Veterinarians recommend that adult cats be fed twice a day, and by adult they mean those over the age of one. Throughout its first year, even when it looks fully grown, your cat needs a specially tailored diet. However, it is in the first few weeks and months that knowing how and when to feed your kitten will be particularly important.
The kitten’s mother should take care of nutrition for the first month, but if for some reason she cannot do this or is not around, you will need to purchase some milk replacement formula. Kittens have sensitive teeth as well as small mouths and stomachs and therefore cannot tackle hard food or normal sized portions. Introduce your kitten to solid food, either dry or wet, by offering small portions soaked in a little water or milk replacement formula. It is very important not to overfeed a kitten, so keep these portions very tiny – literally just a few bites.
When a kitten reaches five or six weeks, it needs feeding three times a day. At this stage the portions should still be small but you can begin to increase them as the kitten’s teeth, mouth and stomach grow. Like babies, young cats experience periods of accelerated growth so you will need to watch out for these and take account of them when determining portions sizes. It is advisable to stick to a high quality kitten pet food until your pet is one year old, at which point you should change to another quality food for normal or young cats.
