look of the Feline Fayre complete range - black pouches, 51% meat, and I stand to be corrected but I think its grain free. Casco tried it the other month and loved it, but they don’t have a kitten version at Asda, only adult. But based on what you have said, I might just give him the adult then. He is nearly 6 months after all.

It’s interesting what you say about kitten food being a gimmick, I did begin to wonder that myself when I saw that Orjen don’t have two separate ranges, just one suitable for kittens AND cats.

Herbie sounds great

[Howlinbob]

Yes I would try him on the adult food. Feline Fayre sounds pretty good.

I get grain-free food in tins from Zooplus. They are Swedish and German brands. For some reason they seem to do decent cat food in Europe, where they are not in the Procter & Gamble, Whiskas/Felix stranglehold. The ones I buy are Bozita (Swedish), and Smilla, and Animonda Carny. Grau is another one that's grain-free. I get the 400g tins, which work out at about £2.34-£2.79 per kilo, depending on what offers are available. There is no postage and packing on orders over £19 and you get customer points, so when they build up you can order a free gift as well. Here's the link:

Canned Cat Food: Bargain Prices by zooplus

If you browse the other brands, it's unbelievable how much you could pay...up to £9 per kilo! Must be pretty good....

One of the brands does a pouch of raw food. They sent me a free sample in one of my orders - it was called Almo Nature. So that would be a very easy way of feeding raw. My cats inhaled it.

[Antonia]

One of the brands does a pouch of raw food. They sent me a free sample in one of my orders - it was called Almo Nature.

Is that the "Green label"? If yes, I might order some for the emergency supply.

[Howlinbob]

Yes it's the Green Label Raw pack (there is a Green Label cooked version too, confusingly).

green-label - Almo Nature

Not sure if the Raw Pack is complete or complimentary, might be worth checking on that.