Making the switch from foods is always an important stage in anyone and anything’s life. When a baby begins eating solid food or other milestones are often a way to measure growth and see firsthand change. The same is true about pets and their diets. Pets need their proper diets to ensure they receive the right amount of nutrition daily while growing since they grow more rapidly than humans. Having the proper nutrition helps your dog, cat, or any other animal you may have by helping their body grow through having protein, fats, and other nutrients that animals and humans need while in the developmental stages of their lives.
The Happy Cat Site covered this topic in order to help cat owners understand when to begin transitioning their pet from kitten food to full grown adult cat food, as well as different reasons why doing this is a good idea. First, the most important stage is when your kitten is still nursing. While this is generally well before people can adopt a cat, it is important to let these kittens drink their mother’s milk over anything else since it provides them with fatty acids, protein, calcium, and various other nutrients that are incredibly important in being able to grow at all.
Kitten Life
Kittens should be eating whenever they need to, which is why most cat owners will leave food ready for theirs to eat, but when changing from kitten food to adult food some changes need to be made to this routine. Depending on the breed of cat, their food should remain kitten-friendly until they are between one and two years old (eighteen months to two years for Maine Coons) and the food should be wet, or at least be kitten kibble with water in it to make it easier to eat. This food will provide them with all the nutrition they need to grow quickly to their full size and capabilities, but will need to be changed once they reach adulthood.
Adult Life
Cats mature and reach adulthood around one to two years in and their diets undergo a need for different ingredients. While kitten food is incredibly healthy, it is also necessary for the fast metabolism that kittens possess. Adult cats, while they often have good metabolisms if they get adequate exercise, do not have the metabolism to handle the huge number of fats, sugars, and proteins found in kitten food. These can cause health issues later on, such as arthritis and diabetes. This transition will also help keep your cat happy as their palettes may have changed as they got older too and they might enjoy new flavors.
Like any serious diet change, this should not be done at once. Changing the diet all at once can make your car upset their stomach as well as make them possibly not trust both the owner and the food. Experts recommend adding the food gradually over the span of one to two weeks and possibly even hand-feeding them the mixture of their kitten food and their adult food. Also, if your cat eats a food that says it is okay for use through all life stages, it should be perfectly fine to continue feeding them over time.
