Feeding new kitten

I'll be picking up an 8 week old kitten in a couple of weeks time and have a few questions on feeding. I plan on gradually switching the kitten to James Wellbeloved kitten wet and dry food. I don't like the idea of free feeding and leaving food out all day but there are going to be a couple of days a week when both my boyfriend and I are at work for 8 hours. Would that be too long to leave the kitten without food? Obviously I plan on feeding in the morning, when I get home from work/in the afternoon and again before bed. Also, I work different shifts, sometimes I finish at 6pm, sometimes 7pm and sometimes even 8.30pm. My boyfriend also finishes at different times.

What is the easiest way to work out a feeding schedule for the new kitten? I don't want it to be expecting food at a certain time and have to wait for hours before I can get to feed her. I am considering feeding wet food in the morning, leaving dry food out during the day, feeding wet food again in the afternoon and wet food again before bed. Is it best to feed as much as the kitten can eat in one meal or to stick to measured amounts?

Apologies for the mass of text and questions! This is my first kitten so I want to do the best impossibly can xD

I would say a kitten that young is going to need more than 3 meals a day. I would feed wet 3 times a day and leave some measured dry out for her when you are gone for 8 hours or more and overnight. You can get her on a feeding schedule as she grows older by cutting back gradually on the dry until it's eliminated.

With the kitten being so young, it should have access to food at all times if possible. So, giving wet food at set times; but leaving dry out during the day is a great idea.

And, yes, kittens should be allowed to eat as much as they want.

Once the kitten gets older, you can start having set meal times, though if your work schedule varies a lot, I'm not sure how practical this would be. When you get a cat on a schedule, they *will* expect meal time when it comes around, though some variances are ok.

I did think that 3 meals might not be enough. I will definitely leave dry food down when I'm gone and during the night thanks

CatPack said:

With the kitten being so young, it should have access to food at all times if possible. So, giving wet food at set times; but leaving dry out during the day is a great idea.

And, yes, kittens should be allowed to eat as much as they want.

Once the kitten gets older, you can start having set meal times, though if your work schedule varies a lot, I'm not sure how practical this would be. When you get a cat on a schedule, they *will* expect meal time when it comes around, though some variances are ok.

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Would it be best to just keep dry food out during the day even when the kitten is older and just feed wet food in the morning and before bed? I'm not sure how practical set meal times will be. I've never liked the idea of free feeding but I suppose I can always measure the amount of dry food that I leave out.

Yes, I think once older giving a set measured amount during the day would be fine. If you know you are going to be several hours later than normal, you can always put out a bit more dry.

Total Calories Needed - Wet Food Calories = Dry food Calories

You might also consider a timed feeder.

Like CatPack, I'd also suggest a timed feeder in your situation. You have your kitten's age on your side at this point, so it would be wise to encourage the wet food over the dry, so kitty doesn't grow up to be a kibble addict.  I don't think it is inherently wrong to feed a healthy cat some quality dry food, but I am a big advocate of feeding as much of your cats diet in wet form, as is possible for your individual situation.

At that young age, 5-6 meals per day is usually the recommendation I see most often, or roughly every 4 hours. The reason for such frequent meals is because the kitten's stomach is not big enough to hold less frequent, and thus larger meals.  At the meals you are home for, I would offer your kitty as much wet food as it wants (the amount might surprise you, kittens pack away a lot more food than adult cats). Reserve the dry food for times when you are not home, or overnight. And for those meals you can't be home for, I would put a measured amount of dry food into the timed feeder, set to go off 4 hours after it was last fed. You could even use the timed feeder for an overnight meal after you've gone to bed.  With this type of scenario, you'd be able to offer unlimited wet food, but only a specific, set amount of dry.

As your kitten ages, you can switch to less frequent meals. Usually 4 times per day at around 4-5 months, and most are ready for 3 meals per day by 6-7 months old. With the timed feeder, this transition shouldn't be too hard...just put less and less dry food into the timed feeder, until that particular meal is eliminated from the schedule.

Best of luck, I'm sure you'll find a solution that works for both you and your new kitty!  Have fun with her!

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm definitely going to try and feed wet food as much as possible but will leave a measured amount of dry out for when I'm not there to feed her.

And I will look into getting a timed feeder too. Can they be used for wet food or only dry food? I never knew cat nutrition was so complex! XD

Some timed feeders can be used for wet, up to a certain extent of time. I believe there's one in particular, that has mini ice packs that sit under the food. I can't recall the name of the feeder, but it has 2 dishes, is gray & white in color... I've seen it on Amazon.  It will have it's limits for keeping wet food fresh though, so keep that in mind. I think the ice packs would probably work somewhere in the 4-6 hour span (they're thin), and you could even pre-freeze the portion of food that you put in the dish, which may give you several more hours on top of that while it thaws. I would definitely test it out a couple times when you are home to monitor it, so you'll know exactly what your limits are, in regards to wet food in the timed feeder. I don't think it would be appropriate for wet food, if you were going to be away for the weekend or on vacation, etc.  Some cats also don't like cold/cool food, they prefer it at room temperature. So that's another reason to try things out at home...even if it worked for wet food with your schedule, there's a chance the cat might not be thrilled if the food is still cold.

I remember looking at timed feeders a while back for one of our previous cats, and was really discouraged at the offerings. There are several options for dry, non-perishable foods, in varying price ranges with varying consumer reviews. But not one thing specifically designed for keeping wet food fresh for more than 12 hours or so (if that). It's such a shame, as I'm sure there is a huge market for a timed WET food feeder. I know I'd buy one in a heartbeat, if it could feed 4 to 6 wet meals over a 48 hour period, while keeping the wet food fresh. They make mini-coolers for cars that plug into the lighter socket, you'd think someone could make a reliable partitioned cooler dish with a timer for pets, that plugs into the wall outlet.  I'd also like one that beeps for a few seconds, to let the cat know they're next meal is waiting for them. Perhaps someday....   

Edited to add.. I just noticed your in the UK, so not sure if the timed feeder I referenced above would be easily available to you. I'm in the US, and that gray/white one is pretty popular here. I just looked it up on Amazon and the model is Cat Mate C20.