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Hi everyone,
Chester is just over 7 months old and he's been having the Royal Canin MC Kitten biscuits. The breeder said he could move to adult ones at about 8 months but they're HEAPS bigger in size. just wondering when you're MCs switched up from kitten to adult.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Kitty
Hi, we keep our kittens on it until they are 12 months but we also add the Mainecoon ones for them from about 7 months, believe me they have no problems eating them, we also mix fit and Sensible with the biscuits to give them a little variety..
Zack is now just over 8 months and I have been adding more adult MC and less kitten MC for about 6 weeks now. He had been pinching some of Sarah's Adult MC since he was about 4 months and has had no trouble eating them.
Sarah went to adult MC at about 8 Months because the kitten bickies upset her tummy and has been fine every since and had no trouble scoffing them down.
Our MCs never have liked the Royal Canin MC food and have particularly not seemed to like the size. It is hardly one of the "highest quality" foods either. There are dry foods with higher protein levels and ingredients like chicken instead of chicken meal. Frankly calling it a MC specific food is a bit of a gimmick, except that smaller cats would never be able to handle the large kibble size.
Interestingly, the Blue Wilderness dry that one of our boys has been eating recently revised their formula and size/shape, going to an even smaller shape. They claim the shape is much preferred by cats, but of course they are not testing on MCs specifically. I was rather horrified at how small it is now and quite worried that this would not work well for ours. Interestingly, though, not only is he still eating it but all of the other three are now eating some of it.
I note that while both of our boys crunch most of their kibble, the two girls often swallow substantial amounts without crunching it. This is apparently quite normal for cats. Certainly could not do that with the RC MC food of course.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NCarver
My abyssinians... and British have the Mainecoon food... and they love it...
I've been wondering about the timing for changing to adult, myself - Freyja's six and a half months. She's never seen particularly keen on the dry food, although she seems to like the Hills Science Plan more than she does the RC Kitten 36. I know some MC's get upset tummies on the RC Maine Coon mix which has put me off trying her on it, and now NCarver's pointed out that it's not especially nutritious I think I'll bomb it completely.
I have seen a kibble by Meowing Heads - a salmon one called Purr-Nickety and a chicken one called Hey Good-lookin', both have really high meat contents. I've been putting off getting some until she was old enough to move to adult biscuits, but after reading this thread I think I'll get a couple of small bags and see how she goes.
Thanks everyone - I think I"ll just get a smaller bag of MC kitten 36 this time and keep adding more of the adult MC biscuits. I have a big bag of that.
I have heard that RC isn't that great but it appears commonly used. What brand/s of dry biscuits do you feed your MCs? I"ve used hills science diet on another cat before but it made his coat less glossy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Kitty
I used Science Diet for years and Eukanuba and Hills, James well beloved and some hypo-allergenic ones..
The reason I stopped using the Science diet was I LOST 4 stud boys 2 died, 2 had to be neutered to crystals in their bladder... causing infection which did not respond to Antibiotics. a Dutch friend also had the same problem with 2 of her boys..
We have a Ragdoll staying here for 6 months quarantine, before he comes to the UK... and he came with a bag of Science Diet, kitten.... his new owner always has fed Royal Canin so we introduced it to him.. a bit at a time... HE prefers the Royal canin and indeed if he can get in the down stairs basement... with the stud boys which he regularly does as he follows me everywhere he pinches theirs...
Our cats, Abyssinians, British Shorthairs, Somalis, Mainecoons...are all fed the same mixture of Mainecoon Buiscuits Mixed with Sensible and Fit... and a little Kitten.... as we have some that are still young adults... Even the tiny kittens (abys) will pinch the Mainecoon biscuits...
I have never had a problem with loose bowels, never touch wood had problems with crystals... etc etc.. Since the change. and they all have beautiful shiny coats and are healthy..
I would never presume to tell anyone how and what to feed... (except of course our new owners).... and that is a guide line of what their healthy kitten has been fed..
However I do not also believe that they may not get everything they need from the food... so I do add multivitamins to their water... the fizzy kind, orange flavoured they love it... and we do add probiotics to their daily cooked Chicken/fish treat.
MY own opinion... and not stated to cause disagreement with anyone else... after 32 years of trial and error... I seem to have found a mix that keep my cats all healthy... fit and looking good... Believe me when I say this I wish I could find a combination that is cheaper on my pocket and as good for the cats...
German Prices for Royal canin... is for 10 kilo bags
58 euros for Mainecoon-- 56 euros for sensible- 55 euros for fit- 58 euros for Kitten and 3 times a year they get a bag of oral... and that is 58 euros for a 8 kg bag!!
So you know where I am coming from LOL...
The two "issues" with the RC MC food are: (1) it is 31% protein which is not as high as the best dry foods, and (2) its meat content comes from "chicken meal" (rather than chicken). Since these are both pretty common for even the cheap cat foods, a key question is why one should pay more for the RC name. For example, if I look up Purina Cat Chow, which you can buy in big bags at Walmart and is very cheap, it is actually 34% protein, though it is using poultry by-product meal which is a slightly cheaper ingredient.Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Kitty
Here are some ingredient-related sites:
AAFCO DEFINITIONS OF DOG FOOD INGREDIENTS
Cat Food Glossary - AAFCO Definitions of Cat Food Ingredients
The dry food that most of our cats eat is Purina Pro Plan Selects and the dry that one eats is Blue Wilderness. Both are 40% protein with plain chicken as first ingredient.
Like I have said before, you need to also see what your particular cat(s) like, as different cats have different tastes. We have tried the RC MC food and ended up throwing most of it out as ours wouldn't eat it, but other people here are obviously using it successfully. The reason we have two main dry foods now is we bought a small bag of the Blue to try and our younger male completely switched to it within a couple of days. The other three, though, continue to either exclusively or mainly eat the Pro Plan. We have also recently tried Wellness Core, but nobody seems too interested in it. The Core is 50% protein.
I've tried other foods and every time after about three weeks on the new food (whatever one it has been) my red girl gets the runs... she was very ill as a kitten and as a young adult was on the verge of having a biopsy, to try and find out what the problem was when she 'out grew it'! So from being washed at least twice every day of her life cos she was covered in Dookie to being normal basically happened overnight... She stays healthy because I feed the cats on Royal Canin Sensible 33!
Don't get caught up into believing that cats need a huge amount of meat, too much protien can be as harmful as too little... maybe we should take a leaf out of the reptile owners feeding methods and feed mouse!
Ah, Dookie... now I understand. What a great expression for it!Quote:
Originally Posted by Tivicoons
My cat Chloe still eats rc kitten 36, Theo has been eating rc maine coon 31 for about 8 months - they are both about a year and a half, chloe is a couple of weeks younger.
I have been wondering what to do about Chloe's food - I don't know if shes not as keen on the taste or the size of maine coon 36 or if it's the size but she's not really a kitten anymore and should I let her eat kitten food forever? I did think of just taking away the kitten 31 but I'm worried she just wouldn't eat for a few days until she realised she wasn't getting anymore. She isn't really that bothered about food, as silly as it sounds she just doesn't seem that interested.
At their check up the vet commented that they are exceptionally healthy and asked what we are feeding them, so I suppose it's doing the job well.