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When Can I Start Feeding My Kitten Dry Food

What I Feed My Cats Nala & Charlie

What & How to Feed Kittens age 4 to 6 Weeks old

Now to the piece de resistance. Probably what youre all looking for.

Full disclosure that Im still trying to search for the best food for Nala and Charlie. But having said that, Ive tried a lot.

For some, Nala & Charlie reacted with their dislike to it. Some food kept making my poor Charlie throw up. And some other ones, I just didnt like the ingredients on the back.

After a lot of research and trial and error, what I feed my cats are as follows:

What To Feed Your Cat

To summarize, cats are carnivores, so they dont actually need carbohydrates. Their sources of protein, fat, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals all come from meat.

Rather than giving them one type of meat everyday, give them a variety of meat and fish- everything in moderation.

Include in their diet dry food, wet food, various meat such as chicken and turkey. Also give them fish such as tuna.

Poultry by-products such as eggs and dairy also have the essential protein cats can benefit from.

When youre considering meat, give them a variety of meat products, such as chicken liver and hearts as well.

Simply speaking, think about their origin. Cats as wild animals would hunt animals smaller than them. They didnt eat plants or beans.

How To Wean Kittens

To begin weaning a kitten, mix the kitten food with formula so they recognize the taste. Smear the mixture around their mouth with your finger and let them lick it off. Once they get used to the taste, theyll seek it out elsewhere. Then you can introduce them to lapping from a bowl. Monitor them so they dont lap too fast, and never push their face into the bowl, which could cause them to inhale the mixture and develop pneumonia.

Between the fourth and sixth week, gradually transition the weaning kittens to dry food, supplementing with formula if needed. Use canned food or dry kitten food mixed with water at first, add a lot of water, and then reduce the amount of water as the kitten matures.

A general schedule for kitten weaning might be:

  • Weeks 4-5: Give wet or moistened dry food, mixed with formula to form a slush. Supplement with formula if the kitten is not taking to the new food, to make sure it gets enough calories.
  • Weeks 5-6: The weaning kittens should start to nibble on the kibble, slightly moistened with water.
  • Weeks 6-7: By now, the kitten weaning process is complete, and they should be eating all solid food by week seven.

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Her Primary Kitten Food

Your kitten should be eating a good quality kitten food or a food labeled for all feline life stages. Even as you introduce her to other foods, this should be her primary food as too many changes can cause digestive upsets. Feel free to change flavors of food but remain within the same brand to maintain some consistency.

Choosing Between Dry Food Canned Food Or Both

Can I Feed My Kitten Dry and Wet Food?

In general, you need not offer multiple flavors and textures to cats. They get very good at training their owners to add something else to the mix if the cat shows any hesitation to eat what is given. If the cat is otherwise acting fine, a choice to not eat what is offered can be normal, or a test by the cat to see if something better will show up. Very, very few cats need any encouragement to eat. The opposite is usually a goal.

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What Nutrients Does My Kitten Need

Kittenhood is a playful, highly energetic time in a cats life. In addition to being more active than adults, kittens need more energy for growing and developing. These tiny creatures have different nutrient requirements than adult cats do. In general, kittens need the following in an appropriate kitten food:

  • More calories, protein and fat than adult cats
  • Omega fatty acid DHA, which is important for brain and vision development
  • Vitamins and minerals for developing immune systems
  • Optimal calcium to phosphorus ratios

Is Your Kitten Ready For Adult Cat Food

Providing your kitten with the proper nutrition goes way beyond just putting fresh food in a clean bowl. Your kittens nutritional needs will change as their body develops through adolescence and into adulthood. Proper nutrition during these critical growth periods will help your kitten mature into a strong, healthy adult cat.

The nutritional needs of kittens and cats are vastly different, and its critical to give your pet premium age-appropriate nutrition. Heres everything you need to know about kitten food vs. cat food and how to feed your growing kitten.

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How Often And How Much Should You Feed Your Kitten

Its important to feed your tiny newcomer small portions at regular intervals, up to 6 times a day. Some veterinarians prefer free-feeding, meaning providing unlimited kitten food all day long, tapering off to meal eating at around four to six months of age. Free-feeding has the benefit of reducing stomach distention resulting from eating too fast and is helpful to slow-growing kittens. However, this may not be the best practice for obese kittens, who would benefit more from measured portions as recommended by the food manufacturer. Preventing obesity to start with is a lot easier than having to deal with it when it becomes a problem.

Raw Rules Food For Cats

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There are two main rules for feeding cats. When you follow these, youre working with the cats natural nutritional patterns.

  • Feed your cat nose-to-tail animals that are smaller than they are . This includes bones, muscles, and organs especially the heart.Be careful about giving cats too much liver they can get vitamin A toxicity from liver. This recipe has a good amount you want it to replicate what they would get if they were hunting in the wild: Muscle meat and liver/heart/kidney. If you can find small animals that is a more natural diet for a cat!
  • If your food is not fresh and raw, supplement with the essential amino acid taurine.
  • After seeing so much success with switching our cat Bob to a raw food diet for kidney disease, friends and family and readers have been asking me about a recipe for kittens and healthy cats.

    The only change to the Feline Kidney Care Raw Food recipe is that I used bone-in chicken in place of the beef, as it contains the healthy fats from the skin as well as bone bone that cats need to grow and maintain bone health. Cats with kidney disease need to limit their phospherous, but cats without kidney disease should NOT limit phosphorous and should include bones in the diet.

    Is this recipe enough taurine? I wasnt sure, since taurine in the chicken heart may degrade when its frozen, and my chicken hearts come frozen. Since taurine is so essential to cats, I sprinkle powdered taurine, 1 pinch, on each container of his food .

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    How To Make Homemade Dry Cat Food With Salmon:

    • 125 g fat-free dry milk
    • 210 g soy flour
    • 340 g whole wheat flour
    • 115 g wheat germ
    • 68 g brewers yeast
    • 15 ml vegetable oil
    • Oven
    • Baking pan

    1. Boil salmon. Put it into a pot with boiling water, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes. After that, take it off the gas and leave it to cool.

    2. Prepare a baking sheet. If you are going to use a small one , do your best to prepare two to have enough space for all kibbles. Cover sheets with parchment paper to get them ready for cooking.

    3. Prepare an oven. Preheat it to 350 F and meanwhile get the dough ready.

    4. Whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Put dry milk, soy flour, wheat germ, brewers yeast, cornmeal, and whole wheat flour into one large bowl and mix them with a whisk or wooden spoon.

    5. Mash boiled salmon with oils in another bowl.Take salmon, sesame oil, and vegetable oil put the ingredients in a small bowl mash them with a fork. Its OK if the salmon is still in little bits after youve finished.

    6. Combine the dry ingredients with water. Take two cups of water, add them to that large bowl with dry ingredients, and use a spoon to turn them to a heavy and thick mass. Then, mix it by hand if necessary: Youll need to get a dough ball as a result.

    7. Add mashed salmon to the dough. Pour it over and mix with a spoon or by hand until you get the thick mixture. Dont add any more water to it: The dough should be rough.

    Changing From Commercial To Homemade Cat Food

    If your cat has been on commercial cat food for most of its life, his digestive enzymes and digestive system has most likely acclimated to this unnatural diet. Slowly transition over to raw food, 1 teaspoon at a time, over the course of a month.

    You will want to follow the advice of your veterinary professional, but for many this will look like:

    Day 1-5: Mix 1 teaspoon of raw food into whatever your cat normally eats.

    Day 5-10: Increase the raw food by double.

    Day 10-15: Feed your cat half raw, half what they were eating before.

    Day 15 on: You may be able to switch to all raw food as your cat has had time for their digestive system to catch up. If your cat is fussy, continue the slow transition.

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    What Should I Feed My Cat

    Head to your nearest supermarkets pet food aisle and youll find plenty of cat foods to choose from. But with so much on offer, how can you decide what is best for your cat?

    Before you buy, remember to choose food specially formulated for cats. Dog food simply isnt suitable and food intended for humans doesnt necessarily include all the nutrients that your cat needs. The best food for your cat is likely to be a complete cat food from a reputable brand. Your vet will be well placed to guide you to the best food for your cat.

    Homemade cat foods might be good for occasional treats, but it is very difficult to give your cat the right balance of proteins, vitamins and minerals your cat needs to thrive unless this has been recommended by your vet.

    Vitamin supplements arent necessary if you are feeding your cat good quality cat food – unless recommended by your vet too. Vitamin supplements could cause a dietary imbalance which could harm your cat always speak to your vet about any food supplements first.

    You can find out more about what to feed your cat in our video.

    Bringing Up A Litter Of Kittens: Health Considerations

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    31st July 2018

    You have brought a litter of kittens into the world, either by accident or on purpose, and you are now responsible for their wellbeing.

    You also need to ensure that your input over the next few weeks results in kittens that will make good pets for their future owners. To be good pets they need to be both healthy and have the ability to enjoy living with people.

    The average birth weight for most cats is approximately 100 grammes, however, it is normal for some pedigree cats to have significantly smaller or larger kittens, depending on the breed. Healthy kittens should double their birth weight in the first two weeks, then continue to gain weight steadily. It is helpful to weigh your kittens to see whether they are thriving and growing as they should.

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    Do Kittens Need Wet And Dry Food

    Both wet food and dry food are suitable for kittens. However, if youre feeding a wet food diet, youll need to feed your kittens small meals throughout the day to ensure their needs are met. Free-feeding your kittens dry food allows them to eat as often as they want during the day, making it more likely theyll receive adequate nutrition. Dry food also helps maintain the health of your kittens teeth and gums. Whether you feed your kittens a combination of wet and dry food, or you decide to stick with dry food only, its important to feed your new fur babies a specially formulated diet just for kittens.

    Kitten food is packed with essential nutrients and minerals to help your little ones grow up healthy and strong. Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they require meat to survive. Kittens need even more protein than adult cats. They also require amino acids like lysine, methionine, and arginine during the early stages of development. While adult cats require fat, they dont require as much as young kittens. Fatty acids are essential to support your kittens during the numerous growth spurts theyll have in the first year of life.

    When To Switch From Kitten Food

    Nothing is more adorable, sweeter or cuter than a kitten. One of my main motivating desires to become a veterinarian was so I could care for all the lovable kittens and puppies. I get so excited seeing kittens and puppies walk through the doors of my animal hospital. But with adorable and cute comes a lot of work and a ton of attention.

    A kitten has different nutritional needs than adult cats, so it is important to educate my new pet parents on kitten nutrition and when to switch from kitten food to adult cat food. We want these little guys growing up to be big, strong and healthy. Just like human babies, for a kitten to develop and grow properly, they need different kinds of foods at different stages of their lives.

    So, lets discuss the proper pet nutrition and diet for small kittens and get an idea of when we need to switch over to adult-based nutrition and care.

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    The Great Wet Vs Dry Battle

    Back when I was a vet tech, most vets recommended dry food only because it helped keep cats teeth clean, and tartar buildup on cats teeth can lead to infections that can damage the kidneys. Today, however, the updated thinking is you should offer wet food as well because of the high water content which actually helps the kidneys, of course. I will confess to being a very mean cat mom and choose to feed my own cats only dry because I utterly DESPISE the smell of wet cat food . Again, check with your vet to see what works for you and your cat, but it does seem that a balance of wet/dry is ideal .

    Canned Cat Food Benefits

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    The largest benefit of feeding a canned diet is the higher water content. Cats with certain health conditions that require a higher-than-normal water intake, such as kidney disease, diabetes, or lower urinary tract disease, may benefit from the additional water in these diets.

    Canned food is also highly palatable, and some cats will eat a canned diet over a dry diet, particularly if they are picky eaters.

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    How Much To Feed A Kitten

    Now you know what to feed a kitten, but how much should you feed her? The kitten feeding guide on the back of the package will tell you how much to feed your kitten.

    If youre feeding dry kibble, you can put an entire days serving out at once or divide in half and feed her twice a day.

    You can also divide wet food in half and feed her twice a day. Any leftovers in her bowl should be discarded. You can store an open can of wet food in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Bring it up to room temperature before serving.

    The chart below can help you determine how much to feed your kitten. Refer to your kittens food packaging and consult with your veterinarian to ensure your kitten is getting the correct amount of calories each day.

    Are There Foods I Should Avoid Giving My Kitten

    Its OK to feed your kitten treats, as long as you follow the 10% calorie rule, Larsen says. This means that treats should make up less than 10% of your kittens total calorie intake. But this doesnt mean its a good idea to turn your leftover table scraps into treats for your kitten. Also, take precautions with the following foods:

    • Raw meat or liver may contain parasites and harmful bacteria.
    • Raw eggs may contain Salmonella and may decrease absorption of a B vitamin, leading to skin and hair coat problems.
    • Raw fish may lead to a B vitamin deficiency, causing loss of appetite, seizures, and even death.
    • Milk may cause diarrhea in weaned kittens and cats because they lose the enzyme needed to break down milk.

    In addition, onions, garlic, chocolate, coffee, tea, raisins, or grapes can be toxic to kittens and cats.

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    What To Do When Your Maine Coon Becomes An Adult Cat

    Now that your Maine Coon kitten is a healthy adult cat continue the care by providing quality nutrition. Remember, if there is a time when your cat needs new food, carefully transition them to avoid complications.

    If your cat needs additional nutrition guidance, reach out to your local vet. By doing this you wont just get standard advice. Your vet can help you develop a feeding regimen specific to your cats needs.

    All kittens need extra attention when it comes to feeding. Maine Coons need additional support because of how large they can get. It is important to provide adequate nutrition, so they grow up healthy and strong. When it is time to transition food, make sure you are giving your cat time to adjust. If your cat or kitten is not adjusting well, please reach out to your vet.

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