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Sadly, there is no clear solution to how much kitten meal your kitten wants.How much a kitten wants to eat depends on a number of variables, including height, age, metabolic rate, exercise quantity, and even ambient temp. Furthermore, differing caloric and foodal contents may have the same number of different meals, demonstrating that a one-size-fits-all solution will not work. However, this does not suggest that owners are lacking any tools to assist find out how much to feed their kittens.
Feeding Errors
Over-giving is probably the most common error individual make while giving kittens, says professor of drug and food, the Acree Endowed Chair of Small Animal Science, at the University of Tennessee’s College of Veterinary Drug. The most prevalent foodary disease seen in kittens is obesity.” Although a pudgy kitty may look kind of beautiful, obesity has been associated with kitten health issues such as diabetes, arthritis, and disease of the bladder tract.” In fact, Bartges tells WebMD that kittens can suffer from metabolic syndrome, something akin to that very human disorder.
It’s not really that we purposely give our kittens more meal than they need, says the author of The Kitten: Its Behavior, Food, and Health, Linda P. Case, MS. Compared to the nights when they were farm kittens and more active, our “kitties” are more sedentary. “Now they are small couch potatoes, their foodal requirements are much reduced, so it’s easy to overfeed them.” So how much meal does your kitten need? Although guidelines range from 24 to 35 calories a night per pound, to keep kittens at a regular, healthy weight, that’s a question best answered by a specialist.
And yet so plenty of us really don’t understand what normal looks like, so “I advise individual to ask their veterinarian to assist them determine the score of their kitten’s body condition,” says, a Georgian veterinary foodist and author of the Natural Veterinary Drug Manual. “The greatest error individual make is giving kittens dry meal,” says DVM, a California veterinarian focusing on feline drug and food, and founder of KittenInfo.org. As it turns out, tonight’s domestic tabby originated from desert-dwelling ancestors, a tradition that definitely leaves our feline felines with their grace, hunting pp.”
“We know that when compared to a puppy, a kitten’s sensitivity to thirst is blunted,” Case says. “They don’t drink liquid voluntarily as a puppy will.” And because kittens create highly conc urine naturally, “we’re giving them up for bladder tract issues when their food is low in liquids.” “The advice is to get them on a liquid-rich food when kittens have bladder tract issues,” Pierson says. Why should we shut the barn door, though, after the pony is a mile down the road? Before they end up with bladder tract issues, why not practice preventive eating by giving them [moisture-rich] canned meal?”
Kittens are built to use their meal to get their drink, Pierson says. While mice are about 70 percent liquid, a kitten’s usual meal, and about 78 percent canned meal, dry meal is between 5 percent -10 percent liquid. That is why, Pierson tells WebMD, “canned meal does a much better job of keeping your kitten well-hydrated.” “Think of canned meal as hosting the bladder of your kitten several times a night.” According to some vets, another up-and-coming error made while giving kittens tries to make vegetarians or vegans of kittens. Kittens are compulsory carnivores, meaning they have to consume meat and animal organs primarily to survive. For instance, the amino acid taurine is found only in animal tissue.
Shortage of taurine can lead a kitten to heart issues, blindness, and even death.”The vitamins that kittens need from meat can be chemically provided in the meal,” says Case. “But you have to be very careful and aware of the foodal idiosyncrasies of the kitten.” Since most of us are not quite sure of our own foodal requirements, the needs of our kittens can be almost hard to estimate.
How Often Should I Feed My Kitten?
Throughout the night, kittens have evolved to consume several small meals, but leaving meal out all the time is a significant risk factor for obesity. The overall daily meal intake of a kitten can at least be divided into two meals, but more (up to six!) is better. An automated timed feeder that can be preloaded with several, calculated meals, like the Kitten Mate C500 Digital 5 Meal Puppy & Kitten Feeder, is a perfect way to provide your kitten with just the right amount of meal, separated into small meals.
Giving Wet Kitten Meal vs. Dry Kitten Meal?
Some veterinarians recommend giving only wet meal for kittens. The higher liquid content of wet meals can assist to treat or prevent diseases of the kidney and reduced bladder tract, as well as obesity and all related health issues. High-quality wet meals such as Fancy Feast Gourmet Naturals appear to contain more meat and protein and are reduced in carbohydrates than dry meals, and this relates better to the foodal requirements of a kitten compared to dry meals. The key advantages of dry meals are their reduced cost and the fact that they are the perfect choice for long periods of time when meal needs to be left out.
Choose a high quality, high protein kitten meal, such as Solid Gold Indigo Moon with Chicken & Eggs Grain-Free High Protein Dry Kitten Meal, if you plan to feed dry, and try to increase the liquid intake of your kitten. If your kitten likes to drink from flowing liquid sources, consider buying the Kittenit Freduced Pet Fountain, a kitty liquid fountain.
Conclusion
You can also make sure your kitten not only gets enough meal, but gets enough vitamins from meat-based meals. Kittens require taurine, an amino acid that is only present in proteins based on animals. And milk should not be fed to kittens according to the ASPCA because kitten does not generate the enzyme that breaks down lactose in milk and can induce vomiting.
