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Old November 15th, 2010, 02:30 PM
Nordly Nordly is offline
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Calorie intake for 5 month old kittens?

My two kittens Pebbles and BamBam are 5 months old, and last week at their vet visit, weight 6.2 lbs (2.8 kg) and 5 lbs (2.2 kg) respectively. I'm feeding them canned Wellness Grain Free (the 12 oz cans) 3 times a day: 8 am, 6pm and a smaller portion around midnight. They easily eat 1.5 can a day and I'm wondering if I'm feeding them too much. They eat about 50% of their food right away, and then graze on the rest. It's often gone before the next feeding.
Each can of Wellness is about 450 - 500 calories each, so combined, they're eating 675 - 750 calories a day. They don't eat any dry food, and very few snacks. Pebbles is bigger but I can still see the waist indentation.
I read that adult cats should eat 25-30 cal per lb, and that would translate to less than 350 cal for both cats. Obviously, they are still kittens and need to grow, but am I feeding them too much? When should I start feeding them less? How much should I feed them?

Thanks in advance for reading this. I might be obsessing too much, but I'd rather start with proper eating habits than have to correct overeating issues down the road.
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Old November 15th, 2010, 02:48 PM
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14+kitties 14+kitties is offline
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As simplified as this may sound - the kitties will let you know. One day you will go to feed them their second feeding and you will notice there is leftover food. That will be a sure sign you can cut back a bit. Maybe do smaller portions for their feedings or cut back on the amount of feedings in a day.
You are right as to the amount for adult cats. I never really stress over it. I feed my guys what they want to eat. Most times it amounts to about a small 5.5 ounce can each a day. But I have some big eaters (translate that to big cats) who probably eat closer to twice that.
I have found with all the kittens I've raised that around the 6 - 9 month stage they start to slow down with the amount of food they eat. Kittens need a larger amount of food just because of their pure rambunctiousness. They get the zoomies so many times a day they burn off a ton of calories. Once they start maturing into adulthood the zoomies slow a bit too. Dart, at almost six months, is starting to not eat as much as he was before. He can still pack away more food in a day than three of my adult kitties at three years old. With my seven month old raw eaters I feed approx 2 cups of raw twice a day plus a large can of Wellness in the morning. Occasionally I add another can of Wellness at night.
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