New cat owner, advice re how much food

Hi,

I adopted two kittens, I got them at 12 weeks and they are now 14 weeks.

I have always had dogs never had cats and I'm struggling to know how much I should feed them. Nearly every cat I see is overweight and I don't want them to end up like this.

Between the two of them I have continued what the fosterer was giving them which is 1 pouch of 100g Felix kitten wet meat food divided twice a day morning and evening and along with that I am giving them 3 handfuls of dry food a day (I have big hands) they get the wet food mixed with the dry food in the morning and evening and in the afternoon I give them just a handful of dry food to keep them satisfied between breakfast and dinner.

I'm starting to think this isn't enough, the cat food instructions are terrible so I was wondering if someone could give advice please?

They eat out of the same bowl at the moment and they seem happy, should I start splitting bowls..

How much and how often do you feed your cats/kittens.

Thanks

Dave

Nody

When it comes to kittens you want to be on the higher end rather than the lower but most foods will have on the back of it the feeding recommendations based on weight (example from Whiskas junior). I'd recommend you get something better than Felix/Whiskas etc. from a pet store (brick & mortar or online such as zooplus.ie).

Faith

Kittens need a LOT of food! Both of our cats would have gotten a full pouch morning and evening, plus a bowl of dry food that they could graze at all day (rarely weighed out as the cats were both good as only eating what they needed).

One note is that supermarket brands like Felix, Whiskas, etc are full of sugar and fillers. If you can afford it, it's much better for the cat to get a higher quality kitten food. It costs more, but it has probably double the protein content.

The nutritional content of Felix, for example, is:

Mixed Selection:

Beef: Meat and animal derivatives* (20%, of which beef 4%), Vegetable protein extracts, Fish and fish derivatives, Derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, Various sugars.

*chunks: 50% Meat and animal derivatives.

Chicken: Meat and animal derivatives* (20%, of which chicken 8%), Vegetable protein extracts, Fish and fish derivatives, Derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, Various sugars.

*chunks: 50% Meat and animal derivatives.

Sardine: Meat and animal derivatives* (18%), Vegetable protein extracts, Fish and fish derivatives (sardine 4%), Derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, Various sugars.

*chunks: 44% Meat and animal derivatives.

Salmon: Meat and animal derivatives* (18%), Vegetable protein extracts, Fish and fish derivatives (salmon 4%), Derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, Various sugars.

*chunks: 44% Meat and animal derivatives

So 4-8% is what it actually claims to be, and full of mystery ingredients.

Take a higher quality food like Feringa (available from Zooplus), and the ingredients are:

Ingredients:

Turkey with Pumpkin & Catnip:

69% turkey (heart, meat, liver, neck), 25.9% stock, 1% pumpkin, 1% minerals, 0.1% catnip

Energy per kg: ME (FEDIAF, 2020) 416 kJ / 99 kcal

Chicken & Veal with Carrots & Dandelion:

45% chicken (heart, meat, liver, gizzards, neck), 25.9% stock, 24% veal (heart), 1% carrots, 1% minerals, 0.1% dandelion

Energy per kg: ME (FEDIAF, 2020) 430 kJ / 103 kcal

Rabbit & Chicken with Potatoes & Dandelion:

52% chicken (heart, meat, liver, gizzards, neck), 25.9% stock, 17% rabbit, 1% potato, 1% minerals, 0.1% dandelion

Energy per kg: ME (FEDIAF, 2020) 388 kJ / 93 kcal

Salmon & Chicken with Broccoli & Parsley:

54% chicken (heart, meat, liver, gizzards, neck), 28.9% stock, 14% salmon, 2% broccoli, 1% minerals, 0.1% dandelion

Energy per kg: ME (FEDIAF, 2020) 406 kJ / 97 kcal

You can actually tell what all the ingredients are, and it has closer to 70% actual meat content, rather than mysterious "derivatives".

Or Thrive, available in Petstop:

Chicken breast (70%), chicken stock, sunflower oil, vitamins, minerals.

It's definitely more expensive to use higher quality foods, but may be worth it in the longer run (and trust me, if you use a litter tray indoors, it makes a big difference there!)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120959495#Comment_120959495

Thanks, I didn't know that about the Felix , although looking at it it looked like alot of crap in it.

The dry food I have been giving them is hills kitten food which is very expensive like 25 quid for a small bag.

Can I just cook real meat for them instead of the wet food, like chicken , beef etc and cans of tuna. Would that be better than cat food?

Faith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120961172#Comment_120961172

No, unfortunately not because you're very unlikely to be able to get the right balance of minerals that cats need. Their food is all supplemented with taurine, for instance. Also, cans of human tuna are way too high in salt. They could get sick and die very quickly if you weren't getting the right nutrients for them.

Hill's is grand, but not worth the price tag IMO. I give my lot Carnilove and they're mad about it. It's a bit cheaper than Hill's and about the same quality.

Nody

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120961172#Comment_120961172

Wild freedom and Feringa menu will both set you back similar to raw feeding for wet. For dry you could go with for example a 3kg bag of Concept for life for 17 quid though if possible I'd recommend to stretch that a bit to a big bag of Feringa dry kitten instead simply to remove the corn, rice etc. (cats are carnivores; they should not have plant based fillers in the food in general ).

Benzino

We are actually in a similar boat, recently adopted 2 kittens who we think are about 4.5 months old at this stage.

We feed them 2 pouches of Royal Canin, 2 pouches of Felix and some Purina One kitten dry food soaked in water, typically half a pouch each every 4-5 hours as Kittens have smaller stomachs.

We only feed them Felix because of how expensive Royal Canin is, we know it's not the best but to feed them Royal Canin only, we'd be going through a box every 2 days.

I've been reading up a bit on the food and it's my opinion that Royal Canin isn't actually that much better than Felix, and the likes of Canagans, Cheshire Cat & Era are all better at a similar price point, but my other half is not convinced as Royal Canin is what all the vets recommend.

Wondering what people's thoughts are? Need to look into the brand's mentioned here.

Nody

@Benzino RC is premium priced middle level quality food (but their special foods can be very handy in certain situations); the vets sell it because of the commission they get from it. As an alternative for you I'd recommend to look at Animonda Carny as it's very well priced esp. as you can directly recognize everything that's included.

Addmagnet

I would say that trying to get them to eat out of separate bowls is a good thing. Try to space the bowls out quite far, preferably so they can't see each other when eating.

Cats are very good at hiding illness, being off their feed is quite a significant sign and easier to spot with separate bowls.

Also, not 'learning' to compete with each other for food means they're less likely to acquire over-eating habits.

Always buy the highest quality food you can afford. Over a cat's 20-odd year lifespan your personal circumstances may sometimes mean this is the cheapest shite from the nearest discount supermarket. Don't sweat it, I've had many cats over many years, including former ferals that were eating God-only-knows what for years. They all thrived and survived.

I heartily recommend the pumped water fountains; however you provide water, try to place it away from the food bowls, and try to place both food and water in a quiet area that the cats can feel undisturbed in.

(As an aside, get the cats used to being handled around their head, i.e. looking at their teeth, in their ears, gently wiping their eyes etc. And make lots of practice runs at giving them tablets, so you don't get absolutely shredded when you have to do it for real!)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121063695#Comment_121063695

I have been giving my pair Felix kitten wet food and carnivore kitten dry food.

They get half a Felix pouch and a large handful of the carnivore nuts in the morning.

For lunch they have a large handful of the carnivore nuts.

For dinner they get the second half of the pouch of Felix and another large handful of nuts.

This seems fine , sometimes they won't finish the food and come back to it but they never appear hungry.

The felix isn't the best so to up their protein I've also been buying chicken thighs without skin and boiling them and adding it into their food at times. I'm not going to be spending 2 quid a tin on expensive cat wet food. They get all the cat nutrients they need from the wet and dry food so the chicken thighs is just maximising their protein intake which would be way more protein than any store bought food expensive or cheap

Benzino

Thanks @Nody well definitely cheek that out. Ingredients seem much better and overall cheaper as well compared to Royal Canin. We are fortunate in that our kittens will eat anything, they are not fussy at all (nor do they fight over it), so no food goes to waste.

We got a pumped fountain and they seem to like it, although they don't drink much water as all their food is wet or dry nuts soaked in water.

Thanks for the good advice folks!

spookwoman

Got mine at at about 7 to 8 weeks old at the start of May. He was only a little fart and I started off on Maxi Zoon Select gold kitten and baby food (70% chicken and offal) plus Moments Kitten (60% chicken fillet) as an alternate. He was also on kitten and baby dried food as a grazer. He's would get small amounts throughout the day as they only have small stomachs and stops the food going off. He doubled his weight in no time and vet joked about a diet. You can't really over feed them.

About a month or so later he went onto Select Gold Kitten (70% chicken) select gold pure (72%) and he still has Moments Kitten. He has Purina as a grazer. We have older cats so it's a bit of a pain feeding them because he likes theirs and they like his. I feed him in the morning a few scoops as they food goes off quickly with the heat. He's get another top up before lunch another feed at about 4 and then at about midnight. He'll get a bit of gormet if the others are having some but we try to keep him as much as possible on the kitten.

Weighed him to other day for his worm tablet and he is about 2.2kg. Got neutered the other week and was flying around when we got him home. He's indoor, very healthy and doesn't beg or pester for food.