Adopted 2 new kittens

HI all

My husband and I adopted two kittens from a shelter. They are 8 weeks old. A boy and a girl. We lost our cat about a month ago. She was 13. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in April and had a mastectomy almost 3 weeks ago. We felt adopting two kittens would be good for us. They are adorable.

My question is, since its been so long since we had had a kitten, how often should we be feeding them. We have Kitten Chow dry food and wet food.

All help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Barra

I'm so sorry for your troubles, but you are right these two little guys will help greatly, they are such a delight to have around, plus they make you laugh. I kept a litter of 4 kittens that were born in my back yard. After their mom didn't want to feed them anymore, I started to give them kitten milk, until they started to prefer the wet and dry food. You can get it from the supermarket or the petstore. They are all 2 1/2 years old now, and are very healthy boy and girls. 1 boy, 3 girls. I wish you lots of luck.

You can feed them a measured amount, as recommended by your vet, or, if you feed them dry food, you can let them "free feed," and eat when they want to. Or, you may want to give them some soft food morning and evening, and leave out some dry food the rest of the time. It seems like different cats prefer different timing.

They will be such fun to have in your life. Great to add a little laughter watching them play.

I just got through the kitten stage. Your vet is always the one to communicate with, making sure they thrive well. I used Royal Canin Babycat 34 "growth formula" for up to 4 months age. The kibble is tiny so they can eat it easier, good nutrition also. Left this out for them to nibble on. They ate canned food at least four times a day. I used Wellness kitten, PetGuard turkey and rice, and Authority kitten (PetSmart brand). They liked the Authority the best. I always mixed a little warm water or kitten milk replacer "Just Born" brand. It was easier on their tummy. They need to eat often.

With two kittens (and I'm assuming no other pets?) you can free feed them dry food. I think that's the easiest way to go and that's what I would have done if I didn't have a second cat on adult food at the same time. You can leave dry out all the time for them and give them as much wet food as they will eat, once or twice a day. With cats, free-feeding isn't the best because they tend to overeat but with kittens, overeating isn't an issue.

OR

Try to feed 3 times a day, but 2 times a day would be the minimum.

When I first adopted my kitten (Chloe) at 12 weeks old, I fed her Nutro Natural Complete Kitten, but now she eats Wellness Kitten. Royal Canin's kitten food is good too. There are some good kitten foods out there (Nutro Max, Nutro Natural, Wellness) but mine wouldn't eat any of them so I gave her Natural Balance (it's all-life-stages wet food instead of adult maintenance wet food).

Yay for giving two new babies a home I adopted my first cat Matilda last October right after a close friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Having Matilda around during such a rough time was very therapeutic and relaxing. It was nice to have something so positive to focus on.