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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Transitioning from kitten to cat food

7 replies

C1239 · 10/04/2020 20:31

My kitten is 11 months old, at the moment he is on purina pro plan kitten dry food which he has been on since we got him six months ago from cats protection. Is it best to start to move him onto adult food now? Is purina pro plan adult dry food a good one to stick to? Is it best to ease him into the adult food?

Also the last couple of weeks he has started to be a bit of a devil.. jumping up to jump out of windows... tearing around the house... is this a typical teenage phase that will pass?!!

OP posts:
powershowerforanhour · 10/04/2020 21:33

Yes. In fact I advise transitioning kittens onto Junior food (or creating Junior by mixing kitten with adult food) at about 4mo and getting them onto adult food at 6mo. By this stage they have done most of their growing. The "feed till 12mo" on the back of kitten food packets pisses me off. IMO this is a big part of the reason that the majority of cats I see for their 1 year vaxes are already overweight (in fact we see quite a few 5-6mo kittens in for neuter that are already overweight) and then they are downright fat, or even obese, by 2. Partly because the owners have never seen them at a healthy adult weight and don't even know what it's supposed to look like. So yeah, change over now. Just buy a bag of adult food when there's a few days' worth of kitten food left in the bag, open the new bag and alter the ratios over about 5-7 days. That should do it.

Yeah ProPlan adult should be fine. There aren't really many shit foods any more- the standard of even the most basic dog and cat food has improved immensely over the past 20 years. See how he gets on. Read a bit about wet vs dry diets..I don't think dry food is the Great Satan or anything, but it is quite carby and can keep weight on them more than wet food (counter intuitively...wet food looks "richer" but isn't). Cats don't have a high thirst drive and on dry diets they often don't drink as much as they should to compensate for the lack of moisture in the food. If you feed both, don't mix them in one bowl- it makes the dry food just go crusty and manky after a bit. (Think nice fresh nachos vs cruddy nachos that have been sitting out for a while with congealed cheese and tortilla chips goung soggy).

Whatever food in whatever form you use:
a) don't let him get fat. Cats get fat underneath their belly first, way before they get chubby across their back. Watch out for that. Neutered, adult, mainly indoor cats have a calorie requirement equal to the square root of feck all.

b) encourage water intake by any and all means possible

And that's it, you're golden. If you're feeling fancy you can give him a wee sprinkle of probiotics. They do good things.

Oh yeah...don't ignore vomiting or hairballs. Cats can develop food allergies and because they often present as "merely" as bit of harmless seeming hairball puking (which has been normalised by TV/comedy films), some cats end up staying on food they have become allergic to for years. Short term- fine, though I wonder how many have secretly got sore tummies poor buggers. Long term- inflammatory bowel disease and guts like cardboard, in the end. Not good.

Plump82 · 11/04/2020 05:48

My kittens are 8 months and they're starting to eat adult already. They do still get kitten pouches but with everything going on with COVID I was struggling to get kitten pouches so thought now was a good time. They still get kitten biscuits but not many as my last cat suffered with cystitis when she had too many biscuits.

C1239 · 11/04/2020 08:01

Great advice thank you both. I do have an adult packet of food already in so I will start the transitioning today.
Yes being on dry food I have always being conscious about him drinking enough water. I do see him drinking, but do you have any ideas of how to encourage him to drink often?
I am thinking of keeping him as an indoor cat, we have a road relatively close which I worry about him getting run over. Do you think it’s mean to keep cats indoors?
And regarding weight, with him being an indoor cat I’m trying to keep an eye on this too, I guess small portions of food and frequently playing with him to give him exercise are good? Is it normal for male cats to have a bit of dangly fur , like a pouch, by their stomach area? Whenever he’s been to the vets for checks they said it’s normal and some have it forever, like it’s a protective pouch?

OP posts:
TroysMammy · 11/04/2020 08:38

Haribo is 9 months old and has kitten dry but we've been mixing adult and kitten pouches for the past month because he's fussy with different fish flavours, likes salmon not keen on the white fish ones. He has a bit of dangly fur too.

He goes outside when we are in the house but 2 days a week when he's home alone he stays indoors until my DP comes home from work, I come home later. He's fine with it.

Plump82 · 11/04/2020 08:59

Mine are indoor cats as i live in a flat and next to a busy road. You'll get mixed opinions but as long as they have plenty to play with I think its ok. My last cat was indoor and we had her till she was 18. She was very over weight when I rehomed her at around 3 and it was awful trying to get the weight off her so I'm going to be very careful with the new kittens. They have bundles of energy now so not too concerned but I'll watch their food intake when they are more chilled!!
Also my boy has loads of excess skin almost like he still has to grow into it! Especially under his arms. If he does still need to grow into it then he is going to be HUGE!!

Ruby8719 · 11/04/2020 14:17

@C1239 the cat protection usually only let you have a cat as an indoor cat if it HAS to be rehomed as indoor only. You should check with them really as they like cats to go outside unless their is a medical reason why not.

The road is only an issue if you love on a main road otherwise cats should be allowed out. It’s a long life trapped in doors forever.

Shmithecat2 · 11/04/2020 14:20

Cat water fountains can help encourage cats to drink more. All 6 of mine are on a dry food diet and drink plenty of water. Running taps are also an attraction to a couple of them, and my own glass of water. That's a sure fire way to get a cat to drink make them think it's yours..

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