Content
- Feeding the kitten
- Feeding adult cats
- Can kittens eat regular dog food?
- Is it bad for a kitten to eat normal adult food?
We find so much variety of cat food for sale that it is not always easy to know which is the best for our furry. Other times, we're taking care of an abandoned kitten and we're not sure how old it is, or we're just confused and run out of food for it on vacation or a long holiday.
To clear all doubts, in this PeritoAnimal article we will answer the following question: Can a kitten eat regular dog food? Let's find out.
Feeding the kitten
When it comes to feeding, the most important aspect of a kitten's stage is the rapid growth that our furry will undergo. It is not a matter of minor relevance, as it involves needs specific and high, especially of certain nutrients such as proteins. Offering a food that meets all of them ensures good growth and contributes to maintaining good health at a stage when your entire organism is maturing. On the other hand, an inadequate or poor quality diet can end up manifesting itself in diseases or growth difficulties.
Thus, kittens, like the mammals that they are, begin their lives by feeding on breast milk. If we leave them with their mother, they will consume it for months, even if they are already eating solid foods. But, in general, it is around eight weeks of life that they live in their new homes. It is not advisable to separate them from the mother before this age, and ideally they already know how to feed themselves. Thus, when the puppy arrives at our house, we will only have to look for a ration that on the packaging indicates that it is suitable for puppies.
Its composition will be ideal for this phase and, in addition, the texture or size of the grains will be suitable for smaller mouths, facilitating ingestion. you can choose one dry or wet cat food, which are the most popular options.You could also offer homemade food, as long as the menu is designed by a veterinarian who specializes in nutrition to ensure your nutritional needs are met.
Therefore, the special food for puppies is indicated in this period, unless the cat is very small. In that case, will you need powdered milk, as we explained in this other article on how to feed a 1 month old kitten? But can a kitten eat normal adult cat food? Keep reading to find out.
Feeding adult cats
Cats usually reach their adult size around their 6-8 months. Therefore, adult feeding can start around this age, although many foods delay this change until they reach a year. It is advisable to look at the label, consult the veterinarian and observe the evolution of the cat.
Adult life for the cat is a maintenance period, in which the quality of the chosen foods will contribute to your good health. There is a change in the cat's nutritional needs if it has stopped growing, especially if the cat has been neutered, as the intervention produces changes in metabolism.
So we find for sale specific varieties for neutered, overweight, indoor cats with a tendency to form fur balls or crystals in urine, etc. The maintenance or specific diet for certain characteristics can be followed for years, at least until the senior phase in which, again, there will be significant changes associated with age that will have nutritional consequences, hence the need to change foods again.
Can kittens eat regular dog food?
So we finally come to the answer. Can kittens eat regular dog food? Not the most recommendable, as it is not advisable for a cat to eat dog food. Given the differences between the two stages of life, a feed formulated for adult cats is not suitable for a fully growing kitten.
However, it should be noted that some brands produce feeds that are suitable for any cat regardless of your race or age. Of course, if this is the product you have, you can offer it to the cat without any problem, even in the long run. However, as we said, the ideal is that it is a ration according to its stage of life.
As you can see, cat food, whether pet food or wet food, is marketed specifying whether it is suitable for kittens, adult cats, or elderly cats. In addition to the quality that should always guide us when choosing, we will have to look for the variety that best suits our furry conditions.
Is it bad for a kitten to eat normal adult food?
While it's not very appropriate for a kitten to eat adult food, it doesn't mean that something serious will happen if, one day or occasionally, you need to feed him this type of food. If your ration runs out, you don't have another at home, you make a mistake when buying it, etc., you can offer it while you solve this problem.
However, prolonged use can end up causing health or development disorders, although the quality with which commercial cat food is currently formulated makes serious problems rare.
On the other hand, if the kitten has an illness, the veterinarian may decide to prescribe one. specific feed, even if it is not formulated for puppies, because in these cases the most important thing is their recovery. For example, a five-month-old kitten with struvite crystals will have to eat a specific ration to dissolve them. Another very common example is neutering, which can be done at 5-6 months, at the same time as switching to neutered cat food.
Now that you know that it is not recommended to offer our kitten regular food, you might be interested in this article where we explain how to choose the cat food.
If you want to read more articles similar to Can kittens eat regular dog food?, we recommend that you enter our Balanced Diets section.