Question by darksong17: 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.
Why would kibble size matter? Kittens have teeth just like adult cats do! And good on you for switching to all wet! So many people still believe the myth that dry food is better… it’s really quite ridiculous.

Those veterinary prescription diets are insane. Most say right on the bag that they aren’t for long term usage! Half the time, other alterations in the diet could remedy the problem /far/ better than those crummy quality prescription diets.
rrm, by store brands I assume you mean grocery store brands? I completely agree with that. It fully depends on what type of adult food you’re feeding. It’s important that it be a high quality adult food.

People need to keep in mind that you will find nothing but low end foods at a human grocery store. No human grocery store carries the high quality brands!
It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? A high quality adult food works just as well, you just may need to feed a little more of it. Voila! Same effect as a kitten food.

Best answer:

Answer by Nancy S
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.

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