Feeding Your Kitten Right — From the Start

Good feeding habits will help your kitten grow into a healthy, well-behaved cat. Start early and establish a pattern for meal times according to the following guidelines:

1. Feed a food specifically designed for KITTENS or GROWTH until about one year of age.

2. Offer individual meals 4 times a day until 6 months of age, then 3 times a day until one year old. Offer a measured amount of food at each feeding according to package guidelines initially, and then adjust according to body condition.

After 10 minutes, remove all food and until the next feeding.

Offer clean water at all times in the same place as the food.

Remove your cat from the room when you are preparing food and eating.

3. Dry food is more economical, easier and more convenient to feed, generally less fattening and better for overall oral health than canned food. There is no need to feed a canned food to healthy normal kittens.

4. Treats, snacks and table foods are not recommended and not needed to train your kitten. Feeding these foods leads to obese, begging, finicky pets.

5. After neutering, energy needs decrease by 25% and therefore the amount of growth food offered should be decreased by one third to prevent obesity. Feed a low-calorie adult food at 1 yr old.