Feeding FD cat/remission and a kitten...

[kim and simon]

Hi guys! My Simon is 13, a now diet-controlled diabetic, and has been at "the falls" since June. We recently adopted a 4mo kitten; his name is Jasper.

In looking at the great new food chart that Dr. Lisa made, I really don't think there's a big difference between kitten canned food and adult. Most of the kitten formulas except FF are not in Simon's carb range. We are also being careful about Phosphorus since our other cat died of kidney disease.

Anyway . . .
Can kitten eat adult wet food that is in the typical profile of FD cats? (5% carbs and under)
Is there something essential in kitten food? In nature don't they all eat mice :lol:
Kitten is a piggy. Do I need to limit his intake?

He was rescued from a feral colony at 3-4 weeks and has been an indoor, domestic cat ever since. He is sure a sweetie!

Thanks in advance!

Kim, Simon, and Jasper

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

Congrats on the new kitten! I think you would be fine to feed the same foods. Higher protein is important with growing kittens so the formulas will be similar. I think many kitten formulas also include some supplements - I see L-lysine on a lot of them.

When we adopted Avie (at 4mo) and Mittens (at 7mo) we fed them the same as the older girls, just more of it. I believe ProPlan kitten were some we used. We do also offer dry to the young-uns because Avie wouldn't ever eat enough soft and the EVO Cat and Kitten formula is also their low carb formula so it is safe in case Smokey sneaks up on the counter to steal.

Now my babes are over 2 years old. We've added some low phosphorus to the diet since I suspect Smokey's high lasix intake may be pretty hard on her kidneys and they are some of Mittens favorite foods! He loves the Avoderm Chicken. I do not have any 5% and under foods left in her diet going low phosphorus though, all are in the upper limits at around 9%. We try Before Grain every now and then, but she just won't eat it.

I did ask my vets about feeding the younger ones low phosphorus foods (if it is bad, why is it in their food in the first place?) and they said that cats need to maintain a balance proper Calcium/Phosphorus balance. If one or the other gets out of whack, then the cat gets sick. If the phosphorus would get too low, then their body would dump the excess calcium into organs and that would be very bad. BUT, she (the one I was talking to) has never seen a case in a cat yet in her practice years, only in dogs.

So we feed all low carb foods, but Smokey gets a balance of low (under 250)/moderate (under 350) foods and the rest eat some of that plus some of the higher phosphorus foods that they are used to rotated in.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Look at the label of the canned food. If it says it is good fro all life stages than it is OK for kittens. Most canned is good for all life cycles. If it only says for adult cats then it is not OK for kittens.