8 Week Old Tabby Kitten Feeding

My wife and I are taking care of an 8 week old kitten.  We are not experienced cat owners and are currently giving the cat wet food ( half a can) in the morning and the other half in the evening.  We also leave a bowl of dry food.  Is this adequate?  For liquids only a water bowl.  Can bottled milk or evaporated be milk be part of the cat's diet.  Below is picture of the kitten - Noel.

Your average cows milk isn't very good for cats, especially since many are considered "lactose intolerant." For an 8 week old kitten, feed more than twice a day, and play often. When I had my kitten, Kuro, he ate about 4-6 times a day depending on his appetite and size. Leaving  a bowl of dry food for your kitten to snack on is ideal, and once he hits 9 weeks I would mix in dry food with his wet stuff. (Unless he's already been eating dry food, then its fine!) 

However, I think your kitten will do just fine. Happy holidays, and make sure to bring him to the vet if you haven't already! 

Cute I would try giving more wet food at least the kitten as much as it will eat twice a day if nothing else. As for the dry what your doing is fine but change it out daily if there is any left the next day toss it and never mix wet and dry. As for milk no not really cows milk as was said before is bad for cats and at that age I'm thinking KMR isn't really needed anymore. Kittens do need quite a bit of food and lots of calories.

Do you mind me asking what brand of food your feeding wet and dry? As well as what texture of wet.

As for not being experienced I wouldn't worry too much though Sera and her sister (pictured in my avatar the day I brought them home) were 5 months old at the time I did similar things leaving dry food out and feeding as much as they would eat twice a day. Eventually ended up feeding all wet food after Tsuki passed from FIP (Sera has never been big on kibble and Vincent who I adopted later views it as a toy lol).

So cute!

I mix KMR into my kittens wet food until they're about 12 weeks old. If you wanted to give your kitten more calories you can get KMR at most pet stores and on Amazon. I think what your'e doing is fine though. Free feeding kibble to kittens is good since they eat multiple small meals per day. If your kitten likes wet food you could increase that too. 

cmx1 said:

 
My wife and I are taking care of an 8 week old kitten.  We are not experienced cat owners and are currently giving the cat wet food ( half a can) in the morning and the other half in the evening.  We also leave a bowl of dry food.  Is this adequate?  For liquids only a water bowl.  Can bottled milk or evaporated be milk be part of the cat's diet.  Below is picture of the kitten - Noel.

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8 week old kittens are rapdily growing so they need all the food they can get for proper growth and nutrition. It's recommended to feed kittens as much as they want to eat several times a day. Many people here recommend  mostly canned food with very little, if any, dry food. You can add extra water to the canned food (never to dry food) to ensure that your kitten is well hydrated. It doesn't need to be soupy food unless your kitten likes that A spoonful or two of water is plenty.  And always have a bowl of fresh water available.

What brands of foods are you feeding, dry and canned? Many inexpensive big name brands are often filled with "junky" ingredients that are no good for any cat's health. It tastes good to most cats but it's highly indigestible and ends up as really stinky poop and gas

Don't feed regular milk (cow's milk or other type) or evaporated milk or any other mik product for people. As already said, cats are lactose intolerant and milk products will upset a cat's tummy. You can use kitten milk replacer (sold at pet stores) instead but an 8 week old kitten already eating solid food doesn't really need it.

For the wet food I have purchased the Nutro brand.  For dry food, Purina kitten chow.

Purina dry food is pure junk so I wouldn't feed it. The ingredients are horrible: corn, various grains and flours, cheap by product, etc. There are much better dry foods with better quality ingredients you can feed to your kitten, such as Blue Buffalo, Orijen, EVO, and Wellness Core. Chain pet stores and independent pet stores will have a good selection of good quality foods. Finish the bag of Purina if you like and then switch to a better food.

Nutro has a kitten dry food but it has rice which most people generally stay away from along with other grains and fillers. Are you feeding the Nutro kitten canned food? Those are fine to feed. You can rotate the two varieties with other brands of kitten canned foods. The brands listed above also have kitten canned foods.

I agree with LTS3 . Purina is pure junk and has been known to be the direct cause of seizures and such if a cat or dog has been living off it. Blue Buffalo and Orijen are my 100% top choices but Wellness and Natures Instinct is fine as well.
When you switch food, add a tiny amount and add more to the regular food as the days go by. Once the new food has completely taken over the old food, you can use the new food.