Hi all,

I have just bought a pedigree male exotic shorthair, 5 months old. His name is Herman, Hermy for short

The breeder told us that he has only ever been fed on tuna in springwater, 3/4 of a can a day and half a handful of vitamin food once a day.

My question is whether this is good for him, as it doesn't seem like a very varied diet and if it's okay to change his food gradually over say two weeks?

If I do change from the tuna in springwater, what would be the best diet for him? Also when should I start upping his food portions and what should I up them to, so as not to overfeed? He will be an indoor cat, so don't want him to get too overweight.

Thanks in advance.

He sounds lovely

The diet is not ideal - the vitamins are very important for calcium, taurine and any other nutrients the tuna may not be providing.

On the plus side, it doesn't have any grains in it!!

You'll want to ideally put Hermy on a grain free cat food.

Orijen and Applaws both do a cat food that has no grains as does (for a slightly cheaper price) Fish4Dogs.

My cat found the Applaws one too rich so she tends to have the Fish4Dogs one.

isn't tuna bad for them long term because of the mercury content?

any kitten food you like is worth a go, some are better than others

if he's settled in fine then you can change his food if you like, yes.
in your situation, personally i would switch as i don;t much care for the sound of what he's on now. tuna every now and then for a treat, yes, but every day doesn't seem right.

kittens, i'm almost sure get fed to appetite, but anything over 6 months can be on regular adult cat food and with controlled portions for their weight (usually about 200-300g of wet food and 20-60g of biscuits for a 4kg cat depending on activity levels)

or you can just give him one or the other. our visiting cat gets both biscuits and meat, most people i know give both as the dry is an easier option for when they go away and have a timed feeder running.

you can get foods formulated for indoor cats, which contain less calories, hover you can just give him normal cat food at a slightly reduced amount if he begins to gain weight.

We've got an exotic shorthair crossbreed. His mum, who's an exotic shorthair got loose one night Hence our Simba and his siblings

When we got him, the lady was feeding Whiskas kitten, which we initially fed to him.

Then we moved on Hills Scienceplan dry food, he refused and still does, to eat wet cat food or human food.

He only has water to drink.

Would love to see a pic

I've always thought too much fish is bad for cats, also cats need taurine in their diet and i dont think tuna has taurine in it...and like a previous poster said the mercury level is not good for them.
Congrats on your new kitty though

Sorry it's taken so long, but eventually got round to posting a picture of Hermy

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps48ef5482.jpg

We now have him on proper kitten food too. He loves it and hasn't had any problems.

He's a beaut.