Feeding Your Cat

To keep your cat healthy, you will need to be sure that you meet all of his nutritional needs starting from when he is a kitten but continuing throughout his life.

For the first few weeks of his life, a kitten will receive all of his nutrition from his mother but once he reaches four to six weeks of age, the breeder (if there is one) would probably began supplementing the mother cat's milk with canned kitten food or with hard kitten food moistened with water. At eight weeks of age, he would be weaned and eating a diet of kitten food. A breeder should give you some of the food your kitten was eating or at least the name of the kitten food.

If you want to change the kitten food that your kitten is eating, you should gradually mix it with new food and this way your kitten will be able to gradually adjust to the new food without upsetting his digestion.

Young kittens need to eat quite a bit of food. After all, they are growing incredibly fast from the age of eight weeks to about six months. This means that your cat will need to eat more than once a day. In fact, kittens under six months of age do best with four small meals a day, since they do not have very large stomachs, but need plenty of fuel. You should give your kitten an unlimited water supply. 

Once your kitten reaches six months of age, his rate of growth slows down dramatically. He will become a bit less active, as well. You can cut his feedings back to two to three meals a day. At this stage you should not change his food from kitten to adult food as he is still a growing cat.

Once your cat is a year old, he can finally eat adult cat food. Since adult cats usually eat when they are hungry, you can simply keep his dish filled with dry food. However, if he overeats and begins to grow overweight, you will need to feed him twice a day instead. If you feed your cat canned food, you should also give him dry food, since canned food should not be left out for your cat to eat all day.

When you shop for cat food, look for foods that have the protein source in the first few ingredients. You should also make sure the food is balanced. If your cat has health problems, such as hair balls or urinary tract infections, you should look for cat foods that help control these problems.

Although most cats prefer soft food, dry food can help them maintain better dental health. If your cat refuses to eat dry food, you may want to have your dentist to check his teeth on a regular basis.

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