As humans, we have become exposed to a plethora of food options throughout our life, and always want the extravagant. However, your little feline friend doesn’t want something extravagant everyday (treating them sometimes doesn’t hurt though), rather just the right food with the right nutrients.
It can be daunting to journey into taking care of a kitten, since they are much tougher than 8 week old (or older) cats. They need to be trained and taught everything – which can be a harder task, but a much cuter one too!
Feeding Kittens
When it comes to requirements for a kitten, it varies from that of a fully grown cat of course. To nurture a kitten into a cat, you’ll need some essential factors to be in check: high amounts of growth nutrients (such as calcium and phosphorus), a higher number of calories per cup of food and higher levels of protein for muscle development.
All of the factors mentioned are in-line with the fact that kittens are much more playful due to their young age, and you can often see them zooming from one end of the house to the other – even sneaking past you!
With this knack for burning so much energy due to their increased activity, you’ll need to rejuvenate them with a higher amount.
Wet Food vs Dry Food for Kittens
| Wet Cat Food | Dry Cat Food |
| Higher in moistureKeeps kidneys healthyHydrates kittenFlushes urinary tractTends to stick to teethMight cause dental disease if mouth/teeth aren’t cleaned properly | Easier to feed among multiple kittenHelps scrape teethEasier to cleanKitten tend to overeat Overweight cats tend to have different diseases (respiratory, blood pressure) |
Both types of foods have their pros and cons, as mentioned, but with a proper routine and maintenance of time schedules, you’ll rarely have any issues.
Choosing the Best Food for Your Kitten
I’ve provided you with a few different ideas on how to choose the best food for your kitten, but there is always the necessity of one thing that you must do: consult with the vet!
Everyone knows that you are looking out for your feline buddy, but the vet always has a better idea on how your kitten might be after checking them out. So, get them to look into the options, a professional opinion definitely comes in handy.
Feeding Methods for Your Kitten
As we have already stated, kittens require food with a higher energy content, so that they can manage their high spirits! However, how much food and how often you give them needs to be properly planned out by you, in order to have them grow healthily.
Three points to always keep in mind when feeding your feline buddy:
- Kittens often eat 25% to 50% of a cup of food, so it is wise to keep that in mind
- Your kitten should be hungry enough to come and want the food when you give it to them
- Your kitten should not be so hungry that they go through it in a few seconds
Free Feeding Method
- Your kitten is in-charge of eating its own food
- Beneficial for those with a loaded schedule
- Requires a bit of oversight
- Cats might become overweight due to overeating
- Method is done with dry food
Meal Feeding Method
This is the more intensive method for the pet parent, as you will have to find specific times that you can regularly allocate to feeding your feline friends. It will also allow you to properly measure out how much your kitten is eating, which can be especially helpful for a multi-cat home.
You can also create a routine to keep your kitten healthy by creating activities for it to complete, so that it believes it is earning its dinner. Not only will this allow for the kitten to have something to do, but it will also remain active, making it healthier as it grows older.
Certain products are also now available on the market which allows for a set-time at which food is dispersed to the cat. Others are also available that can distract your kitten so that they can slowly eat their meal instead of ravaging the bowl.
P.S. This method can be done with both dry and wet food.
- You set your kitten’s feeding pattern and consumption level
- Will set routine schedules which your kitten will soon learn
- You can measure out how much your kitten is eating
- You can measure the amount of nutrients your kitten is getting to ensure proper growth
- Products can be used to disperse food at specific times
- Can be done with dry and wet food
Frequency of Feeding a Kitten
When kittens are young, they are very active and restless, so you can bet that they’ll be needing more food then!
A young kitten from around 6-16 months old, will need several meals a day for a meal feeding method. However, the free feeding method won’t stress you with that issue.
As they constantly grow, you will need to ensure that between every 5-7 hours, they receive a healthy amount of food to help keep them going, and also growing!
Over the course of a cat’s life, as they keep growing, they will need to have larger meals at lower frequency. For example, a cat of 4 months can run on two large meals a day.
FAQs
Q. How much should I feed a kitten?
- In general, a kitten should be eating ¼ to ½ a cup of food at a time. However, the caloric intake should be dependent on how big your kitten is; for example, if your kitten is thin, increase the calories.
Q. How often do kittens poop?
- Kittens have a range of time that they can both pee and poop. In general, a kitten should pee every few hours, but might poop anywhere from 1-5 times a day. On occasions, they can even go a day without doing so – nothing to worry about, but keep an eye on them just in case. If they stop pooping for more than a day, take them to a vet, as they may develop kidney failures and other related issues.
Q. Will kittens stop eating when full?
- In general, kittens do stop eating when they have a full stomach, and they will turn their head away from more food. On some occasions some do tend to overeat, and this should be stopped immediately.
The Takeaway
- Feeding a kitten should be done with the utmost care and understanding, no mistakes
- Follow through on whatever method you intend to take on for your kitten
- Make sure to not under-feed or overfeed
