Feeding Guidelines for kittens and an adult cat

[anapaula0324]

I apologize for the long post in advance. I'm new to the cat world , jumped in full speed and I want to make sure I'm doing a good job

I have four cats. 3 are kittens and one is about a year and a half. 2 of the kittens are around 9 weeks old and 1 is about 17 weeks old.
My 17 week old , Elsa, is fed a grain free diet but she's not a huge fan of her dry food so I'm switching her over to Merrick BackCountry in a couple of weeks. Right now she is eating Wellness Core kitten formula and Sheba wet food. I'm just wondering how much she should be eating wet food wise. I use the 3 ounce cans.
My 9 week old kittens, Harley and Quinn, eat Science Diet kitten formula but I'm switching them over to Canidae all life stages when they finish the bag of Science Diet. I received them from their previous owner and this is what they were eating but I am a fan of Canidae and would like to have them eating that over the Science Diet. They are also eating Sheba wet food and I would like to know how much to feed them of that as well.
My older cat Sareena is currently eating a mix of Merrick and Science Diet dry kitten food because she recently had a litter of kittens and she still had some of this left after the kittens were rehomed. But I have already ordered her Canidae all life stages dry food and I will be switching her to that once it gets here. She is eating Friskies the 5.5 ounce cans but I am switching her to Sheba wet food as well the 3 ounce cans. I want to know how much I should feed her of that since they are smaller cans.
Obviously I'm a little clueless when it comes to the feeding guidelines. All four of my cats are offered the dry food to free feed throughout the day. The 9 week old kittens usually get two cans of wet food a day , my 17 week old gets one and Sareena gets the 5.5 ounce can once a day too. But since I'm switching her to a 3 ounce I'm not sure if it's going to be enough. And Elsa , my 17 week old , seems like she's always hungry so I feel like maybe I'm not feeding her enough. But it could be also because she's not a fan of her dry food. So I'm definitely switching it. I personally don't have an issue feeding a diet that includes grains as long as it's pretty close to high quality as I can get. I'm on a budget since its quite a few of them hence why all of them are now going to be eating Sheba wet food. I also read that Sheba is grain free so it works for Elsa as well. I feed her grain free because I'm positive she has allergies to certain foods. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[zoop]

For Kittens feed as much as they would like to eat unless they are getting fat. I have two kittens 3-month-old and I feed them till they are full. Recently I have shifted them from free feeding Dry kibble to timed meals (raw and some wet food).

If you want numbers then I did ask our Vet on what is the calorie requirement, at that time for our 2.5-month-old Kitten who weighed 1.7 lbs the calorie requirement was 141 calories a day. The Vet said that calories play a major part and when I researched some more I did see that there was a huge difference in the number of calories/ounce on different products that were available on the market.

I am pretty sure you can scale the weight and numbers to your kittens. Usually, cats eat 2 to 4% of their weight daily however for Kittens these numbers are double as they are growing, this, however, is a little confusing because of the calorie discrepancies between various brands/type of food. For example, Kibble is very concentrated in terms of calories so you can't really expect them to eat the same weight of kibble when compared to wet canned food.

 

[anapaula0324]

For Kittens feed as much as they would like to eat unless they are getting fat. I have two kittens 3-month-old and I feed them till they are full. Recently I have shifted them from free feeding Dry kibble to timed meals (raw and some wet food).

If you want numbers then I did ask our Vet on what is the calorie requirement, at that time for our 2.5-month-old Kitten who weighed 1.7 lbs the calorie requirement was 141 calories a day. The Vet said that calories play a major part and when I researched some more I did see that there was a huge difference in the number of calories/ounce on different products that were available on the market.

I am pretty sure you can scale the weight and numbers to your kittens. Usually, cats eat 2 to 4% of their weight daily however for Kittens these numbers are double as they are growing, this, however, is a little confusing because of the calorie discrepancies between various brands/type of food. For example, Kibble is very concentrated in terms of calories so you can't really expect them to eat the same weight of kibble when compared to wet canned food.

So in terms of kibble they would eat less because it has more calories ? I really think Elsa just isn't a fan of her kibble because my younger kittens eat theirs. Sure it's not all of it at once but they do go back to it. Elsa mostly just ignores her and goes nuts for her wet food. I've been surfing through the threads and see that the general consensus is to feed mostly wet food or all wet food / raw diet versus using all kibble or mostly kibble. I add the kibble because I thought it was beneficial for them but now I'm second guessing that. I'm definitely going to offer wet food more often as they all seem to prefer that to kibble. So for the younger kittens 3-4 times would be fine or too much ? And Elsa and Sareena I can offer them wet food twice a day ?

 

[kirathecat]

 kittens have to be fed as often and as much as they will eat.

With an adult cat you can just  weigh her every week and see if she is gaining/loosing/keeping her weight and thus adjust the amount of food, cause any guidelines are just that, guidelines and every cat is different

You might want to consider timed meals and switching them all to 100% wet food diet since the cheapest wet food is much better for cats than the most expensive kibble. 

Check out this thread it has some suggestions on affordable wet food

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/324208/need-some-advice-abt-feeding-my-kitten

And adding raw to your cats diet can really help with the cost, since chicken thighs are rather cheap and cats on raw food eat a whole lot less

 

[kirathecat]

Check out this blog written by Dr. Lisa Pierson http://www.catinfo.org 

It's great at explaining what best to feed your cats to make them happy and healthy cats

 

[zoop]

So in terms of kibble they would eat less because it has more calories ? I really think Elsa just isn't a fan of her kibble because my younger kittens eat theirs. Sure it's not all of it at once but they do go back to it. Elsa mostly just ignores her and goes nuts for her wet food. I've been surfing through the threads and see that the general consensus is to feed mostly wet food or all wet food / raw diet versus using all kibble or mostly kibble. I add the kibble because I thought it was beneficial for them but now I'm second guessing that. I'm definitely going to offer wet food more often as they all seem to prefer that to kibble. So for the younger kittens 3-4 times would be fine or too much ? And Elsa and Sareena I can offer them wet food twice a day ?

Yes, they should eat less amount of kibble in weight because of calories.

Feeding Kittens three times a day is very good, you can get away with 2 if you have a 8 to 5 job (what can you do) but three times is plenty unless you have a kitten that is meowing and asking for more. I do believe cats like wet food over dry food (it is tastier to them) but sometimes when a cat is fed dry food for a long time then they have an adjustment period for wet food.

Don't feel bad about adding Kibble to their diet it will help you when you have to be out all day and can't return home to feed your cats. When we adopted our kittens (now 3 months old) we followed the same regime as their previous guardian. We fed them wet canned food in morning and evening and kept dry kibble (free feeding) around all day. We noticed that the kittens liked the canned food over dry and looked forward to us to feed them wet food. They will start meowing in the morning and evening to get our attention and feed them wet food although they had dry food lying around. Recently we have stopped feeding them kibble (unless we are out for a long time) and started giving them raw and wet food. The great thing about our kittens is that they will let us know when they are hungry (meowing and going in the kitchen smelling their plate again and again), this allowed us to adjust their feeding schedule. Now we feed them around 7:00 AM (when I wake up), then in the afternoon around 2:00-3:00 (they ask for it) and then at night 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM (they will ask for it). One thing that I have noticed that they never eat the same amount of food at each mealtime, sometimes they will eat a lot and sometimes they will eat less. I think it has to do with their activity levels between meals, growth and other factors.

 

[anapaula0324]

kirathecat I've considered raw but I'm not sure I'd be able to do it on a consistent basis. But if it's possible to add it in a couple of times a week or maybe a little more on top of their regular diet and not be detrimental to them then I'm definitely for it. I really should have looked into cat nutrition earlier. I actually had no idea a wet food diet was best. Thank you for the links. I'm going to look through them. Sareena looks pretty good right now weight wise. But I'm going to get scale so I can weigh her and the kittens regularly. I probably am going to phase out the dry food. I do spend a good amount on kibble and I feel like I can just invest that in more wet food. I have wet food coming that I ordered. But they are all Sheba different flavors so I'm going to look into getting different brands to try next week.

 

[zoop]

 
You might want to consider timed meals and switching them all to 100% wet food diet since the cheapest wet food is much better for cats than the most expensive kibble. 

Check out this thread it has some suggestions on affordable wet food

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/324208/need-some-advice-abt-feeding-my-kitten

I second the timed meal concept. Food is one way that you develop your relationship and communicated with your cats.

If food is magically laying around in a bowl your cat will never understand your role in their life.

If you are feeding timed meals then the cat will associate you with the pleasure of getting fed and it will help control bad behaviour as well as strengthen their affection towards you. They will also see you as their master and respond better to you.

 

[anapaula0324]

zoop All three of my kittens usually only meow when they realize they are about to be fed but the timed feeding seems like a good idea. Sareena is quieter but she is eager when I give her her food too. She always heads straight to the wet food like the kittens. Kibble does work for me because I'm not always home so I don't exactly want my cats to go hungry while I'm gone and not have an alternative. But even then I still wasn't feeding the right amount apparently in regards to the wet food. I'm going to start doing the 3 feedings when I'm here to do that for them and 2 if not. I usually am home but sometimes I do have to be away. I think I will still leave out kibble for now. But eventually I will try to phase it out and try to add raw as well to see how they like it.

 

[anapaula0324]

zoop for the timed meals , is there a certain amount of time I leave the food out ? Elsa , Harley and Quinn will usually finish their wet food as soon as I put it out but Sareena takes a little longer maybe because she has access to the dry food as well. I'm not her first owner so she is going to be a little harder to get off the dry food I think. I'm going to start a schedule for them tomorrow.

 

[kirathecat]

  or this 

b9617ca0b327ccbb66b3d71e7dc4b7c2.jpg

• kirathecat
• Aug 9, 2016

 

[zoop]

  or this 

b9617ca0b327ccbb66b3d71e7dc4b7c2.jpg

• kirathecat
• Aug 9, 2016

I agree man, I have kittens so they still look up to me but I am sure as they grow up they will disregard any authority.

 

[zoop]

@Zoop for the timed meals , is there a certain amount of time I leave the food out ? Elsa , Harley and Quinn will usually finish their wet food as soon as I put it out but Sareena takes a little longer maybe because she has access to the dry food as well. I'm not her first owner so she is going to be a little harder to get off the dry food I think. I'm going to start a schedule for them tomorrow.

Regarding leaving food out for a while you don't need to worry about spoilage/bacteria (although many germophobic ppl will tell you to) but cats have short digestive tracks and they are not too prone to food poisoning. Plus the canned food that you are using is highly processed with no bacteria to start with. I bet you can keep it out for 6 hours and your cat won't get sick from eating it although cats won't eat food that has been out there for a while (kittens will). (How resilient to spoilage highly processed foods are - read "20 year old McDonalds Burger")

Usually, if the cat is hungry they will come back after 30 -45 mins to finish their leftover food, some cats can eat in one burst and some cats will eat in two bursts.

If the kittens are finishing up all their food in one go then you may want to keep putting one more spoon of food on their plate and keep doing this until they are satisfied. This is exactly what I do.

If they didn't finish their food I would let the food be there on the plate and go watch tv for 30 - 45 mins. If I still see food left over then I will bring the kitten one by one to the plate and see it they want to eat. My kittens get usually get distracted in the middle of the meal coz they want to play and forget about eating. Usually, the kitten will smell the food and eat it if he/she wants to, if both the kittens refuse to eat, I will put the food in a Ziplock and refrigerate to serve later. I have noticed that if they don't finish their 8:00 PM meal then they will ask me for food around 11:00 PM. Kittens really get distracted and don't do what they were supposed to do.

Are you feeding your kittens together from the same plate or are you feeding them separately?

 

[kirathecat]

@KiraTheCat I've considered raw but I'm not sure I'd be able to do it on a consistent basis. But if it's possible to add it in a couple of times a week or maybe a little more on top of their regular diet and not be detrimental to them then I'm definitely for it. I really should have looked into cat nutrition earlier. I actually had no idea a wet food diet was best. Thank you for the links. I'm going to look through them. Sareena looks pretty good right now weight wise. But I'm going to get scale so I can weigh her and the kittens regularly. I probably am going to phase out the dry food. I do spend a good amount on kibble and I feel like I can just invest that in more wet food. I have wet food coming that I ordered. But they are all Sheba different flavors so I'm going to look into getting different brands to try next week.

It is wonderful that you are learning about cat nutrition now. We all had to start somewhere, right?

You try different things and figure out what works best for you and your cats. We all try to do the best we can with what we've got

It's not uncommon here to feed both wet food and raw. I started out by simply giving my cat a few pieces of raw chicken thigh as treats and then worked my way to just raw and a few cans now and then. If you decide to try some raw, you don't have to supplement raw meat as long as it is less than 15% of their diet (think about the food they eat during a week or a month, not a day).  Try giving them a chicken gizzard or a heart from time to time, it's also good for their teeth You can also give them cooked egg or raw yolk (not raw whites though, those aren't good for cats) once a week, yolk is good for preventing hairballs.

Try sheba for now, see how they will do on it, then add another brand and so on.

Your kitties are lucky to have you, all  

 

 

 

 of them

 

[anapaula0324]

Regarding leaving food out for a while you don't need to worry about spoilage/bacteria (although many germophobic ppl will tell you to) but cats have short digestive tracks and they are not too prone to food poisoning. Plus the canned food that you are using is highly processed with no bacteria to start with. I bet you can keep it out for 6 hours and your cat won't get sick from eating it although cats won't eat food that has been out there for a while (kittens will). (How resilient to spoilage highly processed foods are - read "20 year old McDonalds Burger")

Usually, if the cat is hungry they will come back after 30 -45 mins to finish their leftover food, some cats can eat in one burst and some cats will eat in two bursts.

If the kittens are finishing up all their food in one go then you may want to keep putting one more spoon of food on their plate and keep doing this until they are satisfied. This is exactly what I do.
If they didn't finish their food I would let the food be there on the plate and go watch tv for 30 - 45 mins. If I still see food left over then I will bring the kitten one by one to the plate and see it they want to eat. My kittens get usually get distracted in the middle of the meal coz they want to play and forget about eating. Usually, the kitten will smell the food and eat it if he/she wants to, if both the kittens refuse to eat, I will put the food in a Ziplock and refrigerate to serve later. I have noticed that if they don't finish their 8:00 PM meal then they will ask me for food around 11:00 PM. Kittens really get distracted and don't do what they were supposed to do.

Are you feeding your kittens together from the same plate or are you feeding them separately?

Elsa and Sareena both get their own bowls. Harley and Quinn I've only had them for a few days and at first I was feeding them wet and dry mixed together twice a day. But since I feed Elsa and Sareena separate bowls of each I decided to start that today with Harley and Quinn. I gave them a bowl to share but I can already see that might be a problem since Quinn totally pushes Harley out the way. I'm going to give them each their own bowl of wet food around 7. That would be the second helping of wet food today. I didn't do a third because they've both been munching on the kibble and I also am just now learning about all this. I'll give Elsa a second can as well. I feel like because she doesn't really eat her kibble as much , she's able to finish off a can as soon as I give it to her. I feel bad now because I realize I was actually not feeding her enough. She's a pretty good size so I used that to gauge. I totally love fat cats but I definitely did not want to over feed because I know being overweight is bad for them. And I was also following the instructions on her dry food which said to only give her a 3 ounce can of wet food a day plus the kibble if I was feeding both. Maybe I read it wrong.
And yea I was definitely worried about leaving it out too long. I'll go with your advice since my kittens are all easily distracted too. Sareena runs on her own time lol

 

[zoop]

Elsa and Sareena both get their own bowls. Harley and Quinn I've only had them for a few days and at first I was feeding them wet and dry mixed together twice a day. But since I feed Elsa and Sareena separate bowls of each I decided to start that today with Harley and Quinn. I gave them a bowl to share but I can already see that might be a problem since Quinn totally pushes Harley out the way. I'm going to give them each their own bowl of wet food around 7. That would be the second helping of wet food today. I didn't do a third because they've both been munching on the kibble and I also am just now learning about all this. I'll give Elsa a second can as well. I feel like because she doesn't really eat her kibble as much , she's able to finish off a can as soon as I give it to her. I feel bad now because I realize I was actually not feeding her enough. She's a pretty good size so I used that to gauge. I totally love fat cats but I definitely did not want to over feed because I know being overweight is bad for them. And I was also following the instructions on her dry food which said to only give her a 3 ounce can of wet food a day plus the kibble if I was feeding both. Maybe I read it wrong.
And yea I was definitely worried about leaving it out too long. I'll go with your advice since my kittens are all easily distracted too. Sareena runs on her own time lol

The only time that I was not giving my kittens second helping/overfeeding was when one of them was throwing up. Kittens/Cats throw up occasionally it is nothing to worry about unless it is chronic. If they do throw up (it might happen because of switching foods, overeating etc and it doesn't mean that you should stop feeding that food to them. Just give them time to adjust.

Best solution to throwing up that I found was to let them skip the next meal unless the kitten is getting in you face asking for food. Gives their system time to relax and recuperate. Other times just feed the kitten as much as they want to eat. They are in such a growth spurt that they can use up all the food that you are putting into them. Do update us on how everything is going when you put your plan into action... 

 

[anapaula0324]

It is wonderful that you are learning about cat nutrition now. We all had to start somewhere, right?

You try different things and figure out what works best for you and your cats. We all try to do the best we can with what we've got

It's not uncommon here to feed both wet food and raw. I started out by simply giving my cat a few pieces of raw chicken thigh as treats and then worked my way to just raw and a few cans now and then. If you decide to try some raw, you don't have to supplement raw meat as long as it is less than 15% of their diet (think about the food they eat during a week or a month, not a day).  Try giving them a chicken gizzard or a heart from time to time, it's also good for their teeth You can also give them cooked egg or raw yolk (not raw whites though, those aren't good for cats) once a week, yolk is good for preventing hairballs.

Try sheba for now, see how they will do on it, then add another brand and so on.

Your kitties are lucky to have you, all  :cat:  :cat:  :cat:  :cat:  of them

I actually buy a lot of chicken so I think it won't be too hard to add in to their diet. Now I don't know if Sareena will go for it but I'm willing to try. I'm pretty sure the kittens will be easier to convince. I just don't feel confident in myself about doing a completely raw diet because I know there are certain things to consider when going that route like for example the percentages of the different types of meat they need. Eggs also won't be a problem. If I do serve it to them cooked which is the best way ?
I've tried Sheba before so I know Elsa , Harley and Quinn will eat it. Sareena mostly eats Friskies so we'll see if she goes for it. I've tried a few with Elsa though and so far she hasn't refused to eat any. I've only tried Purina Beyond and Sheba with Harley and Quinn. I think I might be able to establish a good variety for all four of them.
And thank you I personally think I'm the lucky one though. They are all sweet cats and definitely make my life brighter. Sareena is a tough sell for sure but there are days she likes my company. She was an outdoor cat mostly before she came to me and here she is inside only but it's safer for her so I can definitely wait for the day I completely gain her trust.

 

[anapaula0324]

zoop Okay. I will keep that in mind. I didn't know I could keep feeding right after if I felt she was still hungry. But barring any throwing up incidents from now on I'm going to just let them eat as much as they want. Thanks for all of your advice. And I will definitely update as I go along. And ask more questions if I have any as long as everyone is fine with that. I have a lot to learn.

 

[zoop]

I actually buy a lot of chicken so I think it won't be too hard to add in to their diet. Now I don't know if Sareena will go for it but I'm willing to try. I'm pretty sure the kittens will be easier to convince. I just don't feel confident in myself about doing a completely raw diet because I know there are certain things to consider when going that route like for example the percentages of the different types of meat they need. Eggs also won't be a problem. If I do serve it to them cooked which is the best way ?
I've tried Sheba before so I know Elsa , Harley and Quinn will eat it. Sareena mostly eats Friskies so we'll see if she goes for it. I've tried a few with Elsa though and so far she hasn't refused to eat any. I've only tried Purina Beyond and Sheba with Harley and Quinn. I think I might be able to establish a good variety for all four of them.
And thank you

I personally think I'm the lucky one though. They are all sweet cats and definitely make my life brighter. Sareena is a tough sell for sure but there are days she likes my company. She was an outdoor cat mostly before she came to me and here she is inside only but it's safer for her so I can definitely wait for the day I completely gain her trust.

You are on the right track a variety of different canned food is great for them so that they don't get fixated on one type of food. This will keep their mind open to trying different foods and will help you to switch their diet as they grow. I have heard that Friskies is good nutrition for the price but it is also very addictive, cats on Friskies are harder to transition to other food so work on Sareena a little harder, I have also heard the same thing about Tuna where cats develop Tuna addiction. Tuna is also not a natural food for cats so I don't plan on including it in their diet ever. I have ordered some cans of Friskies recently to use as a treat for my kittens, they deserve a McDonald meal sometimes .

Regarding Raw feeding make sure they are hungry and offer them some raw once a week (kittens are easier), it will help you if in the future if you want to transition them to complete raw. Keep in mind that while eating raw chunks (that are not ground) your cats may growl at each other (they get protective coz they think they caught a prey). They may also take the piece of meat out of their plate and rub it all over the floor eating it coz they are learning how to manage it, the same way a toddler drops food all over himself when trying to eat  (or run away with it and hide behind the sofa gnawing on it, again protecting it from other cats). My advice is to try it with one cat at a time, feed it in isolation if you can manage it they will feel relaxed and less protective of the meat/prey.

After having all of the above happen to me now I feed my kittens raw in a cardboard box so that all the mess stays inside. They still growl at each other because it is animal instinct but it is getting better and they are learning how to tolerate each other. I only have two kitten (same litter) you have 4 cats, you will for certain see a different dynamic when you feed raw for the first time (if you feed in chunks). You will see who is the dominating cat in your household. If you don't want to deal with all that just ground it and they will eat it like they eat canned food.

 

[anapaula0324]

zoop I do have a spare room so I wouldn't mind introducing raw food to them one at a time. It's an enclosed space and it would be easier to clean up in there versus another area since there are plenty of places to run away with the food to.
I'm thinking introducing new wet foods to Sareena might be a little difficult after a couple of months of exclusively different flavors of Friskies but her previous owner didn't always have the financial means to feed her so they fed her a variety of things including rice and boiled chicken. Here with me she's only ever ate cat food both dry and wet. I will say she gave me a hard time with 9 lives wet food and dry food. She wouldn't even go near it.
I'm almost positive Elsa is the dominating personality here. But Harley will def give her a run for her money. Quinn is really laid back and Sareena keeps to herself mostly. It would be interesting though to see how well they would take to raw feeding. Do you recommend that I wait till I have the timed feeding down pat before I introduce any of them to raw ?