I'm curious...

[juriesempai]

The routine I have my kitten (16 weeks) on at the moment is:

Morning- 1 handful of kibble  (my hands are quite small and i haven't been able to find a measuring cup anywhere o: )

Afternoon- 1 handful of kibble in the puzzle feeder

Night- One can of wet food (I've heard wet food is easier on their tummy at night so they sleep pretty good O: )

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this is fine. (My cat looks and acts really healthy but this is my first time owning a kitty so I'm not sure! ) Should I modify her schedule? Should I give her a strict diet (IE: all wet food/ all dry food)  If what I'm doing seems to be fine, could anyone recommend a cheaper yet healthy wet food brand? I bought meow mix cause it was fairly inexpensive and i saw actual pieces of meat in there. She seems to like all of the flavors except for the liver!

Thanks in advance!

 

[LTS3]

 
The routine I have my kitten (16 weeks) on at the moment is:

Morning- 1 handful of kibble  (my hands are quite small and i haven't been able to find a measuring cup anywhere o: )

Afternoon- 1 handful of kibble in the puzzle feeder

Night- One can of wet food (I've heard wet food is easier on their tummy at night so they sleep pretty good O: )

IMO, that is not enough food for a 16 week old kitten. Kittens need a lot of food for their growing bodies so most people recommend feeding a kitten as much as he / she wants several times daily.

Can you get a 8oz  or 16 oz plastic cup and use that to measure dry food for now? Use a marker to draw a line on the cup so you can measure more or less the same amount of food each time. Just a thought

Originally Posted by JurieSempai  

Should I modify her schedule? Should I give her a strict diet (IE: all wet food/ all dry food)  If what I'm doing seems to be fine, could anyone recommend a cheaper yet healthy wet food brand? I bought meow mix cause it was fairly inexpensive and i saw actual pieces of meat in there. She seems to like all of the flavors except for the liver!

Most people here will recommend an all canned food diet for your kitten. Canned foods are healthier than dry foods. You can read Catinfo.org for some of the reasons why.

Fancy Feast Gourmet (may be called Classic in some areas) and Friskies are fine to feed to a kitten. PetSmart has a generic brand that is inexpensive and good to feed. WalMart's Special Kitty brand is also good and inexpensive. Meow Mix is ok but I think there are grains and other things in the food that a cat shouldn't have in the diet. For now, it's ok to feed but do look into other brands. Here's an article that will help you choose a good brand:  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/what-makes-the-best-canned-cat-food

 

[Willowy]

Just to clarify a couple points---Friskies, Fancy Feast, Grreat Choice, and Special Kitty are all fine IF you get the pate flavors (classic, loaf, ground---they call it different things but basically the mushy kind that's like meatloaf, not chunks or shreds or "filet"). The non-pate flavors have a lot of wheat gluten and that's something you'd generally want to avoid in a cat food. And sometimes the "meat chunks" are actually made of soy, so you can't go by looks either :/. Read the ingredient list and pick a canned food with no/very little plant ingredients.

Most people feed kittens as much as they want. No reason to start measuring her food until she gets older. Once she gets to about a year old, you'll want to keep a close eye on her intake so she doesn't get fat, but until then she should be burning a lot of calories and you don't need to worry about it as much. A lot of people find that keeping a bowl of kibble down at all times, with 2 or 3 meals of canned food every day, is an easy way to do it.

What kind of kibble is she on? You have to be a lot more careful when picking a kibble, as even the good ones just don't have as much meat as canned foods. Try to find one with meat as the first ingredient and no artificial colors. As the previous poster said, an all-canned diet is best, but many people find this difficult or too expensive, so it's OK if you have to feed some kibble. But try to aim for at least 50% canned food.

 

[LTS3]

Just to clarify a couple points---Friskies, Fancy Feast, Grreat Choice, and Special Kitty are all fine IF you get the pate flavors (classic, loaf, ground---they call it different things but basically the mushy kind that's like meatloaf, not chunks or shreds or "filet"). The non-pate flavors have a lot of wheat gluten and that's something you'd generally want to avoid in a cat food.

Pate is best (there's more food in a can for your money) but you can feed something in gravy with chunks/shreds/etc once in awhile just to give your kitten some variety in the diet. If you can, feed a higher quality chunk/shredded/etc food that doesn't have any gluten in it. Weruva and Pride by Instinct are two good brands but only available at chain pet stores or independent pet stores as well as online and it's over a $1 for a 3 oz can.

If you get get rid of the dry food, great but don't feel like an awful pet owner if you have to feed some dry to balance out the cost of the canned food. Try to feed a god quality dry food, one that doesn't have any grains and has real meat (not a meal or by product) as the first ingredient.

 

[Columbine]

I'd just like to add that its important to boost fluid intake if feeding kibble - cats by nature have a low thirst drive, and can become slightly dehydrated when fed kibble.
[article="30756"]Tips To Increase Your Cat S Water Intake  [/article][article="29721"]The Essentials Of Kitten Nutrition  [/article]

 

[juriesempai]

Yes she has a huge bowl of water that she drinks out of after she eats her kibble!   I guess i could do a free feeding thing, but i was doing that before(from 4 weeks to 9 weeks!)  and i noticed she only ate little bits at certain times of the day, so i've been feeding her within the schedule she would normally get up to get food and even so there's still some left over afterwards  O: . As for the canned food,  I will take your advice on the pate next time! but as for putting her on a 100% wet food diet, I'm not so sure. She seems to like a combination of both of them and it's a lot easier on my wallet as I'm still looking for a job. I'm currently feeding her Purina kitten chow since that's readily available at our local mart and my boss, who owns the no kill shelter, said it's a pretty good brand O:

 

[Willowy]

Purina is a respectable brand, but the ingredients of regular Kitten Chow aren't so great (meat isn't the first ingredient). It's not likely to hurt her in any way but there are better foods. I've had a fair amount of success with Purina One kitten food. It's not top-quality but is a step up from regular Kitten Chow, and isn't too expensive.