Hi all! I've been absent for awhile (afraid I got pretty busy with school work), but I'm back with a new question:
First, I might mention that the last time I was here, Cleopatra had just been prescribed Lysine to clear up the residue from her URI, and I was in the process of getting a cat tree off of eBay. Well, I still don't have the cat tree (seller ran out of stock, and said it would be back in stock in October - I just contacted them again), but Patra appears to be a happy, loving little kitten. She's taken to scratching at the carpet more lately, but I'm hoping the cat tree will take care of that if I can get it.
But, to the main point: Patra's about 7 months old now, and approximately 7 pounds in weight, which I understand is good. A month or so ago, I got her off of the IAMs kitten food I'd started her on, and put her on Royal Canin kitten food instead, and she loves it. She is still free-fed, and also gtes her first dose of lysine in a little catmilk, and her second dose in a bit of plain yogurt. I also try to give her a spoonful of wet food mixed in water every other day or so, but she won't always eat it. I'm guessing that sometimes she's just not hungry because she may have been eating the Royal Canin dry food soon before - it's really more of a treat at this point.
Now, I believe she's still got a pound or two of growing to do before she's fully grown (I was told that she'd probably be about 8-9 pounds fully grown), but I've heard that it is bad to free feed kittens/cats after a certain age, or they risk becoming overweight. I don't think she shows any signs of it now, but I'm going to be paranoid and ask: approximately when should I stop free feeding her and giving her timed meals instead? And when I do that, what is the best way to wean her off of being free fed? I think when that happens, I'd like to give her one meal of dry food, and one meal of wet food each day, or something like that.
I'm planning to call my vet to ask about this as well, but I'd love to hear anything you have to say about it. Thanks in advance!
First, I might mention that the last time I was here, Cleopatra had just been prescribed Lysine to clear up the residue from her URI, and I was in the process of getting a cat tree off of eBay. Well, I still don't have the cat tree (seller ran out of stock, and said it would be back in stock in October - I just contacted them again), but Patra appears to be a happy, loving little kitten. She's taken to scratching at the carpet more lately, but I'm hoping the cat tree will take care of that if I can get it.
But, to the main point: Patra's about 7 months old now, and approximately 7 pounds in weight, which I understand is good. A month or so ago, I got her off of the IAMs kitten food I'd started her on, and put her on Royal Canin kitten food instead, and she loves it. She is still free-fed, and also gtes her first dose of lysine in a little catmilk, and her second dose in a bit of plain yogurt. I also try to give her a spoonful of wet food mixed in water every other day or so, but she won't always eat it. I'm guessing that sometimes she's just not hungry because she may have been eating the Royal Canin dry food soon before - it's really more of a treat at this point.
Now, I believe she's still got a pound or two of growing to do before she's fully grown (I was told that she'd probably be about 8-9 pounds fully grown), but I've heard that it is bad to free feed kittens/cats after a certain age, or they risk becoming overweight. I don't think she shows any signs of it now, but I'm going to be paranoid and ask: approximately when should I stop free feeding her and giving her timed meals instead? And when I do that, what is the best way to wean her off of being free fed? I think when that happens, I'd like to give her one meal of dry food, and one meal of wet food each day, or something like that.
I'm planning to call my vet to ask about this as well, but I'd love to hear anything you have to say about it. Thanks in advance!