Is "all Life Stages" Cat Food Safe For Kittens?

SpoiledKits

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Hello! :hellocomputer:

I was at the vet today and was asked what brand of dry cat food I feed my kittens (my kits are almost 6 months old and get wet food daily, but I always keep dry kibble out for them to munch on since they are growing babies!)

Last month I bought a bag of American Journey Duck and American Journey Turkey & Chicken - both of them are labeled "cat food for all life stages". The duck recipe has a caloric content of 3,770 kcal/kg or 410 kcal/cup. The turkey & chicken recipe has a caloric content of 3,670 kcal/kg or 395 kcal/cup.

Before I transitioned my kittens over to American Journey, I was feeding them IAMS PROACTIVE HEALTH Healthy Kitten (caloric content is 4,043 kcal/kg or 512 kcal/cup)... I switched over to American Journey because my kits had a lot of white flakes whenever I brushed them, and after looking at the ingredients of IAMS, I decided it wasn't what I wanted my kittens to eat.

Anyhow, at the end of my visit, the vet tech told me the vet really recommended that I switch back over to a kitten only dry food because the kittens need the high caloric content while growing. I mentioned again that the dry food they are eating is for "all life stages" but she still recommended that they eat a kitten only dry food until 9 months old.

I obviously don't want to deprive my kittens of the calories. They eat whatever I put in front of them, so I'm sure they'd be fine if I put them back on IAMS... I just am weary and got a weird feeling from the vet (she is allergic to cats :confused2:) so I'm looking for more opinions on the matter. Should I switch back to IAMS? Stay on the American Journey? Or try a different kitten-only dry food?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
 

cheesycats

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If it says all life stages it’s safe for kittens to eat. As long as you let them eat as much as they want throughout the day they’ll get enough calories. No worries.
I really like natures variety instinct raw boost. I raised two kittens on that and they are very robust and healthy as adults so I think as long as you’re feeding a high meat diet and the kittens are eating as much as they like you’ll be fine.
 

amethyst

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The real difference between kitten food and all stages is just the calories and sometimes the amount of fat and protein. It's generally negligible though, especially if you are feeding wet food as well and aren't restricting how much they eat.

My advice with vets is unless they are a cat nutritionist (most are not) I don't take their advice to seriously when it comes to food. Obviously I am just talking about for a healthy cat not one that has a medical issue and needs a special diet. One vet I went to told me "all life stages" is really just kitten food and I need to be feeding adult only food because my cat was over a year. More specifically that I should feed the food they sell at the vet (Science Diet). :rolleyes3:
 

tabbytom

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I rescued my boy when he was just 3 weeks old and I fed him wet food labeled "For All Life Stages" since then till now. He's 3 years and 3 months old.
 
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