Thread: Kitten food to Grown Cat food?

At what age should we be putting Lily onto Adult cat food? She is on Royal Canin Kitten 36, it says til 12 months on the packet - what benefits is there to her staying on it? she is 9 months now.

"Kitten food" is a marketing ploy - it isn't natural for an animal to be fed different food based on age aside from before they are weaned. She could eat adult food at any age. Mine was eating Applaws, Encore or Bozita adult food due to it's fantastic meat content from 4 months & has flourished. Kitten food is expensive - smaller contents for higher price because it is "specialist". I don't buy into any of the Royal Canin marketing.

Originally Posted by messyhearts

"Kitten food" is a marketing ploy - it isn't natural for an animal to be fed different food based on age aside from before they are weaned. She could eat adult food at any age. Mine was eating Applaws, Encore or Bozita adult food due to it's fantastic meat content from 4 months & has flourished. Kitten food is expensive - smaller contents for higher price because it is "specialist". I don't buy into any of the Royal Canin marketing.

i agree my mums had cats all her life and from 3-4 mths they have ate adult food introduced over a period of 7 days as not to upset tummy, all healthy indoor cats and never any problems...

Originally Posted by deeshell08

i agree my mums had cats all her life and from 3-4 mths they have ate adult food introduced over a period of 7 days as not to upset tummy, all healthy indoor cats and never any problems...

Our breeder strictly told us not to feed kitten food as it caused squits. Initially I was concerned that the foods I wanted to feed had no kitten varieties so I actually looked into the ingredients & found them to be pretty much the same if not exactly. One of Freya's littermates isn't as big as her (both are shown) & regularly her mum asks me how my girl got to be so big. I think it was the fact I fed her appropriately good quality pet food & expect she would have done even better on raw.

yeah the cats protection feed them over here on some sort of weird food when i first wen to look for a kitten i asked do they feed them fertaliser lol (sp) all the cats and kittens were huge, what are you feeding them on now the same as the above post ya wrote??

Yep. I look for any wet food that is at least 50% meat. So one tin/pouch of an evening each plus leave dry food out all the time. For that I feed hypo-allergenic, additive free foods such as James Wellbeloved, Jill & Jacks, Burns or Applaws & at a shove Pro Plan. I would feed the grain-free Orijen but I sadly can't afford it.

Hi, I'm pretty new to this forum business so apologies if I go about this the wrong way! I'm getting my first Maine Coon kitten in less than two weeks (10 days to be precise, not that I'm counting!) and I'm not sure what to do about food. The breeder has advised to use Royal Canin Kitten 36 to begin with but I'm not sure how long for. Having read through some of the posts on feeding, I'm not sure whether I should use RC at all - any thoughts? How much Royal Canin would you usually use in a month for a kitten? When she arrives she'll be three months old.
Thanks!!

Hi FreyjaRoMaine, and welcome to the forum. How exciting for you 10 days to go ! you must give us more info, we love it when a new baby arrives !

As for the food, don't get me wrong, I am relatively new to owning a pedigree cat, but Harry was fed solely on Royal Canin 36, after taking advise on the forum I decided to add a wet food as well. (pouches such as Felix) I keep the dry food down all day and he grazes on it and the wet sachets approx 3 times a day at specific meal times, ie. morning, noon and night. This seems to suit him.

The truth is everyone will have their own opinion on what's best, I think at the end of the day do what you feel your kitty is happy with. Certain cats (like some humans) have trouble eating certain types of food, so sometimes it's just trial and error.

Anyway looking forward to hearing all about your new addition. Alison & Harry

Hi FeyjaRoMaine,as you no doubt have seen from all the replies on this thread what suits one persons idea of feeding their cats doesn't suit others,if this is your first baby it would most probaly pay to stick with what the breeder has been using to begin with & then gradually move over onto other foods if you wish,check to see what wet food she is using as well,as to the amount it will get through in the first month that can vary quiet a lot,for sure the amount that goes in to begin with is quite vast because they are rapid growing babes for the first few months,I always supplement mine with extra vitamins at this stage because of that but not compulsory,any foods that you think you would like to get baby on too I am sure if you post on here again someone would have used it & be able to advice you.Good luck,will look forward to seeing pictures posted of the new arrival & we will all go broody again....

Thanks all for the advice, I can already see it's a minefield! Will follow the advice of the breeder as suggested and once my little girl has settled into the house I'll think about trying some other stuff with her to see what she likes. I can't wait to get her home - I've been looking through the gallery in the forum and the cats are stunning - I'm so pleased I'm getting a Maine Coon, I've wanted one for about 15 years! I've got a couple of photo's of her and can't stop looking at them - can't believe she'll be part of the family a week on Friday! Her mum's got the most amazing emerald eyes - is that any indicator of what colour hers will be? I gather they don't 'settle' on eye colour until the kitten's are about 4 months? Not that it makes any difference, my husband's convinced she'll be the most pampered, spoilt pussy cat in Surrey!!