Is it okay to feed my 7mo kittens a mixture of dry and wet food?

We've been feeding our two 7mo kittens a mixture of Hill's Science Diet for healthy development and Friskies for their breakfast and dinner. Usually half and half of the recommended amount they apparently should be eating a day by the vet's suggestion. Obviously, they prefer the wet food way more, but even feeding them the recommended amount, the brother especially, has been gaining a lot of weight. Again, 7mo, and he's already 12lbs, and the sister about 8. They're tabbys so I believe they're going to be big, but they're just growing so fast. When we first got them back in September, the brother was 8, and the sister was 5lbs. I'm wondering if increasing or lessening either one of the foods will help, or maybe they're just supposed to be this big, not quite sure. Thanks for any input.

As long as you're not mixing the foods together (it can get nasty fast and waste of food) and on separate dishes (dry on one and wet on the other) it should be fine.

Sounds like they are too heavy. You might want to cut back on the dry food, which has more carbs in it. I feed dry in the morning and wet at night.

I've been trying that the last two days as another suggestion from a friend but wasn't sure if it was the better way to handle it. I guess we'll see how it pans out. They're just always wanting food, all the time, and I feel bad when they're meowing at their dishes, but I'm a total sucker at the same time, and they know it. I feel that as long as I can't feel their spines anymore like when I could when we first got them for the shelter, it's a good thing. But the vet said that the brother was going to probably be a pretty big cat. He grew so much in just two visits, a month and a half apart. 

I wouldn't say they are obese. Male cats tend to develop much faster than females, and they are normally much bigger/heavier than females.

One of my cats was already 12 pounds at 7 months. He's now a year old and 16-17 pounds. He's not fat, just a very large cat.

My other 2 cats (ages 4 and 3) are female and weigh 9 and 10 pounds.

7 month old kittens are still growing. I wouldn't worry too much. If you notice them over eating, you can try taking the dry food away or picking up their bowls as soon as they are done eating and don't allow them to free-feed.

That's what I've been doing on the rare occasions that they don't finish their food on the first go. I've just never had cats this big, this early. I've only ever owned two calicoes and one tortoiseshell. My tortoiseshell that's still alive out of state never got over eleven pounds, and she was just fine. Just new to me. Thank you for your input.

Atypicalaries said:

That's what I've been doing on the rare occasions that they don't finish their food on the first go. I've just never had cats this big, this early. I've only ever owned two calicoes and one tortoiseshell. My tortoiseshell that's still alive out of state never got over eleven pounds, and she was just fine. Just new to me. Thank you for your input.

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I understand I was worried about my cat's weight too. I even made a thread about it here. He was already 9lbs at 6 months old.

But he's just a big boy. Super fluffy too. His fur makes him look bigger than he is too lol.

Oh man, that fluff! How adorable! I love his little nose-mole.

I love the little black spot on his nose too.

Do you have any pictures of your 2 kitties?

Absolutely!

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Atypicalaries said:

Absolutely!

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• atypicalaries
• Nov 20, 2016

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Awwww![emoji]128571[/emoji] They are so cute! They're all cuddled up to each other [emoji]128568[/emoji]

We were originally just going to adopt the brother, but the sister changed our minds right quick when she was staring at us through the door when we were filling out the paperwork with those big ol' eyes. We realized we couldn't split them up, and seeing how they interact with each other at home, I'm so, so glad we didn't. The brother has definitely taken more to me and the sister more to my fiance, though. 

I'm glad you started this thread, @Atypicalaries  because I was just about to start one to ask if my 6.5 month old kitten was getting too big. He's nearly 10 pounds and has put on a pound in the last month. I don't think he's fat, but his paws are huge and he has fluffy fur on his belly so it looks like he has a tummy. It's nice to know that other kittens are even bigger at his age. I guess he's just going to be a big boy. I feed him both wet and dry food. 

7 months old is still in kitten stage. They reach adulthood at 1 year. Some other breeds reaches adulthood at 2years.
Yes, males are usually larger than females and some males are bigger built and some are more lanky.
10 pounds at 6.5 months is pretty normal. My boy was 9.5 pounds when he was 7 months old. He eats wet food throughout.

profdanglais said:

I'm glad you started this thread, @Atypicalaries
 because I was just about to start one to ask if my 6.5 month old kitten was getting too big. He's nearly 10 pounds and has put on a pound in the last month. I don't think he's fat, but his paws are huge and he has fluffy fur on his belly so it looks like he has a tummy. It's nice to know that other kittens are even bigger at his age. I guess he's just going to be a big boy. I feed him both wet and dry food. 

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That makes me feel a lot better too. I've been feeding them dry food in the morning and wet food at night, but they're still growing like crazy. Gibley-boy just hit 13 pounds officially now, and he's still so lanky and his ribs are poking out, and yes, his paws are so big for his body too (those loooong toes), it's just insane how fast they're growing. Bolt (the sister) is still much smaller, but is finally filling out a little. She's at about 9.5 now. They just love their food but are still so, so active. I guess I'm especially nervous because Gibley has a fat pocket on his belly that he can't get rid of unless we take him to surgery, but it's completely unnecessary because it's not an issue other than aesthetics, but it makes him look way bigger than what he actually is. I've just never had kitties this big, to be honest.

Oh man, so another four months of growing at the minimum? Lord help us... :lol3:

Atypicalaries said:

Oh man, so another four months of growing at the minimum? Lord help us...

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Yes! Our cats kept eating and eating and growing until almost two! They were very underfed and had a lot of catching up to do when we adopted them at ten months but they were (and still are, even at almost four) very active so they burned off the calories fast.

It sounds like your cats were thin when you adopted them, too: one thing to watch for is food insecurity. Some cats who were underfed or had to scavenge for food will want to keep eating even when they're not hungry. (One of our cats still has a bit of that: she eats too fast and would horn in on her sister's dishes if we didn't separate them when they eat.) Two things have kept their weight normal from that adolescent phase on: we weaned them off dry foods, to only low-carb canned and raw wet foods, when they were around a year old and we feed them in meals at fairly set times so they're not free-fed. They still get fed about five meals a day... I think we were feeding them even more often when they were younger, something that's easy for me because I work at home, though I realize that's not practical for many people!

Anyway, good luck! I hope your cats' intake goes down earlier than our cats' did! And also, good for you for adopting littermates. Our two cats are sisters and I'm glad the shelter wanted them to be adopted together. They generally get along very nicely and it's wonderful to see when they curl up together, like your cats do!

I agree with what LisaHE mentioned. Except I don't feed my boy raw food.
When my boy came back at 3 weeks, he was scrawny looking and shaky when he walks. And when he got his 1st real food, he was like gobbling down the food. And when I move his plate so that he gets the other portions, he made the 'nom nom nom' sound while eating. He was afraid that I take his food away :lol3:
I still feed him as much as he wants to eat but he never over eats. He'll ask for food when he's hungry. He's fed about 6 times a day. Is he fat? No. He's very active and he has the whole house to himself and runs around like a runaway freight train :lol3:

That's definitely happened with the sister, but also because her brother tends to devour literally everything in front of him. We separate them now during mealtimes and she hasn't had a problem with overeating since, nor has he. She'd just go to the point that she'd get sick because she was trying to eat so much. They've both have gotten better about it even with the severe monitoring. I feed them three times a day. Once in the morning when they wake me up, the middle of the day, and right before I go to sleep, and through the day I gradually incorporate the wet food with each meal. 

The shelter actually was okay with separating them if we wished, but after meeting her and having the playtime with both of them together while we were trying to get to know them, we knew we couldn't just adopt the brother. She needed to come too. We weren't expecting it, but neither of us regret it at all. I'm glad we kept them together, it's just interesting that the brother has taken more to me and the sister to my fiance.