# Kitten vs Cat food



## ponylover317 (Nov 20, 2012)

So i had Layla eating cat food for a while but the fat was too high for her so she started gaining weight. Because of this, a couple of months ago i switched her to a kitten food that has 33% protein and 21% fat content. The first ingredient is chicken. She seems to be doing fine on it and is at a healthy weight but recently i read something that kitten food may not be as good as cat food because of fat, but the fat content of this food is okay. Do they need cat food because it may have some different ingredients or what?

Thoughts anyone?
(BTW Layla is almost 11 months old)


----------



## ponylover317 (Nov 20, 2012)

the kibble is a 3 pronged shape


----------



## YourSoJelly (Jul 23, 2013)

Check in the nutrition portion if that link. I read over all of it last night and there was a section about kitten and cat foods. Good luck!
http://www.westcoasthedgehogs.com/files/hedgehogbook/download.html

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

What cat food was she eating? And what food is she eating now? I'm a bit confused, since most kitten foods have higher fat than cat food. Really, that's the main difference - kitten foods are usually higher in fat. No matter which one, you want to make sure there's good ingredients. The link Jelly posted is great, and there's plenty of stickies in the Nutrition section of the forum that you can look at too - Beginner's Guide would be a good one to look at. 

If her weight is staying the same & she's at a healthy weight with the food she's on now, it shouldn't hurt to keep her on it.


----------



## Stellara (Nov 12, 2011)

The main difference between cat and kitten food is that Kitten food is higher in fat especially and protein too. So I'm thinking maybe she was switched from a LOW quality cat food to a high quality kitten food if the fat in her original food was higher than what you have now. 
I personally have never used kitten foods unless my hedgehog needed them because of keeping on weight, big runners, ill, etc because they are much higher in fat and usually protein than is recommended for hedgehogs but depending on the age of your girl and what her individual needs are she may be fine on kitten. If she starts to gain weight or you are concerned about fat you can either switch to a lower fat mix which includes the same brand but the adult formula. Definitely check out the diet section as it is very explanatory and has a great list of cat foods.


----------



## redhead38 (Jul 11, 2013)

The hedgie we are getting soon is coming to us from the breeder on kitten food. They said to keep her on it while she's little?? Do we need to go ahead and switch her slowly to cat food once we get her? The breeder stated they had some hedgies that have lived their whole lives on the kitten food because they didn't like cat food. Now I'm worried!


----------



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I would at least mix in a cat food, if you want to. Kitten food is fine for when they're young - the extra fat usually goes to growing. But you'll want to keep an eye on hedgie's body shape & make sure they're not just getting pudgy instead of growing all over. :lol: If they are, they may need to be switched sooner than later. Like Stellara said, some are runners and will need the kitten food in order to stay healthy. But most hedgies don't need that high of fat in their food, and sometimes they can refuse to switch if they've had kitten food for a long time, because more fat = tastes better.

So...you don't have to switch immediately. But if you at least slowly mix in a cat food or two (since a mix is better anyway), you'll know there's a cat food your hedgie likes in case they start gaining too much & you need to remove the kitten food.


----------

