How Much Should You Feed Your Adult Cat
As your kittens metabolism starts to slow down and he reaches adulthood, you might notice him start to put on excess weight. Obesity is a common issue among adult cats and, when not corrected early on, may lead to complications later in life. Regular exercise and a well-controlled diet will help to prevent obesity and keep your cat in good shape.
Whether you feed your cat homemade cat food or the best commercial cat foods, its critical to feed him the right amount per day. But theres no single amount of food that every cat should eat each day.
Calorie needs vary from cat to cat, with many factors coming into play. When deciding how much to feed your cat, youll have to consider his breed, age, reproductive status, underlying health conditions, and more. In general, however, the recommended daily caloric intake is about 20 calories per pound of bodyweight.
that helps you identify how many calories your cat needs per day.
When An Eight Week Old Kitten Wont Eat
Moving home is a really big deal when you are 8 weeks old. Some kittens are very nervous at first and may refuse to eat. If your kitten hides in his carry box when you get home with him and doesnt seem interested in the bowl of food you have prepared especially for him, try tempting him out with a little bit of juicy kitten food on the end of your finger.
Dont worry if your kitten doesnt eat much that first day, provided that he seems active and otherwise in good health. But if he is still not eating the following day, you need to take him to a vet.
Tiny kittens cant afford to lose much weight or go more than 24 hours without a meal, and the cause of the problem needs to be swiftly identified. If youre not sure whether to visit the vet, give them a call. Theyll be able to let you know whether your kitty needs to see them.
Billys
From Mothers Milk To Solid Food
For the first weeks of their lives, the diet of kittens consists of mothers milk only. Mothers milk will do for the first 3 to 4 weeks. After that, you may begin adding canned food to their diet. Starting at around 6 or 7 weeks, most kittens can switch over to solid food completely and no longer need to drink from their mother. Around 8 or 9 weeks the kittens are ready to leave the nest and move to their new owner. Your kitten was probably a few months old when you purchased it.
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S To Bathe An Underage Kitten
for a video from Maddie’s Institute on bathing orphaned kittens.
How Often To Feed Kittens
Younger kittens need to be fed several meals per day, if you are not free-feeding.
As they are growing and burning calories, we want to keep their bodies supplied with energy. Feed meals every 6-8 hours.
Your veterinarian will figure out the total daily calories that your kitten needs, and you can divide that between the number of meals per day. Typically, by the time kittens get to 4-5 months, they can be transitioned to two meals per day, still feeding the total number of daily calories, but in less frequent, larger meals.
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When Should Kittens Be Given Solid Food
Pet stores and sometimes even grocery stores will carry growing cat grass or cat grass kits for you to grow at home. The grass is usually wheat or oat grass although sometimes its a mixture of grasses. The grasses can provide fiber, vitamins and minerals for your kitten but they primarily offer your kitten something new to experience. In fact, many kittens have more fun uprooting the grass than eating it. When offering your kitten any of these different foods, keep the 10% rule in mind. Anything you add to your kittens daily diet should not account for more than 10% of the total daily calories. Any more than 10% could upset the nutritional balance of her food. In addition, offer one new item at a time. Give her a chance to taste and get to know that food before offering anything else. With those thoughts in mind, have fun. Enjoy your kittens food explorations. If you will be cooking squash or pumpkin for your family, set aside a bit for your kitten.
Can You Overfeed A 2 Week Old Kitten
Newborns should not be over or underfed. A kitten will alert its owner if she reached a point in her life where shes eaten up in all its forms. It is likely that you will cause constipation, bloating, gas, diarrhea, and other serious issues when feeding her too much. A baby who has these conditions can die.
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How Much To Feed A Kitten From Three Months To Six Months
Routine: Kittens start to really appreciate routine during this time. Make sure your kitten food is in a quiet, safe place and dont move it around.
What to feed a kitten at this time: Check your kitten food label. It should have a guaranteed analysis of key ingredients including the minimum fat and protein and the maximum fiber and moisture. Cats and kittens can develop problems from too little protein in their diet. Keep your kittens diet constant dont switch foods unless necessary.
How much to feed a kitten schedule at three to six months: Toward six months, you can begin feeding your kitten three times a day. Its best to weigh your cat every week and adjust amounts accordingly.
How much to feed a kitten who is three months to six months old: 1/3 to 1 cup at each feeding.
Feeding cats: Though your kitten may continue to grow after a year, theyre generally considered cats by then.
What to feed cats at this time: Your cats food should, again, contain adequate protein as it highly digestible to cats. Also, look for taurine and arginine these are essential amino acids. Most vets recommend against a vegetarian diet as cats are strict carnivores. As a grown cat, he has several choices for food:
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Weeks Four And Five Feeding Schedules
During weeks 4 and 5, a kitten will slowly increase how much food it consumes in a meal. Feedings will occur less frequently and a bowl of formula or other liquid kitten food should be made available for a kitten to start drinking from. By the end of week 5, a kitten should only be nursing three times a day but at each meal it should be consuming about 3 tablespoons of milk or formula.
A kitten should weigh about 14 to 16 oz. by the time it is 4 to 5 weeks of age if it is eating enough food. Towards the end of week five, you should be offering the kitten more food from a saucer than it is consuming from nursing. The food should graduate from being a liquid to eventually more of a gruel by using less and less water with canned kitten food over the course of a couple of weeks. This will be a messy stage of a kitten’s life since it usually ends up walking in the food, but it is a necessary step to begin weaning it off of its mother’s milk.
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Finishing Up The Routine
When you have finished feeding, play with the kitten for a while to encourage movement: this will assist with burping, removing gas that may have entered the stomach.
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It makes sense to carry out other aspects of kitten care at this time. This includes wiping under their tails with a moist cotton ball or washcloth to encourage urination and defecation . As urine and feces are passed, be sure to clean it all up thoroughly.
Remember to thoroughly clean all utensils including bottles and nipples: cleanliness around young kittens is very important as their undeveloped immune systems leave them very vulnerable at this time of life.
What To Feed Kittens 6 To 10 Weeks Of Age Weaning Comes To An End
Mom cats usually start to drastically limit their kittens access to milk at around 6 weeks of age. When they are 8 to 10 weeks old, most kittens are fully weaned and eating only solid food and drinking water. Bottle-fed kittens can be transitioned a little quickerfull weaning by 6-8 weeks is reasonable.
So, what should you feed your kitten toward the end of weaning? Canned kitten food is still the best optionbut if you want to switch to or add dry kitten food, start by soaking it in some warm water. Food and water should always be available to young kittens to fuel their rapid growth and development.
Whenever possible, kittens should remain with their mother and littermates until they are at least 8 weeks old. These first two months are vital from both a nutritional and a behavioral standpoint.
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Our Nine Week Old Kittens Meals
Billy had four meals a day:
- 7:30 am 1/4 of a 3.5 oz can of Lucys kitchen so just under an ounce
- 11 am Two heaped teaspoons of Thrive Kitten food this is slightly less than half a 2.5oz can so about 1 ounce
- 2:30 pm 1/4 of a can of Lucys kitchen
- 11 am Two heaped teaspoons of Thrive Kitten food
The idea was to get him used to a variety of different tastes and textures while he was young. He was getting a total of just under 4 ounces of wet food a day together with some kibble.
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What Do 7 Week Old Kittens Need
Another IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT! thing that I am going to mention again is this.K ittens cannot use clumping litter at this point.
Kittens are like babies where they want to put nearly everything in their mouth. If your kitten eats clumping litter, it could cause bowel obstructions and serious harms to your already sensitive kitten.
You want to get a non-clumping litter, like Yesterdays New. You will want to change this out a little more often than clumping litter to keep if clean, but I think your kittens health is worth it.
Finally, and maybe the most important is you want them to still have a safe space. At this point, they are probably safer to start roaming around on their own, but you want to make sure you have kitten proofed the house.
Loose wires, or things they can chew and eat should be places away from them. They wont be able to jump high quite yet, so height can always be a safe place for things.
For Binx, when she was about 5 weeks old, she was able to climb out of the bin we used for her not too long ago. We started locking her in the bathroom at night so she could roam and be safe, and eventually just let her roam the apartment.
At 7 weeks she was pretty much free to roam around after we did the necessary cleaning and kitten-proofing. If you want to learn about how to complete pet proof your home for your new kitten, check out How to Easily Pet Proof Your Entire Home.
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What Happens Then To Your 7
At the age of 7 weeks, your kitten still keep their baby teeth, so you need to pay attention to what they eat, especially because at the age of 7 weeks, most kittens have stopped drinking their mothers milk, though in some cases, kitten is fully weaned at the age of 8 weeks.
Since the age of 5 weeks, they were already more active and able to roam around with ease.They will love to chase and catch everything, including their tail and the toys you play with them. So, yes, you can play with your 7-week old kitten if you want.
Determining your kittens gender might still be difficult at this time because their sexual organ has not been fully developed. You have to wait at least until 10 weeks after their birthday before you can see the small lump of their scrotum if your kitten is male.
However, if you really want to know whether you have a female or male kitten, a veterinary can always do simple check to your 7-week old kitten to determine their gender.
Is It Ok To Take A Kitten At 7 Weeks Old
Or, you have just found a kitten are thinking it is about seven-ish weeks, though we will mention how to be sure in a little. Seven-week-old kittens are at that wonderful age where they are almost at the age of being able to leave their mothers! They are really growing into an awesome kitten.
They should be weening onto wet food and requiring a bottle fed from time to time.
However, for the most part they should be on a combination of slurry and wet food. They should really be getting the hang of litter box training , and continuing to gain weight as they grow.
They should be continuing to gain weight steadily until they are full grown.
At this age the speed may be slowing down slightly, but you should still see weight gain week after week.
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Supplies You Will Need For Newborns And Young Kittens:
- Kitten formula such as Just Born or KMR . The liquid formula is best to use if you are not sure what to do.
- Feeding bottles and several nipples .
- Eye dropper or syringe in case the kitten will not eat from the bottle.
- Several bath towels for bedding and cleaning kittens.
- Kitchen food scale for weighing kittens .
- Digital rectal thermometer
- Have Emergency Veterinarian or Veterinary Clinic number on-hand.
Feed Them The Right Food
Kittens require more fat, protein, and calories than adult cats, so be sure that you’re choosing a high quality food formulated specifically for kittens. Wet food is the best option, as it contains essential moisture content that the kitten needs to stay healthy and hydrated. Pet parents should be cautioned against feeding strictly kibble diets.
With lots of great brands on the market, you can choose the product that meets your price point. Kitten Lady personally uses Royal Canin Babycat Formula.
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When To Feed A Kitten
Once you know what to feed your kitten and how much, its time to create a feeding schedule that works for you both.
Use your kittens name when feeding to help her learn her name, while also associating you with a pleasant activity.
Creating a routine and feeding her at the same time each day can help your kitten feel secure and will aid in forming a bond between you two that will last for many years to come.
You can feed your kitten one to three times a day, as long as you dont give her more than her total daily calorie needs.
For example, you can put dry kibble in her bowl in the morning and she can graze throughout the day. If a twice-a-day schedule works better, give half her daily amount in the morning and half in the evening.
Same for wet food or a combination of wet and dry food. Just make sure the wet and dry food combined meets the total amount of calories she needs in a day.
What Does A Kitten At 8 Weeks Do All Day 8 Week Old Kitten Behavior
Most of us know that kittens are very playful, and you can spend a lot of money on kitten toys! But what do kittens really like to play with? And what do they do all day?
Well, perhaps the largest part of your new kittens time will be spent sleeping. Cats sleep a lot throughout their lives, but an 8 week old cat really does sleep for much of the day, and your kitten will probably be asleep for at least 18 hours out of every 24.
When your kitten is awake, hell enjoy playing with toys, and for a quick shopping guide we have put together .
Billys favorite puzzle box * came from Amazon.
Ive also written a detailed review of the best toys for kittens that you might find helpful. It is of course heavily biased by my own kittens opinions!
As for where your kitten should sleep, whenever possible, hell probably chose your lap, or a place near to where you spend a lot of your time.
If you want to buy him a cozy bed of his own, he may enjoy a kitten cave*.
This was Billys favorite bed for the first few months of his life. You can find
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