What is the feed rate for a kitten per day?

In order for an unprepossessing kitten to appear in the house with time to turn into a healthy, active and beautiful pet, it is important to feed it correctly from childhood. The irresponsible owners are not worried about this and feed the animal food from the table, not even realizing that, for example, kittens should not eat milk products. Natural food when feeding is quite acceptable, but the difficulty is the competent calculation of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and other elements that are important for the health of a kitten. Therefore, it is easier to buy ready-made food in which all the necessary substances are already balanced.

Owners who do not pay attention to what the kitten eats will soon encounter serious problems. If signs of poisoning from expired milk are immediately noticeable, then the harmful effects of many harmful natural products are detected gradually. Alas, often the symptoms are already too late.

Animals that do not have a regulated serving of food are prone to weight gain, and from this begin urolithiasis, diabetes and other problems. Serious consequences are dental and oral diseases, skin diseases, and allergies.

Until the age of six months, the kitten gains 100 grams of weight per week.At six months, the growth of the animal stops, and the mass continues to increase. However, these indicators do not apply to each individual, since there are breed features. For example, the total weight and size of Maine Coon is set only in two years, and until this age a pet of this breed grows rather slowly.

The older a kitten becomes, the less energy his body spends, which means that as you grow, the amount of the daily feed rate should be reduced. So, if a very tiny baby needs 48 g per 1 kg of weight per day, then already from 4 months this portion decreases to 32 g per day, and from 7 months this figure is completely equal to 24 g. To accurately calculate the feeding rate, you can use ordinary measuring cup. It is sold at the pet store.

Ready-made cat foods from different manufacturers are nutritious. In order not to make a mistake with the dosage, manufacturers place on the packaging a table of age and weight, as well as the recommended serving size for a particular animal.

Dry feeds are granules that are similar in structure to ordinary crackers. They contain meat, cereals, vegetable products. All components are dried using a special technology. The convenience of dry feeds is that they can be left in case the owners need to leave for a long time, for example, for a day.

The minus of dry products is a small amount of moisture, a maximum of 10%. In this regard, it is very important that a kitten fed with dry food always has access to fresh water. When choosing dry food, try to avoid economy-class products, choose premium and super-premium products. Many of them produce special feeds depending on the age and weight of the pet, for example, “For kittens from 3 months old” or “For cats prone to weight gain”. On average, the amount of dry food is calculated as follows.

Wet foods can be found in pet stores in the form of canned food or in bags. It looks like a variety of pieces of meat, drenched in sauce. The composition contains various types of meat, poultry and fish, plant products and cereals. In this case, the feed contains 10% more moisture than dry options. In addition to the above ingredients, premium and super premium feeds include vitamins and other beneficial supplements. Sometimes offered in the form of pastes. Kittens usually prefer wet foods.

Be sure to take feed from one manufacturer. Give preference to products that are sold in trusted pet stores. Do not take products that food supermarkets offer. The smaller the daily amount of feed indicated on the package in the table, the better and more nutritious the feed. So, a good wet food is 5% of the mass of the animal. Averages:

Small kittens, whose age has not yet reached 3 months, it is recommended to feed often, but in small portions. Next, a cat's child can be transferred to three meals a day. From 5 to 12 months, the pet should gradually get used to two meals a day. Usually it all depends on the weight and breed of the animal, but more often cats are larger than cats, and therefore female representatives of most breeds can be fed once a day.

In order for a pet to develop a habit of eating at a certain time already since childhood, it is recommended to adjust it to your regime. For example, if the owner gets up at 8.00 in the morning, and comes home from work at 18.00, then in the morning it is recommended to feed the animal immediately after waking up, and it is better to shift the evening feeding session to a later time, for example, at 20.00. Moreover, no one is safe from force majeure, and if the owner has to stay at work or in traffic, the pet will not starve, because he is already used to having dinner at 8 in the evening.

It is not recommended to leave food in a bowl until the next feeding. If this is a wet product, it will quickly deteriorate, and the dry granules constantly in the bowl can lead to overeating and weight gain, and this, as already noted, threatens serious health problems.

See the next video on kitten nutrition standards.