Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: Tiggy's Mum on November 24, 2007, 22:02:56 PM
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The boys are 9 months now and I was planning to start them on adult dry food, the kitten food they have says from 1 - 18 months which I personally think is a bit OTT so was all set to start them on the adult.
I got some when it was on offer at PAH so went to give them some tonight and it says on the front from 1 to 7 years which has got me thinking whether I should change over to adult just yet as they're only 9 months. Riley is huge so I'm not so worried about him but Lukey is quite a bit smaller so I don't want to stunt his growth if he has any left in him!
Was just wondering what age everyone else started their 'teenage' cats on adult food? If the consensus is that I should wait until they're a year then I will do, the thought of Pets at Home on a Sunday is sending shivers down my spine though!
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Mosi went onto adult wet at about 8 months and adult dry at about 9 months (cos I had a load in to use up).
Jaffa went onto adult at about 10 months if I remember correctly.
If you look at the nutritional breakdown on the back of the bags of adult and kitten food within the same brand, there is often very little difference.
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I got Neit when she was a year old, and Pimpernel at the same time at 5 months. A couple of months later I got Bramble, again at 5 months old. I tried to give both Pimpernel and Bramble kitten food, but found that Neit was pinching that, and the other two ate whatever they could find!
Unless there's a specific health problem that requires a special diet, I wouldn't worry.
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I never gave my cats kitten food they all just eat the same as the other cats.
I did buy some kitten food once but nobody liked it. Homer eats Whiskas tinned, ocassionally pouches and biscuits.
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Boopy has eaten adult food pretty much her whole life when I got her and I gave Bilbo kitten until 10months and then half kitten half adult until 18 months as he's a very slow maturing breed. My moggies have always gone onto adult food as soon as they've been neutered.
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:thanks: everyone
I decant the biccies into a tub so don't have the kitten food packaging to compare. I normally leave biccies out for a snack but have no kitten ones left so the boys are getting a bit anxious now!
There's no health problems with either of them, I just didn't want to feed them on something that might not be suitable for them. I know when Tiggy was a kitten that kitten varities didn't even exist (or if they did my Mum and Dad were too tight to buy them!) so she was fed on adult food from around 4 weeks, she lived to almost 19 years so not bad for a little girl dumped on a skip!
Am poised to rip open the new sack of biccies (and avoid having to brave Pets at Home on a Sunday) unless someone tells me different :-:
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Am poised to rip open the new sack of biccies (and avoid having to brave Pets at Home on a Sunday) unless someone tells me different :-:
Will do them no harm at all to eat adult food at their age. Now they are neutered their calorie requirements will be about 25% lower than an entire cat so they won't need as many calories.
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I say go for it - rip those biscuits open and then if the boys dont like them then you will have to eat them !
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My 3 little ones are almost 8 months old and have been on adult food for a month or so now. I was a bit worried with the dry food cos the adult is so much bigger than the kitten, but it was fine. I had to put them onto adult cos Tigger kept stealing the kitten food and he's a chub as it is lol.
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ha - try telling that to jasper please lottie!! he is a boy very much ruled by his tummy :Luv:
helen, go for it - they have to grow up sometime :) seriously though, like you said they didnt even used to have kitten food, so really it aint gonna harm them being on big boy food. and no one should have to face PAH on a sunday without very good cause!!!
i guess you've already given it them by now, hope they liked it! :Luv:
cuddles from aunty hannah!! (i think i may upgraded myself there but tough - they're just too gorgeous to resist :Luv: )
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I was a bit worried with the dry food cos the adult is so much bigger than the kitten, but it was fine.
When I read this I thought, 'what's she on about' :stupid: but OMG you're right, the biccies are HUGE! Cracked the bag open and Riley has tucked in but Lukey is not eating as he had a horrible fright late last night, I'm just waiting for the chemists to open to get him some Rescue remedy, have sprayed the entire house with Feliway so fingers crossed he calms down soon :(
cuddles from aunty hannah!! (i think i may upgraded myself there but tough - they're just too gorgeous to resist :Luv: )
Definitely Aunty Hannah, you can never have too many aunties ;)
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:-: what happened with Lukey? :hug:
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Poor Lukey :scared:. Start another thread and tell us all about it. As for food. Smidgen is still on kitten food but I occasionally get a pack of adult food simply because i have run out and the corner store doesn't do kitten food. Both Esther (3-6 years stray) and Smidgen tuck into it happily and as Esther needed a wee bit more weight when she arrived I have been happy with this. Will probably start on adult full time when he is 1, but that's just a personal preference...
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I have never really used kitten food (apart from with Isseys babies of course)
All of mine have gone onto adult food when i have got them
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There's no special kitten mouse in the wild and kitten food is a fairly new invention which I don't think is essential. I would still feed a kitten kitten food during the major growth spurt and prior to neutering, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary and I think post neutering is a good time to think about moving onto adult food as a cat's calorie requirement does drop then.
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:Luv: yay!
but what hapened to little lulu?!?!?!? hope he's ok :hug:
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I had always thought kitten food was up to 1 year, and thereafter they went on to adult food. I do agree that so long as they are fed a good complete food, it shouldn't really matter. I can certainly sympathise with the difficulty of feeding adult food to one cat and kitten to another - the nutrition may not be sugnificantly different, but our adult Riley certainly prefers Skye's kitten food! :tired: :rofl:
I would suggest that, unless its a slow growing breed, or you feel that they are still on the small side, or are slow to bulk up, keep them on kitten food a bit longer, but otherwise you can probably start switching around 10 months. We had Riley on 1/2 kitten, 1/2 adult from 10 - 12 months, then had him on adult only, and he was fine. :)
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Bertie and Tilly were a year old going onto adult food. When I adopted Bella, she was only five months old but came with notes from the CPL saying that kitten food didn't agree with her, so she's always been on adult food.
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My vets gave me RC neutered female food when Shadow was done at 6 months, but she was small for her age, so she got a mix of that and kitten, and her new owners kept her on a mix for a while. Personally, I would swap when they are neutered.
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Hobbes was pinching Dylan's Royal Canin almost from the time he came downstairs after I got him, I was never sure how he managed to crunch them but he did :rofl: He used to have kitten dry and wet but gave up with the kitten dry around 7 months and the wet around 8 months and he is fine, full of energy and fit and well. I think as long as it's decent food they will be fine to go on to adult now. It's scary how quickly time passes isn't it :shocked:
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Thank you Helen for asking this question,as an owner of a 6 month old now (neutured on friday) I was wondering what was the best to do,I have baught1 2kg bag of jwb but after that he'll go on jwb adult I think or maybe a mixture of both :evillaugh:
What happened to Lulu? :(
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Lukey is not eating as he had a horrible fright late last night, I'm just waiting for the chemists to open to get him some Rescue remedy, have sprayed the entire house with Feliway so fingers crossed he calms down soon :(
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Whats this FELIWAY???? The reason I ask is that Barry has been all weird since last week and would not sleep in his bed, was very jumpy and generally out of character.
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Feliway is a cat pheremone that calms down stressed cats. It is available in spray or in plug-ins (like air freshener). It is very good, I have used it myself. You can get it at the vet, on Zooplus.co.uk, or vetuk.co.uk.
Good stuff and doesn't make your house smell weird ...
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Menu and Pumpkin are both naughty boys at 6 months. They are both huge now and they have never eaten kitten food. They eat Royal Canin Exigent which is supposed to be the most palatable even fo fussy eaters and they eat Hi Life fish wet food. Menu has a very sensitive tummy and never accepted kitten food. I think Pumpkin would eat anything and loves food more than anything in the whole world!