When to feed my kitten?

[Luv_My_Cats]

I need to know how often I need to feed my kitten who is 8 weeks old. I know when they are adults they should be fed twice a day. Is this the same for a kitten. Also what about about at night? I'm used to leaving dry food out for my older cat so she can free feed and I'm afraid of having my kitten go hungry. Also how long should the wet food be left out? Thanks

[coaster]

Generally kittens are fed 4 or 5 times a day.

[NewRagdoll]

Originally Posted by Luv_My_Cats

I need to know how often I need to feed my kitten who is 8 weeks old. I know when they are adults they should be fed twice a day. Is this the same for a kitten. Also what about about at night? I'm used to leaving dry food out for my older cat so she can free feed and I'm afraid of having my kitten go hungry. Also how long should the wet food be left out? Thanks

While the 4 to 5 times a day may be ideal, part of the answer depends on your schedule. The more frequently the better. However, if you work thats not always possible. We feed mornings and evenings and free-feed the rest of the time.

[Luv_My_Cats]

I want to feed her an all wet diet so how would I manage free feed? Wouldn't the food spoil? Also what about during the night? Will she just have to wait til morning? She won't go hungry will she? Also it doen't happen often but sometimes I have to gone for the day, I'll leave in the morning around 6:30 and don't get home until 2-4pm? Won't this be too long for her to go without food? Sorry for sounding silly, I just want to do right by my little kitten.

[NewRagdoll]

Originally Posted by Luv_My_Cats

I want to feed her an all wet diet so how would I manage free feed? Wouldn't the food spoil? Also what about during the night? Will she just have to wait til morning? She won't go hungry will she? Also it doen't happen often but sometimes I have to gone for the day, I'll leave in the morning around 6:30 and don't get home until 2-4pm? Won't this be too long for her to go without food? Sorry for sounding silly, I just want to do right by my little kitten.

All good questions. It is because we sometimes do have scheduling problems and changes of plans that I choose to feed both dry and wet and to free-feed dry. With your schedule, you can probably make wet work....a good mean in the morning....one as soon as you get home.....more later. However, my personal choice would still be wet in the morning.....dry available while gone.....wet when I got home.....more wet later.....dry available during the night in case she got hungry. Given a schedule like that she will probably eat 70-80% wet, but you will never have to worry about her having no food if you are delayed.

[Luv_My_Cats]

If I do it that way, will it be ok to let her eat adult dry food and wet kitten food? I feed Nutro Natural Choice.

[NewRagdoll]

While I would not recommend Nutro Natural Choice, there is, in fact, very little difference between their adult and kitten food. The only question (and I don't know) would be the size of the kibble. That might indicate the kitten food would be a better choice for both cats for a while, but if the kibble pieces aren't too big on the adult, its not a worse choice than the kitten.

However, I would recommend another dry food for both cats. Nutro Natural Choice starts with Chicken Meal....not Chicken and the next two ingredients are rice and corn. Corn particularly bothers me as cats can't digest it (not really good for humans either).

Compare to Wellness kitten which has more protein and lists as first three ingredients "Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Chicken Liver" and has no corn.

Or, Felidae which has a single product for adults and kittens and no corn.

Or, Innova which has an excellent all life stage product as well, although it can lead to weight problems in adults.

Or, Evolve.

So....I would recommend a premium brand, but have no issue with feeding the same to the adult and kitten since most of the kitten's nourishment is wet. Just examine the size of the pieces to decide whether to feed both adult or kitten.

The main difference in adult and kitten other than kibble size is typically the kitten has a little higher fat content.