# How much should my kitten be eating?



## ejrogers (Sep 7, 2009)

Hi,
I picked up a new little girl kitten on Saturday, who is 9 weeks old, and I wanted to get some advice on how much she should be eating.
She is quite small for her age, weighing 0.5kg, but she has been vet checked yesterday and the vet said although she is small she is healthy and we should just keep an eye on her weight gain.
I am currently giving her 1 pouch of Felix kitten food per day as that is what the breeder was giving her (half in the morning and half in the evening) with Royal Canin Kitten 36 down all the time.
She eats both but always leaves some so is not quite eating a full pouch.

How much should she be eating for a healthy weight gain?

Also she is not drinking very much water, is it enough that she gets water from her wet food and a couple of licks of water during the day?

Thanks in advance
Emma


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## PolkaDotty (Jun 24, 2011)

She does sound small. When I took my kittens to the vet at 9 weeks, they were 1.33kg and 1.06kg (the latter is a female & females tend to be smaller).

Ideally, cats should be on a completely wet diet. For a little more information as to why, you can read this thread: Feeding cats for beginners (and more seasoned cat owners alike) 

It also sounds like you should be feeding her more often. I feed my kittens 4-6 times per day and they get about 50-100g each per feed.


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## kaz25 (Aug 9, 2011)

I think ideally a kitten should be being fed at least 4 times a day.


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## Beckyjr37 (Nov 27, 2010)

do you remove the food as soon as she's finished eating? Ordo you leave it down for a while so that she can go back to it?
Kittens have very small stomachs so it doesn't take much to fill them up but, if they are active it also doesn't take much to burn it off either. They are much better having many (4-5) small meals throughout the day giving them the chance to eat whenever they are hungry.


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## ejrogers (Sep 7, 2009)

I give her half a pouch in the morning and then the other half in the evening but the food is left down in between so she can keep going back to it, which she does often.
So its not that she doesn't have the food available, shes not actually eating it all.
Do you have any suggestions on how I can get her to eat more?


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## PolkaDotty (Jun 24, 2011)

Perhaps try a different food? Maybe she doesn't like the food she's getting now. You'd have to introduce a new food by mixing it with the old (to avoid upsetting her tummy).


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## Beckyjr37 (Nov 27, 2010)

If the food is there then she is obviously eating all she wants. as long as she is gaining weight steadily (as she is so small I would consider weighing her daily) then I wouldn't worry too much she will increase the amount she eats as she grows.

You could maybe try introducing different food (gradually) to see if she eats more. There are some good suggestions on Hobbs AtoZ

http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-nutrition/112132-z-wet-food-cats.html


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