How Often Should a Kitten Eat?

Kittens. They're fascinating, fluffy contradictions. They seem to spend much of their time soundly asleep and the rest of it bouncing off the walls. They're growing fast. That's where their feeding requirements come into play. They need sustenance more often than adults do to provide energy and mass.

  1. Newborn Kittens

    • Kittens less than a week old need to eat once every one to two hours, according to the ASPCA website. Between weeks two and three, you'll gradually taper to every two to three hours. Between weeks three and six, a kitten needs four to six feeding sessions daily.

      Healthy, nursing mother cats will handle feeding for the first few weeks; weaning will begin around week four. If you're caring for a young and motherless kitten, expect to bottle-feed him using a kitten milk replacer just as often as his mother would. Rearing a newborn kitten properly is a big but rewarding commitment.

    Beginning of Weaning

    • Kittens are usually ready to start eating solids when they around a month old, according to the ASPCA. Weaning begins at around 1 month and usually ends when they're between 8 weeks and 10 weeks old. Until weaning is over in full, the mother cat will still nurse, although not on as regular a basis. Kittens are ready to start eating solid foods. Be sure to feed your kitten commercial food that's specifically for kittens. Make learning how to eat solid foods a little easier for your kitten by blending his food into a soft gruel using slightly heated kitten formula. Smooth textures work well with kittens not used to anything other than milk or kitten formula.

    Older Kittens

    • When your kitten is between 6 weeks and 3 months of age, he can eat four times daily. Once he hits 3 months old, give him only three meals daily, and maintain that frequency until he gets to the half-year point.

    Adult Cats

    • Once your kitten is approximately 6 months old, you can drop his daily feedings down to just two sessions, the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine's website notes. Discuss feeding frequency with your veterinarian. When your kitten is about 1 year old, you can start feeding him adult cat food. Keep the frequency at twice a day.

    Reason for Frequency

    • Kittens need to eat more often than adult cats for growth. The little ones need more sustenance for every single pound of their total body mass, says veterinarian Francis Kallfelz on the Cornell Feline Health Center website's CatWatch feature. Kittens also need markedly higher amounts of energy in their diets compared with adult cats, according to the ASPCA website.