Advice on feeding two cats and a kitten

Hello everyone.

I have three cats - Lola is 2,5 (eats mostly dry ,as long as its gf, and rubbish pouches of rehidrated meat chunks in jelly), Flora is little under 2 years (terribly greedy and panicks over food, eats anything) and little Greta, six months (ate almost exclusively wet but now grazes on dry if I stay out for long).

At the moment they're on Acana and doing great (and litterbox proves it) but it's not really financially feasable for me - they managed to munch through 5kg in a month and I can no longer get hold of big bags. So I'm looking for cheaper alternatives but there are really very few brands where I live (I order from zooplus) which are for all life stages.

TOTW I have doubts about - the only time Lola was ever constipated and dehydrated was while on it.

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My question is - if the food is high quality with high protein and fat content and grain free - does it really matter that kitten should eat a kitten variety?

I have compared the percentages of adult vs. kitten in brands I can get hold of and there's very little difference - the affordable brands I looked at were Applaws, Purizon, Feringa and Porta 21 Finest Sensible.

As for the wet food, the grown ups get cheap pouches like Catessy (without grains), because Lola won't touch anything resembling meat and Flora squeeks like mad if she sees Lola eating anything different than her, and the little one eats Animonda Kitten and Carny. They have two meals of wet food a day plus dry to graze on and the only treats are Cosma freeze dried duck and chicken chunks.

Does that seem reasonable and balanced? Does it matter if they eat crap wet food if dry is of decent quality? Anything else I could do that would cut the costs but keep them healthy?

Thanks in advance!    

@LolaFlo  I fed my now 1-year old cat premium dry "kitten" food until he was about 11 months old, then I mixed it with adult cat food, which I'm still feeding until it runs out.  I also feed him a sachet of 95% wet food every few days.  I'm currently trying to find an affordable high meat % dry food that he'll eat - he's a fusspot.  The wet food I give him is too expensive for me to afford daily, and he's also a fusspot with wet food.  I do, of course, feel terribly guilty about this but needs must.

When I was a child there wasn't any specially blended "kitten" food, so kittens just got adult cat food that was carefully mushed up with water.  I suspect a marketing ploy on the behalf of the pet food companies, a marketing ploy I all too happily went along with, as I liked to think of my kitten as a baby for as long as possible.  When I took him to the vet at 9 months and 13lbs they said that I didn't need to feed him kitten food at all, but I still did   

I think that by six months old, little Greta will have gained all the benefits she needs from the special "kitten" food you have given her.  And, I really don't see why you shouldn't now just feed all three cats on the best, most agreeable, food that you can afford.  

kitten food does supposedly have a higher percentage of fats and proteins that their growing bodies need.  My Vet said it was ok to stop feeding it at around age 8 months.   That being said, one does wonder about the "all stages" food and how it can be just that .

I'm not familiar with any of the brands you mentioned in the dry food (except the Acana which you won't be feeding any longer) so cannot make any judgements, but I think you're probably okay to feed what you are proposing to ALL three of your furkids.  Just my opinion.  If all else fails, I suppose you could run it past your Vet. 

Thank you both for your kind answers

I forgot to mention that mine are indoor cats. I don't think I'd be as worried if they went out - I've seen many outdoor cats in perfect health and shape fed on supermarket brands, obviously supplementing with mice and birds what they lack in shop bought. But indoors only have what owner provides and it's hard not to feel guilty if there are budget restrains.

I had a look at more brands, wet this time, and it seems the better, more meaty  food is - higher the percentage of fat and protein in general, so quality adult food could be more nutritious than lower end kitten food.

For example, mentioned Animonda Carny adult (mince type food) has 11,5% protein and 6,5% fat and Animonda Kitten (pate type), 10% protein and 7% fat.

So yes, kitten food looks like a marketing ploy, at least for better brands. 

I will try to keep at least a can of good meaty mid-price wet per week for Greta & Flo, because they eat less dry than Lola, and mixing it with jelly type. Once Greta starts on adult wet I can get 400g cans so that should be a bit more affordable.

The good thing is that they are all eating less dry now so hopefully that will keep finances in balance.

Oh, btw, Darko is a real male name in my country  

Thank you for your answers and reassurance

It seems that the forum just ate my post, or I hit a wrong button, so will keep it short - my fussiness is probably due to them being indoor cats. I've seen many perfectly fit and healthy outdoor cats fed on supermarket food but they can easily supplement with rodents and chomp on grass when needed. Indoors are at mercy of what owner gives them and that's always a worry.

I had a look at more brands, wet food this time, and it looks like the all life stages label could apply to most of higher end brands (not all of them are prohibitively expensive), because they tend to have higher protein and fat content anyway (10-11% protein and 6-7% fat on average), so really, no difference there between adult and kitten. Marketing ploy for sure!

Once Greta finishes her kitten stash I'll probably go for 400g cans of mince/pate type for her and Flora and stick with jelly chunks for Lola, who eats more dry anyway, so that will probably keep budget under control.