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- Oct 13, 2019
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I have two 6 month old kittens, one boy and one girl, both spayed/neutered. I used to free feed them dry kibble (Nature’s Variety Instinct) with two wet meals a day, since kittens need access to a lot of food. But when they were around 4.5 months I stopped because I learned online that my free feeding might have been contributing to their nocturnal behavior that was preventing me from sleeping. So I moved on to feeding them 3 times a day—still two wet meals at morning/night and dry kibble for lunch.
But now I’ve been reading that kittens in general should still be free fed and I’m worried that I stopped too soon. At what age is it ideal to stop free feeding and put them on a schedule? Should I go back to free feeding until they’re 1 year old? Mind you, they’re 6 months right now. I should also mention that the last time they were weighed at the vet, the male was 7 lbs at 5 months and the female was 5.5 lbs. My estimates on my home scale puts my male at 8 lbs at 6 months and the female at 7 lbs. So they at least arent underweight?
My other worry— in last month 2 months of schedule feeding, I’ve been concerned about them not eating enough calories, particularly the male. I think he’s technically eating 80-100 calories less than what he’s supposed to be eating at his size for a kitten (he’s eating around 380 Kcal but I found a chart that says he’s supposed to be eating around 460). But he just doesn’t like to eat that much in the 3 meals I give him. He’ll only eat one 3 oz can per wet meal (so 6 oz per day) and then I’m feeding him 1/3 cup of dry kibble. I just don’t want to give him more kibble because I know that’s not the best but he also doesn’t bother to eat more wet food each sitting but he’s still growing so idk.
But now I’ve been reading that kittens in general should still be free fed and I’m worried that I stopped too soon. At what age is it ideal to stop free feeding and put them on a schedule? Should I go back to free feeding until they’re 1 year old? Mind you, they’re 6 months right now. I should also mention that the last time they were weighed at the vet, the male was 7 lbs at 5 months and the female was 5.5 lbs. My estimates on my home scale puts my male at 8 lbs at 6 months and the female at 7 lbs. So they at least arent underweight?
My other worry— in last month 2 months of schedule feeding, I’ve been concerned about them not eating enough calories, particularly the male. I think he’s technically eating 80-100 calories less than what he’s supposed to be eating at his size for a kitten (he’s eating around 380 Kcal but I found a chart that says he’s supposed to be eating around 460). But he just doesn’t like to eat that much in the 3 meals I give him. He’ll only eat one 3 oz can per wet meal (so 6 oz per day) and then I’m feeding him 1/3 cup of dry kibble. I just don’t want to give him more kibble because I know that’s not the best but he also doesn’t bother to eat more wet food each sitting but he’s still growing so idk.