Nutrition is one of the most important things to get right when it comes to taking care of a kitten, helping them develop into a healthy, strong cat. This means knowing how to find the right food, knowing when to make dietary changes, and knowing which feeding schedule to follow. Here are a few tips that can help you with this vital kitten care.
Choosing Your Kitten's Food
Kittens should not be eating cat food; there are specially formulated foods for kittens for important reasons. That is why pet food makers have to put a label of some kind that tells you what stage of life the food is made for. You need food that will help your kitten to mature. On the label, you should also look for something that says it has gone through a food trial. (It is generally advisable to go with food that has been
tested by a food trial, instead of food that has merely been lab tested or compared to other food.)
Dry food or canned food? You could go either way. Canned food can provide helpful hydration, but it can spoil if left out for more than 20 to 30 minutes. Dry food takes a significantly longer time to go bad. Dry food is high in carbs, typically speaking, so be aware that your kitty can put on the pounds much quicker with dry food than with canned. While in one sense that is good for a growing kitten, the grim reality remains that obesity is one of the top health problems that cats face.
Your Kitten's Feeding Schedule
While it is pretty normal to just set a bowl of dry food out for the day, a schedule is generally a better way to go. In fact, this can be crucial to ensuring your kitten does not exceed a healthy weight. So how often should you feed your new kitten? Three meals a day is ideal, and following a general breakfast, lunch, and dinner routine makes sense. Just be sure to stick to whatever schedule you create.
As for portion size, you can use the food's label for reference. Whatever it recommends for daily nutrition, you can divide that by three to get to how much you should feed your kitten at each meal. Then pay attention to see if this amount is causing your kitten to put on pounds too fast, or if it seems that they are too scrawny or not putting on weight quickly enough. Adjust meal size accordingly.
Fun Tips for Keeping Your Kitten at a Healthy Weight
The fact is, an energetic kitty can soon turn into a more sedentary cat, which means that you may have to be creative when it comes to ensuring your growing cat does not reach an unhealthy weight. One option is getting a food puzzle, one where the cat has to roll the puzzle in order to get the next bit of food. It's built-in exercise that is also fun for your cat. Or, you can always move your cat's food around. You can hide morsels of food all over the place, giving your kitten a fun scavenger hunt that will also help them stay fit.
Before making any drastic changes to your pet's diet, however, you do want to check with your veterinarian first, especially if your pet has known health issues. Also, if you want more specific advice on what to feed your cat, who would be better to go to than your local pet health expert? Find the veterinarian you and your pet need today!