Is my kitten gaining too much weight?

[peanutbutter7]

Hello! I have a 4.5 month kitten, named Luna, who is absolutely wonderful, fun, active, and food driven. As of this morning, she currently weighs 5 lbs 4 oz. I know the general rule is that kittens should weigh about how many months old they are so Luna is already a pound past that. She definitely seems like she has a bit of a belly too (if you can see in the picture).

She is very active. She plays by herself, and with us utilizing her self-play toys for a large portion of the day and will go "balls to the walls" on her time too where she gets the zoomies and just sprints around. My partner and I also do interactive play (using a special wand and feather toy, the cat dancer toy, etc.) with her 3-4 times a day with her, usually before a meal, where we get her running and jumping and climbing. For food she gets almost 2 3oz cans of wet kitten food, supplemented by 3/8 cups of dry food, a day. She gets fed 3 times a day, and usually gobbles up her wet food right away, nibbles some dry food, and leaves the rest of the dry food to snack on throughout the day/night. Luna also gets a few treats at night because we try to do some clicker with her for mental stimulation.

She had her first vet visit a few weeks ago where we went over her diet, and the vet said that this is good as long as she has dry food to nibble throughout the day, which she does. But she seems to be gaining weight quickly. I've heard that kittens don't need to worry about over eating, but also I have heard cat obesity and weight gain can begin in their kitten years.

Is her weight/belly a concern right now? Or should we keep going and let it play out? Pictures attached, plus a cute one for a cat tax.

 

[keridwen]

I’m not a cat expert at all, but I just wanted to say your Luna is a very beautiful kitty

 

[UnoMama]

the ultimate word on this is your vet, but here’s my 2 cents worth

she’s still growing, a pound here or there isn’t a huge deal right now. As long as she’s active, healthy, and playing… she’ll grow into the extra pound. I worried similarly about Uno till a couple of months ago, and he seemed to have a little belly too …I pestered my vet like a helicopter mom every time we weighed him, but the vet was chill. Unos remained active, and is growing well. The belly isn’t as pronounced either.

 

[peanutbutter7]

I’m not a cat expert at all, but I just wanted to say your Luna is a very beautiful kitty

Thank you!!! We think so too!!!

 

[peanutbutter7]

the ultimate word on this is your vet, but here’s my 2 cents worth

she’s still growing, a pound here or there isn’t a huge deal right now. As long as she’s active, healthy, and playing… she’ll grow into the extra pound. I worried similarly about Uno till a couple of months ago, and he seemed to have a little belly too …I pestered my vet like a helicopter mom every time we weighed him, but the vet was chill. Unos remained active, and is growing well. The belly isn’t as pronounced either.

Thank you for your insight! Hopefully she'll grow into her belly too! She's definitely growing every day, and I would never want to deny her the nutrients and calories she needs to be a rambunctious kitty!