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We’re adopting two cats this Saturday. I’ve never had cats while my partner has but in the distant past, so we’re both brushing up on the latest and greatest in cat care. I feel pretty confident in everything I’ve researched except for nutrition - I don’t know what sources are trustworthy, and it seems like a lot of those in the OP stop short of giving actual recommendations. It’s also easy to find guides for kittens up to the 4 month mark, but I’ve been lost on what happens between there and adult cat. My questions are pretty general but for context:
We’re going to have to make some accommodations for their background, varying depending how they adjust to a home setting. Okay, questions. I’ve heard the recommendation with kittens is to let them have access to dry food at all times, does that advice apply up to a year old under ideal circumstances? I do see the table posted earlier has calculations for kittens for their daily calories, so I’m not sure how free feeding matches up with that, especially with two where it would be hard to know who ate how much. Does anyone know a good source on expected growth milestones for kittens past the 4 month mark? We’re going to speak to a local vet also, but hoping that can wait at least a couple of weeks to build more trust with them first. We’ll go sooner if we notice any red flags, I’d just love a baseline to work against for monitoring their weight gain to make sure they’re on track. I gather from this thread Hill’s is adequate but not ideal. Debating how quickly we could try to move them to something else, since they’ve spent the first half their life eating in the wild and the second half with something consistent. We should probably still make the transition gradual, over the course of a week or so? For picking out new food, I get that GA = Guaranteed Analysis = the min % of protein, fat, fibre, and moisture. But I don’t get what the recommended overall intake actually is? Do we literally just rely on the food saying “complete” or “balanced” and ignore variations in % between brands as long as they have both of those things present? I have no idea how to figure out what we’re aiming for. The amount of selection is totally overwhelming, and I’m in Canada so it’s less than in the US lol. I don’t really know how to pick, and I feel like this is one of the more important decisions we need to make to give them the best chance at healthy growth given their rough start.
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Jan 19, 2023 22:11
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 13:23 |
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