a kitten cant be overfed??

[komazalea]

Hi,
I have a 12.5 week old male rag doll kitten who has been on a 100% raw diet for almost 2 weeks. He weighs 3lbs 3oz and if I do 8% body weight, I should be feeding about 4-4.5oz of food daily. Well... He has only been awake for 5 hours and has eaten 4.5oz! I give him an ounce, wait, when he cries more, I give more. Is this okay? Sometimes I try cuddling him or playing with him, but he always ends up crying in the kitchen after. Oh, and I'm feeding him whole ground chicken and rabbit with alnutrin added. He doesn't seem pudgy yet, but I haven't had him long and he's also very fluffy.

 

[LTS3]

Kittens generally need a lot of food to support their growing bodies

I think your kitten may need more food daily. Maybe try 6 oz? How many meals are you feeding? A few small meals daily should keep your kitten's tummy satisfied.

 

[komazalea]

6-7 oz is how much he ends up eating. I feed him about 6 times a day since I'm always here or only out for a couple hours at a time. It just seems like so much more than what is suggested. Hr is destined to be a large cat though (breeder said 20lbs). My instincts told me to feed him when he's hungry. Should I just keep going with that?

 

[snowkat]

I have a rescued kitten, 7 weeks old and she eats 5 oz of raw a day, sometimes more because she steals from the other cats. In between meals when she is really hungry, she'll get a small portion of grain free canned food., about a tablespoon. She'll eat whatever she can and then stops. She has left food behind but goes back to eat later, I think if she does overeat, she'll throw up.

It's alright to feed your kitten when he wants food. They're growing and some kittens eat more than others. It's when they start refusing to eat then I'd be worried.

 

[cicoccabim]

If you feed him as much as he wants you have to keep track of his bodyfat- a kitten needs a lot of food, but if it turns out that he is gaining excess body fat then I should start limit the amount of food. Most kittens need a lot of food, they are growing so fast! Be extra aware of how his body feels after neutering, that´s usually the critical point. My cat started gaining weight after neutering, and I had to reduce it by 1/3.

Ragdoll grows for a longer time than many other breeds, so It might be that he need more food for a longer time than the "average housecat".  

 

[snowkat]

Please post some pictures of your kitten! Would love to see his progress from kittenhood. I've heard of ragdolls who tend to overeat but I'm sure when yours gets older, you'll be feeding him the right amount based on his body weight. My older cats get 4% of their body weight in raw, when I first started feeding raw, they kept looking for more food because they were used to their canned meals. It took a few days for them to realize that's what they're getting and now they're happy, lean cats.