In a pinch, how long can you safely feed kitten food or KMR to an adult cat?

[cheeser]

Is there a general rule of thumb as to how long you can feed kitten food and/or reconstituted KMR to an adult cat in case of an emergency? Oh, say like maybe where it only represents about 1/4th to 1/3rd of a cat's daily diet?

We missed the beginning of the COVID-19 apocalypse while caring for my terminally ill father, and had been coasting on our emergency stockpiles of food and other supplies for us and the kitties. So it was quite a surprise the first time we went to the stores to restock, only to find the shelves completely bare.

I finally managed to pick up some Sheba and Fancy Feast to help tide us over for a week or so, and have Buddy's and Oscar's usual foods on order from Chewy. But it's going to be a while before our order gets here, so I might need to improvise a bit if I can't get my paws on more adult cat foods that they can tolerate okay until we can do better.

 

[susanm9006]

I think kitten food is fine except that it may cause weight gain. I know when my kittens were young all household cats ate kitten food for the first year and no one seemed to suffer.

 

[Willowy]

Yep, kitten food is fine, just fattening.

Now, feeding an adult cat a large amount of KMR? I'm not sure. I know they can get by on it for a while, as my vet recommends it for cats who aren't eating---basically kitty Ensure. I don't think a healthy cat would be very happy with that situation, but, yeah, as long as they got enough calories it would be OK.

 

[cheeser]

I think kitten food is fine except that it may cause weight gain. I know when my kittens were young all household cats ate kitten food for the first year and no one seemed to suffer.

Cool! Thanks much. That makes me feel better.

I *thought* I had read somewhere a while back that kitten food can be high in phosphorus or something that might not be healthy for an adult cat. But my memory is a little fuzzier than usual these days, and maybe I'm just mis-remembering that.

 

[cheeser]

Yep, kitten food is fine, just fattening.

Now, feeding an adult cat a large amount of KMR? I'm not sure. I know they can get by on it for a while, as my vet recommends it for cats who aren't eating---basically kitty Ensure. I don't think a healthy cat would be very happy with that situation, but, yeah, as long as they got enough calories it would be OK.

Awesome! Thanks oodles.

Buddy's immune system has always been a little wonky because of his FIV status, and frequently suffers from bouts of inappetence. So I often add a bit of KMR powder to his assist feedings to add extra calories to his "power shakes." He seems to like it okay, although he does prefer CatSure.

However, now that it's a challenge to find food for any of us, that got me to wondering if I could use reconstituted KMR or CatSure to stretch our meager inventory of cat food until our Chewy order arrives -- kinda like how I use rice or noodles when cooking for the human members of our family.