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Kitten food... a marketing gimmick?

  • Do you think that kitten food is a marketing gimmick? Do kittens really need a specialized food? Consider that, in the wild, a kitten/cub goes straight onto the very same food the adults eat from the time they are weaned. Of course, that cub is eating raw meat, organs, and bones... a species appropriate diet. Not corn in a bag as some of the lower end cat foods are. My personal opinion is that if you're feeding a high quality cat food (especially a grain-free diet) or raw feeding, it's perfectly fine to put kittens straight onto an adult formula as it should already have enough protein and fat for them. I found this answer in a forum by a vet to be very interesting: " "Kitten" food is just a marketing gimmick. Keep in mind that there are no mice in the wild labeled as "kitten mice"....and there are no "adult" birds....or "senior" lizards in the wild. I have never fed a speck of any food labeled as "kitten" to any of the hundreds of kittens that have passed through my foster room. They get regular ol' "adult" food....just a lot of it as they would eat in the wild. Lisa, dvm" Said vet is a very respectable person in terms of cat nutrition knowledge (clearly a vet who has done her research outside of the little nutritional knowledge granted to vets during their schooling) and is the owner of the catinfo website: http://www.catinfo.org/ What are your thoughts on the matter? Should kittens be fed kitten food, or is it just a marketing gimmick? What about other specialized diets, such as breed specific diets or weight control diets? My opinion stands the same on those. I find most of these specialized formulas are entirely unnecessary.

  • Answer:

    Niched foods make me nuts. There might be exceptions here and there, but basically cats are cats regardless of breed and they don't have unique nutritional requirements. And if they DO, then you should probably consider dealing with them properly rather than relying on morally bankrupt pet food mfrs. to take care of it for you. And kitten food falls into this category. It always makes me laugh to see someone referencing those special "kitten nutrients" that only kitten foods have. Not everyone is that off base, of course, but even the more informed think that kitten food provides something that adult foods do not. That's rarely the case. Kittens do have much higher caloric requirements and they need about 4% more protein than adults. I have heard that kitten food is more fattening/higher in calories but I'm not entirely clear on why that is. If you were to read the guaranteed analyses and ingredient lists of a kitten food and then compare that to the adult food from the same line, you just wouldn't see that much of a difference. Certainly not a big enough difference (kibble size aside) to stick with it if it's not working out in some way. So my advice is usually this - if you're buying at the grocery store, then you *might* be better off buying kitten food just because the quality is so low. But in general, kitten food hardly varies from adult food and really isn't necessary. I wish I'd known this stuff when I got my girls. Could have saved myself a TON of headaches! Namely Poppy's weight and loose stool problems. I remember being annoyed that there were only a few different kinds of kitten foods out there and trying to find one that would agree with her more. It never occurred to me to give her adult food, and I just waited impatiently for her to reach one year old.

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You make a very logical and interesting point! Our 4 month old girl turns up her nose at kitten food and loves the "big guys" food. So I'm no longer buying the expensive kitten kibble and she is thriving. I'll watch this question with interest! Merry Christmas and good luck!

I'm a gazillion percent in agreement with you. The type of "adult" food that you feed is important, though. None of the store brands are appropriate for cats of any age. I often refer people to the catinfo.org link you've posted when answering questions here. It really is great information, and the benefits of an appropriate diet are immeasurable. Sure, lots of cats live long lives on crappy foods but their golden years tend to be plagued with horrible health conditions as a result. I'd much rather spend the money for decent food now than to have my cats suffer for my poor choices later. ETA: Yes, I mean grocery and discount store brands. I don't feed mine a homemade diet, but they do eat either EVO or Wellness wet food and about 1/8 cup of dry EVO for my two "crunchy food" addicts. Even their diet is primarily the wet food... I just like to give them a little of the stuff they prefer. I agree with you about the specialty diets also. If they're fed an appropriate diet in the appropriate portion for their ideal weight, they will reach an ideal weight. I'm working with an emaciated rescue now who is gaining weight just fine without any special addatives, over feeding or "special" foods. I just feed him the appropriate food in the daily portion amount for his desired weight rather than his current weight. He's put on 1.5 pounds and is continuing to gain, as would be expected. The same can be done to help a cat lose weight. Feed the appropriate food in portions appropriate for the desired weight, help them exercise and they will lose weight. There's no need whatsoever to switch to crappy food to help with a condition.

rrm38

I think you are right! The only thing I could see that might be different is the size of the kibble but since we are all switching to wet food that shouldn't be a problem. All those shapes, sizes and colors are added for the owners benefit. Cats don't really care what their food looks like but rather how it smells. Some difference might be made in the case of illness but those "prescription" diets must be used cautiously if at all. You might need to worry about the texture if you have a very old cat or one with tooth problems.

Nancy S

I realized a while back with one of the kitten litters I was fostering that the Wellness kitten formula was pretty much the same as the adult one, and that the kittens liked the adult canned much better than the kitten one - the kitten one was "pastier". Plus I could get big cans of wellness rather than the little 3 oz cans the kitten one came in (do you have any idea how many 3 oz cans it takes to feed a litter of kittens, LOL??). I stopped buying the kitten formula, and no one was shortchanged. I now feed the kittens EVO, and they thrive. It's really all about nutrition - to buy an inferior brand because it says "kitten chow" on it is really such a marketing success - they know that people won't read the ingredients, and think that they are doing the right thing for their kitten. I've challenged a lot of questioners to read the ingredients, and then tell me their kitten would be better off eating "kitten chow" than EVO. Still, clever advertising campaigns are a whole lot easier to swallow than actually reading what's in that cute bag of food ...

J C

Some kitten foods (not all) have a higher percentage of protein. Then the question becomes what kind of protein, Most dry food protein is vegetable based rather then animal based protein, so this type of protein is no good for a kitten (or a cat) anyway. The fact that there is not a difference in all kitten food versus cat food or a difference in most indoor foods, senior foods does make this a total marketing gimmick. All cats in all stages of their lives are carnivores and need protein. They do not need rice or vegetables. To add to this post Learn what you are feeding yout cat. What is meal? What are byproducts? The answers are here http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/PetFood/Ingredients.htm

Ken

baby cats eat baby mice, right? Yup, I think it's a crock. My group's oldest is at least 10 ten years and my group's youngest is 7 months and all eat the same food. The adults are healthy and so are the kittens. I was so excited today because I found a nice pet store (not the pet selling kind) that sold the best variety of good canned food I've seen. For Christmas mine get to try a can of quail - just quail and some water for processing and nothing else. Obviously not a complete diet, but it seems like a great sometimes snack. Not surprising that there was no baby quail can.

miranda

The Innova I feed my cats states "for cats and kittens" Evo is the same. It's a gimmick. It's only because grocery store food is so bad for the adult cat and people who buy it are gullible enough to think that they need kitten food. Get that kitten fat on corn and wheat that much sooner, if you ask me! Poor kitties. As you know, mine don't get that crap. Breed specific dog food maybe. Like the Royal Canin for English bulldogs. They have such a hard time with digestion and farting that this particular food is formulated for their special needs. But like a Lab? No. Stupid... They should ALL eat Innova. My friend feeds Innova to all her chow chows, pomeranians and whatever else she finds at the shelter. She also feeds innova to her ferrets. From kits to adult, the same food, that's how Innova is formulated.

The Cat

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