New Kitten Advice

[AlpaccaPal]

Hi everyone,

Not sure if this has been posted before or if there's already a thread for it

But on Friday me and my family get our first kitten and we're confused over food, we've bought pouches of whiskers kitten food and a box of dry food and found out that the lady were collecting her from on Friday feeds her Butchers Classic cat food

And were unsure on whether to keep her on butchers or move her onto whiskers or feed her both

Also how often should we feed her, we've got double bowls, litter tray and litter prepared

It's out first time owning a cat so I'm full of questions

[fjm]

Congratulations on your new kitten! I would stick to the food she is used to for the first week or two until she is settled in, and then slowly change over to the one you prefer. How often to feed rather depends on how old she is, but 4 meals a day is best for very young cats, reducing to two or three around six months old. Once she is eating some dry food you can leave that down all day for her to browse on between meals of wet food. Kittens have very tiny stomachs, so need several small meals rather than one big one. Kitten food tends to be higher in protein, needed while she is growing. Make sure she always has fresh water available, of course.

[Ruth B]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the new addition.

The general advice is to keep them on the same food they are used to for a few days or weeks and then slow mix the old food with your own preferred brand to make the change over as easy for them as possible.

The same is normally advised for the cat litter as well to make sure they understand that the litter you prefer them to use is what they should use. Preventing issues starting is far better than trying to cure the problem later on.

If you only have the one kitten, you will need to make sure there is plenty for her to do to entertain herself. Wand and string toys are great when you are there to play with her, but don't leave them in the room, while it is rare there are horror stories of kittens getting tangled in the string with disastrous results. Balls, chew, or kick toys are in plentiful supply, but make sure you get ones that are a suitable size for a kitten. Balls with bells in can be great fun for the kitten, not so much for you at 3.00 in the morning. Ping pong balls are also a great one and often much cheaper and more substantial than the cat toy variant that is around. Of course bits of screwed up paper can be one of the cheapest and most enjoyed toys available, cats are contrary like that. There are also a range of feeder toys available, not only do these help keep a cat entertained but provide a reward for their hard work buy producing a treat or piece of food. They are great for cats that end up with their life seeming to be focused on food, this normally happens in cats that are left for long periods alone with little to entertain themselves and food becomes the major part of the day and they fixate on it, but even a younger cat can enjoy play that ends in a reward.

Good luck with your kitten and any questions, we will be more than happy to help as much as we can.

[AlpaccaPal]

Thankyou both so much, that's definately helped loads

[Mollycat]

Butchers I would say is a better quality food, cheap and grain-free, but there is no special kitten version and kittens do have different nutritional needs to adults. Also it only comes in tins of 400g and for most adult cats this is more than they need in a day. It's great if you breed cats and have many though, decent grain-free food at a fraction of the price of the big brands in convenient 100g pouches.

Is there any particular reason you are considering Whiskas? There are lots of different foods in the same price and availability range, of similar or possibly slightly better nutritional quality. Best of all try to keep your kitten's range as broad as possible as she grows up. A cat who only eats one brand and sometimes even just one flavour of one brand (it does happen) will leave you tearing your hair out when the recipe changes slightly or there is a supply problem. If you think it couldn't happen, we recently had a clumping litter crisis, problems with the supply from China via Bob Martin, and everyone ran out of their own brand clumping, and there is a whole thread about cats suddenly refusing Felix.

[AlpaccaPal]

There isn't much of a reason to whiskas,need bough the pouches of food and some dry food, we want to feed her a variety of food and was told by the vets to wean her off butchers and move her to better quality food like Purina Pro so she gets all the nutrients she needs

Whiskas just seemed like a nice alternative but we know it's no good for cats with the low protein, so we'll be searching for a alternative

[Mollycat]

Sounds good, as I said nothing wrong with Butchers and it's grain free, only drawback is the size of tins as far as I'm concerned.

Have you got scratching posts as well? And if she is going to be indoor only please provide cat grass if you can, if she will eventually go out obviously she can find her own grass.