6 Month old kitten transitioning to timed/wet

I currently have a 6 month old kitten, that I want to transition into timed meals and wet food. I've been free feeding on dry food. I'm curious about a few things and could use some advice.

1) Should I slowly ween off the dry food and mix it for now?

2) I'm reading about 15-20 calories per lbs. He's about 8 LBS right now at 6 months. That's about where he should be, right?

3) What kind of brands would you recommend? Price isn't really an issue. I'd like to go for higher end, but I also don't want to overload him with insanely high protein.

4) Is now a good time to start, or should I still let him free feed for a few more months? He's kind of getting a little belly, and has grown a bit the past month.

Thank you!

Is your kitten currently getting any wet food or is he only eating dry?

CatPack said:

Is your kitten currently getting any wet food or is he only eating dry?

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Currently we are giving him Mainly dry, with some wet sporadically, I wanted to get him used to it! Mainly chicken and turkey, tried salmon and he wasn't very happy with it. Also, they're all kitten cans.

15-20 calories per pound is WAY too low for a kitten. I also have a 6 mo kitten, about the same weight. He gets 2-3 small cans of food a day + about 1/4 c of dry at night. That's around 325 calories a day roughly. That's 40 calories per pound.

The 15-20 calorie per pound seems low even for a neutered adult, unless they're a serious couch potato. I think 20-30 is more accurate. Most cats are 8-10 pounds and it seems "most" people feed about 1 big can of food a day (around 200 calories).

If you visit this site www.catinfo.org there is a whole section on transitioning from dry to wet.

In general you want to do it slowly; first transition to timed dry feedings (3-4 x a day), then replace 1 dry meal with wet, then 2 meals with wet, etc. Just make sure he's eating enough as you transition.

chloe92us said:

15-20 calories per pound is WAY too low for a kitten. I also have a 6 mo kitten, about the same weight. He gets 2-3 small cans of food a day + about 1/4 c of dry at night. That's around 325 calories a day roughly. That's 40 calories per pound.

The 15-20 calorie per pound seems low even for a neutered adult, unless they're a serious couch potato. I think 20-30 is more accurate. Most cats are 8-10 pounds and it seems "most" people feed about 1 big can of food a day (around 200 calories).

If you visit this site www.catinfo.org there is a whole section on transitioning from dry to wet.

In general you want to do it slowly; first transition to timed dry feedings (3-4 x a day), then replace 1 dry meal with wet, then 2 meals with wet, etc. Just make sure he's eating enough as you transition.

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Great thank you! Very valuable information, I've been reading over that but I find the best information comes from personal experiences. How long would you suggest about 40 calories per pound for? I've been doing 1 C of food a day and let him free feed.

chloe92us said:

15-20 calories per pound is WAY too low for a kitten. I also have a 6 mo kitten, about the same weight. He gets 2-3 small cans of food a day + about 1/4 c of dry at night. That's around 325 calories a day roughly. That's 40 calories per pound.

The 15-20 calorie per pound seems low even for a neutered adult, unless they're a serious couch potato. I think 20-30 is more accurate. Most cats are 8-10 pounds and it seems "most" people feed about 1 big can of food a day (around 200 calories).

If you visit this site www.catinfo.org there is a whole section on transitioning from dry to wet.

In general you want to do it slowly; first transition to timed dry feedings (3-4 x a day), then replace 1 dry meal with wet, then 2 meals with wet, etc. Just make sure he's eating enough as you transition.

Click to expand...

Thank you! I've been reading that site but I've found that the best advice generally comes from multiple first hand experiences.

Right now I do 1 cup to 3/4 cup of dry food, and let him free feed. How long would you say the 40 calories per pound should last for? Even with the 1c or 3/4c he barely finishes it by the next day.

What brands would you recommend?

chloe92us said:

15-20 calories per pound is WAY too low for a kitten. I also have a 6 mo kitten, about the same weight. He gets 2-3 small cans of food a day + about 1/4 c of dry at night. That's around 325 calories a day roughly. That's 40 calories per pound.

The 15-20 calorie per pound seems low even for a neutered adult, unless they're a serious couch potato. I think 20-30 is more accurate. Most cats are 8-10 pounds and it seems "most" people feed about 1 big can of food a day (around 200 calories).

If you visit this site [edited] there is a whole section on transitioning from dry to wet.

In general you want to do it slowly; first transition to timed dry feedings (3-4 x a day), then replace 1 dry meal with wet, then 2 meals with wet, etc. Just make sure he's eating enough as you transition.

Click to expand...

Thank you for this information! I've generally found the best way to get information is a few first hand experiences, but I've been reading that site.

How long would you suggest the 40 calories per pound for? I generally give him 3/4 cup to 1 cup of dry food and let him free feed. He barely finishes the 3/4 cup in a day and not a whole cup. The 7-8lbs mark at 6 months is about right, correct?

What brands of wet food do you use?

IMO, around 6-7 months is when you start seeing cats differ in weight. Those that are going to be on the larger size continue gaining weight at a pretty steady pace, while those that are going to be smaller slow down just a bit. So, the fact that your cat is 7+ lbs at 6 months is likely very normal for him. Again, you will rarely come across a kitten that is overweight (if at all.)

I think that somewhere between 12-18 months (depending on the cat) is when you can look at tapering back on calories consumption. Most cats will greatly slow down in growth around 12 months and will be at close to their full adult size by 18 months.

I have 4 13 mo olds that are still getting 8.25 oz of canned daily (1 1/2 cans.) Though, I will soon be tapering this to about 6 oz a day. They get 3 meals daily. It's not uncommon for 6-10 mo old to eat upwards of 12+ oz of canned daily (if feed only canned.)

We feed Nature's Variety Instinct, Nulo, some Natural Balance (pouches) and PetSmart's brand Simply Nourish (stew varieties.)

airhoodz said:

How long would you suggest the 40 calories per pound for? I generally give him 3/4 cup to 1 cup of dry food and let him free feed. He barely finishes the 3/4 cup in a day and not a whole cup. The 7-8lbs mark at 6 months is about right, correct?

What brands of wet food do you use?

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It all depends on your cat really. Kittens up to about 9-12 months should eat as much as they want at meals. If mine scarfs down his whole can like he's starving, I put another scoop in, etc. Normally he eats with gusto for the first 3/4 can then slows down at the end. That's normal for him.

20-30 is just a guide for an adult cat. My 12 lb cat MAYBE eats 200 calories a day- but he's a senior couch potato. My kitten is a ragdoll, and should be around 15 lbs + as an adult so I will keep him around 300-350 calories as he reaches 1 year and reassess his hunger vs pudge lol. The point is kittens are growing and you shouldn't try to limit their cals too much unless you can't feel his ribs lol!

For wet food, I have about 10 different brands here at all times, since I rotate daily. My staples are Natural Balance Platefuls (all), Sheba cuts in chicken and mixed grill, fancy feast classics in chicken and turkey, pro plan chicken & liver, Soulistic (all flavors in gelee), Weruva (variety), Cats in the kitchen Lamburgerini & double dip, Max Cat (seafood/tomato, venison, and chicken), Pride flaked chicken.

For dry I feed a mix of Wilderness kitten, Natural Balance Ultra, and EVO.

My suggestion is to try to keep your cat on pâté foods- they are more calorie dense, tend to be higher in protein, and are much easier to find than the chunky/ gravy foods. I wish I never introduced Skye to chunky foods because now he has a preference for them. Some cats will have a preference for texture, but since yours hasn't tried many canned foods yet, you can help him eat what you want him to eat!

Thank you all for the valuable advice.

So, for now and the next few months should I continue free feeding or start timed feeding?

I'm also going to move towards an entirely wet food diet, and eventually into a raw/home cooked diet. I did quite a bit of reading.

I would start transitioning to timed meals. I'm down to 3 meals a day at 7:30, 4:30, 11:00, your schedule will vary. I also leave 1/4 c of dry out overnight. That's what I do anyway!

I also meant to mention that dry foods normally contain "around" 400 calories per cup, so your cat has indicated he needs about 300 calories a day (they're pretty good at not over-eating when they're young) if he's eating around 3/4 cup a day. So to transition to timed meals, try to feed around 100 calories per meal x3, which would be about 3 oz of wet food at each meal. If you plan to supplement with dry (I do), you could do 6 oz of wet per day then feed about 1/4 c of dry at the third meal, or leave out overnight, or whatever. When Skye is going through a growth spurt (he scarfs his meal really fast), I feed an extra can per day for a couple days until he's back to normal.

chloe92us said:

I also meant to mention that dry foods normally contain "around" 400 calories per cup, so your cat has indicated he needs about 300 calories a day (they're pretty good at not over-eating when they're young) if he's eating around 3/4 cup a day. So to transition to timed meals, try to feed around 100 calories per meal x3, which would be about 3 oz of wet food at each meal. If you plan to supplement with dry (I do), you could do 6 oz of wet per day then feed about 1/4 c of dry at the third meal, or leave out overnight, or whatever. When Skye is going through a growth spurt (he scarfs his meal really fast), I feed an extra can per day for a couple days until he's back to normal.

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Thanks again! You've been very helpful. That's what I figured about 325-375 calories(sometimes it fluctuates if we had a busy play day!). I will start working toward timed kibble, and at least supplementing one meal as wet food. He LOVES wet food, he was in a SEVERLY over-populated humane society when we adopted him that was strictly dry and even then pretty tight on food, when we first brought him home at 4 months he was a MONSTER and would crush like 1.5 cups of food.