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She's almost 9 months old and I have had her for about 4-1/2 months. She was a tiny little thing when I got her. She would sit/stand on me and I could barely even feel her there. I got her from a rescue group; her mother was a feral cat. I think before I adopted her she wasn't getting quite as much food as she wanted because the times I visited her before I adopted her, I saw her several times going to her empty bowl looking for food.
As soon as I adopted her, she started pigging out. Her belly is ALWAYS full and bulging. full of food. Now not only is her belly full and bulging, but I am noticing that she's definitely not only growing but gaining weight. I have always free fed her. I give her canned food a couple of times a day and have dry food out for her all the time.
They were feeding her Purina kitten chow at the rescue, but when I adopted her I tried some grain free dry food that she didn't seem to like, and then I started giving her Iams kitten food, which she does like. I tried giving her some of the better, more expensive canned food, like Wilderness. Well actually, I bought all different kinds and she really didn't like ANY of the more expensive, grain free food. She mostly likes the dry food and she will nibble on wet food like Fancy Feast, Iams canned food, etc. She LOVED canned food when I first got her (and she'd never had canned before), but now she seems to prefer the dry.
I just would like to know how to feed her before it gets out of control. My last cat lived to be 19 and I left food out for her all the time and she ate very little. She was old and hyperthyroid, on medication, and actually was overweight earlier in her life.
I am thinking instead of free feeding I need to just feed her two or three times a day. I have started just putting 1/2 cup of food in her bowl in the morning and 1/2 cup at night instead of keeping it full like I was, and giving her some wet food occasionally.
I don't want her to feel deprived, but I don't want her fat, either. We had to put a heavy rock on the base of her cat tree because she has gotten heavy enough that she was almost knocking it over when she climbed or jumped on it. She is almost 10 lbs. I know that's not unreasonable, but she definitely is not sleek anymore like she was and she's put on weight noticeably the last couple of months, and going from weighing almost nothing 4-1/2 months ago to 10 lbs is quite a change!
No kibble/dry food. Canned or raw, or a combination of both.
Did your vet confirm that your kitten is getting fat?
I'm not as knowledgeable about kittens as I am in some other areas, but I have one that is 9 months old and one that is a year and a half.
I was told, that for their first year to feed them whenever they want to eat. They are growing rapidly and their bodies are developing and they need the nutrients.
When Tiger was 13 months my vet told me that Tiger was getting fat. I just cut back slightly on the 4 am and 8 pm feeding, and 3 months later, he was lean and muscular. It really seems to me that he lost "baby fat". I have to ask my vet if cats can have "baby fat"
Get rid of all dry, and schedule feed a decent canned (or raw) diet.
Three meals a day. Four if your schedule allows. If you can afford a baby scale, that will be a good way to monitor her weight loss, and eventually her weight maintenance.
Play interactive games with her every day, also at least three times a day. A good time to play these games is before meal times. Make the last Game/mealtime right before bed time.
Exercise is just as important as food quantity control.
Read the link Leannan posted for information about feline nutrition. Dr Pierson is a bit wordy, but taken in small doses there is a wealth of information there.
Remember that weight loss in cats has to very very very slow. No more than 2 ounces a week. Rapid weight loss can cause the liver to fail: fatty liver disease (feline hepatic lipidosis)
You are smart to recognize the dangers of obesity in your young cat. Getting her onto a good healthy diet and exercise routine now will keep her healthy and happy for many years to come.
ITA with the comments and web link posted in the responses above. It's the dry food that is causing her to gain weight. If she prefers the less-quality canned food, start with that and very slowly mix in a little of the grain-free canned, so that over time she transitions to all grain-free.
If you can't afford a baby scale, look into a buying a digital postal scale. Put a small box on top of the scale, tare it out, and place the cat in the box. I've had a postal scale for years and it has really been useful (and not just for weighing cats, LOL).
Thanks for the help, everyone! I searched the forum a week or so ago and searched Google, but knew some of you could give me specifics on what to do. No, the vet didn't say she was fat, but everyone who comes over comments about how fat she has gotten. I sort of wish I'd gotten another kitten when I got her so she would have a playmate. We play with her, but she also plays by herself a lot and I think she'd enjoy having another cat to play with. She loves it when I "chase" her. I work from home so I am around all the time, but I do spend hours and hours a day in my office and she sleeps a lot during that time. I originally planned to get a puppy, but I think maybe a cat that she can climb the cat tree with etc, might be better.
I noticed the other day she was panting HARD when she was playing. I've never noticed that before now.
I will take the advice on transitioning her to canned only, and then mixing it with the better quality food and transitioning her to that.
At her age, she should be consuming about 300-350 calories a day @ 10 pounds (30-35 cal/lb). Iams kitten has 470 calories per cup, just to give you an idea.
I have a 5 month old kitten, and it is said that active growing kittens should be fed as much as they like for the first year. However, I think you're at a point where you can start limiting what she eats. Since you work from home, you could set up 3 set meal times. One in the morning, late afternoon, and right before you go to bed.
Maybe aim for 350 calories a day and see how she does on that. I'm not sure if she needs to lose weight (probably not since she will still grow in height and length). But the goal could be to see a waist line from above.
If you decide to transition her back to mainly wet, just make sure she doesn't go over 12 hours without food. Cats WILL starve themselves, unlike most dogs.
The reason she's not eating the canned is because she has a buffet of dry and is never really hungry. Take away the dry during the day so she's hungry enough and she should go back to wet without issue since she was introduced to it as a kitten.
Thanks for the help, everyone! I searched the forum a week or so ago and searched Google, but knew some of you could give me specifics on what to do. No, the vet didn't say she was fat, but everyone who comes over comments about how fat she has gotten. I sort of wish I'd gotten another kitten when I got her so she would have a playmate. We play with her, but she also plays by herself a lot and I think she'd enjoy having another cat to play with. She loves it when I "chase" her. I work from home so I am around all the time, but I do spend hours and hours a day in my office and she sleeps a lot during that time. I originally planned to get a puppy, but I think maybe a cat that she can climb the cat tree with etc, might be better.
I noticed the other day she was panting HARD when she was playing. I've never noticed that before now.
I will take the advice on transitioning her to canned only, and then mixing it with the better quality food and transitioning her to that.
Thanks again!
I probably don't need to ask this, but will anyway- Has your vet checked her heart and/or listened for a heart murmur?
She doesn't need kibble to snack on overnight. Kibble isn't good for anything and it is okay for a cat to go 8 hours without food. I wouldn't push it much longer than that, but the right kind of meal (meat sourced protein, keep the carbs down, wet or raw) every 8 hours is fine.
^ i continue to feed a bit of dry food for a couple reasons. 1- the cats don't wake me to eat at 6 am. Yay! And 2- If I fed a 100% canned diet, my pet sitter would have to come 3x a day to feed my cats. When we go away for the occasional weekend, I have a sitter come in once a day to give them a big wet meal and scoop the boxes, then they eat dry the rest of the day. It works for us.
When we are home, they eat 90% canned, 10% dry. I can't remove the dry completely for those reasons.
I probably don't need to ask this, but will anyway- Has your vet checked her heart and/or listened for a heart murmur?
Yeah, she had a full physical a couple of weeks ago.
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