Am I Feeding Kittens Properly?

[scoochmom]

Hello everyone! I got two new kittens three weeks ago, Kula (boy) and Koli (girl), just turned three months old. My question is about feeding them. The previous owner had them on very expensive Royal Canin. I have been giving them at each meal - usually 4-5 times a day - your usual standard size cat bowls with a handful of Purina Kitten Chow mixed with a quarter can of Fancy Feast kitten wet food. They LOVE the wet food! My question is can I transition them off the dry food at this point? If I taper it off over the next few days, will it throw their digestion off or anything? Is there any benefit to dry, other than they like it? I don't want them addicted to the kitty crack, I want them exclusively on wet food. Thank you!

 

[tabbytom]

Hello everyone! I got two new kittens three weeks ago, Kula (boy) and Koli (girl), just turned three months old. My question is about feeding them. The previous owner had them on very expensive Royal Canin. I have been giving them at each meal - usually 4-5 times a day - your usual standard size cat bowls with a handful of Purina Kitten Chow mixed with a quarter can of Fancy Feast kitten wet food. They LOVE the wet food! My question is can I transition them off the dry food at this point? If I taper it off over the next few days, will it throw their digestion off or anything? Is there any benefit to dry, other than they like it? I don't want them addicted to the kitty crack, I want them exclusively on wet food. Thank you!

A kitten at this age is still growing. Yes, feed them 4-5 times a day and feed them as much as they can eat at one sitting. Kittens are eating machines and you can never overfeed a kitten.

Dry food is full of carbohydrate. Yes, wet food is the way to go as wet food is full of nutrients and minerals to aid their growth and wet food keeps them hydrated. Feed them with wet food labeled for kittens or food labeled ‘For All Life Stages’ You can transit them over to adult food when they mature at one year old. Do the transition gradually. Or if you feed them with wet food labeled ‘For All Life Stages’, you don’t have to transit them over to adult food. My boy is a rescue when he is around 3 weeks old and was on wet food labeled ‘For All Life Stages’ till now. He‘ll be 9 years old in 2 days.

When your kittens reach 7 months old, they’ll go though a phase called ‘Growth Spurt’ and during this time, they’ll tend to eat more than usual. This will go on till they are around a year plus and slowly their food intake will taper off.
Additionally note, all their adult teeth will be in at 7 months old. You may be able to find some of their teeth lying around on the floor or stuck to the toys they chew on.

BTW, your kittens are lovely!

 

[scoochmom]

Thank you for the great info! Yes, these babies act like they are starving to death when I feed them, so I will cut the dry and increase to half a can each at every meal. About their teeth - is 7 months the proper time to start brushing their teeth, and how often to do that? Also, can I clip their claws right now? They're pretty long. Here's another photo of them guarding the tv. I wish they would never grow up

 

[tabbytom]

………………..About their teeth - is 7 months the proper time to start brushing their teeth, and how often to do that? Also, can I clip their claws right now? They're pretty long. Here's another photo of them guarding the tv. I wish they would never grow up

Start brushing teeth and clipping of nails now so that they can get use to it.

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[Alldara]

Hello everyone! I got two new kittens three weeks ago, Kula (boy) and Koli (girl), just turned three months old. My question is about feeding them. The previous owner had them on very expensive Royal Canin. I have been giving them at each meal - usually 4-5 times a day - your usual standard size cat bowls with a handful of Purina Kitten Chow mixed with a quarter can of Fancy Feast kitten wet food. They LOVE the wet food! My question is can I transition them off the dry food at this point? If I taper it off over the next few days, will it throw their digestion off or anything? Is there any benefit to dry, other than they like it? I don't want them addicted to the kitty crack, I want them exclusively on wet food. Thank you!View attachment 490341View attachment 490342

Hello and congratulations

They are so cute. Thanks for sharing.

Kittens at that age should eat as much as they like. You might find some days they eat more than others. I do prefer to keep them on at least some Mother and Babycat by Royal Canin until they are 4 or 5 months. They do make a wet of that one though.

The only benefit that comes from dry food is IF the cats crunch them rather than swallowing whole. However, if you'd rather not use dry food, you've gotten them at an excellent age to get them used to brushing.

You can't brush their teeth until your vet approves by their adult teeth but! You can start with a q-tip and rubbing it on their teeth when they are relaxed. This should be every 48 hours.

At around 6 months or when your vet says, you can move to a very soft toothbrush. Then, if I remember correctly my vet said at 1 year you can start enzymatic cat toothpaste.

After that, we slowly got our cats used to an electric toothbrush. We just use a children's super soft electric toothbrush with cat toothpaste and they each have their own "head" attachment for thr brush.

Don't forget to play with their feet a lot and get them used to clipping! Don't pin them for it, but just do one or two claws at a time as they will allow.