Feeding Schedule & Amount

[XanderPurther]

I have a 12week old kitten 2lb-5lbs.

I am doing a mix diet of wet food and dry food.

the wet food 1 can per day

the dry food says 1 cup per day.

since I am doing a mixed diet do I need to only do

1/2 cup/can of one and 1 cup/can of the other?

For example, 1/2 a can of wet food, then 2 servings of dry food? Eating 3 times a day would be 1 whole cup of dry food as recommended and a half cup of wet food.

I feel like I’m over feeding him and I am trying to get this budget down and feeding schedule down.

I do not want an over weight kitty that turns into a cat that fords himself.

 

[tabbytom]

I feel like I’m over feeding him and I am trying to get this budget down and feeding schedule down.

I do not want an over weight kitty that turns into a cat that fords himself.

and welcome to TCS!

The amount of food you mentioned is totally not enough for a 12 week old kitten.
A 12 week old kitten is very much a growing kitten and needs to be fed many times a day. A growing kitten needs lots of proteins and nutrients snd these come from feeding them wet food. And wet for keeps the kitten hydrated.

They need roughly at least 300 calories per day as they are very active. A kitten does at this age is eat, sleep poop and play and therefore feeding with protein rich food is important as it helps them in their formative 1st year.

Dry food is full of carbohydrates and it does not keep the kitten full and they tend to eat more and thus put on weight. Wet food keeps them fuller for longer and it's a good way to maintain weight.

The kitten need to be fed 4 - 5 times a day with wet food and feed him as much as he can eat at one sitting. You can never overfeed a kitten with wet food.

As the days go by, you can roughly gauge how much and how often your kitten will eat a day and at one sitting. Just experiment with the amount and number of times of feed. If your kitten have enough to eat at oe sitting, he'll move away when he's full and if he still still sit there waiting by the dish and not moving, likely is that he had not enough.

For example, one feeding you feed xxx amount of food and xxxx times a day, see ho much he finish or wants more amount and also monitor the how many times a day. Just make adjustments to the amount of food and times of feed as you go by.

A kitten will mature at one year old (normal breeds) and by around the ninth month, he'll go through a growth spurt and he'll eat more than usual and that will last well till he is 1 1/2 years old or so and slowly you'll notice that his food intake and number of feeds will slow down.

Once he matures, he'll need around 250 calories each day as an indoor cat. The instructions on the food label on the can is just a guide. Don't follow it, follow your cats tummy. Also it's a good practice to have scheduled feeding but if the cat misses out one feeding it's ok, don't panic, unless the cat is sick. And also the calories mentioned on the cans varies from brand to brand. Feed grain free high protein wet food.

 

[LTS3]

Ignore the feeding amounts on the package label. Kittens need to be feed as much as they will eat several times a day. They're rapidly growing and need all that food. It's preferred to feed mostly canned food and keep some dry out for snacking on. You can't overfeed a kitten and a kitten can't get fat. Around a year old or so most cats will start to eat less so you then adjust the amount of food while still keeping the tummy happy.

The food budget might be high now since the kitten is eating a lot. What brands of foods are you feeding? You don't necessarily need to feed an expensive premium brand.