A food question for people with more kitten experience than yours truly

[Siwsan]

The boys are 7 1/2 months old now and are starting to show some ambivalence towards canned kitten food. Is it too early for me to start mixing in some adult pate? I've given them dabs of the pate I feed the ferals and they gobbled it down.

They are still eating Kitten Kibble, with no problem. It's just the wet food that's losing its appeal. I know wet kitten food has more calories and nutrients than adult cat food but that doesn't mean much if they won't eat it.

[gab13by13]

1. Good luck getting cats to eat anything consistently.

I have 1 indoor cat and 3 outdoor. Only one of the outdoor cats will eat anything, he is the most feral, I can't get very close to him.

The other cats will eat one thing for a while and then quit after I buy a case.

Feed them what they will eat, 7 1/2 months is old enough.

[Bayard]

2. At 7 1/2 months,

They're not babies anymore.

I'd definitely switch them over, with a slow transition, mixing the two.

[spooky3]

4. Ditto. Nt

[Rebl2]

10. That's

what my vet advised us to do when we had kittens.

[wnylib]

11. Same here. Ember's vet said I could

switch to adult food at 7 months, and could have done it at 6 months.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. Try switching brands

They should be on kitten food until they're a year old, preferably. They're still teenagers and need the extra stuff the kitten food gives them. But when you do switch brands, miX them and do it gradually over a week. (Advice from vet assistant class.)

[hippywife]

5. My cats have always eaten the same thing, over and over...

and don't like it if it changes too much. But since these kids are outside in inclement weather, I would try to keep them on some kind of kitten food, both kibble and canned, until they're no longer outside cats.

[Siwsan]

6. This is for my indoor boys

As for the ferals, at first I was just feeding Skittish and she's an adult cat. Then she started bringing her kittens by. I'm guess-timating they were probably about 4 months old. They tucked in to what was already being served. I figured there was NO way to isolate kitten food, just for them. And they sure seem healthy.

Madoc and Gryff are the ones (specifically Gryff) who seem to be bored with kitten pate. There aren't many brands out there but maybe I'll see if my locally owned pet food supply place has finally gotten another shipment of Chicken Soup for the Soul kitten food.

I tried feeding them Blue Buffalo kitten food and they refused to eat it!

[spooky3]

7. FWIW, my cats hate Blue canned food, but my senior cat

Loves her Blue dry food for kidney failure kitties. The others sneak a few bites too.

[hippywife]

8. Aside from Fancy Feast pates...

the only thing I can get my two 14 year old indoor girls to eat are a couple of the Friskies pates: Mariner's Catch and Salmon. Since they're older, I buy them the Friskies Tender and Crunchy, so it's hopefully a little easier on the teeth. Can't buy just the tender dry kibble anymore as it was causing health problems for cats (can't remember exactly what it was now.) That's fine since I'd prefer they eat more canned than dry, anyway.

[2naSalit]

9. I always fed my cats the same thing...

For thei whole lives. I mix wet food with a little brewer's yeast a little olive oil and a few pieces of kibble and a tablespoon or two of hot water to blend it all. Kept kibble available all day and night. The only thing that changed was the amount of yeast over the first year or so and later several years and the brand wet food.

They never had health problems.