When should I change kitty's diet from "junior" to "adult"?

lmur,

i don't know, but have you tried calling your vet?

I could (and I will) but it's too late to call him now!

Just hoping to hear other people's experiences..

I would guess around 8 months. Actually, I mentioned this to my vet some time ago, and she said she'd raised many, many litters on adult kibble right from the get-go.

roger's right. Although the kitten chow is designed for babies, adult food is fine. Choose a good brand (I noticed a dramatic difference when I switched from a supermarket brand to Iam's, for instance) and stick with it. Dry food only will provide a good diet and keep Kitty's teeth cleaner. This is a biggie - I fed my little doggie only moist food and ended up with a huge dental bill.

Roger & Wy -

Thanks for taking the time & trouble to respond.

Glad to know that there's no problems with organising the switch. Guess i'll start getting the adult chow from here on in. Gotta use up the supplies firstly, though..

Thought I hadn't heard of Iam's but my better half tells me that we did get a packet in a local pet shop in the early stages. My recollection is that he turned up his nose at it for a short while until he realised that was all he was gettin'! Whiskas is the popular supermarket brand here ("In tests, 8 out of 10 cats preferred it" according to the ad).

I was planning on phasing out the wet-food over the coming weeks (a friend told me that her cat had all her teeth removed for the same reason as your dog, Wy).

We're late converts to the joys of cat ownership - and we're lovin' every minute of it!!

IAMS now has a variety for all ages, which is what my house cats get. The dry stuff, I mean.

The feral yard cats at work get Meow Mix, also dry, and lots cheaper. The kids can handle this stuff much earlier than your pampered house cats would ever believe.

We have fed our kitten Louis table scraps ever since he was about 5 months old, in addition to hard and soft cat food. He loves salmon, chicken, even a little beef or pork. One time I gave him a piece of bacon and he didn't quite know what to do with it. Guess it was the smoke flavor.

Cjhsa - we give our Billy the occasional piece of meat as well. One of the many upsides of his coming into our lives is that we eat a lot more fish than before - trebles all round!

We still haven't tried giving him duck or rabbit. Wonder if he'll like those...

Oddly, my cats aren't too crazy about most meat from the table, the only exception being cheesburgers from Blake's Lotta-Burger. I can only eat the darn things when my body feels a need for grease.

Maybe it's the greasy cheese they like!

We are contemplating getting a companion for Billy. I read somewhere that cats are social animals and, as we work during the day, we thought some company would be good for him (although, at weekends, I note that he seems to sleep virtually all day anyway). Any thoughts on that?

Imur: Hi !!! By all means,get Billy a {girl} friend
as soon as possible. They will both have a blast!
Our vets have always recommended switching to adult food at age 1 year,just to be sure they get all the nourishment needed. We've got 2 cats,Sam and
Sally.adopted together,and living as husband and wife! Both are nutered and spayed and 7 years old.

Cheers

Hi lindatw, thanks for chipping in. Nice to hear about Sam & Sally. Hope they don't indulge in marital infedility :wink:

Billy was a "find" - he turned up at my wife's place of work at about 3 weeks of age. My wife says that we didn't adopt him - he adopted us. Another standing joke in our household is when she says that now I can't leave her as we have to stay together for the sake of the kitten!

The more I think of it, the more I like the idea of a second cat in the house. Can you (or Roger, if you read this) advise about litter trays? should they have one each or can/will they share the same one?

when to change kitty's....
Hi,Imur ! No,Sam and Sally are our only 2 cats,and theynever
go out of doors,so they are faithful to each other{lol}
We have 2 litter boxeswith privacy covers so they can decide whether or not to share. Especially if both have to go at the same time ! Having 2 of everything is probably best,{bowls,toys,etc}.
Your wife is right,kitty now owns you,body and soul!!!
Cheers

Uh oh. They advised me to get a little companion for Spooky. I would like to sue them for alienation of affection, cuz he hasn't been the same affectionate cat since Nermal showed up. He doesn't need company, Imur. When cats are alone at home, they spend a lot of time sleeping. That's what cats are good at.

lindatw wrote:


while Roger wrote:


That's what I like - consensus!

I guess it would have been different if Spooky and Nermal had been together from the word go? Anyway, it's given me something to think about...

Roger - are your house-cats allowed access to the great outdoors?

They're total house cats.

By the way, Spooky and Nermal get along just great. Spooker just seems to feel unloved since the arrival of little companion.

You can reason with a cat, of course. You can also argue with the weather.

Yes. and have you tried nailing jelly to the ceiling? That always works for me.

It's kinda funny, but I guess us humans need to feel loved by our pets more than the other way 'round.

Imur, welcome to the world of cat lovers!

Cats have different personalities. Whether your kitten would benefit from a companion or not depends on its personality. Billy may be sleeping the day away because he's so inclined or because there's nothing else to do.

The only single cat that I've had was completely neurotic. I loved Fitz and he loved me, but if anyone else came into the picture -- look out! The vet had to handle him with falconry gloves, and we had a warning from the mail carriers that they would stop delivering mail to our address until we restrained our cat. I often wonder if he would have been better for some cat companion (or we could have had two holy terrors on our hands!).

I currently have 3 cats, and here's how it happened: MacDuff's mate died, leaving him the sole feline in the house. Shortly after, on a bitterly cold January day, a little fluffball with a damaged tail appeared on my front porch. Gracie, as she was called, is very nervous around humans (something about the tail which had to be removed, I believe) but loves other cats. Unfortunately MacDuff did not take to her, especially with her habit of playing leap frog on his head every time he started to eat.

I had to go away for an extended business trip. I knew from past experience that MacDuff would be fine with minimal supervision, but I felt that Gracie needed more care. So I took her to a cat hotel (yes, I was surprised that such things exist, as well). The cat hotel was in fact the money-making side of a rescue agency. About half the cats were "guests" and half were feral/unwanted rescue cats.

During her stay Gracie bonded with one of the rescues. After some dithering (I did NOT want 3 cats) I asked if I could "try" the rescue at home and see how the 3 got along. It was perfect -- Babu (as the rescue came to be called) kept Gracie busy in play, but was calm enough to suit MacDuff. Peace and harmony ruled again in my little kingdom.

So, if possible, you might want to try that -- rescue agencies or Humane Societies, etc. They may allow you to have a guest, with no commitment on your part, and see if Billy likes it or not.

BTW cats do sleep an average of 18 hours/per day -- depending on the species. Normal run-of-the-mill tabbies and Siamese are usually more active than Persians and Russian Blues, for example. Most cats, house or jungle, are active at dawn and dusk (when the prey comes to the watering holes).

Multiple litter pans will reduce the number of times that you need to clean them. That's a bonus in my eyes! :wink:

Food: Unlike dogs and humans, cats are carnivorous ~ they absorb their essential nutrients from meat. The problem with dry food is that it's mostly wheat -- carbohydrate of no nutritional value for the cat, but potentially fattening. Kinda like us and potato chips. The best food for them is a well-fed mouse -- mostly protein, bones to crunch and clean the teeth, a little vegetable and grain from the mouse's dinner. Since no pet food company will can a mouse, the next best (according to my vet) is a balanced high-protein wet food and a handful of dry each day. And plenty of fresh water.

Hi Tico, thanks for joining in. I enjoyed your post a lot. Glad to hear that your kingdom is prospering and that the "holy trinity" of MacDuff, Gracie and Babu have hit it off.

Just yesterday, I was transferring some clothes into the washing machine and dropped a sock. I was reaching down (blindly) to pick it up and felt something fluffy which jumped! Of course it was Billy. I got a bit of a shock and dropped almost everything - into his litter tray!! C'est la vie.

I wasn't aware that the dry stuff had little or no nutritional value. We feed Billy "Whiskas", which, according to the packet, is the complete food for kittens, with proteins, calcium etc. In Ireland, it can be difficult to find anything other than one or two main brands and whiskas would be considered the most popular. (I have NEVER seen any other brand advertised on our tellies). Anyway, i'm revising my plan to phase out wet food altogether and will stick with feeding him both types. A balaced diet will surely be more beneficial in the long run.

Thanks for the advice on rescue centres etc. We'll certainly keep those in mind, should we decide to get him a companion. My wife thinks an older female might be the best match - we could call her Mrs Robinson!