Is My Kitten In Danger Of Becoming Fat?

Hi, I want to know if I should restrict my kitten's diet. She only eats a little more than my other kittens but she's the only one who looks "chubby". The other kittens are a perfect healthy weight.

In some poses she looks very big, in others she looks very normal. I just don't want her to become unhealthy. I feed her 2-3 times a day half a can of wet food. I used to put out dry food for free feeding, but recently I decided to stop. But she got visibly more aggressive about food (feels more protective about it now).

Do you think I should go back to leaving dry food out, or do you think she looks like she needs a regular diet to avoid becoming too big as an adult?

She is female, almost 6 months old, spayed.

I should point out I want her to get as much nutrition as possible.

A kitten her age will still need lots of food. Its fine to cut out the dry if you want, but make sure she is getting enough wet. whether or not 1 or 1 and 1/2 cans of food is enough will depend on the food and the calories it has. If she is acting aggressive about her food she may need a little more?

what are you feeding her? what brand and size of the cans?

I would most likely feed her all the wet she wants, at least until she is over 1 year, you want to support healthy growth and development

Yes, let her eat what she wants.

It is hard to tell from the photos because, as you said, some of them she looks normal, others she looks a bit exaggerated from the angles.

Has she been dewormed and had a fecal test done? Sometimes parasites can make a cat's stomach more bloated (thinking of the second photo where her tummy looks round).

Hi, sorry for very late response.

Since receiving your feedback, I switched her diet to wet only and she has stopped bloating up. She was dewormed and her poop checked, as were all my other kitties. It looks like having a wet-only diet is the right way for her, and she can eat as much as she wants without her belly bloating up in a scary way.

Here's a recent pic of her:



Thank you all for help and I hope your kitties stay healthy!

Excellent!! Eliminating dry food is the way to go for ALL cats so I am glad you figured it out quickly with her! As a kitten a lot of people like to have dry available but some cats it just doesn't work for. Just make sure you are feeding her enough of the canned food that a growing kitten needs.

Yes, she looks visibly much happier with a wet-only diet! I feed her multiple cans of wet food per day and she doesn't look bloated ever and she stopped being aggressive about food.

That said, unfortunately, for one of my older boys (8 months+), he only likes to eat dry food. I tried all sorts of brands and mixings, but he just lost interest in wet food after a few months after I got him... I really wish he would still eat wet but he seems happiest with dry.

Mizu began to do that at about 6 months old (2 months after I got her). What I wound up doing was I stopped free feeding her dry food, I measured out an amount and I fed it to her far away from her timed wet feedings so that she had an appetite to consider it. I also added bonita flakes to her wet food which has really helped her try new things because she can't resist them. Ultimately, I changed their dry to a well rated one (Tiki fish/chicken luau) and she now only eats a shared 1/3 cup in a 24 hour period, the rest being wet meals.