Kitten Food: A Healthy Start For Your Cat

What should you feed this adorable kitten that's hiding under your bed? The answer is kitten food. Kittens require more fat, vitamins and nutrients in their food due to both their high energy and for their growth and development.They also eat less, therefore each meal needs to be nutitious to meet their special health needs.

Changing Food

It is important to know the brand of kitten food that your kitten was eating prior to coming into your care. Depending on the quality of the previous food, if it is a premium high protein kitten food, then you might want to continuing feeding it to your cat. However, if the food is a cheaper low quality food, you will need to begin the process of changing your cat's food.

Your cat's digestive system is very sensitive, so changing food should never be an immediate process, but should be done over a time period of ten to fourteen days. First start by mixing ninety percent of old food with ten percent of new food, do this for about two to three days. Then every two days add ten percent more of the new food and ten percent less of the old food.

Depending on how sensitive your cat's system is,some cats may take longer to get used to the new food and may experience vomiting or diarhea, if you cat experiences this, return to the day when your cat wasn't experiencing any problems and stay there for three to four days, then try to decrease 10 percent of the old food and add ten percent of the new. Our cats didn't experience any problems with this process and weaned off the low quality dry food quite quickly,it probably didn't taste as good as the new food.If this process seems a bit confusing, it's best to seek the advice of your vet and find out what method he/she recommends.

Wet Or Dry

There is always a bit of a debate surrounding this topic, is wet better or dry as a kitten food? This is a decision that you will have to make after doing a bit of research and talking to your vet. I must add that most vets push the dry food, or at least that's what I found. Most vets say that the dry food helps to keep your cat's teeth healthy by removing and reducing tartar build up. With our kittens we did a 75% wet food and a 25% dry food.

Which ever one you choose, it should be high premium cat food, where the first 2-3 ingredients are specific proteins, such as; chicken, turkey, salmon, duck. To read more about how to choose a healthy dry food for your cat, read Choosing The Healthiest Dry Cat Food. Wet cat food for kittens and cats overall is great because of the high protein and moisture, however not all wet foods are created equal, some are filled with just as much fillers as low quality dry food.

Make sure to buy cat food that states that it is for kittens on the label, kitten food has more fat, monerls and vitaminsieach serving, than regular adult food.Although as cat owners we sometimes enjoy sharing our food with our cats, it's a bad habit to start you kitten off by feeding them off of your plate. Our human food doesn't supply our cats with all the nutrients they need to stay healthy. So how about just as a snack? Feeding your cat off of your plate can result in them begging, every time you sit down to eat, your cat will also think it's their meal time and jump up next to you ready for you to share.

At first you might not mind or might even think it's kind of cute, but it won't feel that way when guests come over and your cat does the same thing to them. Cooking your cat fresh protein mixed with the appropriate type of vegetables, in combination to their regular cat food, can be a healthy addition to your cat's diet, however serve the meal in their own cat bowl,not from your plate. Here are some of our easy to make Homemade Cat Food Recipes.

Kitten Feeding Schedule

Our feeding schedule for our kittens were soft food three to four times per day and dry food was left out to nibble on. Kittens eat small amounts but frequently, so if you work a 9-5,it's a good idea to feed your cat some fresh food before going to work and leave some out for them to eat, meanwhile your at work. Kitten food should be given to your cat until they are one years old. Once your cat is an adult, you should decrease the amount of time your feed him/her to two to three times a day to maintain a healthy weight.

Similar Topics

Newborn Kitten Stages Of Development -What To Expect Over The First Three Months Of A Newborn Kitten's Development.

How To Choose The Best Cat Food For Your Feline Friend - A Detailed Look At One Of The Most Important Aspects Of Your Cat's Health, Your Cat's Food.

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