How much should he be eating?

PB is now about 5 months old. He eats only wet foods with some occasional raw meats (about 2-3 times per week not with meals). Anyway he weighs about 5 pounds now and has started wanting to eat 5 (five) 3 ounce cans of food a day. usually he eats 3 meals a day. Breakfast, Lunch and Supper. Now he wants breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, and supper. 5 full cans a day. is this normal? When can i switch him to twice daily feedings? Hes eating merricks canned various flavors. Even when he was a younger kitten he didnt eat this much food.

Sounds like he is going through a growth spurt and needs the extra energy ! As long as he is not getting to be over weight give him as much as he demands. He should be at least 1 yr. old before going to only 2x a day feeding - that way all of his or most of his adult size should have been reached. However plese do run this by your vet before making any drastic chnages to his feeding.

Good luck

Originally Posted by amitya

PB is now about 5 months old. He eats only wet foods with some occasional raw meats (about 2-3 times per week not with meals). Anyway he weighs about 5 pounds now and has started wanting to eat 5 (five) 3 ounce cans of food a day. usually he eats 3 meals a day. Breakfast, Lunch and Supper. Now he wants breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, and supper. 5 full cans a day. is this normal? When can i switch him to twice daily feedings? Hes eating merricks canned various flavors. Even when he was a younger kitten he didnt eat this much food.

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Can you say growth spurt? Unless you find he is becoming plump, I'd go with what he is asking. At 5 months, I'd not be thinking of cutting him to twice a day feedings yet. Consider it after this growth spurt is over (as that is what i think is going on) and he is 10 months old or so.

I think my kitties are going through the same thing--all of a sudden they are scarfing their food down much quicker and as a result eating more in total.

Growth spurt, definitely. Feed him what he wants unless he is getting chubby.

my 6 month old kitten is getting a bit plump. I've been feeding both kittens (other is 4 months) 4 or 5 times/day. The younger cat is at a normal weight, but the older is a bit chubby. Should I cut back on food for the older one?

Wow..I only feed my 4 month old twice daily (wet food, he has access to dry food all day) and he seems to be growing fine!!

Holy moly!! 4-5 times per day!!!

Originally Posted by jane_vernon

Wow..I only feed my 4 month old twice daily (wet food, he has access to dry food all day) and he seems to be growing fine!!

Holy moly!! 4-5 times per day!!!

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But your kitten is free-feeding on dry, this other kitten is on wet only.

Fair enough - But how do I know that my kitten is getting what he needs?

I was told by the vet that a cats diets should be 70% dry and 30% wet. At the moment I'm doing about 50/50.

Originally Posted by jane_vernon

Fair enough - But how do I know that my kitten is getting what he needs?

I was told by the vet that a cats diets should be 70% dry and 30% wet. At the moment I'm doing about 50/50.

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By assessing your kittens weight and overall condition. Lean and muscular and looking healthy as he grows is good Too thin/boney, too tired to play, sleeping all the time, poor coat quality as in dull, lots of dandruff, would not be good.

Definately lean, muscular and always looking for fun!!! Sounds like he is doing just fine then!!!

Thanks!!

I've found that cats are very good at STOPPING when their hunger is sated (something I wish mine would teach me. LOL). Unless they are bored, they tend to eat only when they're hungry.

My three eat far less than the recommended daily amount of food according to the packages. I feed each one 1/4 C of super premium kibble each day, and two of them eat about 1.5 cans of wet food per day. The third one is less interested in wet food, but will eat about .5 can per day. (I give her all the "gravy" from each can, because she likes that).

Now, if I were feeding according to the package directions, they'd get either 2 cans per day or about 1 C of kibble per day. If I gave them that much I'd be throwing a lot of stale food out!

The youngest one is really still a baby, so she generally finishes everybody's leftover canned food.

None of them are overweight -- the oldest weighs about 12 pounds, the middle one about 11, and the youngest about 7-8.

He's still a baby. If he acts hungry, feed him. Keep an eye on the bowl and if there's food left at the end of a day, you can cut back a bit.