General Feeding Tips Please!!

[Johna]

Hi Everyone!

As of next weekend, my family will be proud owners of a 16 week old F1 Savannah. We've done our research, but I'm still curious on advice for an appropriate diet for the kitten. I know we should stick to what the breeder is doing for a little until we transition to our own diet. Right now, she's eating a mix of both raw meat and kitten food.

Any suggestions on how much she should be eating, best recommended kitten foods, recipes and feeding advice is much appreciated.

TIA!

 

[WitchyWoman]

First: Let her eat as much as she wants. My F1 male started out eating about 1 cup of food per day when he came home at 10 wks old to 3 lbs per day from the time he was 4 mos. until he hit 2 yrs old and now he's down to 1-2.5 lbs per day depending on the season and the amount of exercise he gets per day. I started feeding him whole prey (baby mice and chicks), canned, and chicken the 2nd week he was at home. He was eating combo of raw meat, canned, and kibble at the breeder's but rejected the kibble the 2nd day he was home. I kept him on canned and whole prey until he was able to eat larger prey and he gradually transitioned himself off he canned.

Second: Feed her what you're comfortable giving her and what you can afford as long as it's grain free, high protein, and with a minimal amount of cheap fillers (rice, veggies, fruits). If you choose to feed a raw diet, make sure it's properly balanced 80% meat, 10% bone, 10% organs with 5% of the organs being liver. If you choose a whole prey diet (rats, mice, guinea pigs, quail, chicken), you don't have to worry so much about it being balanced because each animal is properly balanced in itself.

You have many options, kibble being the least desirable choice. Canned, canned with raw meat and meaty bones, homemade ground, frankenprey (a mix of meats, bones, organs), whole prey or a combination of all.

Resources for learning how and what to feed: http://www.catinfo.org/
http://www.rawfedcats.org/
http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/easy-raw-feeding-for-the-busy-person

Third: Make sure she doesn't get addicted to one type or brand of food. When you are experimenting with types of foods for her, keep variety in her choices. Commercial foods come and go on the market, change their recipes, get recalled and when a cat will eat only one type or brand, it gets dicey if the food is no longer available.

Fourth: We need details! Pictures! Who is her breeder? Do you have a name picked out yet? Pictures, pictures & more pictures.

 

[Patti]

Agree with all of the above, especially that you should feed what you are comfortable with. Fixing a raw diet is a commitment and is time consuming, so make sure you are ready and willing to do it right if you want to explore that route. There are many high quality, low grain/filler commercial foods, I would try to stick to those made in North America.

 

[eddiegunks]

......... as long as it's grain free, high protein, and with a minimal amount of cheap fillers (rice, veggies, fruits). .

could you expand on what you have found that fits the above criteria? thx

 

[Patti]

could you expand on what you have found that fits the above criteria? thx

There are a multitude of high quality cat food brands, just google 'grain free cat food' or search for it on an online store such as chewy.com, and read the labels.

A few of the more well known brands include Acana, Blue Buffalo, Earthborn, Natural Balance, Nature's Variety, Stella and Chewys, and The Honest Kitchen

 

[Johna]

First: Let her eat as much as she wants. My F1 male started out eating about 1 cup of food per day when he came home at 10 wks old to 3 lbs per day from the time he was 4 mos. until he hit 2 yrs old and now he's down to 1-2.5 lbs per day depending on the season and the amount of exercise he gets per day. I started feeding him whole prey (baby mice and chicks), canned, and chicken the 2nd week he was at home. He was eating combo of raw meat, canned, and kibble at the breeder's but rejected the kibble the 2nd day he was home. I kept him on canned and whole prey until he was able to eat larger prey and he gradually transitioned himself off he canned.

Second: Feed her what you're comfortable giving her and what you can afford as long as it's grain free, high protein, and with a minimal amount of cheap fillers (rice, veggies, fruits). If you choose to feed a raw diet, make sure it's properly balanced 80% meat, 10% bone, 10% organs with 5% of the organs being liver. If you choose a whole prey diet (rats, mice, guinea pigs, quail, chicken), you don't have to worry so much about it being balanced because each animal is properly balanced in itself.

You have many options, kibble being the least desirable choice. Canned, canned with raw meat and meaty bones, homemade ground, frankenprey (a mix of meats, bones, organs), whole prey or a combination of all.

Resources for learning how and what to feed: http://www.catinfo.org/
http://www.rawfedcats.org/
http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/easy-raw-feeding-for-the-busy-person

Third: Make sure she doesn't get addicted to one type or brand of food. When you are experimenting with types of foods for her, keep variety in her choices. Commercial foods come and go on the market, change their recipes, get recalled and when a cat will eat only one type or brand, it gets dicey if the food is no longer available.

Fourth: We need details! Pictures! Who is her breeder? Do you have a name picked out yet? Pictures, pictures & more pictures.

She's beautiful! My boyfriend knows the name of be breeder. I don't know off the top of my head. She wasn't on premium grain free food, so we do have to transition her.

 

[admin]

Welcome!!! She is beautiful! You can look right on this forum for info on raw feeding - there is a wealth of info here!