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Is my kitten eating enough??  

post #1 of 11
8/10/09 at 4:36pm
Thread Starter 
I have another thread but I wanted to make this separate.

I want to know if my kitten is eating enough. He normally eats around 4-5 times a day and each time he eats between 1 and 2 teaspoons. I wait a little bit and try to feed him more and he normally does but then he just chews and bites on the nipple.

I read a chart and that stated for his age he should eat 104 cc's a day. It seems like a lot for this little guy as it would be 4 teaspoons a feeding and he hasn't been able to eat more than 2 at a time.

Thanks!
post #2 of 11
8/10/09 at 9:11pm
The only way to really know if they eat enough and so, is to weigh them every day. If they gain more than marginally - it is OK.

But the amounts you mention sound not so much in my ears. Yet I know you wrote he gains...
post #3 of 11
8/10/09 at 9:48pm
It's better to go by weight rather than age in determining how much the kitten should be eating. Do you have a kitchen or postal scale where you can weigh him daily? How much does he weigh now? A general guideline is 8cc of KMR per ounce of body weight per day. A teaspoon is 5cc, so 8cc is approximately 1.5 teaspoons.
post #4 of 11
8/11/09 at 5:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldyCat View Post
It's better to go by weight rather than age in determining how much the kitten should be eating. Do you have a kitchen or postal scale where you can weigh him daily? How much does he weigh now? A general guideline is 8cc of KMR per ounce of body weight per day. A teaspoon is 5cc, so 8cc is approximately 1.5 teaspoons.
I was finally able to find a kitchen scale and he weighs 9 ounces. I know he didn't weigh this much when we got him a week ago but I only have last night to go off of.

So if I do the math correctly, he should be eating 13.5 tsp a day. It's early so I could be wrong. We feed him about every 4 hours so 5-6 times a day so he should be eating almost 3 tsp at every feeding. He is eating 1.5-2 now since I posted my first post. I also instead of diluting the KMR half and half have now went 1/3 water 2/3 KMR. It seems to help his accidents. Bowel is still loose.

I will just up it and I'm sure he will eat it. I normally let him feed from the bottle, play around for a few minutes then he will eat more, and so on till the bottle is empty. Is that okay?
post #5 of 11
8/11/09 at 6:27am
Thread Starter 
Another question I have is that the vet tech said to wait until 6 weeks to start weaning him off the KMR and onto solids.

My question is that he is biting the nipple a lot and he's biting other things.. Like ME! Is this a sign that he might be ready or should I just wait until 6 weeks? He's 4 weeks old now.

Thanks!
post #6 of 11
8/11/09 at 10:13am
Put 3.5-4 teaspoons of KMR in the bottle and feed him as much of it as he will eat each time. He may need to stop for a few minutes to rest or burp in the middle of the feeding, then offer him more. He won't necessarily take all of it every time, but he should be getting more than he has.

I started putting dry food out for my kittens when they were four weeks old, but they didn't actually start to eat it until the were about five weeks. Momma cat ate it for them. I know some people start kittens on wet food, but mine didn't show any interest in that until several weeks after they started eating the dry food. It was a gradual process so I can pinpoint exactly. I think they were almost completely weaned by 7 or 8 weeks, although they did still nurse occasionally even after they were 3-4 months old.

I would put a dish of dry food out for him and see what he does.
post #7 of 11
8/11/09 at 10:37am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldyCat View Post
Put 3.5-4 teaspoons of KMR in the bottle and feed him as much of it as he will eat each time. He may need to stop for a few minutes to rest or burp in the middle of the feeding, then offer him more. He won't necessarily take all of it every time, but he should be getting more than he has.

I started putting dry food out for my kittens when they were four weeks old, but they didn't actually start to eat it until the were about five weeks. Momma cat ate it for them. I know some people start kittens on wet food, but mine didn't show any interest in that until several weeks after they started eating the dry food. It was a gradual process so I can pinpoint exactly. I think they were almost completely weaned by 7 or 8 weeks, although they did still nurse occasionally even after they were 3-4 months old.

I would put a dish of dry food out for him and see what he does.
Yeah I did realize I wasn't feeding him enough for his weight so I am starting to up it. I don't mind giving up my time for him. =)

Should I wet the dry food at all? I purchased Science Diet Kitten so I don't know how small the kibble is. (I haven't opened the bag yet lol)
post #8 of 11
8/11/09 at 5:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tiberius709 View Post

Should I wet the dry food at all?
It is not necessary by itself, but many do so. Especially in the beginning.
You can perhaps do both, have some dry, and have some wetted. And you see which he does prefer...


Observe that if wetted, bacteria grows quite soon. So take away if he doesnt eats after latest one hour.
Dry you can have much longer.
post #9 of 11
8/12/09 at 5:22am
Thread Starter 
I just wanted to share that I am an IDIOT!!

All this time I have been saying he is only eating 1-2 teaspoons at each feeding but I realized last night that I have been OVERFEEDING him!

The bottle is in tablespoons, not teaspoons like I thought! I feel so dumb because I figure people were thinking I was crazy or something when I realized how little a teaspoon is.

So before I was feeding him about 6 teaspoons so he was definitely overeating. I think this may contribute to his loose stool too.

Has anyone else done this before or am I the only one? lol

Good news is that I weighed him Monday night and then again last night and he went from 9 ounces to 9.5 ounces.. or atleast I hope that is good news!
post #10 of 11
8/12/09 at 11:01am
We probably should understand you perhaps meant soup (or table-spoons)....

Lol.
post #11 of 11
8/12/09 at 1:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by StefanZ View Post
We probably should understand you perhaps meant soup (or table-spoons)....

Lol.
A tablespoon is a specific measurement.
1 tablespoon=3 teaspoons=15cc=1/2ounce
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