Diet & Feeding Schedule

I drafted a comprehensive diet and feeding schedule for all three of our cats, and here it is!

About our cats' appetites and nutritional needs: Slinky is a sedentary cat who lies around for most of the day. She has not much of a desire to play or run around nowadays, compared to a couple of years ago. Obesity might become a problem for her if we do not monitor her diet. However, after researching, I found out that we have been under-feeding her. On this new diet, she is slightly happier, coming to our room to hang out more often rather than just sleeping on the kitchen chair all day, and with a slightly less stressed demeanour about her.

Sayang is very skinny, and extremely active. We have tried to feed her more but she is a picky eater, only finishing her food if it is mixed with palatable and tasty tinned cat food.

Scooter is a picky eater too. At his age he should be drinking more milk, but he doesn't seem to enjoy it as much as yummy tinned kitten food. In fact he loves wet food - chicken, fish etc. - so much that he often growls in greedy contentment when he is being served it! On his first day at our house he ate so much tinned food he vomitted. He is still unable to chew dry food on its own, and will only eat a little of it, even when moistened with milk or water. He should be growing at a faster rate than he is now, so nutrition despite his picky appetite is a major concern.

Hence, the research, and the feeding chart, done with much calibration and measurement, using measuring cups, feeding guides from our cat textbooks, and our cats' abilities to eat in one sitting. Our cats mainly eat Royal Canin Fit 32 dry food. Our kitten food is from Nutram, not as tasty but supposedly very nutritious, and it comes in smaller kibbles.

Slinky, adult cat @ 4kg
Requires up to 185g / day
(Previously on 120g / day)
Breakfast: 3 sp. Royal Canin
Dinner: 3 sp. Royal Canin + 1 sp. canned food
Snack: 2 sp. Royal Canin / Nutram, served between meals as all-round snack
Total = 170g /day excluding treats

Sayang, kitten @ 7 months
Requires up to 200g / day
(Previously served with less canned food and no in-between snacks)
Breakfast: 2 sp. Royal Canin
Lunch: 2 sp. Royal Canin + 2 sp. canned food
Dinner: 2 sp. Royal Canin + 2 sp. canned food
Snack: 2 sp. Royal Canin / Nutram, served between meals as all-round snack
Total = 200g / day excluding treats

NB: Sayang should ideal cut down to 185g/day in 2 meals by the time she is 1 year old, but given her current hypermetabolic rate, we are serving her the diet of a 6 month old kitten until she starts to become less active.

Scooter, kitten @ 6 weeks
Requires up to 140g/day by the time he is 10 weeks old
Breakfast: 1/2 sp. Nutram (w/milk or water)
Brunch: 1/2 sp. Nutram
Lunch: 1/2 sp. Nutram + 1 sp. canned kitten food
Tea: 1/2 sp. Nutram + 1/2 sp. canned kitten food
Dinner: 1/2 sp. Nutram + 1 sp. canned kitten food
Supper: 1/2 sp. Nutram + 1/2 sp. canned kitten food
Total = 110g/day

NB: Scooter can only eat his Nutram pre-moistened, and he doesn't seem to enjoy milk anymore, hence his Nutram is served moistened with milk (refrigerated until serving time to keep it fresh) so that he can chew on the kibbles easily and he still gets his nutritional intake from milk. If no one is at home to feed him during the day, Nutram will be served out in the same portion but moistened with water only, so that it will remain fresh for hours.