Kitten feeding

[Toffee23]

We have a 10 week old kitten
He weighs 1.1kg
He has arrived eating Felix and dry food

How much of each shod he have a day? We don't know if he is hungry or greedy.
At the moment he has one pouch and 30g dry food is this about right?

Thanks in advance

[Mollycat]

Hi and welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your new kitten!

I would not restrict a growing kitten's food intake at all, they need a surprising amount of food. But you also need to decide how your kitten is going to be fed as it grows up. Personally I'm a free feeding sort of person, though that's gone out of fashion a lot now, but even if you plan to have set meal times a young kitten needs quite a few of them through the day.

Most cats (not all but most) if they are free fed will regulate their own food intake and weight very well. Greed and scoffing I believe are almost always the result of either a physical illness, not enough activity, or feeling insecure about food being available when they want it. I've had 6 cats over 30 years and the only fat one was a sick one who is a reasonably healthy weight now her illness is cured, despite being indoor. Cats are not like dogs, they are hunters not scavengers so they don't have the instinctive mindset of eating anything and everything they find regardless of being hungry or not, unless they have experienced lack of food in the past. In some cases this can even be a late mealtime, leading to the nuisance of constant miaowing for food from half an hour or more before time.

[Toffee23]

Hi and welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your new kitten!

I would not restrict a growing kitten's food intake at all, they need a surprising amount of food. But you also need to decide how your kitten is going to be fed as it grows up. Personally I'm a free feeding sort of person, though that's gone out of fashion a lot now, but even if you plan to have set meal times a young kitten needs quite a few of them through the day.

Most cats (not all but most) if they are free fed will regulate their own food intake and weight very well. Greed and scoffing I believe are almost always the result of either a physical illness, not enough activity, or feeling insecure about food being available when they want it. I've had 6 cats over 30 years and the only fat one was a sick one who is a reasonably healthy weight now her illness is cured, despite being indoor. Cats are not like dogs, they are hunters not scavengers so they don't have the instinctive mindset of eating anything and everything they find regardless of being hungry or not, unless they have experienced lack of food in the past. In some cases this can even be a late mealtime, leading to the nuisance of constant miaowing for food from half an hour or more before time.

Thank you for your advice. Our last cat (R.I.P.) had only dry food and was a picky eater, whereas this kitten is after anything he can find. He was weaned on felix but we would rather he learnt to regulate his eating himself but at the moment we're happy for him to have one pouch a day and dry food to supplement this.
I can't find guidance as to how much dry food on top of 100g of Felix wet food.

[Mollycat]

Isn't there a feeding guide on the food, if that's what you need?

Individuals vary a lot, just like us. You can take two cats weighing the same and one one lean and slim and the other is a fat blob, just the same you can take two different dry foods and they might need different amounts to provide the calories and nutrients needed. It doesn't pay to get too hung up on weights, unless it's an animal that needs feeding up or slimming down under vet supervision.

I had a 3.5kg cat who was small and slim and ate a whole can 400g every day plus unlimited titbits, I now have a cat that weighs 5kg who leaves some of her 2 pouches totalling 200g and is podgy. My dog can't be walked at the moment, he is on the same amount of food as the cat but has gone up from 17kg to 21.5, on a quarter of the food he used to have when he was exercising. The recommendation for a 10 week old Burmese isn't going to be the same as the recommendation for 10 week old Maine Coon.

If your kitten is putting on weight, is bright alert and healthy, has food when it's hungry, and plays, you're not far wrong. If it leaves a little bit of its food every day, as well as all this, then you're probably giving just the right amount. It really doesn't help to get fixated on grams. I'm not being awkward, honestly it really is an impossible question to answer.

[Toffee23]

Isn't there a feeding guide on the food, if that's what you need?

Individuals vary a lot, just like us. You can take two cats weighing the same and one one lean and slim and the other is a fat blob, just the same you can take two different dry foods and they might need different amounts to provide the calories and nutrients needed. It doesn't pay to get too hung up on weights, unless it's an animal that needs feeding up or slimming down under vet supervision.

I had a 3.5kg cat who was small and slim and ate a whole can 400g every day plus unlimited titbits, I now have a cat that weighs 5kg who leaves some of her 2 pouches totalling 200g and is podgy. My dog can't be walked at the moment, he is on the same amount of food as the cat but has gone up from 17kg to 21.5, on a quarter of the food he used to have when he was exercising. The recommendation for a 10 week old Burmese isn't going to be the same as the recommendation for 10 week old Maine Coon.

If your kitten is putting on weight, is bright alert and healthy, has food when it's hungry, and plays, you're not far wrong. If it leaves a little bit of its food every day, as well as all this, then you're probably giving just the right amount. It really doesn't help to get fixated on grams. I'm not being awkward, honestly it really is an impossible question to answer.

He is very happy and active, so I will take that as a sign that he is getting enough food. He has dry food out all the time but I want to make sure I'm not enabling him to be greedy. There are feeding guides on the dry food but Felix food just says one to 4 pouches which is quite vague.
Our last cat was a grazer so we never worried and every vet check once fully grown she weighed exactly the same weight.

Thank you for your help.

[booktigger]

Years ago, I saw a guide that said 20g of dry food was equivalent to 1 pouch and I've stuck with that ever since

[Toffee23]

Years ago, I saw a guide that said 20g of dry food was equivalent to 1 pouch and I've stuck with that ever since

Thank you that is really helpful!
I will adjust his feed according to that method.