Food question for non diabetic cats

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Heather and Raja (GA)

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Ill recap the last two months.

I adopted a 3 month old kitten in December and the poor thing was sick with a horrible URI. She was on dry food at the SPCA and because she was sick and getting used to a new home and kitty I decided to wait until she got better to switch her to wet food.

So I'm still on the diabetic mindset here so I'm totally lost when it comes to wet food. I know steering clear of foods with the word gravy was the way to go with Raja but is it ok for Meeko and Dixie since neither one is diabetic?

The other question I have is related to how much to feed the kitten. When Raja was still here I would put out two cans of friskies each day and that was all they ate, if I put out more than that it wouldn't get eaten. How much should I be feeding the kitten? She was 3 lbs on December 21 and she's grown since then of course.
 
I'd probably stick with the low carb, given that cats are obligate carnivores and normally would not get more than 10% of the calories from carbs if eating wild prey.
From Cat Info. "1) Carbohydrates wreak havoc on many cats' blood sugar/insulin balance."
 
The gravy varieties have higher carbs.

As far as how much to feed, kittens need more than adults due to their growth. Adults usually need about 20 calories per ideal pound. All the cans of food I have just say to feed kittens 2-4 times a day, as much as they will eat. Not much help, eh? :lol:

Edited to add: Found a can that said to feed kittens twice as much as an adult. :-D
 
You can fed the gravy foods, just keep it to once in awhile treats/meals :smile: The occasional "junky" treat/meal isn't going to cause long-term future health issues, IMO. My civies eat raw and occasionally get a little gravy pouched food as a treat.

Stick with low carb canned for the main diet :smile: Kittens should be fed a few times a day. One 5 ounce can a day, split into mini meals, is probably enough. When one of my civies was 3 months, he was eating 4 raw nuggets a day (total 4 oz) plus a little canned during the day via the timed feeder.
 
Babies are so fun!

When we got Avie, she was 4 months old. We fed her about the same as the older girls even though they were a little more than twice her size since she burned through it more with her high kitten energy. I tried to get more kitten formulas into her because they are formulated a little better for growing bodies and some of the formulas has some stuff added to help them avoid some of the junk kittens like to catch (ex: l-lysine is in a few kitten formulas).

A varied diet shouldn't hurt long as the basis is good quality wet protein diet and not a 40%+ carb dry like many of us had before we ended up here. The chunks in an occassional gravied food may give her something to gnaw on and help clean those toothies :mrgreen:
 
Glad you brought the question up. My Ittle Sista became a member of the family when she was 6 wks old. I went and purchased some kitty fuds for her that Sugar Bean could eat too. Wellness I think it was...bought 1/2 case only to return it. Neither liked it after the first can or 2????? She eats ff, friskies and sop. cat...all low carb. and of course mommabean grinds chicken for raw diet. she seems to be doing just fine with that and is growing like a weeeeeed!
but I often wondered if she really needed something aimed more for kitties...that I could get her to eat
 
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