Our little rescue man Si is approximately 9mos per our vet's best guess. Having said that I have read tons of threads here on optimum feeding. First off, we are in an area of Louisiana that doesn't have a Petco or anything of that nature so our options were limited when he found us. I started him on the Friskies dry seafood mix at first because we had other issues to deal with (cat bite abscess on leg, barfed up a roundworm or two, etc., then a neuter). And I started with several small feedings since he seemed to be totally new to eating cat food overall.
Even though he drank plenty of water on his own, my continued research here & the thought of UTIs spooked me enough I decided to start cutting him over to the wet Friskies pate varieties of chicken & beef until we're back in Dallas/Fort Worth next month & I can get to a real pet store with better options.
All that said - he is a Chow Hound and though I realize now some of that is associated with having been a stray & not knowing where his next meal would come from, he seems hungry even when I know his little belly "feels" full.
I see that some of you feel that a kitten under the age of 1yr should not really be withheld food (assuming they are not gorging themselves to the point of barfing) and wondered, based on his current activity level, if I am doing the right thing.
Si currently weighs 9lbs and my rough feeding schedule has been:
5:30am - 1/2 of a 5.5oz can wet
9:30-10am - 1oz of dry kibble for a snack
1:30-2:00pm - 2oz+ of dry kibble
7:30-8:00pm - 1/2 of the 5.5oz can wet
Realizing that the kibble is virtually useless nutritionally and based on his current activity level - which is what I would consider high is it safe to up his wet food to, say 1 and a 1/2 cans?
We play with him 4-6x per day as he's interested. We can't resist getting in the floor & playing get the rat (toy) in his crinkle tube, we also have several squeaky fishing toys that he's mad about, noisy balls & we play chase through the RV once he's riled up in full play mode.
Thanks in advance for all of your thoughts & advice!
Even though he drank plenty of water on his own, my continued research here & the thought of UTIs spooked me enough I decided to start cutting him over to the wet Friskies pate varieties of chicken & beef until we're back in Dallas/Fort Worth next month & I can get to a real pet store with better options.
All that said - he is a Chow Hound and though I realize now some of that is associated with having been a stray & not knowing where his next meal would come from, he seems hungry even when I know his little belly "feels" full.
I see that some of you feel that a kitten under the age of 1yr should not really be withheld food (assuming they are not gorging themselves to the point of barfing) and wondered, based on his current activity level, if I am doing the right thing.
Si currently weighs 9lbs and my rough feeding schedule has been:
5:30am - 1/2 of a 5.5oz can wet
9:30-10am - 1oz of dry kibble for a snack
1:30-2:00pm - 2oz+ of dry kibble
7:30-8:00pm - 1/2 of the 5.5oz can wet
Realizing that the kibble is virtually useless nutritionally and based on his current activity level - which is what I would consider high is it safe to up his wet food to, say 1 and a 1/2 cans?
We play with him 4-6x per day as he's interested. We can't resist getting in the floor & playing get the rat (toy) in his crinkle tube, we also have several squeaky fishing toys that he's mad about, noisy balls & we play chase through the RV once he's riled up in full play mode.
Thanks in advance for all of your thoughts & advice!
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