7 Month Old Kitten in 9 Lbs...starting to get worred

tailsinct

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Electronic scales arent the most accurate however I did the trick where I weighed myself first then held my cat and gone on again. Exactly 9 pounds and she is about 7 months old.

As far as feeding, in the morning before I leave for work I make sure to fill her dry food bowl. When I come home for lunch she usually hasnt eaten or very little, but I feed her 1/3 of the small wet food can with a few dry kibbles mixed in. Around dinner time (6pm) she has gotten into the dry food throughout the day, but I also serve another 1/3 of the wet food so she doesnt both the wife and I while we eat. Before we go to bed, around 10:30pm, her dry food bowl is usually pretty empty, so I fill it some so she doesnt starve and go crazy overnight from having no food. However its mostly gone by the time I wake up. Then we do the same thing every day.

Being that she is about 9 pounds now and just turning 7 months old, Ive read here that the rule of thumb is 1lb per month old, so shes overweight going by that rule.

Am I maybe overdoing it on the dry food? Maybe I shouldnt fill it up before we sleep and just wait until the morning?

Any thoughts?

My mom sees my cat every couple of days and has mentioned that she's looking a little bigger. I wrote it off but maybe its true.
 
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margd

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There are charts available to determine if your cat is overweight:  https://vet.osu.edu/vmc/companion/o...-support-service/body-condition-scoring-chart   If your girl has a healthy body style, I wouldn't change the way you feed her for now, but eventually that diet will probably cause her to gain weight.

I find it works out well to split a 3 oz can of cat food three times a day between two cats for a total of 4.5 oz of canned food per cat.  To keep them content overnight so I can sleep, I put out about 1/3 cup of kibble.  One of my cats is even putting on weight with that diet, although some is because he's stealing his sister's food.  

Kibble is fattening so if you're filling your kitten's bowl up twice a day, that's going to be too much at some point.  Try cutting way back on the amount of kibble you feed her in the morning and at night.  Eventually, you might consider replacing the morning bowl of kibble with 1/3 of canned food.  Canned food is less fattening and more filling than the kibble, plus provides more moisture.  A lack of moisture in a cat's diet has been associated with development of UTIs.
 
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tailsinct

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I think it may be me filling up the kibble bowl at night before sleep that is the culprit. The last two nights I checked to see how full it was and just made sure the bottom of the bowl was lined with kibbles in case she got hungry, but I didnt fill it up like I normally was doing. Based on the chart, I'd say she is between moderate and stout, her little pouch is starting to hang down and  I cannot really counter her ribs easily. So the wife and I will be dialing back the kibbles and will see how she responds to it.

Thanks.
 

graywing

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I'm not someone with a lot of experience here, but the 1 lb a month for a kitten is the average.  You can have kittens that are just going to be larger cats, too.  Our own kitten is also above average.  The vet told us when we first brought him in that he was going to be probably 12 to 15 lbs when full grown.  I wish now I'd asked how she could tell.  Anyway, he was 7.65 lbs at 5 months and definitely not overweight.  

Regarding the kibble, I'm still learning more about cat food nutrition.  I've heard of people leaving out kitten kibble all the time and feeding wet at points through the day.  There's also those who seem to only feed wet.  I've actually only been feeding Gizmo wet food myself.  But from what I've read it seems like it's hard to overfeed a kitten since they're growing so much.  I'm not sure what the cut off point for this is.

Anyway, hope I'm not saying anything wrong as far as advice goes.
 

NewYork1303

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While kittens are growing and should get the amount of food that they want at first. Eventually this needs to taper off as they slow growth. I never was able to free feed food to my kitten since my other cat would eat all day long if I let him. What I did was feed them frequent small meals. Now that the kitten is a year old her and the other cat share one 3 oz can of cat food when I first get up. Then about an hour later, I fill their bowl with 1/4 cup of dry cat food to tide them over while I'm at work. When I get home, they share another 3 oz can of wet food. Before bed, I put 1/4 cup of cat food in the bowl again. If you're worried about body style (and this matters more than actual weight at this point) then definitely cut down on dry food and measure it out. 

The 1 pound per month is only good for the first few months, after that cats start to grow differently. My kitten reached right around 8 pounds when she was 7 months old, but since then she has only gained about a pound. It is looking like 9 pounds will be her adult weight.
 
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tailsinct

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Awesome, thanks for your feedback. Will continue to monitor her weight and see how she adjusts to the new feeding schedule we are trying.
 

donutte

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I think Oliver weighed in at almost 10 lbs when he was 8 months. He's close to 11 lbs now at 10 months. He's quite an active kitty, although a bit of a chunky monkey. But he really is still growing, he went through another spurt in the last couple of months.
 
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tailsinct

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Another thing I noticed is that anytime she jumps up into our laps and purrs while we pet her, once shes had enough she will jump down and run straight over to the dry food bowl immediately.

I caught this because I came home for lunch and served her wet food while I ate so she doesnt beg for my food. After we both were finished, maybe 10 minutes later she jumps into my lap to get cozy. I pet her and she does her usual purring and stuff. But after a few minutes of that she bursts right off me and B-Lines straight to the dry food. Im guessing shes does this alot throughout the day since she likes affection, makes sense why her bowl is always empty lol. Any reasoning for this behavior?
 
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