How many calories for a ~6 month old kitten whose food intake cannot be monitored?

[moxiewild]

I’m caring for a feral colony that consists of four kittens who are about 6-7 months old. There are 3-4 adults in addition to the kittens.

We feed them once in the morning. The kittens won’t eat in front of me, but they’re there for meal time every day. The adults seem to come by later.

I try to feed enough for everyone to be able to finish before it gets dark, as to avoid nocturnal wildlife.

This is a tricky task as is, but kittens complicate it further since there is generally no set calorie guideline for kittens. But that’s what I need.

Currently, we feed one 22oz can of Special Kitty wet food, and then a dry food mix of 2/3 American Journey + 1/4 Cat Chow Naturals. As to how much dry we feed, honestly, I kind of just eyeball it and scale it back when it’s obvious they didn’t finish it before dark (evidence of raccoons).

I want something more accurate than that if possible, though.

Since they’re feral, they’ll have slightly higher caloric needs than a house cat/kitten. This colony is also completely unneutered right now, so that should bump up their calorie requirements a little more too.

I don’t need an exact amount, because I don’t even know who eats what or how much. I just want to ensure I set out enough calories for everyone in the colony.

I can guesstimate the weight of adults and figuring out their caloric needs is easy, it’s just the kittens that I’m struggling with.

Anyone have a rough estimate? They’re about 6-7 lbs, so on track for their age.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Since your kittens are a little older, their metabolism is beginning to slow down and their nutrition requirements are starting to resembling those of an adult cat.

An example of a younger kitten, that's 4 to 6 months old and 8-pounds, should be consuming about 240 calories per day, or 30 calories per pound of body weight a day.

I'm thinking that since you're having food left over at the end of the day, that they are "self-regulating" and getting enough.

 

[moxiewild]

Hi!
Since your kittens are a little older, their metabolism is beginning to slow down and their nutrition requirements are starting to resembling those of an adult cat.

An example of a younger kitten, that's 4 to 6 months old and 8-pounds, should be consuming about 240 calories per day, or 30 calories per pound of body weight a day.

I'm thinking that since you're having food left over at the end of the day, that they are "self-regulating" and getting enough.

See, what sparked this post is that I figured they were closer to normal adult consumption, and used the 30 calories per pound as a general guideline.

But the only chart (by a vet) I could find online with an explicit number of calories for kittens by age and weight, had 6-7 month olds eating almost 600 calories a day, which is quite a bit more than I’d calculated! 230-250 at the high end is what I had in my head based on weight calculations + being feral + being kittens + being unneutered.

So that kind of freaked me out thinking that I might be severely underfeeding them.

But I just can’t find hardly anything online. Everything’s geared toward inside kittens.

 

[Furballsmom]

That vet may have had big breeds in mind, which probably isn't your situation. From what I was reading, you're right on the mark.

I might be severely underfeeding them.

I don't believe you are. How do they look? Are they sunken in just behind the ribs/in front of their back legs? If they look relatively normal, and since you're having food left over at the end of some days I think you're doing just fine by them

 

[moxiewild]

That vet may have had big breeds in mind, which probably isn't your situation. From what I was reading, you're right on the mark.


I don't believe you are. How do they look? Are they sunken in just behind the ribs/in front of their back legs? If they look relatively normal, and since you're having food left over at the end of some days I think you're doing just fine by them

I don’t get to evaluate them very well. While they’ve been inching closer over the months, they still keep their distance, plus I’m feeding in the dark before the sun’s up.

I need to get a camera back out there but we just can’t seem to find a good place for it there.
I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, though! Thank you!

 

[Furballsmom]

I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, though

I think they are super fortunate to have you caring for them