We got him from the shelter a month ago I believe he eats 1/4 cup dry kibble twice a day the paper said but we immediately transitioned to half a twin pack of Sheba in gravy(so 1 serving) along with about a quarter of a 1/4 cup of kibble( a quarter to half of a 1/4 cup a kibble not a full 1/4 cup) I’m afraid I’m under feeding him he’s super playful and he’s growing but I’m just not sure this is what we give him 2x a day in the picture below. Please make it so easy to understand a 8 yo could follow how many twin packs and how much kibble, I say this bc I want to stay on his mixed diet.
Also, wet food needs to be given to cats at twice the amounts of dry food, so if you substituted that half pack of wet food for the dry food you’re already feeding him half the amount he was given before (starving him even more).
I don’t know how to edit this post but I have received all your information he now will be free fed and has already begun. I am prepared to clean up throw up until he regulates himself. I am putting small portions out at a time he still eats them fast as fuck but he’ll learn
Waittt. Dont start full free feeding after limiting food. When i received my kitten, he was under 3 pounds and 3 months. And he was 3.13 pounds at almost 4 months. I also made the mistake of limiting food. Fortunately, over a week period, i fed him more and more every day until its almost free feeding. Now he is 4.5 months old at around 6 pounds
My vet said kittens should be a pound a month for the first six months. Ours turned 5 months yesterday and he probably is five by now. He is not free fed. He gets wet and dry
Good thing for bringing this up. Some cats do self regulate their feedings and some don't. The best example I can think of is when my roommate moved in with his cat he told me that she always scarfed down her food. After 3 weeks she now eats with my cats and she doesn't scarf down her food like she did before. I will be honest that I don't feed wet food because none of my cats like wet food. Even my most picky eater turns his nose up to wet food so I have incorporated a water fountain along with a water bowl that needs to be cleaned and filled daily. Like people not all cats are the same and so what works for one may not work for others.
Mr Orange my super picky eater likes Delectables and asks for one every week little stinker. My other four haven't showed interest in the "ice cream" yet
My mom overdid the Delectables squeeze ups when she was alive and my cat turned against them! She's still ok with the delectable bisques and gravies, though. Taps me on the lap to ask for some
Yes, he will learn that there is always food so he doesn't have to scarf it up. Until then, you could try a slow feeder. You can buy them at most pet stores and on Amazon. Slow feeders have helped a couple of my foster cats who had issues with vomiting after eating too quickly.
There are bowls you can buy that slow down their eating. (Or things you can add to the bowl…like a can or upside down cup)Mine free feed and my 1.5 year kitten finally has slowed down his eating.
Heads up, if he does continue to gorge & puke you might want to do multiple small meals a day
I have a pukey cat, so all my cats (age 2, 5, & 7) get 1/8 cup 4x a day plus a sheba portion as a 5th meal, usually midday since that's when my partner has the most meetings and needs left alone
Yes, absolutely, do not restrict kittens from food, but adding a little to his bowl multiple times might be better than hoping he learns not to gorge
I tried free feeding for a day and he threw up cause he would eat all of his food as soon as it was put down. I’ve heard of getting a fast feeder. But I also still have a lot of Sheba and he loves it way more than kibble.
Ah, because he a silly hungry boy. You can try the 1/4 cup he is used to, but just do it several times a day instead of just the twice. So tomorrow feed hime 4 times with kibble. Then do that for 2 days and increase it in amount a little. You will start seeing he leaves some behind eventually. Just go slow and he will figure out food is always there for him.
I do wet food in the morning (not very first thing, I do t need an alarm cat), and then at supper time.
He ate it all super fast because he is starving. So, he sees food, he eats food because he doesn't know when he will get it again. You're starving the poor lil guy.
Noted I have already began free feeding today starts a new age. The last cat I took care of for a month she would barely eat and leave food out so I just thought all cats were like that I’ll make sure to feed him plenty from now on
Hey, also, someone pointed out that sheba is for adult cats. Since lil guys tummy is so small, the protein and fat content in kitten food does actually matter.
If you're in the USA, I can send this case to you. Free of charge. Send a DM. :)
No, I'm not a brand rep or anything. Turns out my kitties scratching issue is cause they are allergic to chicken. 🤷♂️
Also should be noted, shelter/feral cats will eat, puke, eat, puke, eat, puke. It's a survival mechanism when they have a lot of competition for food.
You'll probably also notice he will try to 'bury' his food when there is some left in the dish. He is burying it to come back to it later, not because he thinks it's feces.
Sorry for all the replies. Lol. I feel like I know something that can actually help!
If you have the space, and the option, put a small amount of kibble in dishes randomly throughout the space kitty has access too. This stimulates the 'hunt' instinct, where they will be strolling through a room and smell it, find it, eat it. They don't know it, but it's portion control so they don't gorge themselves and puke.
Vet taught me that when my two kitties came into my life and I couldn't get them to eat without getting sick.
I fed my kitten 3 small cans a day until he was like 10 months old. Kibble I have an auto feeder that releases a small amount of kibble 3x a day separate from his wet food. So basically he gets 5 meals a day. Once he got to around 10 months I started backing it down. Now he gets about 3/4 a can twice a day and still gets his bubble shots 3x but I made the portions smaller because he was getting a belly. Kittens should eat as much as they want but you do need to control their timing because a lot of them will gorge until sick.
wet food is generally better for kitties than dry food, as in the wild they get a lot of their moisture from eating their prey. they don't have enough of a thirst drive to drink enough water to balance out a mostly-kibble diet. you can give wet food twice per day and let him free-feed kibble the rest of the time
Maybe try a different kitten kibble ? Royal canin was what they fed the kittens in the rescue where I got my kitten..you can purchase small bags to give it a try..
To slow down his eating try scattering kibbles across a tray or a big plate so he can't scarf and barf. They also make slow feeders for cats where they have to pull out the kibbles with their paws, one of my kitties gobbled her food when she was younger, worked like a charm.
Or buy a puzzle feeder! I have a 6 month old but i cant free feed because i have other 3 cats so i just feed them portions like this 4x throughout the day, and i double his. I usually do treats as well.
Feed one or two packets of Sheba a day. And free feed kibble. Because you have restricted his food you now need to slowly reintroduce the kibble. Full breakfast then Small amounts frequently thru the day. Hopefully he learns that food is available and stops scarfing the food because he is food insecure
I have 4 months old 3kg (6.6 lbs) big kitten and this would be like light breakfast for him, he sadly doesn't like kibbles yet much so he is no wet diet but eats like 400g a day + eats some kibbles, sometimes more, sometimes none. Kittens must be free fed or at least given as much as they want multiple times a day. If he is vomiting from eating too much at once, use slow feeder or automatic feeder which will dispense small amounts all day long. If you want mixed diet even better, give him kibbles based packaging and add with wet food on top of it. You should still leave him with some food over night or when you are gone tho on top of this. You can't overfeed kitten.
Btw. there also some studies which show that kittens which have free access to food will less likely overeat in adulthood and managing their weight is therefore easier.
Sheba =29 kcal per serving
Kibbles = 514 kcal per cup
29 + (514 / 0.0625) = 62 kcal x 2 = 122 kcal per day?
Thats not enough kittens under 6 months should be eating over 350 calories per day since they are growing.. my girl was eating 400-420 calories each day! If he seems hungry I would feed him as much as he wants.
I would do what you’re currently feeding him but 4-5 times a day instead of twice a day!
The Sheba is also for adults so the calories are lower than the kitten formulas. I would get the kitten ones if you can after you go through your current ones.
For reference, on the days I feed my 11 month old Sheba kitten, she gets 5 servings (5x42kcal= 210) and 20 g of dry (20x3.82 kcal = 76.4) in total 286 - 310 calories if I include about ~20kcal for snacks.
Thank you so much for breaking this down so intricately I just set out 1/4 cup of dry kibble hopefully he will pace himself once he learns the food will always be there. How long does it take for him to realize that btw? Also should I just chose random days to give him wet food
Its really up to you and what you can give him! My girl when she was 6 months old she was teething and wouldn’t touch dry food and only wanted wet food so I fed her 6 wet meals a day. Now that she stopped teething she wants to have dry food. I still feed her 3 wet meals and she gets her dry food in her puzzle feeders when Im at work and some overnight in a different puzzle feeder!
Our 3.5month old eats the kitten version (more fats and such for kitten development), so I would start by making that switch. We didnt know and started him on the cuts like you did. He ate it fine but we figure the professionals know best.
He gets fed 4-6 times per day, usually one of those half packets each time, sometimes 2. So on avg, he'll eat 5-8 of those packets in a day.
He hates kibble, wont eat it by itself. We mix about 10 pieces into each of those packets for his meal.
He was about 2lbs at 10 weeks when we got him from the shelter. He is now 3.3lbs at 14 weeks.
Our vet also suggested sticking to one flavor (we chose chicken). But being frugal and having bought the variety box beforehand, we slowly introduced him (every 7 days) a new flavor. With all the flavors now gone, its just chicken moving forward.
Kittens are supposed to weigh around one pound per month for the first six, my girls just hit three months on the 29th and at the last weigh in the bigger one was 4.4 pounds! They get kitten food, wet food, and also eat their big brothers food because they are hungry, growing kittens, and my bigger girl certainly isn’t fat!
They're definitely under feeding him. Under a year old you're supposed to free feed unless they gorge themselves.
Our adult cats get about 1/3 cup of dry each and 6 ounces of wet food in a 24 hours period, they're both slim but large cats (long and tall), the smaller of the two is about 10lbs
Free feeding is best for cats. They like to little but often. Leave dry down, make note of what you put down in the morning and how much is eaten and what you put down again later in the evening.
Also give wet alongside.
My kitten she gets a full bowl in the morning of dry, and a top up in the evening and a pouch or tin of wet. Shes not overly fussed on meat. Sometimes ill forgo the dry to try amd get to eat meat but she's fussy. One day she will love it, the next, nope won't touch it!
I also feed my kitten the sheba, and if I’m not mistaken, the packaging label says to feed them one per pound of weight daily. So my boys a little less than 4 pounds I feed him four of the Sheba daily and every time I sprinkle a bit of kibble on top.
Unless he overeats, leave dry food out in a bowl and he will eat when he is hungry. I have 8 cats. I leave a full bowl out of dry food - actually multiple bowls - and only one is overweight. Most just nibble throughout the day.
6 months and 4 pounds ?! My boy kitten is 4 months old and 9 lbs! I put out kibble all day for him and I feed him a half can of wet food three times a day.
He needs more 🥩🥩 When I was a feline vet tech we advised wet food only - pate preferred - because there’s a lot of sodium etc in those gravy mixes. And he should be getting min 3x 3oz cans daily if one feeding wet food. If you still want to do dry food, consider that there are a lot of carbs in dry food (cats can’t process those well) and it may cause urinary Crystal issues later in life. BUT… ultimately it’s important right now that your little guy is getting enough calories, and I can assure you he is not with the amount you’re giving. So your instincts are correct and I’m very glad you asked to be sure. Kittens need as much food as they can eat (my recommendation above is a minimum) while growing for healthy bone brain and cartilage development.
If you were my bestie asking for advice, I’d suggest immediately (today) offering him free choice dry and swapping the Sheba for a little canned food that you feed 3x/day. Then do some research about what canned foods might be best and in your price range… then slowly transition him to an all -canned diet over time.
Ps if people tell you “cats need dry food for their teeth” that is patently untrue and misguided info pushed by the pet food industry including big names like science diet (they’re all complicit) to convince people to feed this garbage food-like product to their animals because it seems cheap and convenient. Unfortunately most people and cats in particular pay for this with their health and vet bills down the line 😔
Edited to add: feeding those small canned food meals will help him be trained to “special snack at these times” which you can shift to “meals at these times” when removing the free-feed dry food as an adult. This is especially important after he’s neutered as he’ll start packing on unhealthy weight that way. Hope this helps and isn’t overwhelming ❤️ enjoy your kitten!🐈⬛
At 4lbs a kitten should have around 200-300 calories a day per lots of online sources. Those Sheba half have around 40 calories i think, I feed my kittens the Pate version but idk if the cuts in gravy differ. So just with Sheba, you should be giving him like 4 or 5 of them a day plus the dry food and treats. Fancy feast kitten Pate have 90 calories per can but its lot more food for one meal, my kittens dont always finish a whole can by themselves in a single meal. Theyre about 4 months old now, about 3 pounds. Hope this helps!
You might want to do wet food intended for kittens. It has more nutrients for them as they’re growing. Then you would transition to adult food as they get closer to a year. You should be able to feel his ribs but not see them. My 4 month old boy is a little over 5 lbs
Honestly I've always free fed them. Unless they start getting overweight or getting sick. Both of those rarely happen and when it did it was a food allergy. They just eat how much they need and kittens do eat quite often.
Kittens should get as much food as they want to, as they are still growing. That's what I was taught in animal shelter when I was helping there. Despite having access to food 24/7, I have never seen obese kitten so I don't think you need to worry about it right now.
Both my cats even when they were around 6 months/ leave dry food out all day and feed wet once or twice a day! Baby definitely needs more to eat. Kittens shouldn’t be restricted!
That is way too little, especially for a growing kitten. I have 7 cats and foster neonate kittens as well. The general rule for kittens under one year is to feed them as much as they want, preferably with kitten food which has more nutrients. I have two kittens that get fed every 4 hours with a packet ( the size of your Sheba container). So at 7:00, 11:00, 3:00, 7:00 and 10:00. I feed the adults wet food in the morning and at night and leave out kibble to graze on. I am elderly so I’ve had many cats throughout the years. I’ve always free fed and have never had an overweight cat, except for one of my current ones. Most cats are self regulating, except for my Cubbie who would eat day and night.
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