Appropriate amount of food for my 7.5 month old kitten?

Hi all,

I have only had my kitten Fiona a week, she is eating well and has been telling me when she is hungry quite effectively! I was leaving her a treat of a small portion of cooked chicken cubes during the daytime along with some dry food incase she got hungry, then two 85g tins of wet food in the evening for dinner. I then changed to giving her one 85g tin of fresh food in the morning and the same in the evening, along with leaving the dry food out for her during the day incase she wanted some.

Does this sound ok or is this too much/too little?

Having only just brought her home recently and feeling her body was a little skinny, I wanted to ensure I gave her enough to ensure she isn't hungry and to ensure she's getting the right amount of nutrition, but obviously I don't want to overfeed her either. I am very new to all this as I am a first-time cat owner, so would appreciate some advice!

Thanks

andym1982 said:

Hi all,

I have only had my kitten Fiona a week, she is eating well and has been telling me when she is hungry quite effectively! I was leaving her a treat of a small portion of cooked chicken cubes during the daytime along with some dry food incase she got hungry, then two 85g tins of wet food in the evening for dinner. I then changed to giving her one 85g tin of fresh food in the morning and the same in the evening, along with leaving the dry food out for her during the day incase she wanted some.

Does this sound ok or is this too much/too little?

Having only just brought her home recently and feeling her body was a little skinny, I wanted to ensure I gave her enough to ensure she isn't hungry and to ensure she's getting the right amount of nutrition, but obviously I don't want to overfeed her either. I am very new to all this as I am a first-time cat owner, so would appreciate some advice!

Thanks

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Hi there .. What is her body size like, and what wet/dry food are you feeding her? Depending on this, the two cans a day plus a bit of dry food, may be enough.

Kittens go through a lot of growing in the first year and so to support these changes and ensure that they get off to a good start, it is important to feed kittens as much as 3-4 times a day. Given their high metabolism, they will burn a lot of calories. Kittens have a high requirement for protein, moderate fat and minerals, so its important to ensure that you are feeding the best food possible. Some experts believe that kittens should eat an exclusive kitten diet until the age of one, but I think it is acceptable, provided the food is complete and particularly after spaying and neutering, to transition earlier to adult food. We acquired a young stray (4-5 month old). We neutered Thomas at age 6 months. He was given adult wet food and a small amount of dry a month later.

I would suggest to stay away from dry food if you can but you have indicated that you are already feeding this. Its important from the start to ensure that wet food makes up the majority of the diet, and just offer a bit of good quality dry food. Dry food is really more of a human convenience, rather than a good thing for cats. If you must feed dry food, ensure that the first ingredients are meat and that it does not contain corn, wheat or soy. There are many grain-free varieties on the market, but the other thing to watch for with this is the carb content. Ideally you are looking for high protein, moderate fat and low to no carbs.

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I am feeding her 2x85g tins of Schesir Kitten per day, as well as leaving a full bowl of dry food specifically for kittens.

Based on your advise I will give her more wet food. As of tonight I will begin to increase the amount I give her based on your advise. I'll give her another two tins tonight, then tomorrow ensure she gets a minimum of 4 tins per day from then on.

Thank you very much for the information on nutritional content to aim for, I will start to plan carefully to ensure she's getting these in the correct proportions.

Thanks again!

andym1982 said:

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I am feeding her 2x85g tins of Schesir Kitten per day, as well as leaving a full bowl of dry food specifically for kittens.

Based on your advise I will give her more wet food. As of tonight I will begin to increase the amount I give her based on your advise. I'll give her another two tins tonight, then tomorrow ensure she gets a minimum of 4 tins per day from then on.

Thank you very much for the information on nutritional content to aim for, I will start to plan carefully to ensure she's getting these in the correct proportions.

Thanks again!

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You're welcome! .. Sorry, some of my comments might have created confusion. When I mentioned 3-4 times a day this refers to feeding a bit of food and not 3-4 tins a day necessarily. You will be the best judge of whether she is getting enough based on her size and if she is active during the day. Just as a rule of thumb for you to work with, a typical amount for adult cats per day is roughly 6oz of wet depending on the food and calories. As your cat is young, you are already feeding an adult serving in the wet food alone.

I am not familiar with the Schesir brand. It sounds like it might be european? I have looked at one site that features it, and it looks like a pretty good food in that it doesn't seem to contain much if any any carbs, just meat, which is awesome. I have not seen 'Aloe' as an ingredient in pet food before, so this new.

I found the information about your food, here : http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/schesir/schesir_cans/313846#composition. One of our members here, @IrinaSaK, might be able to help you more here, regarding this food.

Ah ok I understand, thank you for clarifying. I will monitor her and ensure I give her a bit of food at frequent intervals as well as her Schesir.

Her body size is quite large for a kitten in terms of dimensions (she's not fat, she's a little on the skinny side in my opinion, although that might be because I am not very knowledgeable on cats). Her breed, the Norwegian Forest Cat, appears to be a large breed based on the research I did, so this could explain her being quite large already.

The link you gave is exactly right. That is the exact product I am feeding her! Yes I believe it is European. The site that you found the information on has several sister sites, for UK, Italy, etc.

Thanks again for all the information and help you've given me - I will make sure I have a nice variety of food in addition to the Schesir to give her small portions of throughout the day to ensure she's getting the right amount overall.

andym1982 said:

Ah ok I understand, thank you for clarifying. I will monitor her and ensure I give her a bit of food at frequent intervals as well as her Schesir.

Her body size is quite large for a kitten in terms of dimensions (she's not fat, she's a little on the skinny side in my opinion, although that might be because I am not very knowledgeable on cats). Her breed, the Norwegian Forest Cat, appears to be a large breed based on the research I did, so this could explain her being quite large already.

The link you gave is exactly right. That is the exact product I am feeding her! Yes I believe it is European. The site that you found the information on has several sister sites, for UK, Italy, etc.

Thanks again for all the information and help you've given me - I will make sure I have a nice variety of food in addition to the Schesir to give her small portions of throughout the day to ensure she's getting the right amount overall.

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Oh you're welcome .. Norwegian Forest Cat - I just had a quick look, and they are really lovely cats! I hope you will take the opportunity to post a few pics of her here when you get the chance. All the best.

EDIT : I just found something while I was looking at the Norwegian Cat pics, that might help you on your journey. It is a link to a blogspot where someone discusses Ideal Weight and Nutrition for Norwegian Forest Cats, here : http://catmess.blogspot.ca/2009/11/cat-breeds-norwegian-forest-cat.html. I noticed that these cats are naturally quite large when they are full grown. According to the blogspot, 300kCal per day is ideal. Wow!

On closer inspection of the information in the blog post, the person recommends dry food which would account for the higher calories. Total calories per day will depend on the size of your cat and whether she is true to the breed in developing into a large-boned cat in general. For instance, to maintain the weight of an average sized 12lb cat, you would feed roughly 245 calories per day.

Schesir is a good high-quality food but, like most shredded/file foods, it is supplementary. This means it lacks important vitamins and minerals and it shouldn't be more than 15 % of the cat's diet (if you feed 3 meals/day, you have 21 meals/week, so 15% would be 3 meals/week).

Although Schesir kitten has some vitamins and minerals, it is still a supplementary feed at it is not fully balanced.I haven't been feeding Schesir for a couple of months, but as far as I can remember it says on the can it is supplementary.

How old is Fiona? If she is younger than 6 months, I would feed her as much as she wants. After 6 months I would start calculating calories and such. Some people do this after the kitten reaches 1 year, but this hasn't worked for two of my kitties who probably where pigs in a previous life.

During this period she will have growth spurts and you will notice a hunger increase. At one time I was feeding Harley 400 grams (more than 11 oz) of food/day and he was still acting like he was starving. But he is a big DSH. With a Norwegian, I guess the calorie intake is even bigger, as oneandahalfcats already researched.

Why do you feed dry? Just in case you haven't read it already, catinfo.org it is a great site written by a vet who explains feline nutrition.

IrinaSaK said:

Schesir is a good high-quality food but, like most shredded/file foods, it is supplementary. This means it lacks important vitamins and minerals and it shouldn't be more than 15 % of the cat's diet (if you feed 3 meals/day, you have 21 meals/week, so 15% would be 3 meals/week).





Although Schesir kitten has some vitamins and minerals, it is still a supplementary feed at it is not fully balanced.I haven't been feeding Schesir for a couple of months, but as far as I can remember it says on the can it is supplementary.





How old is Fiona? If she is younger than 6 months, I would feed her as much as she wants. After 6 months I would start calculating calories and such. Some people do this after the kitten reaches 1 year, but this hasn't worked for two of my kitties who probably where pigs in a previous life.





During this period she will have growth spurts and you will notice a hunger increase. At one time I was feeding Harley 400 grams (more than 11 oz) of food/day and he was still acting like he was starving. But he is a big DSH. With a Norwegian, I guess the calorie intake is even bigger, as oneandahalfcats already researched.





Why do you feed dry? Just in case you haven't read it already, catinfo.org it is a great site written by a vet who explains feline nutrition.

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Hi, thank you for this information it is very helpful.

Fiona is 7.5 months old. Can I ask what you would recommend adding to her meals in addition to the Schesir? Should I be buying another wet tinned food for kittens?

Fiona tends to not eat lots at the moment - she will eat her wet food, but sometimes leave a small amount then return for it later; and then some of the dry food during the day, and a few treats. I think based on this I can trust her to only eat what she needs (I hope!). I have also been adding water to the wet food to make more of a 'soup', as I don't see her drinking a lot usually so I want to ensure she gets enough water. I've also ordered a water fountain to see if I can make water more appealing to her on its own!

I have bought her a cat tree, which will mean she will be exercising more in the future. Based on what I've learnt so far I am thinking I will need to compensate with upping her calorie intake once she is doing this too.

Thanks again for the information.

oneandahalfcats said:

Oh you're welcome .. Norwegian Forest Cat - I just had a quick look, and they are really lovely cats! I hope you will take the opportunity to post a few pics of her here when you get the chance. All the best.



EDIT : I just found something while I was looking at the Norwegian Cat pics, that might help you on your journey. It is a link to a blogspot where someone discusses Ideal Weight and Nutrition for Norwegian Forest Cats, here : http://catmess.blogspot.ca/2009/11/cat-breeds-norwegian-forest-cat.html. I noticed that these cats are naturally quite large when they are full grown. According to the blogspot, 300kCal per day is ideal. Wow!

On closer inspection of the information in the blog post, the person recommends dry food which would account for the higher calories. Total calories per day will depend on the size of your cat and whether she is true to the breed in developing into a large-boned cat in general. For instance, to maintain the weight of an average sized 12lb cat, you would feed roughly 245 calories per day.

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Thank you, I like the breed a lot too - Fiona has a lovely character!

The link you provided was really informative and useful, thank you for that. I have saved it and am reading it thoroughly to learn as much as possible.

I will be sure to post some photos of Fiona as soon as I can get them off my cameraphone!

Andy.