Kitten food - I don't know what I'm doing!

[Abbie]

Oh well done on looking up cat nutrition- I did the same thing 6 months ago, It's quite a learning curve!

I live in England, so the brands are quite different over here. But, I can absolutely say that wet food is much better for cats and kittens. So long as you're giving a complete food, I wouldn't worry about it not being kitten specific.

Free feeding isn't bad, so long as you're monitoring what your little one is eating, which you are. My parents cat is free-fed and she's a thriving 11 year old now.

[praline]

YEA for DATA!! It sounds like he has a great cat mama!

Evo is a great brand and with many really good grain free brands its an all stages food. I am raising 2 kittens close in age to Data. Everything I read said until 16 weeks to free feed. At the 16 week mark to slowly start moving them to a meal time. This is what I have been doing and they are doing great. I feed half a can 3x a day. The half a can is for both kittens. Other then that I leave out dry 24/7 for them as keeping canned out is unhealthy. Once we get them accustomed to a proper feeding schedule at 16 weeks we will only feed canned.

What I have learned about canned and cats ~ cats get the majority of their water intake from their food. They do not have a high thirst drive because of this. They need to be able to "eat" their water. Of course always have out a water dish but the majority of his water intake will come from his food.

Canned food can sit for no more then 3 days. If he isn't eating a lot and your throwing away bad food or he plain doesn't like left overs (which it seems Sparta hates leftovers lol) you can always buy the smaller cans. You can also try warming the leftovers up a bit (I do this to trick Sparta hehe) and then give it to him. Just make sure not to let him eat from the can or from the fork ~ that way saliva and germs don't spoil the canned in the fridge.

[marie73]

I leave canned food out for hours, it's fine. When you work, you really have no other choice, most of us here who work and feed wet do the same. I put their food down in the morning and leave.

Wet food is the best, but my cats get a little dry as a treat.

If you refrigerate it, just put a tiny bit of hot water in it and mix it up, or zap it in the microwave, but just for a few seconds, and stir it well so there are no hot spots.

And mixing wet and dry is bad, unless it's eaten right away (the dry food forms bacteria quickly when moistened).

Oh, and Data is adorable!!!

[MowMow]

Ditto, I leave MowMow's wet food out for hours (unless it's extremely hot). He used to bolt his food down and bring it back up so I'm MORE than happy to leave his food down longer and let him go back for seconds and thirds.

I also make canned food soup with hot water. It forces water into him (since he doesn't drink much).

[marie73]

Gigi gets soup, too.