Hello everyone! I have a few questions about adult cat feeding. This is new to me as in the past I've only ever fostered orphaned neonatal kittens, never older than 4 months. I adopted my last foster kitty, who came to me at 4 weeks with a URI, blind in one eye. She had to have that eye surgically removed. She is now 9 months and thriving. I recently adopted a 6 month old kitten for her to bond with and they are 2 peas in a pod!
So anyway, my 9mo cat has not grown in about 2 months now, so I switched her to adult kibble. I'm still free-feeding the kibble and feeding 1/4 of a 5.5oz can (mixed with 2tbsp of warm water. She refuses to eat it without water haha) twice a day. So my question is if she continues to maintain her weight, when do I stop free-feeding the kibble and increase the can food? How much kibble and can food do I feed, and when? Right now she gets canned for breakfast and dinner, between 5:30-7:30am (depending on when she wakes me up lol) and then 5:30-7:30pm (12 hours after breakfast). She snacks on the kibble throughout the day. I guess I'm confused on how I would schedule both kibble and can food feeds. I am home all day so if it's like a 3 or 4x/day thing I can do that.
My other question is about the 6 month old cat. He is about 6lbs. He's built super tiny but he has a huge pot belly. They were monitoring his food intake at the humane society, feeding 1/4 of a 5.5oz can mixed with water 3x day. I chose to put him on the same routine as my 9mo old (but kitten kibble), free-feeding kibble and giving 1/4 of a 5.5oz can mixed with water twice a day just to keep things universal. But since I'm here and already asking for advice, does anyone have any advice/experience for this? He was fed Blue Buffalo in his first home before being surrendered, so the pot belly isn't a matter of poor nutrition. He's also extremely active, so it's not laziness. He did have an umbilical hernia that the humane society fixed surgically when they neutered him, but on his post-op notes the vet says he was still concerned about the pot belly and ordered his food intake to be monitored, so that makes me think the two are not connected.
FYI I feed Wellness Core kibble and can foods. I will be switching their kibble to Fromm or Orijen soon, though.
Thanks everyone!!
So anyway, my 9mo cat has not grown in about 2 months now, so I switched her to adult kibble. I'm still free-feeding the kibble and feeding 1/4 of a 5.5oz can (mixed with 2tbsp of warm water. She refuses to eat it without water haha) twice a day. So my question is if she continues to maintain her weight, when do I stop free-feeding the kibble and increase the can food? How much kibble and can food do I feed, and when? Right now she gets canned for breakfast and dinner, between 5:30-7:30am (depending on when she wakes me up lol) and then 5:30-7:30pm (12 hours after breakfast). She snacks on the kibble throughout the day. I guess I'm confused on how I would schedule both kibble and can food feeds. I am home all day so if it's like a 3 or 4x/day thing I can do that.
My other question is about the 6 month old cat. He is about 6lbs. He's built super tiny but he has a huge pot belly. They were monitoring his food intake at the humane society, feeding 1/4 of a 5.5oz can mixed with water 3x day. I chose to put him on the same routine as my 9mo old (but kitten kibble), free-feeding kibble and giving 1/4 of a 5.5oz can mixed with water twice a day just to keep things universal. But since I'm here and already asking for advice, does anyone have any advice/experience for this? He was fed Blue Buffalo in his first home before being surrendered, so the pot belly isn't a matter of poor nutrition. He's also extremely active, so it's not laziness. He did have an umbilical hernia that the humane society fixed surgically when they neutered him, but on his post-op notes the vet says he was still concerned about the pot belly and ordered his food intake to be monitored, so that makes me think the two are not connected.
FYI I feed Wellness Core kibble and can foods. I will be switching their kibble to Fromm or Orijen soon, though.
Thanks everyone!!