raw feeding insatiable kittens

Hi all,

I have questions about raw feeding kittens, mostly concerning amount. Some backstory -- I have two kittens, Mouse is 5 months old and weighs 6.5 lbs., and Linus is 3 months old and weighs 3 lbs. They are amazing and healthy and energetic, loving their raw (prey model) diet, are gaining steadily, and they look really good -- particularly Mouse, who is very muscular, Linus is still kind of a pipsqueak (vet thinks he was possibly the runt -- so I have a holistic vet that I use and love, but I needed to bring them to a conventional vet for FeLV/FIV testing, and she was slightly skeptical, or just not particularly knowledgable about raw feeding and nutrition -- mostly wanted to make sure that appropriate nutrition was being achieved with the home-preparation aspect -- but she gushed about how good they look). 

I understand that raw fed kittens can be fed as much as they want / should self-regulate, however, mine seem insatiable. I recently cut them off at about 10% of body weight, as it seems that there is no limit to how much they'll eat. I am wondering if cutting them off is okay, or if I should really just feed them unlimited. I feed meals 4x / day, approx every 6 hours, with some additional snacks of eggs and sardines and pinkie mice and such. There is basically nothing they don't eat immediately, and if I were to feed them their next meal immediately, they'd gobble that up right away, too. I do suspect that some of this may be social / competition between them (they are in mad crazy love, but do exhibit competition around food and toys). Before Linus came along, there was a point that Mouse would have enough and walk away. Linus is super grabby about food, and I feed them in separate rooms so that Linus can't try to steal from Mouse once he finishes. I've tried increasing Linus's food but it doesn't seem to change anything. It could be that Linus is insatiable, and Mouse is just concerned that resources are scarce / will go to the pipsqueak if he doesn't snatch them up.

Also, if I go on feeding 8-10% of body weight up until about 1 year-old, before cutting back to closer to 4%, then as I understand it, they will be steadily increasing how much they eat until they're a year old (assuming they won't / don't stop growing earlier, which I suppose is possible). I want to make sure this is the correct understanding (I may just be in some kind of denial about the cost of feeding them this way increasing steadily for the next 7-9 months or so :/). 

Thanks

Sorry it's taken so long for you to get an answer.
I fed prey model raw, based on 2% of Ritz body weight. But Ritz is an adult and I started feeding her raw when she was an adult, i.e., over one year old.
Yes I've heard that kittens should be fed as much as they can eat, though I know not all cats are self-regulators (like Ritz!).
This is a link that might help you figure out how much to feed a cat/kitten.
I found this site enormously helpful when embarking (em-meowing?) on raw feeding. The excel spread sheets are helpful for me who is math challenged.

I just raised a cat on raw she is 1 year old.  She wasn't one to eat a ton so I just fed her about 5-6% of her body weight and she is a lean cat, I'm actually finding I have to feed her more as an adult than I did as a kitten which I'm finding weird.  I just fed her until she was done eating for the most part which was about 5-6% but she is also 6# and full grown (she's a small cat).  I am currently raising another kitten (5 months old) who is a bottomless pit and already 6#, I am currently feeding her about 8% of her current weight over the course of a day and she's getting a bit pudgy so I will be backing that down a bit.  She will literally eat herself sick, which is why I limit how much she eats.  She always has food on her mind and once she finishes her meals she runs to the rest of the dishes around the house to see if anyone left anything, this is while her belly is full (and practically bulging) from her own meal. 

Ritz said:

Sorry it's taken so long for you to get an answer.
I fed prey model raw, based on 2% of Ritz body weight. But Ritz is an adult and I started feeding her raw when she was an adult, i.e., over one year old.
Yes I've heard that kittens should be fed as much as they can eat, though I know not all cats are self-regulators (like Ritz!).
This is a link that might help you figure out how much to feed a cat/kitten.
I found this site enormously helpful when embarking (em-meowing?) on raw feeding. The excel spread sheets are helpful for me who is math challenged.

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Thanks for responding -- I've been feeding raw for a while now (formerly to my cat who died in the fall) and I use catcentric, and I know how much is recommended to (raw) feed cats and kittens. I'm finding that the reality of unlimited feeding of kittens, and even of capping at 8% body weight until 1 year old, to be sort of surprising, and was checking in about that aspect. Since they don't self-regulate, if I cap them at say 8 or 10%, they will each be eating around a pound of meat each day as they approach one year. If I don't place a limit, they would eat even more, likely much more (especially the little one). With limiting them to 8-10%, Mouse is currently eating almost 10 oz / day, and he's 5 months old, so do I really double his food as he doubles his weight over the next 7 months? Linus is still small but his appetite is huge, and Mouse is big and muscular, and very solid / sturdy -- not fat, but his physique would suggest that he is eating more than enough. Anyway, it's daunting and I'm hoping to hear from people who have raw feed during this first year of life, and how much their kittens wanted to eat / how much they fed. I buy local, pastured meats, even for the cats, so maybe I need to let go of this, but I don't really want to. 

cprcheetah said:

 
I just raised a cat on raw she is 1 year old.  She wasn't one to eat a ton so I just fed her about 5-6% of her body weight and she is a lean cat, I'm actually finding I have to feed her more as an adult than I did as a kitten which I'm finding weird.  I just fed her until she was done eating for the most part which was about 5-6% but she is also 6# and full grown (she's a small cat).  I am currently raising another kitten (5 months old) who is a bottomless pit and already 6#, I am currently feeding her about 8% of her current weight over the course of a day and she's getting a bit pudgy so I will be backing that down a bit.  She will literally eat herself sick, which is why I limit how much she eats.  She always has food on her mind and once she finishes her meals she runs to the rest of the dishes around the house to see if anyone left anything, this is while her belly is full (and practically bulging) from her own meal. 

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Your kitten sounds like each of mine -- Linus tries to snatch the food before I can put the bowl down, basically gorges himself, and then runs to the other room to steal Mouse's food -- I make sure he doesn't -- and then he licks Mouse's bowl after Mouse finishes, or sometimes Mouse leaves bones that Linus will eat. Linus also tries to get up in most anything we (the people in the house) are eating. He clearly doesn't self-regulate / isn't a candidate for feeding as much as he wants. And Mouse is also 5 months and weighs more than 6# -- sounds like maybe bringing his portions down below 8% might be in order. Thanks!

@cprcheetah  I see you have a cat named Mouse too!

Oh my, I remember the insatiable kitten phase! I transitioned mine at 7 months, but do remember before that age they were eating machines. At 7mo they were sharing 12-16oz raw, fed over three meals. By 9-10 months they started to really slow down, and I dropped it to 12,10, then 8oz but they were still leaving food behind at one year so now at 1.5 yrs it's at 6oz shared or about 2% of weight. To me it seems like not enough, but they are healthy, lean, not skinny and our vet thinks they look great! So, yes there's hope your boys won't eat you out of house and home!

Thank you! Hope is what I need. I cannot even imagine them leaving food behind. So glad to hear of your experience, and the process for your kittens. I guess I can live with them eating a pound or so of food for a while, and constantly buying and preparing it, if in a few months there is a chance they can exist on 6 oz (or even like 8 or 10 is fine -- I hope not 12) for the years to come. I will also look forward to not having to weigh them and do new prey model calculations every time I make food.

I've been feeding my two 7 month old kittens on raw and when I first started, they had the same insatiable appetite as yours. Fortunately, at least one cat does tend to self-regulate--she is smaller boned and less hungry than the other, who if left to himself will eat nonstop until the food's gone, or steal from his sister.  

I've found that there is a happy medium between how much the little cat can stomach, and how much the big one needs so he doesn't get hungry/whiny between meals. So I let her appetite determine the portion sizes. As a rule of thumb, I will always give the big cat a slightly larger portion than the little one can finish in one sitting. They both look great and seem happy with that. 

imuneekru said:

 
I've been feeding my two 7 month old kittens on raw and when I first started, they had the same insatiable appetite as yours. Fortunately, at least one cat does tend to self-regulate--she is smaller boned and less hungry than the other, who if left to himself will eat nonstop until the food's gone, or steal from his sister.  

I've found that there is a happy medium between how much the little cat can stomach, and how much the big one needs so he doesn't get hungry/whiny between meals. So I let her appetite determine the portion sizes. As a rule of thumb, I will always give the big cat a slightly larger portion than the little one can finish in one sitting. They both look great and seem happy with that. 

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That makes sense. It is my younger / smaller kitten, Linus, who has the bigger appetite (he's 8 weeks younger -- but might also turn out to be a smaller cat, at least he is a smaller kitten than the other, Mouse, was at the same age/s, and has had a bigger appetite than Mouse at the same age/s, too). Mouse weighs twice as much as Linus, but his portions are no longer double Linus's, to account for Linus's desire to eat more relative to his size. I can see doing something like what you're doing as they age and their difference in development / size reduces.