Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK

Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: tez2384 on October 05, 2007, 00:45:30 AM

Title: Are they eating enough?
Post by: tez2384 on October 05, 2007, 00:45:30 AM
I have two 11 week old kittens and im unsure of if they are eating enough (as ive never had a kitten befor)
They have half a pouch of food each in the morning mixed in with some biscuit and the same in the evening (slowly making the biscuit less but when i first got them CP advised me that too much meat upsets there tummys)

Sometimes there is some food left over and i have to throw it away i also think that they sneakly steal some of my other cats food and she does the same to there food  :rofl: It gets really anoyin but nothing i do stops them will this do them any harm?

They have little hard tummies, Is this normall for kittens? They have both been wormed recently.

Sorry for all the questions  :shy:

Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: Mark on October 05, 2007, 00:59:05 AM
I don't know much about kittens but if they are leaving food, they must be full up. Eating eachothers food won't do them any harm  :hug: My cats do it all the time - as long as there are no meds in the food. As long as there are some biscuits (and water) out for them to snack on, its fine. If they have worms, they have a pot-belly normally as far as I know.

Its normal to worry about your children  :rofl:
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on October 05, 2007, 01:42:39 AM
I think you are feeding them fine and if they are using the tray OK then I wouldnt be worried  ;D
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: Susanne (urbantigers) on October 05, 2007, 07:34:27 AM
Do they have food available between meals?  11 week old kittens need to eat more often than twice a day.  They need to either have food left down for them to free feed, or if that's difficult because of your other cats then to have 4 meals a day.  Half a pouch plus some dry may be a bit much in one go as they only have tiny tummies at that age.  Will they eat the wet on it's own or do they need the dry on top to encourage them to eat it?  I'd suggest just the wet twice a day then leave the dry out for them to snack on during the day.  Or if that's a problem then 4 smaller meals.

So long as they're growing ok they are probably eating enough.
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: tez2384 on October 05, 2007, 13:50:19 PM
They have biscuit to snack on all day aswell,
This morning they had even less biscuit with there meat so this evening im going to try just meat when i tried the other day they turned there nose up at it untill i added biscuit lol

Tiggy was already quite fat so not sure if she has gained weight or not but pippin has certainly put on weight  ;D

I worry about them so much its just like there children lol

They use the litter tray fine only had 2 accidents since ive had them one was my fault because i took to long changing the litter  :rofl:  :rofl:
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: tez2384 on October 05, 2007, 13:52:48 PM
They always steal kittys food (adult cat food) and she always steals there food (kitten food)

Do they need kitten food or would they be ok with adult food? As was reading the back of both pouches to compare what they have in them and there isnt much difference  :Crazy:
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: Susanne (urbantigers) on October 05, 2007, 14:20:10 PM
I don't think they really need kitten food (cats grew up fine before there was kitten food and there's no special kitten mouse in the wild!) but it is ideally balanced for growing kittens so is a good idea when they're very little.  If they are all eating the dry you put down, how about feeding them kitten wet at mealtimes but leaving down adult dry during the day?  Or if your adult cats are fairly young and not overweight they'd probably be ok with the kitten dry. 
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: tez2384 on October 05, 2007, 14:42:06 PM
Kitty (the adult cat) is just over a year old but all kitten food gives her dreadfull diahroea which is why its very hard work because she loves to eat there food but it does her no good at all  :(

Do you think the kittens would be ok on adult food If i slowly introduce it? It would make it so much easier and then it wouldnt matter if they steal each others food because they would just be eating the same food   :rofl:

In a couple of hours time im going to try the kittens on just wet food no biscuit and see if they eat it because they happily steal kittys and hers is just wet on its own.
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: tez2384 on October 05, 2007, 14:49:03 PM
Heres what the diffenrence between a kitten pouch and a adult pouch is:

Adult pouch:
Protein: 8.5%
Oil: 4.5%
Ash 2.5%
Fibre 0.5%
Moisture 82%
Copper (as copper sulphate) 3mg/kg
Vitamin A: 1110 iu/kg
Vitamin d3: 140 iu/kg
Vitamin E: 10mg/kg


Kitten pouch:
Protein: 8%
Ash: 2%
Fibre: 0.5%
Vitamin A: 2000IU/KG
Vitamin D3: 200IU?KG
Vitmain E: 16mg/KG


The only big difference is the vitamins but everything else is almost the same
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: Susanne (urbantigers) on October 05, 2007, 14:51:57 PM
There will probably be more calories in the kitten food.  Kitten food does tend to be quite rich.  When I got both of my cats they were being fed adult food (Jaffa from a rescue 10 years ago, Mosi from a breeder 18 months ago) as the kitten food upset their tummies.  I got them both onto kitten food gradually, but it's not unusual for cats to not be able to cope with it.  I think your kittens will be fine on the adult dry, but I would feed them some kitten wet food so that they are getting some kitten.
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: tez2384 on October 05, 2007, 15:04:58 PM
Ill carry on with the kitten wet food and give them adult dry inbetween meals then when they steal each others dry it will just be the same,

How many pouches of kittwn wet do you think they need a day each?
They were sharing a bowl but tiggy is greedy and would growl at pippin when she tried to eat  :rofl: even though there sisters and cant be without each other for more than 5 minuts  :rofl:
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: LeighK on October 05, 2007, 16:18:30 PM
Hi,

In my case my lot are eating extremely well, the question here is...
AM I EATING ENOUGH ? :)

Cheers

Leigh
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: Millys Mum on October 05, 2007, 16:59:41 PM
Theres probably a different calicium:phosphorus ratio in kitten food as their bones are growing. As long as they are putting on weight then their food quantitys are fine. Hungry kittens make alot of noise  :scared:
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: tez2384 on October 05, 2007, 17:06:17 PM
I agree totally  :rofl:
Got woken up this morning by 2 kittens purring in my face  :rofl:
Title: Re: Are they eating enough?
Post by: tez2384 on October 06, 2007, 14:16:58 PM
Tiggy will now eat just meat on its own but pippin still refuses too  :'( she was the smallest of the litter (so i was told from Cp) and is still tiny compared to her sister so im going to cary on with wet and dry together for her because atleast that way she will eat